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Comment by swombat | Hacker News Reader

That’s my line. It isn’t a balanced life, but historically, it gives me the best chance to succeed. And since I’m going for a home run, that’s the line I need to walk.

I guess the important question to answer is: why are you going for a "home run"?

Is it because your life-consuming ambition, the only way you'll ever feel accomplished, is by having a bank account with a LOT of digits in it?

Is it because you have a burning ambition to change the world in a massive way via technology, like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg, and you just don't see any way to do it other than building a mega-company?

Or is it because you're letting your environment and peer pressure dictate that a home run is what you should want, even though what you really want is financial independence so you can spend more time reading books, travelling, and painting watercolours?

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Spot on with "Why are you going for a 'home run'?" as being the most important question. Is it money? You want a challenge? Happiness?

Article below is a nice piece on why happiness = success:

http://hermannk.com/happiness-success/

I love the quote from Dave Greiner - " These days, my idea of success is a well-managed balance between time with people I love and a project I’m deeply passionate about. Right now, that’s Campaign Monitor. Time spent with each one of these has a huge impact on how much I enjoy the other. When I get that balance right, I’m at my happiest. And in the end, isn’t that what success is all about?"

Fair question.

For me, I'm going for a home run because I think it will allow me to have the biggest impact on the world. I was living in Chile for 6 months last year and have seen what my company (a p2p marketplace for trips planned by locals) could do globally. That worldwide impact is the driving force.

What it isn't is a money or peer pressure play. My first startup is actually set to double in revenue this year (to low-mid 6 figures) and I barely touch it. The money thing will come, whether I go for a home run or not.

So a glorified (and quite expensive) CouchSurfing?

Couchsurfing is fantastic. It's also very variable. Many people are willing to pay for a consistent, high-quality experience.

In some ways it's like you're offering couchsurfing + bundled travel insurance, which seems like a pretty awesome way to hedge the downsides of crowdsourcing.

That's a totally fair question. My answer is in my other comment, here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5532632

+1 Great question... Personally, often torn identifying my true desires around this question.

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