How to start a company with no free time | Hacker News Reader

How to start a company with no free time

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692 pointsprostoalex176 comments

After having a baby I struggled to switch from marathon coding sessions to trying to punch out code in hour, half hour or even 10 minute increments. The best advice is what she said - plan and divide tasks ruthlessly. There's always bits of time to work on your task list on your phone or flesh out a bit of meta-code in your to-do list, and now I'm able to do the brunt of the "thinking" work in the shower or wherever, so when I finally sit in front of the computer I am mostly punching out the code that is nearly complete in my head.

It has also made me a more efficient programmer by saving time rewriting because I do most of my mistakes before I start writing anything down.

This happened to me too after I had my kids. More planning, less coding, and I'm pretty sure my productivity has actually gone up.

> There's always bits of time to work on your task list on your phone or flesh out a bit of meta-code in your to-do list, and now I'm able to do the brunt of the "thinking" work in the shower or

I want to move to this model of working but nothing seems to stick. Do you follow any specific routines or use tools to manage yourself?

I have tried a lot of tools but nothing sticks.

I did this, what worked for me was leaving myself a note of where I left off and exactly what to do next at the top of my task list; "validate input x on form y" for example. Just a simple 'trick' that really worked, for me at least.

Going to try this

In code, I think a good trick is to leave a lexical error in your current file.

I use the same model now that I have a child-- you can't optimize or think too hard about it, you just need to do it. Doesn't matter what tools or methods you use. Could use a phone todo, a sheet of paper in your pocket, whatever.

Things I frequently do randomly during the day:

1. iMessage myself a note or todo so I won't forget 2. email myself a note or todo item, especially if there's an image or link etc. 3. write a quick note in the iPhone notes app

To some extent, I think it comes from necessity.

As a father of two, I can confirm this is the case.

If I get the opportunity now to even open my laptop I know I'm on borrowed time. As a result, most of my thinking is done on my commute, and I find that just being aware of that really does make me focus in a way I never could before.

Incidentally, I find now that I'm much less likely to fall into the trap of starting things that will never be finished because I'm forced to put off getting hand to keyboard. It's like I'm pitching ideas to myself, and I'm my own harshest critic.

I have done the same with my side projects and I have two kids plus a full time job.

I even built a tool that let me add contextual notes or todos to my files, folders, applications, open documents and websites for the next time I picked it up (I am not a developer but a designer) and turned that into a pretty successful notes app.

Now my even bigger project which require me to split things into even smaller buckets is easy to always know where I left it off without having to find the notes again as they are always right there.

Care to share the notes app?

http://www.ghostnoteapp.com/

That looks fantastic. I'm assuming there aren't any plans for a Windows release though?

Seconded. I would pay a lot more than $9.99 for such an app, but I don't use OS X.

Thanks. We are frantically working on getting a new version out right now with many more features like a scripts creator and a notes browser.

Windows is on the way but it's taking some time.

I've sent email at info@ghostnoteapp.com requesting update on Windows version.

Really want try it out as soon as it's ready.

Great. I will let you know once there is something.

Here is how we are trying to work it in http://www.ghostnoteapp.com/assets/uploads/GN-green.png

Is that a real custom theme for Windows or a mock-up of sorts?

Just a suggestion: Ensure a default value for when JQuery isn't available.

Your site is nicely progressive apart from the:

"Attach notes to your"

I spent a good minute wondering what I was meant to attach them to ;)

As a mechanical engineer, this is the key to efficient work. Never CAD anything until you have done mental experiments, paper drawings, and thought through all the possible issues.

I'm a software engineer dabbling in mech design. I always do mental experiments and paper drawings, but I find that until I actual model it in SolidWorks I don't know for certain it will work.

In your mind, do you see a "mental picture" of the model before you CAD it?

You'll get better at visualizing with practice. Making sketches lets you nail down the big picture without the tool and all of its detailed needs getting in the way.

Not the OP, but I swear by cardboard, hot glue, and play doh.

I make lots of rough scale "prototypes" with the above tools to get started, and spot lots of problems this way.

Everyone has different ways of thinking - I imagine the models before CADding them but some people might like to make cardboard, playdoh etc models. If you like going directly to CAD, I would recommend starting with coarse CAD models.

Check out Quip. I love using it for multi device note taking and paper notes in the shower.

What if I actively don't want to think about my code in the shower? Work/life balance and all that jazz.

Then don't. There are only so many hours in the day, this is about fitting as much as possible into them. If you want to take a break during your shower, or go to get coffee with friends every day, that's cool, but there are people with many things going on and they enjoy doing it all. To each their own.

I think this is mostly being talked about in the context of starting a company or a side project. I can understand that you would feel that way about a day job and of course it's completely optional, but if you don't feel eager to work on a project that you've taken up your own initiative to start, then that is probably worth re-examining. You won't always feel that way, bit most of the time, at least. I'm currently working on a new product idea and I literally could not stop myself from thinking about it during my free brain cycles if I tried.

do it in your commute or during boring "dead time" instead where relaxation is almost inpossible

This. It's true that when you have a child you get used to plan and 'prepare' code in your head and then write it down in small slots of free time. But the result of doing this is that you are working all day really, your mind is not with your family or house duties, it keeps working on background, anxious and eager to put your hands down on the keyboard. And that's not nice. And it's very difficult to balance, I'm struggling with this on a daily basis.

I find myself doing the same thing now - scribbling down bits of pseudo code when I'm on the go. Trying to get some of the problem solving done, switching back to whatever obligations I have, and hoping that somewhere in the background my mind js still working on the problem.

I'm surprised by the points 1 and 3.

