
Successful Startup & Dealing with Health Problems? - crohns
I'm a 33 year old software developer living in San Francisco. I'm married with a young child.<p>I've been involved with startups since high school. I had my own Rails consultancy for five years that worked with startups, and I currently work for a startup in the Bay Area. Though I've done it before, shortly after college, I will never work for a large company again. I enjoy working with a small team of experts, and I enjoy moving fast and creating with software.<p>But, here's my question - are there any other startup founders or employees dealing with a serious physical ailment? This isn't something I ever hear or read about, so it makes me think people with chronic diseases just aren't involved in startups, at least not successful ones.<p>I've lived with a chronic disease for the past 20 years, specifically Crohn's disease. For much of my life, Crohn's has been an annoyance. But the past five years have been really difficult. I've never been as sick as I was two years ago. I actually had to walk away from my consultancy because of health care costs. I was making $150K per year but I was spending more than $3K per month on medical expenses and I felt terrible. I'm on new medication now and it's dramatically better, but some of the other medications I'm on are taking their toll. I'm constantly tired, with little or no energy. I find it hard to concentrate at times and I feel like I'm in a fog most of the day.<p>It's tough to watch my developer friends stay up until 2 or 3 AM, working on a side project that eventually becomes a successful business. And these friends are not the typical 22-year-old hacker who has unlimited energy and little or no commitment. These friends have families and work for technology companies in the area. I recently tried working with a friend on a side project, but I just could not keep up. My friend ended up doing most of the development work. I hate this, but it's very difficult to explain just how much this affects my life and productivity. There are times where I feel as though my life is being sucked out of me, and it's all I can do to make it through the day. Medicine is a double-edged sword, helping in many ways, but affecting quality of life in other ways. Most people my age or younger have never dealt with these effects of medicine or chronic diseases, let alone on a continual basis. So I don't feel like a simple "I feel bad" to my friend will really explain the issues.<p>I'd love to hear from anyone else out there battling an ailment and still working at a startup.<p>Personally, I would be shocked to find out that any of the YCombinator teams are dealing with chronic illnesses or serious medication side-effects. Would an Angel or VC even invest in a company where one of the founders is chronically ill? I don't know of anyone who is a very productive developer at a startup who also deals with a chronic disease. Admittedly, it's easier to get a job at a later-stage startup, after the A round, if you have an illness like mine. Getting a job at an established startup really helped me with health insurance costs (I don't qualify for any individual insurance plans due to pre-existing conditions). Remember the medical expenses I was paying so much for? I pay $0 out-of-pocket now (not counting normal monthly insurance costs). When it came time to walk away from my consulting business, that was pretty much the deciding factor. That said, I'm of course more interested in early-stage startups looking for Angel funding. And I'm not sure medical expenses are really on the radar of Angels.<p>I often say to myself, "Stop being such wimp - ship some code!" So I try. But what do I do when a migraine hits me so hard I can barely think? Or I'm so lethargic (even with caffeine) that I have to go to bed at 9 PM for a week straight? Part of me wants to explain this to my co-workers and friends, but, unless you're experiencing what I am, it sounds like an excuse or a cop-out. I'm not lacking the passion or the drive or the skills to do something great, I just plain don't have physical energy to work much more than 8-10 hours/day.<p>Working at a startup is not easy - I get that. I've been through it before, and I love it, even though not all my startup experience has been with successful companies. I love following and working with companies like GitHub, Dropbox, 37signals, Balsamiq, FogCreek, Facebook, Zynga, etc. as they change the world. But I get the feeling nobody at these companies has to deal with a long-term ailment that seriously affects their daily productivity (unless you count too much alcohol).<p>Does this scenario happen at all?<p>Is anyone aware of a good example - "founder so-and-so of company X was successful, even while dealing with X"?
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pg
Julian Weber, who was the model for YC in the sense that he was our seed
investor, had a bad case of Crohn's disease. Among other things he had been
the first president of the _National Lampoon_ , which must have been a lot of
work, though perhaps not as much as a startup. He was a successful lawyer in
New York so I believe medical expenses were not as much of a consideration for
him as for the average person.

