You're a partner at Y Combinator, I'm sure you have a great work-life balance.
But, being a partner at Y Combinator, it's in your interest for the founders of the companies you're invested in (especially the newbies who would need this advice) to not have a very great work-life balance, and that's who your article was targeted to.
Maybe I read too much into it, but some of the points are so obviously not work that I have a hard time believing anybody would think they are. It made the whole article come off as, "You shouldn't be screwing around, you should be toiling away at your startup."
I think you're bringing a lot of false assumptions into your argument.
It's definitely not in my interest for the founders I've invested in to have bad work-life balances. It's not in my interest because I like them and care about them as humans.
Even if you were to assume that I was motivated exclusively by profit (which I'm not), then it would still be in my best interest to help founders find good balances. In that world, I wouldn't want them burning out, which is what happens when there's no balance.
I've seen founders and friends do everything on this list and call it/justify it as work. That's why I wrote the piece.
It would be hard to overemphasize the importance of work-life balance. It's equally hard, though, to say what it is, because it's different for every person. I think you just need to keep it in mind and make sure you're doing things that make you happy.
Maybe these responses are unfair. I do think the tone of your article -- and many similar articles -- imply a sort of single-minded focus on building your business that a lot of people associate with poor work-life balance.
Comments
Here I was thinking this was going to be a blog post advocating a work-life balance...
Ha! Me too. Then I saw "Co-founded Tutorspree. Partner at Y Combinator.", and realized it was going to be the opposite.
Why? I actually think I have a pretty good work-life balance, though admittedly I've had times where that wasn't true.
You're a partner at Y Combinator, I'm sure you have a great work-life balance.
But, being a partner at Y Combinator, it's in your interest for the founders of the companies you're invested in (especially the newbies who would need this advice) to not have a very great work-life balance, and that's who your article was targeted to.
Maybe I read too much into it, but some of the points are so obviously not work that I have a hard time believing anybody would think they are. It made the whole article come off as, "You shouldn't be screwing around, you should be toiling away at your startup."
I think you're bringing a lot of false assumptions into your argument.
It's definitely not in my interest for the founders I've invested in to have bad work-life balances. It's not in my interest because I like them and care about them as humans.
Even if you were to assume that I was motivated exclusively by profit (which I'm not), then it would still be in my best interest to help founders find good balances. In that world, I wouldn't want them burning out, which is what happens when there's no balance.
I've seen founders and friends do everything on this list and call it/justify it as work. That's why I wrote the piece.
It would be hard to overemphasize the importance of work-life balance. It's equally hard, though, to say what it is, because it's different for every person. I think you just need to keep it in mind and make sure you're doing things that make you happy.
Maybe these responses are unfair. I do think the tone of your article -- and many similar articles -- imply a sort of single-minded focus on building your business that a lot of people associate with poor work-life balance.