The question surprised me: “Is it a red flag for a founder to have a child while a startup is still in an early age?” It’s an odd view on startup founders with children. Enough to prompt me with this blog post. I could summarize my answer with simply, “absolutely not.”
But here’s my more complete answer:
No, of course not. It is in no way a red flag for a founder to have a child while a startup is in the early stage.
This question assumes several common myths about entrepreneurship. None of these is true:
- That entrepreneurs are more likely to be 18–25 than 25–50 (not true).
- That entrepreneurs are supposed to ignore everything else in life in single-minded obsession on the business (not true).
- That having a life is bad for business (not true).
Here’s a general reminder: building a business is supposed to make your life better, not worse. It’s business serves life, not life serves business.
True, many, maybe most, entrepreneurs work like hell for a while, especially at the beginning, seem obsessed, and sacrifice some other elements of life, temporarily. There’s no denying that. But most of those who do (I did) realize later on that having a life actually enhances your business, rather than detracts from it. People are more productive in 8-hour days than 14-hour days. People are more productive when they have the rest of their life, and their people, to provide balance. IMO.
The original came on Quora.com, the question-and-answer site. Here’s the link to that: Is it a red flag for a founder to have a child while a startup is still in an early stage?
Image by Neil Dodhia from Pixabay
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