How he managed to get so much done despite the disease, I'm not sure. He was
very tough. I suspect he also arranged his life to allow for times when he
felt too bad to work.

I do know for sure that, except for feeling like crap a lot of the time, which
he always concealed, Crohn's didn't prevent Julian from living well. He made
money, had a happy family, and had an interesting life.

<http://www.paulgraham.com/julian.html>

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crohns
Thanks Paul

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robg
My father has Crohn's. Or I should say he had Crohn's. My whole childhood I
remember him struggling with the disease and supporting our family while
working 60-70 hour weeks. When I got to college he had surgery to have a
resection with the diseased portion of his intestine removed and the healthy
ends re-attached. Almost 15 years later and Crohn's hasn't returned. It
certainly wasn't an easy surgery but his life hasn't been the same. He eats
what he wants to and if anything he's gained weight since.

Best wishes to you.

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kranner
Haemophilia A here. I'm working on my startup/app solo and full time, off
consulting savings.

I think some kinds of software startup are actually well-suited to people in
my position. I'm able to work on something from home that has a half-decent
chance of turning into a successful, hands-off, small business. I can't
imagine what I'd do if my livelihood depended on moving physical inventory
around.

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8womendream
I have Hashimotos Disease, which is a sister disease to yours. I started 8
Women Dream, which will be a social website for women with big dreams. I think
you can do anything if you are passionate enough - even when ill. Do you
really think a programmer with the failing marriage - relationship - life is
any different? People go through crap in their lives - it happens. My start-up
makes me fight my disease - and yes - it's not easy. But I am so committed to
my project that I would rather die doing this than live forever working some
county job.

If you haven't given up gluten (all bread, pasta etc) then start there. If
your symptoms don't get better, weed out dairy. Eliminate sugar if it still
continues after giving up gluten and dairy. Last but not least, when you have
done all this, eliminate caffeine, and switch to green tea and lots of water.

Gluten can really mess you up. Take care of yourself! Catherine ,

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anonyacc
My situation is not as extreme as yours, but I was diagnosed with IBS and
second this advice. That said, you should also cut chocolate, alcohol,
carbonated or acidic beverages and anything with caffeine in it. Reduce your
diet to fruit and vegetables for a few days and drink mostly water (room
temperature). Then experiment by adding in other foods over time.

You may already have done this. But if you haven't you need to. Because if
something in your diet is exacerbating your digestive problems, you will start
feeling better faster by cutting all suspect foods than by randomly
eliminating them one-by-one. Also, you may find your system better able to
handle certain foods when it isn't under stress from digesting others. Some
things that cause problems for you when you're sick might be perfectly OK in
moderation when you're feeling healthy.

As far as business goes, I run my own startup (bootstrapped) and it is really
hard and stressful. I'd suggest keeping your job with health insurance and
trying to fix your lifestyle/diet before taking on any extra stress. It may be
a cliche, but slow and steady really does win the race.

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runT1ME
> Crohn's disease

I had a friend who had this from a very young age up until she was 26. She
kept switching doctors, and after the nth one, turns out it had been a curable
disease the whole time. She is much better now. Not trying to give you false
hope, I have no idea how often that happens.

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malloreon
Offhand I'd guess that the Nth doctor diagnosed it as celiac disease and got
your friend to entirely remove gluten from her diet, which solved all her
problems.

~~~
runT1ME
No actually, it was a bacterial infection that needed very specific meds.
Apparently most doctors miss that particular infection...

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tomhoward
I have some insights into this topic that I'd be happy to share privately.
Email tom.howard/gmail.

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8womendream
oh and if you need further support and information - feel free to email me
eightwomendream/yahoo.com I know you can get better! Catherine

PS Oprah has Hashimotos disease and now she is starting a publishing empire.

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crohns
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Good stuff to consider and try.

