Ask HN: Which startups have nice/normal hours? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Which startups have nice/normal hours?

9 pointscyborg8 comments

I've seen quite a few startups with "normal" (say, 60 hours or less per week) hours. That being said, the people I know who put in 100+ hours per week on their startup also have been more successful (long-lived company, multiple millions in revenue per year, etc.).

I think it's possible to have a startup that promotes a sustainable lifestyle, but it's all about costs and benefits. If you work 100+ hours per week, you might miss out on seeing your kids grow up (or having any in the first place). Working ~50 hours instead might make your business grow more slowly but might allow you to enjoy other (more important, for some) aspects of life.

As a side note: some of the investors I've talked to also encourage and prefer a more sustainable lifestyle in a startup. That way you'll be alive in the long run. :)

I don't want to name any names or give explicit examples here, but happy to discuss you're making a difficult decision.

If you work 60+ hours a week, you miss your kids growing up. If you work 100+ hours a week, they're not really your kids anymore, are they?

Is it just me, or is 40 hours a week possibly too long, even when you're running a startup?

Some startups are more demanding than others. There may be a difference depending if you're a founder, early employee, or regular employee. 40 may be too much for some and too little for others.

One of the startups I founded required 10 hours a week from day one. Made my first million. That's when I realized that the number of hours you put in to something doesn't necessarily reflect what you will get back from it.

Another startup I founded required 60 hours a week in the beginning, and 5 hours a week down the road.

These days? RescueTime says I'm at 61 hours this week so far. Obviously not sustainable, but it's what needs to be done to reach my goals. I know where I want my startup to be, and what it will take to get there. It's important to be honest with yourself.

I keep my significant other in the loop so that she understands what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and why I'm putting in long hours. She knows that right now I'm working hard, but there will come a time when I won't have to put in long hours. Communication is key.

There's something to say for efficiency too: make better use of the time you do have. My personal efficiency hovers around 92% — While I'm at the computer, I'm unproductive only 8% of the time. If you're working 40 hours a week and you improve your efficiency by 25%, now you can do 40 hours of work in 30.

> I keep my significant other in the loop so that she understands what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and why I'm putting in long hours.

I've been terrible at that in the past. Any tips?

The biggest thing is to remember that they can't read your mind, so speak up. There's a big difference between, "I'm working 80 hours a week so I can make lots of money" and "I'm working 80 hours a week so I can help with my sick relatives nursing home bill" or "I'm working 80 hours a week because I'm self concious about my teeth and want to get them fixed." - they can tolerate it more when they understand. If you don't give them enough detail, their imagination will fill in the blanks with things like "they don't care about me" and "they don't want to make time for me." that's when the relationship falls apart.

I fully agree with you. I feel like I'd be as productive at 20 hours as I am at 40 hours. ~30 hours is probably the apex of of the weekly productivity curve.

We have mostly normal hours, although my co-founder less so because she works a real job during the daytime. We're kind of expected to have reasonable hours because we're a travel magazine, and all work and no play would be bad for our image :)

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