I started a company 2 months ago as solo founder and I work everyday on the product (a SaaS for small/mid companies). I really have no free time to do marketing yet or promote my idea. I just focus on having a MVP.

1. "Decline invitations from VCs to drink a coffee"

I've never received any attention from a VC, like probably most founders when they started their first company. It seems to me inappropriate to suggest this in "first point" of "how to start a company". Or maybe it's common in SV?

3. "Hire awesome people"

It would be really great but I can't even pay an intern.

I'm curious as to what the author's goal in writing this point. The point itself could have been achieved without mentioning VCs.

It's pretty rare to "persistently" be contacted by any VCs, even if you live in SV.

Most the startup founders I know would love to have this VC "persistence" problem.

Building her brand I suspect. "Look at meeeeee"

Exactly. Its kind of similar to Hollywood where people boast about their connections to so and so producers, directors etc.

I'm a parent who now knows about her app. If I lived in the states hell I'd probably use it

She's likely well connected, certainly better than most first-time founders. Don't feel dejected. Even Travis Kalanick had to tweet and hope someone responds (like mere mortals) to find his BD person.

I have a feeling this whole article is an attempt at a super meta/reverse psychology maneuver to grab VCs attention.

Yea, kind of bizarre, especially as point #1. How would a VC even know you're working on a start-up? I also don't get random E-mails from VCs asking me whether I am working on a start-up and if so would I like to drink a beverage. Is this really a common problem for people?

I assume that the author already had funding when she decided talking to VCs was a waste of time. It makes sense; at some point you need to stop networking and just do the work.

Also, I assume that well connected female founders in an untapped market really get a lot more calls than average.

Not saying the advice is right or wrong but VCs that "send invitations to drink a coffee" are usually lower level employees with little to no decision making power. Job titles at VC firms are a bit misleading too (e.g. "Principals / Associates" are relatively low level employees and rarely have a vote in deals). It might be common knowledge but I was surprised by this when I initially found out.

She had an article written about her on TechCrunch. That would likely put her on a lot of VC's radar.

She's a lot more popular than your average person, and more tied into SV than most. Her resume includes Google, Youtube, Twitter, and Postmates before founding her own company, plus she's got 35K followers on Twitter and had a TechCrunch article written about the startup. I think a lot of what she wrote is applicable but she also moves in spheres the average person doesn't.

Thank you for the clarification. It makes more sense in this context.

So looks like this article applies mostly to people like her.

"0. Spend your free time building your network before you don't have free time anymore."

-1 be born in USA or get a green card.

Still to be fair are we expecting a single article knocked up in an hour to apply everyone's situation? Not even a book could be that.

Not sure how common but I worked on a side project at the Launch Hackathon in Feb then slowly made progress from prototype to real thing. In July I put up a website for it so people could sign up but I keep falling behind in actually launching the damn thing (and believe me I want to launch ASAP, warts and all, just need everything working first).

I have gotten emails / tweets from two VCs regarding my project and another from a group wanting me to apply to their start-up incubator. I sorta solicited one as he was tweeting "hey what's your idea and I'll give you feedback" so I mentioned it, pointed him to my website and he seemed interested in wanting to help when I was ready.

So I'm not sure. It probably depends on if a VC happens to come across it somehow and it's probably pretty rare. The 2 + incubator that contacted me, hell, they may never invest anything. I did setup a twitter account so I tried tweeting during my hackathon but after that was one it's pretty rare for me to tweet on it.

Fyi my side project is www.simex.io (yeah I know the date is wrong but I am still working on it and I did have a real working prototype; I _will_ launch but it'll likely be in January at this rate).

Heh... I'll say that these points are not surprising to me. The title (as well as the, urm, Medium) strongly suggested a Silicon Valley bubble point of view. I didn't read the article, and instead came to the comments to see if my initial expectations were wrong (in which case I may have decided to read it). It seems my expectations were in the ballpark.

>> Decline invitations from VCs to drink a coffee

More generally I read this as... What are my priorities? 100% focus on building an MVP with resources I have now. Someone with resources I may need later wants to chat now. Does that fit into my priorities? No. Politely decline, offering to keep them updated as my priorities start to consider the need for external resources.

I wouldn't take point 1 literally. It's more like avoid time-wasting meetings which also includes conferences, entrepreneur meetups, team-building seminars, you name it.

(Unless the people you are selling to are at those meetings in which case it's probably not a waste of time.)

Thank you! That is what I meant. More generally, don't waste your time chatting with people (unless they are your potential customers and you're trying to get to product market fit). Spend your time BUILDING!

I Agree, this is not a good article. Somewhat generic solutions for improbable problems.

For #1, I get random emails now and then from various equity firms including VC. If your startup is listed on AngelList, Crunchbase, or other startup lists then you will likely get them. Or you are in the news for some reason like winning a competition. BTW I am not in SV and not well connected.

Think about it for a moment. You don't have VCs chasing you to do what they expect from you (drink coffee with them) but probably other people, e.g. parents who want you to get the best grades possible, a group of friends who expect you to go with them to cinema like you do every Tuesday night, etc.

And as an entrepreneur building the MVP is ONE OF YOUR LOWEST PRIORITIES! Product market fit is, and for that you need to have a MVP, but you don't need to build it. Fake it or try to get the money to have someone else build it while you find more money and other awesome people to work with. If you want to figure out everything after you create your MVP and your MVP is taking more than a few hours/days to set up, then you are just a programmer who dreams about getting rich, not an entrepreneur. Nothing wrong about it, but it's a different thing.

I find my productivity gets hung up sometimes between the 'doing' and the 'learning', this is particularly painful when I consider the 'learning' to be non-useful later.

