The Startup Playbook, 2nd Edition

Chapter 14Operating as a Founding Team

When we started Viewlogic, I (Will) was in my early twenties and a bit rough around the edges. Even though I had worked for two other startups—one my own—and a large computer company before that, I really didn't have a lot of experience working in close teams. I wasn't a particularly good communicator, and I didn't have an off switch, so I drove hard all the time. Come to think of it, I was sort of an asshole.

Of the five founders of Viewlogic, three of the team were married and had kids. As one of the singletons, I didn't have many obligations outside of the startup, so I pretty much worked around the clock. At times, I didn't understand why everyone wasn't working as many hours. The entire founding team was working incredibly hard, for sure, but when it came to 3 a.m. coding, I wondered why I was alone. At times, this attitude worked its way out of my subconscious and through my vocal cords.

While I began to understand the complexities of the situation fairly early, it wasn't until I had kids myself some years later that I really got it. It was then that I realized that my married co-founders were actually sacrificing more than I was, not less. They were exhibiting more dedication and, in fact, more effort than me to help the company succeed.

As a team, we had discussed the amount of time and energy it would take to make Viewlogic successful. And, as with most teams, we woefully underestimated every factor, including the costs to each ...