This is what everybody says, but I just haven't found it to be true.
I work 40 hour weeks sometimes, 20 hour weeks other times, and often go entire months not doing much at all on the startup. The ball is always moving forward though, and things are always getting better.
It really doesn't take a huge amount of effort to get your first version out the door. And it doesn't take much effort beyond that to get to the point where money is coming in. Once that happens, there's no particular reason I can think of to work 60 hour weeks, unless that is something you want to do.
Naturally, it depends on what you're building. If you're a single founder though, it pays to build something straightforward that solves problems for people with money. There's lots of things like that that need building. Build one and you'll (hopefully) find it doesn't monopolize your life.
I certainly agree that's possible, but not everyone finds the road rosy. See here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1961429. Better to overestimate the difficulty and be pleasantly surprised than vice versa IMO (especially in the context of a 6 month deadline).
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This is what everybody says, but I just haven't found it to be true.
I work 40 hour weeks sometimes, 20 hour weeks other times, and often go entire months not doing much at all on the startup. The ball is always moving forward though, and things are always getting better.
It really doesn't take a huge amount of effort to get your first version out the door. And it doesn't take much effort beyond that to get to the point where money is coming in. Once that happens, there's no particular reason I can think of to work 60 hour weeks, unless that is something you want to do.
Naturally, it depends on what you're building. If you're a single founder though, it pays to build something straightforward that solves problems for people with money. There's lots of things like that that need building. Build one and you'll (hopefully) find it doesn't monopolize your life.
I certainly agree that's possible, but not everyone finds the road rosy. See here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1961429. Better to overestimate the difficulty and be pleasantly surprised than vice versa IMO (especially in the context of a 6 month deadline).