A common case for me is 'use this library/package to complete the task to do this thing', I want to write the code that uses the package, the package API is opaque, it speaks in a language that makes sense if you have been playing with a dozen different similar packages, it isn't going to be useful for any other project there is something about this project that makes this package a requirement.

I've come to recognize that I have to give myself permission to read all the docs on the package, and then read large chunks of the discussion amongst enthusiasts of this type of package, then read the original docs again, and contextualize what they say into what I need to do in order to get the package to do what I want. If I don't give myself permission I perceive all of that time as wasted just trying to get the package to do what it does and I need it to do so that I can forget it and move on.

So painful.

"If I don't give myself permission I perceive all of that time as wasted just trying to get the package to do what it does and I need it to do so that I can forget it and move on." Wow this is really insightful. Also, the best and most reliable engineers I've worked with are very meticulous about reading the docs. They end up down less rabbit holes and it saves time in the end.

Right!

Yes, there is a cost to writing code instead of using a pre-existing solution. But there is also a non-zero costs to using pre-existing code!

In the end, using the pre-existing code will be a win in most cases. But reading docs is not nearly as much fun as reading code, so the emotional and procrastination barriers can be higher.

Learning is also one of my main procrastinations, since it feels so useful when you do it.

This post had some great advice. Her fourth point really resonated with me. This is something I've struggled with a lot when asking for help from friends and family.

>People are really bad at being helpful. Even when people ask to help you, they usually don’t follow through with it or do it in a way that is actually helpful. A lot of people would ask me how they could help me with Winnie and I’d say things like “I’d love your feedback on the app!” and I’d hear back… nothing.

>It turns out “give me feedback” isn’t actionable enough for most people. Now when someone asks me how they can help I will give them something very specific to do.

If you're ever working with a volunteer organization this is also important. I'm president of a small (all-volunteer) nonprofit. It doesn't really work to delegate general tasks or responsibilities except with a few individuals who are exceptionally motivated.

Much better for most people is to give them very specific assignments with deadlines.

Boy is this ever true. I had an early MVP of my product and sent it around to 3 or 4 of my geek/techie friends and asked for feedback. Not sure why, but I expected some in depth feedback (ex. This link isn't working, have you considered this layout, why do you have this paragraph etc). Instead it was "Wow - looks great man". Perhaps I should have asked for specific feedback (ex. What do you think of the layout? Can you navigate the site easily?). Maybe because I am in the startup field and know what it's like, but if I'm ever asked to give feedback, it's often more than they were looking for.

When I read articles like this, I realize just how differently I'm wired than, well, the sort of person who writes articles like this. And I kind of dislike articles like this, because there always seems to be an implicit prescriptiveness underneath them - you can start a company even when you've got no free time, and therefore you should start a company even when you've got no free time.

HN, if you happen to be wired like this person, go right ahead and do what she does - but if you're wired more like me, and the only thing you want to do after your baby's born is look after it and be with your spouse and take in the whole experience, you should go ahead and do that without a second thought.

I think it is more trying to get across that having a family and personal constraints is not necessarily a barrier or an "excuse" to not starting up now. To me it feels like it is aimed more for those who are come up with external reasons to themselves and others why they can't do so now(If only <reason> was solved I would start now.. ) rather than admitting there are more important things to them.

I think that mostly depends on the community you are in. If you want to focus full time on family and baby you can probably find like minded communites as well. But being a YCombinator website HN is inherently about building businesses how to do that from different starting points.

Thanks everyone for the awesome feedback :-) By the way you can find out more about what we're building at https://winnie.com.

Can confirm, Winnie is really cool.

Concur, it's a great app and the founders are awesome.

I don't know if this is the classical definition of grassrooting because your HN tag mentiones you are the Co-founder & CPO of Winnie but there's also other new accounts just commenting on this story (tvnut999)

what's your point?

I'm guessing the commenter would have appreciated if annekate mentioned that they were a co-founder.

Doing so would leave no room for someone to mistake the recommendation as coming from a random, unaffiliated HN regular.

Just checked out your listings for Dallas. May need to actually talk to some locals some of these places are not what I would call kid friendly.

Fair Park is in a sketchy part of town and basically no mans land outside of September-October.

The 6th floor museum is about the Kennedy Assassination. Doubt many kids would find that interesting.

I was really surprised to see Twin Peaks and Bone Daddys on there. You know these are basically Hooters, PG-13 versions of strip clubs. A Bike gang met up at one in Waco and shot the place up.

I looked at it for Austin and the first results are mostly parks (my kids never liked parks), then it gets weird. A Brazilian steak house? Then Twin Peaks? Twin Peaks is basically Hooters. But I guess because they have a changing table in the restroom, they are a good place to take kids.

Feel free to download the app and add your stories! Not everything has to be geared towards kids to be a place parents like to go.

It shows some promise, but for now it's not really usable. All this app is doing is scraping Foursquare data and looking for keywords. This leads to some hilarious results. For example, every frat house in my area is "a zoo", complete with an elephant icon, and a great place to take your kids.

Great post and I agree with everything, but:

As always, carefully vet someone else's experience against your own reality:

  >If you’re not raising money you will accomplish very 
  >little for your business by meeting with VCs and 
  >networking.

Unless you are an enterprise software start-up, in which case your first customers may come via introductions by coffee-drinking VCs who may realize that you're solving a real problem for their portfolio companies. [1]

  >Building your product and finding product market fit 
  >is going to yield much higher dividends for your 
  >company than networking.

Unless you're networking with your target audience, in which case going out and talking to real people with real problems actually directly contributes to you finding the product market fit faster.

