David Cummings on Startups

Burnout in Startups

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David Cummings

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Chamillionaire and Michael Arrington. (CC) Bri...
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Many people talk about how much hard work it is to build a company. I particularly enjoy the phrase “an overnight success takes 10 years.” One aspect of entrepreneurship that isn’t talked about very often is burnout in startups. Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, recently cited burnout as one the of main reasons he just sold his company to AOL. A startup is often all-consuming, and after five years, can be difficult to maintain the pace.

After the company has achieved a level of success and stability I believe it is important to start moving towards a work/life balance. Here’s a few of the things I’ve found useful:

  • Daily thinking time (I walk a mile every other day)
  • Weekly date nights with your significant other
  • Monthly peer group meetings (see EO or YPO)
  • Quarterly off-site celebrations with the company
  • Quarterly vacations

What else? What are some other ideas for work/life balance to help with burnout in startups?

Comments

4 responses to “Burnout in Startups”

  1. stephen Avatar
    stephen

    The number 1 way of getting burned out is through being overwhelmed when all of the decisions lay on your shoulders.

    This is why your confounder, board, and management team
    are so important. And they need to be creative, brilliant, and willing to defy you.

    Other than that, be spontaneous; enjoy doing something unplanned with people who don’t know or care what you do professionally.

    Reply
  2. Rachel Orston Avatar
    Rachel Orston

    If you are a parent, then I would definitely add this:

    Spend 1-1 time with your children. I’m not talking about driving them around to busy events or taking them to crowded places or hooking up with other parents and their kids for a playdate. I mean carving out quiet one-on-one time to spend at least an hour each week with each of my children. My favorite is playing cards or working on a puzzle together. I do this for more reasons than just avoiding burnout, but I also find that it gives me renewed energy and I almost always learn something new in the process that I didn’t see before.

    Reply
  3. Charles C Avatar
    Charles C

    In my experience, avoiding burnout is also about fostering a culture that doesn’t heavily reward or praise burnout inducing behavior (100 hour work week every week, etc). I love what the founder of tech firm 37 signals says–avoid ‘being a hero’. To be consistently creative and highly productive, you just can’t be the superhuman hero worker who never stops. Otherwise, you’ll burn yourself and everyone around you.

    Like Rachel above said–carve out the quiet time to invest in yourself, your families, and worthwhile friend groups.

    Reply
    1. john Avatar
      john

      I feel for parents whose kids are getting stuck in these start up nightmares. They seem to be targeting recruits in college and as soon as they graduate. A lot of this start up nonsense is nothing more then another cult making false promises to the vulnerable. So much is being promised- if you only work hard enough you too can be the next facebook or google. It is really ridiculous so many families are being torn apart And to the person that thinks one hour a week with there kids is enough to spend needs to have someone kick them in their ass- Your children need a lot more time and caring then that!

      Reply

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