Startup CEO, 2nd Edition

Chapter 46Your Family

Someone told me once that entrepreneurs are almost always either in their 20s or 50s because they're either “single and have nothing to lose,” or “have already made a lot of money and put their kids through college and have nothing to lose.” I'm not sure how true that statement is anymore – at least not in the U.S. tech scene, where I know lots of entrepreneurs in their 30s and 40s – but there's something to it.

There's a real incompatibility between the energy, time, and long‐range timing of financial return involved with a startup and having a family. You can't take your stock options to the store to buy diapers or cash them in for your monthly mortgage payment! Many people find themselves as both CEOs of startups and parents at the same time, so it's worth writing a little bit about how the two coexist. I knew one particularly impressive CEO of a company in our industry, Stephanie Healy, who started Vente with her husband as her COO, then promptly had four kids in six years, all while doing her job as CEO, then sold her company to a larger company in the industry. Wow!

Every person's family and family circumstances are different and it's hard to generalize suggestions in ways that make sense. I thought I'd focus on three topics that matter:

• Making room for home life
• Involving family in work
• Bringing work principles to home in smart ways

Making Room for Home Life

I've already discussed the concept of “me time” in the previous chapter. It's critical ...