[1] Good VCs have great reputations for a reason.

I think the point in the article can be understood in a more general sense: Only do "polite things" with other people if they fulfill a specific task. In "hiring" she also talks about that she in fact spends a lot of her time with other people, just not to find good VCs but good employees. So I think the article agrees with you quite well.

I really like #2 "Prepare your tasks". I wrote a series of small scripts on my laptop that I can run from the terminal. All the files, applications, and webpages I need for assignment x are opened in a few seconds and I can immediately start working on it. It's small and unremarkable but it really helps me to get beyond the mental block that makes starting work seem daunting.

This is a really good idea! I have to try this too. I have a couple of projects that I really dread, and I think part of it is how much effort it is to set up the dev environment after working on other stuff.

I didn't start a company but wrote an app I'm very proud of. And that app put me in a position to write a book for O'Reilly. I did lots of the coding and writing at 3 am when my wife was asleep and I was up with one of the kids. Kids are great at forcing you to focus and prioritize, things I was never great at before they arrived. And, kids teach you what's really important and that is a good lesson when running a company.

I have two kids, and my coding time is suffering. How the heck did you code while up with your kid at 3am? What was the kid doing??

The kid was sleeping on my chest. I call it the one handed editor for this reason: http://blog.teddyhyde.com/2013/04/03/teddy-hyde-the-no-compr...

I was home three days a week with our youngest while starting a consultancy, and I got pretty much all my coding done with him sleeping on my chest, me crouched over him in the couch typing away on my MBP :)

Clients had no idea how delicately I was hitting the keys when writing their code. Deadlines could be missed if he didn't sleep as expected.

As soon as he woke up it was back to being a full time dad. I like to believe that I'm way more productive now since I've become a father - being a parent that's also part of the workforce requires both discipline and creativity.

I'm still somewhat amazed I was able to do this but necessity is the mother of innovation. Perhaps a corollary is that mothers birth infants that really remind you of the necessity to code.

I didn't code while taking care of my kid. My kid has childcare during the day! People love to assume that women are all just staying home watching their kids all day...

Who are you even replying to? No one assumed anything about you and jump in anyways with a negative spin.

Most people probably assumed the posters are male. More programmer dads out there than programmer moms. You seem to be a little defensive?

The only assumption I made is that childcare is not available at 3am

I can't help but think the author has her priorities completely messed up. A brand new baby and a husband with cancer, and she decides that starting a company is the best use of her time? Sorry, but it's beyond bizarre to me. Just because you can do something by sacrificing your health and your time with your family members doesn't mean that you should.

The cancer popped up after the company was started and received funding. Based on the blog post, it sounds like the baby and husbands issues come first priority. This leads to any free time being used towards the company and causing her to maximize this time through the methods mentioned. I don't think it would be healthy for her to 24/7 be worrying about others, and the startup seems like a worthy outlet.

Yeah, sounds more like the family situation may have helper her realize it's really important for one to waste no time in life and to do as much meaningful stuff as possible while they can. Hence the title.

Who are you to judge her priorities? Watching an infant can be brain numbingly tedious, and so can sitting in waiting rooms for hours at a medical office.

Maybe the startup gives her husband a positive distraction to focus on instead of his treatment and it gives them something good to talk about. You have no idea.

A startup might be the perfect antidote to balance out her other duties to her family.

Remember that all people are not equal, some people are in the top 1% of population for energy, or IQ, or organization, or even with a need for sleep. Aka do not attempt to measure this woman against the "norm", she is probably very very capable and can handle everything better than most.

All of us have a unique blend of skills and abilities, and it takes less effort for some of us to fulfill priorities than others.

I am her cofounder and I can verify she is not normal. She is exceptionally capable, hard-working and focused. When she is with her kid she is 100% a mom. When she is at work she is 100% a founder. When her husband needs her, she is there; she managed all of his care, down to staying up late reading medical research papers so she could understand his test results.

A lot of people would have given up. I certainly wouldn't have blamed her for a second if she had. She chose to fight and I'll be damned if she isn't winning. It's inspiring to see.

Obviously, she can do what she wants with her life, but by writing about her decisions, she has invited people to comment on her experiences. I've dealt with a newborn. It is soooo stressful and exhausting. I have dealt with serious health problems. Even more stressful. I have almost a decade of startup experience (though not as a founder). Also stressful. For 99.9% of people, and maybe more, combining the three is a recipe for disaster. Apparently she got lucky and it worked out, but I really hate this message that people can "have it all" because life doesn't work like that. There are always trade offs.

This post is written for that .1% then, and probably not for you.

Founders are very different people, with very different energy levels and risk profiles than the general population, or even the population of startup employees.

Some of us CAN have it all, and there are not always trade offs for us compared to the "norm".

For example, some can excel in multiple college varsity sports while holding a 4.0 in EE, when most college students play club ball and feel overwhelmed getting their homework done.

I would like you to entertain the thought that others may have 10x more capacity than yourself.

My goodness, let Hacker News be at least one place where unique women feel free to be honest about their drive, ambition, and productivity.

I started the company BEFORE my husband was diagnosed with cancer but to be clear I never sacrificed my health or time with my family. My husband is now cured of cancer, my family is thriving, and Winnie is doing great too. That's kind of the point of the post -- you can have it all (mostly).

I have a related question for the author or anyone:

How do you keep your energy up to code in the evenings on your own project, after a full day of coding at the office?

I'm struggling with this same problem, compounded by having a 6 month old child with a mother who works nights.

Any time you have to work hard for a long period of time, the trick is to take scheduled breaks. You don't need a long break either, just like 5 minutes every 30 minutes throughout the day will keep your energy up a lot. I'll come home, eat dinner while watching something fun, then get back using that pattern.

