
Ask HN: How does it feel to be founder of a popular Startup? - zeynalli
Most of us are here to learn about startups, to motivate us following other entrepreneurs and inspire us. We always dream and think right before we sleep, how would it be if my startup will be successful, what will change, will I be still same person, should I work less or even more etc. So how does it feel? What did change in your life?
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jacquesm
As an ex-ceo of an at the time very popular startup I think that maybe I'm
qualified to answer this, taking into account that this is just one viewpoint
of a very complex and multi-faceted issue. At some point in time the company I
founded held a spot in the top 300 websites.

To answer your question directly: It felt absolutely terrible. I had no idea
on how to gain control of the wild horse that had left the stable unsaddled,
with a jockey that was about as unprepared as could be. We did the best we
could. We missed critical time-slots, dealt with all kinds of trouble as good
as we could all the time knowing that we could - and should - do better.

Being CEO of such a company (at the peak > 20 employees on two continents) was
more responsibility than I had bargained for. It took away time from those
dearest to me, it stressed me out beyond belief and it gave me more experience
in a few years than I'd built up in the decade before, both in a business
sense and in a technology sense.

It made me weary of people, when you're having that level of success
(newspaper cover photographs, TV appearances, the works) business wise you
gain the attention of a lot of nice people, but also of a lot of not-so-nice
people. They can be extremely hard to tell apart.

Suddenly you're responsible for two orders of magnitude more money than you've
ever dealt with in your life. You worry more about your ability to pay your
employees than you worry about your own health.

I could go on like that for a bit. Let's just leave it at if it wasn't planned
that you were founder of a popular start-up it can wreck your life really
well. Better make it something that you're aiming for consciously, then at
least you will be somewhat prepared for the journey.

I would definitely not want to go through such a period of hyper growth
without a means to control it again, I'm all for controlling the situation and
maybe ending up a bit less successful than to end up investing too much of my
most precious resource (time) into a company. Any company.

The price on other fronts is too high, which of course is a personal feeling
but it is definitely where I stand today. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't
want to be part of a success story, it means that I no longer want to be in an
out-of-control situation and that I'll work really hard to maintain control,
even if that's at the expense of some growth. I think in the longer term that
that benefits everybody.

~~~
adambenayoun
Jacques - thanks for sharing this.

Although I'm not successful yet, I can relate strongly with something you
wrote (as a CEO):

> You worry more about your ability to pay your employees than you worry about
> your own health.

When you are the CEO of a business - any business, you have ton of worries. I
can only think that when you become 'popular' or 'successful', these worries
just increase and you somehow dont have the time to savor the moment.

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spartango
There's almost certainly a distinction to be made between a "popular" and
"successful" startup; there are startups that are successful but hardly
popular, and vice-versa.

People in the popular state tend to have the challenges of handling fame; when
pushed into the spotlight, managing one's image becomes a challenge (among the
others of a business).

People in the successful state tend to have a slightly different set of
pressures; past success doesn't guarantee future success, so maintaining
business growth and product development sit on your mind.

Of course, there are folks at the intersection of these two groups, and you
can imagine that they have both sets of pressures, and perhaps some new ones
as well.

------
kloncks
Someone once told me that success and fame don't change a person. They merely
amplify that person's qualities; you're still the same person.

Also. One of the advantages of Silicon Valley being an insular bubble at times
is that however successful you might be, there's someone within a few square
miles who has accomplished more. It's easy to get constantly humbled.

For every Drew Houston there's a Mark Pincus and for every Mark Pincus there's
a Bill Campbell.

Obviously take everything I say here as just my own personal experience and my
company is very very very early. But these are just some personal notes &
thoughts.

~~~
gojomo
And for every Houston, Pincus, and Campbell, there's a McAfee.

~~~
sontek
and for every McAfee there is a Larry Page

~~~
dear
and for every page there is an apple

~~~
sixQuarks
for every apple, there is an Elon Musk

~~~
fuddle
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

------
tomasien
I can understand the urge to comment here, but if you don't have an answer
from personal experience OR can site someone else's experience (a Quora
answer, etc), let's keep the clutter off so that the real answers can shine
through.

~~~
georgemcbay
By the logic of your own post, I should downvote it... (but I didn't).

------
axiom
You still feel inadequate because you're not as successful as some even more
successful startups.

You still feel insanely stressed because there's even more at stake now.

You still wonder if you're working on the right thing.

I dunno. Things don't really change much honestly.

------
catshirt
if you fall asleep wondering about how success will change your life you're
not thinking about the right things

~~~
acgourley
Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced their life will be 100x better when
they get funding and "make it." This is because they do not spend enough time
thinking it through. If they did, they'd puzzle out that having a big chunk of
money land in their lap solves few of their main problems, and creates a bunch
more.

So yes, thinking it through once or twice is a good idea, and something most
people don't do.

------
mahesh_rm
In noticing this sort of "Ask HNs" makes it easily to the front page while
these other sorts of "Ask HNs" [<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4961812>]
don't get a single comment, I wonder whether HN might effectively be of some
help to youngster industrial disenchanted folks. In a serious and genuinely
totally non-trolling way.

~~~
spullara
It is possible that no one the community knows the answer or possibly that
there is no correct answer for the question. Generally I think a question like
that should be on an appropriate stackoverflow or quora topic. HN questions
should leverage the group intelligence rather than searching for the veritable
answer in a haystack.

~~~
rex_gsd
As a long time lurker I was in a prime position to answer that, so I made an
account and did. Setting up USD processing as a non US citizen is a big PITA

~~~
mahesh_rm
Just checked out your response. Thank you!

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loceng
I imagine it shouldn't really affect you more than that the success is a form
of validation for your theories, work, efforts.

~~~
Firehed
Or you let it go to your head, get cocky and start assuming that you can do no
wrong, and start making stupid decisions that lead you and your company to
failure and bankruptcy.

It will affect everyone differently. But I imagine the folks that see ongoing
success are the ones best realizing what worked and what didn't and continue
to execute on successful concepts while scratching stuff as it becomes less
effective.

~~~
loceng
Good point. I guess I had my blinders on for how I hope to react / maintain
focus on what's important.

