
How I lost 160lbs after selling my company to Atlassian - keremkazan
https://matterapp.com/blog/how-i-lost-160lbs-after-selling-my-company-to-atlassian/
======
hellounicorn
Using an anonymous account intentionally. Working normal business hours sounds
nice but NOT REMOTELY a possibility where I work. Being intentionally
secretive, I work at one of the desired hot/unicorn startups in SF. Employees
are non-verbally expected to live/eat/work at the office (9-8). If a new hire
were to start clocking out at 5, they would not last long.

What I and many of my peers do is split up the day with a long break in the
middle. We'll commonly go for a 1-1.5hr run in the middle of the day along
Embarcadero to try to obtain the best of both worlds, not losing our equity
and staying healthy.

~~~
tdfx
So, what are you hoping to get out of this? I ask not in a condescending way,
but with hope that you've thoroughly thought this through and understand the
tradeoffs you're making. Certainly you could make a good living elsewhere. Is
it for resume building? Are you getting insane stock options? How long are you
planning to continue at that pace?

~~~
hellounicorn
Two things, an impressive resume and nice sum of money. As a recent grad it
would look awful if I left this "hot startup" a few months after graduating.
Secondly, I would be walking away for several hundreds of thousands of dollars
in equity.

IDK if this is considered insane, but $100-$250 grand is a really big deal for
someone with student debt.

~~~
freeopinion
How many years of 12-hour days will it take to realize your $250K?

If you were working 9-5 and I offered you a night job for 4 hours a day, would
you take it? If I promised you $200K if you did the night job for two years,
would you take it? If you got $0 if you quit before the two years was up,
would you take it? I can pull out of the deal at any time in the next two
years.

I know a guy who scrubs toilets from 4am-8am M-F for $10/hr. He expects that
to turn into $100K in about 5 years with careful investment. If he just stuck
it in a 0% savings account, it will be $50K in 5 years. Financially, this
seems to be a smarter plan than yours. But if you really enjoy what you do in
your four extra hours per day, and you really hate scrubbing toilets... maybe
your way is better. The point is, there is lots of room to question your
choice.

~~~
anothergoogler
Your second paragraph is one of the sharpest and most original insights I've
read on HN in the ten years I've been here. That is a fantastic analogy for
vesting cliffs.

------
emperorcezar
> At Matter, I’m building a team that shares the same work and lifestyle
> ethics that I do. This means that we begin our day at 9am, work normal
> business hours (with a break for a walk when we need it!), then head home
> between 5pm and 6pm to recharge.

I know not hiring night owls was mentioned, but I feel like this isn't the way
to go. Even in startups one can make a ton of the communication async.

I know that my mind doesn't work 9-5, it's much more chunked and a good bit of
that late. If I try to force it, I end up working in the evening to make up
for low productivity.

------
bingchenasian
Beautiful, really appreciate the data-driven approach vs the short-term fad
diets.

You should really have recommended your nutritionist if they were so
instrumental.