Marty Lobdell has a good talk about this on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlU-zDU6aQ0&t=1s

I think for me the other thing is -- don't make it bigger than it is, like don't psych yourself out. Yes, it's hard to work from morning to night, but it's just hard, not impossible.

And I think being physically good--eating right, sleep enough, and exercising, yes it's tired advice but that's how you get "energy".

Perhaps you shouldn't, your time might be better spent on something completely unrelated to your day job.

I would say this really depends heavily on how motivated you are to begin with. When I was working on my side project while I had a full time job, I would:

1. Get off work at 6 and get home at 6:30.

2. Eat something very simple (no carbs because it will make me sleepy)

3. Start working from 7:00

4. Work till 6:00am (that's 11 hours, which is 3 hours more than my day job)

5. Go to sleep at 6:00 and wake up at 10am and go to work

6. Minimize lunch time and take a nap.

This was possible because I was super motivated. If you're not excited enough about something that you would go through all this trouble, then it's probably not worth investing your time in. That's why I think you're asking the wrong question if you ask "how do you keep your energy?" You don't. You will be always tired and you will not have a balanced life while you do this. But at least you are doing something that means a lot to you, and that's the main factor that helps you keep going.

Of course it is not sustainable to keep going like this for years with no break. So you should take a break once in a while. In my case, at times I would feel very tired or start feeling like burning out. Then I would just take a couple of days off from doing ANY work. Go out and party, watch a movie, do all the "bad" things I would never normally do. I think most people who haven't tried this would say this doesn't work. But from my experience, just a couple of days of doing absolutely nothing is enough to get me back on track--that is, assuming that I am excited enough about the project to begin with.

So if this model doesn't work for you, it probably means you should find another project to work on.

Did you business end up taking off?

That is not really related to this thread since this is about how to "start a company with no free time" (hint: there is no such thing as "no free time"), but to answer your question, I did reach my goal and went above and beyond.

How was your health after such little sleep? Did you ever take breaks?

Yeah, i'm not advocating that you do this until you burn out or die. I think the most important part is that I would sometimes just stop working when I don't feel like it. And don't do anything, or sleep for 12 hours, or whatever. Then soon enough I will want to come back.

Wow, this does seem intense. Did you work through the weekend? Did your performance at your day job suffer? How did you manage to keep focused during the late night/ early morning hours?

Yes, weekends/weekdays didn't really matter. I think I did take a long sleep once in a while during the weekends. Then I recover.

Most of the times I would work like this for a 2~3 weeks to a couple of months without being exhausted. But when that does happen, I would take a break for as many days I want. Normally this break never lasts over 3-4 days. (Like I said, it is important that you are working on the right thing. Otherwise you will never pull this off. For example if the main motivation for your work is you're just looking for some easy way to create a side project that will give you good enough passive income, you are probably not passionate enough about the problem and will give up. In my case I truly believed in what i was working on so it didn't make sense to just go slow on it)

As for my day job performance, it didn't really suffer because most people don't really focus 100% at work anyway.

While I was going through this lifestyle, I tried my best to stay disciplined. For example, I would start working immediately after I arrive at work, with no web browsing. And no web browsing while I am working. If you stick to this principle, you'd be amazed how much you can get done in half the time you normally spend at work. Then with the extra time I have on my hand I would take a nap etc. so I don't get too physically tired.

Whatever works for you. But don't knock people for using a different method. I've been very successful while getting a full night's sleep. Yes, I am working a few less hours, but -all- of my hours are much higher quality. And by taking short breaks throughout the day, I don't feel stressed, I get a lot done, and I'm not basically dying for a few days off. It's possible to have some balance and still get loads of things done.

I agree with the sentiment though-- you really do need the motivation to just DO it. I get good sleep, but I do work longer hours than most people, and I've done so for years. But I genuinely have been only getting healthier and less stressed over time. Work smarter, not harder-- and I've just been getting smarter about how to handle my time.

Depends on what your goals are of course. Quality of life is a big one for me, and that puts my health high on my priorities-- I can't enjoy my riches if I'm sick and dead. But sometimes it's "I can't enjoy my health if I don't have money to eat" so I get the flip side, cause I've been there in work-til-you-drop mode out of necessity.

Sounds like you might be always prioritizing your office work over your own projects. If you haven't already, you might want to try this, categorize your tasks according to this chart:

https://olivergearing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Importa...

Your side project tasks probably mostly fall into the Q2 box, unless you're getting ready to launch or something then Q1, and your work projects will be spread all around.

Spend your office time according to the 'strategy' for each box (mostly Q1, some Q2), don't stay late at the office to work on some Q3 nonsense, don't work weekends on office related things.

Go home as early as possible, show up to work as late as possible. Use the extra hour in the morning/evening to get knock off a task on your side-project. Ask to work from home 1 or more days out of the week to cut out commuting time.

tl,dr; spend less time on office work and more time on personal work

1) Drink your caffeine like you would be taking a medication (i.e. regular doses at regular intervals) 2) Don't consume too much caffeine.

I drink 4 shots of espresso in the morning and 4 shots later in the evening. I used to drink 12 shots total (4 shots, 3x/day), but began to notice that I was suffering from adrenal fatigue where I could function even less if I didn't get the first dose in and each dose didn't last as long at keeping me wakeful, so I cut back to 2x/day.

Along with that, have a proper diet which may include certain supplements (Vitamin D, B12, fish oil), and make sure to get exercise in at least 3 times per week focused, and get up and walk around every so often, doing air squats or something, or simply take a walk around the block.

