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I’ve never believed in the Silicon Valley idea that you’ve got to work 24\/7 and sacrifice<\/a> everything to build a successful company. For me, building a business<\/a> and raising a family go hand in hand. These contrasting views are perhaps best illustrated with a personal anecdote.<\/p>\n Long ago, when a former business partner<\/a> and I were raising our A round for a company we’d founded, I found myself sitting across some investors from Silicon Valley. I knew they wouldn’t have flown out to meet us unless they were fairly serious about investing \u2014 they weren’t the type of people to waste time and money on something they didn’t believe in.<\/p>\n My wife Rachel and I had recently learned that Rachel was pregnant with twins. The pregnancy wasn’t planned, which meant that we’d gone from thinking we were going to have zero more kids to discover we were actually having two at once in the blink of an eye. I was about to become the proud father of not four but six highly energetic daughters.<\/p>\n To break the ice, my co-founder shared the above with our would-be investors. In most cases, spicing up generic small talk with a story about unexpected twins is at least entertaining. But the investors weren’t amused.<\/p>\n The senior investor \u2014 I’ll never forget his name, even though I won’t mention it here \u2014 was as serious as a heart attack. He looked straight at me and said, “You know, I have a hard time taking guys like you seriously. Why would you have a family when you should be dedicating your whole life to running your business?”<\/p>\n Without missing a beat, I responded, “That’s interesting \u2014 I’ve always struggled to understand guys like you<\/i>. What’s the point of making money if you don’t have anybody to enjoy it with? Where’s the satisfaction in being a single, 45-year-old guy living in a penthouse on University Avenue in Palo Alto? Wouldn’t that feel empty and old after a while? For me, my work is filled with purpose; I get to go home and play with a bunch of adorable little kids who love me.”<\/p>\n I said this in a calm, philosophical way as if I were simply sharing an alternate point of view instead of countering an insult. My co-founder, meanwhile, appeared to be devastated that he’d brought the whole thing up \u2014 the meeting was as good as over now.<\/p>\n But you know what? The second those words came out of the senior investor’s mouth, I knew I didn’t want his money. Family means too much to me to partner with someone who could dismiss it so cavalierly.<\/p>\n Related: An Open Letter from an Entrepreneur Dad to His Kids on How to Find Success<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Family and business are not mutually exclusive, but let’s be realistic. Running a business<\/a> is highly difficult, stressful and unpredictable. There will definitely be times when you have to power through setbacks, seemingly at the cost of spending time with the ones you love most.<\/p>\n The problem begins when obstacles and opportunities are treated as marathons rather than sprints. Every entrepreneur faces a sprint at one point or another \u2014 something goes off the rails, or there’s an opportunity you want to capitalize on, so you spend more time at work than you normally want to.<\/p>\n A marathon, on the other hand, is what occurs when you’re working around the clock merely to alleviate the inevitable anxieties<\/a> of entrepreneurship. You tell yourself that you must work around the clock because it makes you feel better to do so \u2014 “If I’m working, I’m not failing.”<\/p>\n Make no mistake, this is a lie. Like all lies, it’ll end up hurting you temporarily, no matter how good it makes you feel.<\/p>\n Related: You Don’t Need to Sacrifice Your Family to Pursue Being an Entrepreneur. Here’s How to Save Yourself 500 Hours Per Year.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n It’s a dismal picture: you put in a thirteen-hour day and get home at seven or eight to find that you’ve missed dinner, the kids are already in bed and your partner’s angry that once again you’ve chosen work over family. In this case, you aren’t alleviating the stress of entrepreneurship as much as adding to it unbearably. You’re pointlessly exhausting yourself while avoiding your greatest resource for inspiration and renewal.<\/p>\nFamily and business<\/b><\/h2>\n
Sacrifice versus rewards<\/b><\/h2>\n