Often, when I'm struggling to find energy for after hours projects, I find that it's because I'm neglecting ancillary tasks such as eating nutritious meals, exercising and giving my brain down time (usually these can be combined by cycling etc), and planning my work in advance so that the barrier to start each day is low. Other times I'm overwhelmed by stress or sheer number of tasks (which can again be mitigated with more planning)

A sibling comment says that lack of energy indicates low motivation and that you should find a new project. With due respect to the commenter, this is not useful advice. If you are interested in completing a project, you have enough motivation to do so - what you may not have is the right environment around you. So identify what's stopping you from working, and get rid of those road blocks. Some times they aren't obvious and can take some time to identify, but keep paying attention and eventually you will spot them.

Also it's tough to stay really excited about something for years. I find the bursts of energy come in fits and starts. There are days the code just flows and others where I can't seem to motivate myself to work for more than fifteen minutes at a time.

For me most of the energy was lost during my commute, so I switched to working remotely.

Surprisingly enough limiting the time you spend on writing code after work (to 1-2h a day) also helps. This way there's less pressure to have something finished each day (because it's impossible in such a narrow timeframe) and more time in-between coding sessions to think about the design.

Most of the time my after-hours code is much more thought through than what I create at work.

I've had a lot more success programming in the morning before going into the office. There might not be as much potential time to work, but I've found myself making more progress getting 30 minutes done a day every day than the intermittent multi-hour blocks I'd program when I had enough energy/motivation after coming home from work.

A nifty trick. It is also not just about the hours you can get out, but also about getting some premium hours with focus and flow. If you do it in the morning you have more of these for your own product instead of for your day job.

I think the authors specifically solved that problem by raising money and paying others to code.

"Force Yourself To Work Imperfectly" is amongst the best bits of productivity advice I know.

Work expands to fit the time available, and all that.

Sometimes you've gotta get things just right, but a lot of the time getting it done and moving on is better.

3. Don’t go it alone

Using the money <-> time duality is a bit cheating to be honest. At least in my experience people with 9-17 jobs don't have that kind of money to hire people.

I think we should be respectful of the audience that this blog post is and isn't for -- where it says that VC's can be "quite persistent" asking for coffees, this kind of shows you the kind of audience this is written for. And yes, if you're the kind of person that in the words of the article:

>I would say “Hey, during these next couple months it will be very tough for me to meet in person, but I’d love to still help how I can. Can I help with anything over email and we can go from there?” It turns out this was a great way to get to the point with people. Most people admitted they didn’t have anything pressing to discuss though some would respond with specific questions. One person let me know he was just interested in participating in our round whenever we raised money. We ended up contacting him when we did raise money and he did participate.

If you're the kind of person for whom "many VCs were extremely persistent", and for whom if you say, "is there anything I can do just over email?" and a VC writes back, "Yes, just let me know when I can send a check" (obviously not in these words), and then when you're raising money they do participate --

well, that is the kind of audience who has the money to hire people :)

So this blog post is very useful and helpful, but not for everyone.

To be clear, I didn't pay people in the beginning. I had a cofounder and an advisor and we all coded and worked FOR FREE before we raised money.

thanks for being here to answer questions! for the VC who reached out to you via email, who you deferred and then ended up participating in your round - did you have a past relationship with them? from where? where did they hear about you from, if you know?

I think we're trying to get a sense of what it takes to 'poop rainbows' (as my cousin comment said) and have VC's ask you to tell them when they can write their check :)

All information here is appreciated. We all aspire to be you!

Respectful? Give me a break, you've been successfully gas-lighted.

>where it says that VC's can be "quite persistent" asking for coffees

Lets be pragmatic. How many VC's are we talk about, 5? 10? Can we not read a little bit of a veiled humble brag into this point on the fact that the number isn't mentioned and that if the number is 5 that the author couldn't spare 5 hours over "multi months" to meet with someone signing checks? Which brings me on to-

>If you're the kind of person for whom "many VCs were extremely persistent"

What does this person do that they seem to fart rainbows when every one of the most talented engineers that I know has to hustle to get these sorts of doors opened? We can only assume that something else is at play.

Which brings me on to Op's point-

>in my experience people with 9-17 jobs don't have that kind of money to hire people.

This is entirely correct, most startups can't trade money for time but the author doesn't reveal her fountain of money which further undermines the blogpost.

I'm sorry I didn't see your reply sooner. if you see this in time to edit, please tone it down by two notches, come on. The OP (of the article) is here answering questions, and we're one community. you yourself are the article author in a few years if you want to be.

You know "what does this person do" because they are up-front about it: what they do is "Winnie, helping parents navigate the world with their children." Apparently within their network people really want to do that, and lots of VC's have kids, etc. (Many of the most famous ones do, often in the same age bracket.)

So welcome to our community, but please be a civil member in line with our rules. There's no distinction here between people. you can talk to VC's. you can literally talk to the blog author, they're here answering questions. people on this forum aren't born into wealth or the like (arguably for the most part they have had access to superlative education, but on the other hand much of it is self-taught.)

so try to be civil :)

I also share your frustration and agree:

> when every one of the most talented engineers that I know has to hustle to get these sorts of doors opened?

what is likely also at play (though the author can clarify for us) is their past enterprises or other businesses they had similar roles in. i.e. their track record.

How dare you. If someone wants to defend themselves they have every opportunity to do so but I (and I think the HN audience) don't appreciate being-

1. patronised about things like: "this kind of shows you the kind of audience this is written for". How pathetic, as if there are some levels of access beyond which peons like us cannot comprehend. and

2. Your concern trolling. Where I come from we believe in the scientific method and meritocracy. You are entitled to your opinions if you can defend them and your attempt to stifle discussion is reducing efficiency.

You can do all that and be civil. It's not an either/or thing. Downvote.

I don't quite agree, your answer is changing the boundary conditions implied by the title. Saying you are the person VCs are bothering is just avoiding the hard problem, you are already successful at that point. It reminds me of how to become a millionaire broker, earn 2 millions and lose half of it on the exchange.

Declining VCs but meeting people for recruitment is seriously bad advice imo, which leads to my agreement with the other commenter, I felt this article was motivated by humble brag more than wanting to be helpful. Of course, it is entirely my interpretation.

Most people I know don't have the luxury to even quit her daily job just to have a shot at becoming an entrepreneur. Paying additional staff is completely out of the question.

Many 9-5 people have a house and two cars. For that kind of money you can pay a whole team for a year. The question is how you spend your money. And like with time it may need some out of the box thinking to free up some of that money. E.g. instead of buying new furniture use second-hand one that can be even found free online. Not as much "face" at the next party, but enough money to write 2-3 MVPs and get some product market fit.

A surprising amount of developers have their own side projects. These should be encouraged by employers because

a) most of these projects don't go anywhere and so the likelihood of you loosing a staff member to their hobbies is low, and

b) because employees often explore new technologies and educate themselves when doing these things. It means your employee loves what they do enough to keep doing it in their spare time, and is getting an education which helps their day job and doesn't cost you a cent.

But not all employers see the positives in this, so make sure that any clauses about your place of work owning your work produced outside of office hours are removed from contracts, and NEVER do any personal work on company provided computers or using company provided software. You're just setting yourself up for trouble.

I mean, these ideas are nice... in theory. But to play devil's advocate: a) Statistics? b) Can an argument not be made that with programming/developing/designing at work AND at home, burnout is more likely? Or that less overall effort will be spent on work related things?

The point of my post was really about playing by the rules and making sure you don't get in any legal problems by using company resources to further your own project, I guess I started on a bit of a tangent though. :)

As far as answering your questions, a) I don't have any statistics but I know a lot of people with side projects and they all still have day jobs, so it's very anecdotal. b) You could make that case, but I'd say (once again without evidence to back it up) that if burnout occurs it's going to be the personal project that is cut rather than the job that pays the bills.

Just a heads up, after passing 50 hours of assignments and interviews, I turned down an offer from IBM because they wanted to own my side project. Stay clear of big blue if you like doing side projects, their legal dept is overzealous.

Yeah, I've negotiated out that clause on a few contracts.

I think Google is the same, people who are Googlers with opensourced projects that have nothing to do with Google all have them hosted on the Google github account for this reason.

I'm not in the US but AFAIK US law (or at least Californian law) states that a company can only own what you do in your personal time if it competes with them, the problem is that for companies the size of IBM and Google that could be most things.

That probably applies to all companies that are so big that middle-management people aren't a rare sight. It's not just because they are bad people, but they need simple, reliable systems to keep so many people work in the same directions. Even awesome exceptions are a huge pain to them since each one creates organizational debt.

I wouldn't count (a) as an argument. Let's say 90% of the side projects become something. I would argue in that case you as employer could still profit from allowing it. You could be a first investor as long as it is cheap, or an early bird customer with huge influence on features and look&feel. The employee still learns a lot of things that he can flow into the rest of the team through presentations and lunch break discussions. And last but not least, if a smart new employee sees that input is encouraged he also brigns in more courage to his day job and feels less need to do his own thing.

I love the 100% practical advice here. Words from someone that has a real appreciation of the fact that time is the most valuable resource and treats it accordingly

All of these points of advice work even if you don't do startups. Raising kids, having a job, a life, a home all need your attention.

It's just generically good advice. Take a look at #4. So many people either just throw up their hands early on a problem (I'll just ask the guru on this subject a generic question - which, if I'm that guru - I know is a time sink), or just assume no one can help them and don't ask. I know I'm guilty of both at times.

One of my mantras to break the back of #4 and #5 is:

Get out of your comfort zone. If it feels uneasy - maybe you're just pushing your boundaries.

It seems difficult to believe the point 1, where she is being chased by VCs. The author has never built a startup before. All her previous roles have been mid/entry level roles in big/mid size companies.

This articles seems like an attempt to create pent up demand.

I do agree with the points mentioned in the article though.

She's not talking about VCs hounding her down to throw money at her, she's talking about VCs wanting to grab coffee so that they can gather information about the space. I think if you are starting a startup publicly, and live near low-level VCs this will happen to you.

I swear you could write any counter-intuitive article with a top 5 list of highly controversial steps and make it to HN front page. Like "10 tips to make a unicorn in your sleep". Tip 1, don't sleep, you don't need it anyway. Tip 5, remember to catch some sleep, sometimes.

Pardon the pun but you had me at "force yourself to do things imperfectly".

During my husband’s multi-month cancer treatment, I declined every invitation for coffee, drinks, and networking of any form. Most of these invitations came from VCs who were trying to get information about what I was working on or the parenting space in general.

Given that most of the time it's the founders chasing the VC's, I was quite curious why she seemed to be on the other end of the stick. A quick click to her Twitter mentions:

> Previously #KillEricsCancer, Postmates, Twitter, YouTube, Google, MIT.

Not saying other people can't have similar success, but you may want to learn more about a person's background before getting too confident.

Must say I'm a bit jealous - when I started my company, I didn't have any need to decline VC coffee invites... it was all I could do to get enough interested parties to even get moving.

Good tips on time mgmt though, I guess

Are you based in San Fran though? Sounds like the city flowing with VC cash

Must be. No, I'm not. I'm based in AZ.

Yes I'm in SF.

Why do you keep replying to questions not directed at you? It's plainly clear that you're located in SF.

> I declined every invitation for coffee, drinks, and networking of any form. Most of these invitations came from VCs..

I find it really hard to believe that VCs are chasing the author, who had no track record in Startup land. Her advice looks solid, but how can VCs be bending over backwards for a meeting with her? I've never seen VCs do that based on what I've seen so far.

Anywas kudos on shipping, the idea looks promising.

Maybe those VCs were not used to being told "no"

It seems like she certainly has a track record with major companies as a Product Manager at Google, YouTube, Twitter, and even Director of Product at Postmates.

She even got a dedicated write up in TechCrunch.[0] That is probably enough to get various sized VC's attention.

[0] https://techcrunch.com/2015/12/09/postmates-and-twitter-prod...

This post is irrelevant to 99.9% of founders as that's the % of people who could raise $2M without doing anything first.

For those with babies on the way like the author and reading material to get through for business, I found that a text to speech app like @voice with a good sounding voice like the AT&T voices, plus a Bluetooth earpiece helps a lot. Baby needs a bottle? Earpiece on, start listening. Baby needs a walk in the buggy? Same. Baby wakes in the middle of the night and needs to be in your arms for a while to get back to sleep? Same. Helped me to get through a couple of books a month I couldn't have otherwise read. Obviously has to be relatively easy to understand material.

In a similar vein, I have become quite the expert at using conversational style apps (including the voice to text transcription on iOS), since I can't type while doing baby chores, but I can surely dictate.

Frank Gilbreth set up a dictation machine for Lillian Gilbreth so she could dictate management books while she was breastfeeding... I think in the 1930's :-).

When my oldest was a baby I used to read the C++ annotated reference to him to send him to sleep.

Did your oldest end up becoming a C++ dev? 8)

No, bit he did study CS at Cambridge.

Ack! There are university grads older than C++ now! Aaaack!

I think I agree with everything but #1. Completely shutting off from people who although may not invest, can still provide valuable information or advice as they may have experienced something you have not.

Personally, I get the feeling that most people who start a company are tired of _some_ status quo, and have strong opinions on how they want the end product to look like. Therefore, the last thing they want to do is listen to people telling them how their product should be. And since initially, all you care about are the technical challenges, it stands to reason that coding minutes and hours are more useful than schmoozing and advice garnering.

I think if you generalize the concepts behind each bullet point you'll find that her concepts are much more broadly applicable than at first glance.

1) Don't get coffee with VCs -> Don't spend time on things that don't accomplish your objective, even if they seem like they're 'progress'.

2) Plan your tasks. Context switching is hard, if you have a pre-planned task you can work on things in smaller gaps without having to figure out what needs to be done.

3) Ask for help when you need it, let go of things you don't have to do. Long before you get employees you could ask your support structure to help lighten the load for you.

4) Ensure feedback you receive is actionable. Don't accept broad statements, get specific details about what you can do better. Even at normal companies this can be taking a manager saying "I wish you'd demonstrate more leadership" and holding them accountable by asking "what are specific instances where I could demonstrate leadership that I did not and what actions would you like to see me taking in these instances in the future?"

5) Hold yourself to a high standard but be realistic about where it matters. Some things just need to be done, not everything you do has to be building a Stradivarius.

This strategy seems very relevant and pertinent to me, especially the parts about delegating time, asking for actionable help / emails instead of meetings, and hiring good people. Very helpful for scheduling and structure.

Is there anything else you guys would add? For me, it doesn't seem to address motivation, setting aside time to complete deep work, and the circumstances where you'll actually output the most quality stuff.

Don't have plans to start a company, but even for side projects #5 gets me. #5 is brutal. #5 kicks my tail all over the place. #5 won't let me get things done.

But that's ok #5, #2 is gonna start having my back! And maybe, just maybe, we'll overcome you.

This is a good blog post, but a web directory ? Being hunted by investors, and over two million dollars raised ...

Number 5 is tough to break. I decided to have a go when I created https://www.dealomni.com by getting something minimal up and using whatever I am already familiar with. End result is a js site with no backend using knockoutjs!

1. Where there is a will, there is a way.

2. To get something done, give it to someone who is busy.

The last time I saw Sara she was playing beer pong 10 years ago. Crazy.

Step 1a) have a bunch of venture capitalists have you on speed dial.

Invest money, hire a team and hire a manager to manage the team.

I'll add: Automate everything that can be automated.

In Asia, We can have 1 to N maids to take care kids

What's the tl;dr; ?? :)

How to start a company with no free time for women with a child

What?

why start a company when you can start a co-operative?

Sara Mauskopf, if that's you in the bottom pic, then can you please invest in some ergonomic keyboard and mouse? Laptop keyboards and trackpads are very bad for hands in the long term.

Your employees and you should all be working with keyboards and mice on nice big monitors. Ergonomics is an easy win to grab, so do it! Get the Microsoft ergonomic keyboard or the Advantage Kinesis if you want the best.

Looks like I got downvoted pretty heavily. I genuinely think that the long term gains of good ergonomics shouldn't be ignored. Obviously Sara has bigger fish to fry on a day-to-day basis, but hands are precious and we ought to minimize effort and maximize output.

Do you carry around your ergonomic keyboard and mouse and use them when you're sitting in a hospital waiting room?

Laptops are useful because you can use them places other than desks. Places where you don't have room for an external keyboard and mouse.

Yeah, laptop ergonomics suck, but they suck less than being unable to use your computer at all on the go. And that doesn't mean that one doesn't hook the peripherals back up when one returns to one's desk.

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