

Ask YC: do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend? - btw0

I just want to know that ^_^
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joshwa
Ask YC: a/s/l?

Seriously... this is getting stupid.

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mrtron
It is a reasonable question due to stereotypes, geek lifestyles, etc.

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thingsilearned
Broke up with mine when I moved out to the valley. It wasn't too serious and
the distraction sux. For valentine's day I wrote my computer a poem in python.

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subwindow
I wrote mine in Ruby.

Surprisingly enough, she loved it.

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axod
Married, and seem to have some curious small people running around breaking
things. They scare me.

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cmm324
Married and the third child on the way!!!! They can be scary... yet so
beautiful and amazing.

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noodle
yes.

even those holed up in a closet working full-steam on a startup need to
socialize, whether with friends or a SO. otherwise, you'll go crazy and burn
out.

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mk
I just got married on sunday.

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jimbokun
Congratulations!

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himanshu
Nope. Life as a computer science major in college and an overall geek leaves
very little time.

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Tichy
If you don't even have time as a student, how will it be once you join the
workforce?

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himanshu
I will worry about it once I am done with school ;) I see nothing wrong with
having a girlfriend but I don't feel alarmed not to have one at the moment.

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alice
This is liking asking in a prison how many people have nice cars.

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philippp
It's depressing to read things like "Nope. Life as a computer science major in
college and an overall geek leaves very little time."

I'm sure you play videogames, read/post on non-industry forums or do SOMETHING
not work related. Socializing with women will help you find "the right one" in
the long run, and will keep you from being taken advantage of once you "make
it."

Personally, I broke up with my girlfriend of three years before moving to SF,
independent of deciding to start YC. Overall, not having to "keep up" has
definitely helped me.

I've been single throughout the nosebleed "grind-and-build-and-demo" three
month YC cycle, but I regularly went out in SF and even had some flings that
were fun but shallow distractions.

I've recently started dating an amazing woman who's completing her studies
while working in Los Angeles; she's at least as busy as I am and we're
"dating" in whatever capacity is possible. Although we're both ridiculously
busy we respect our space/priorities, and it's fun and affirmative.

To each his/her own I suppose.

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jpeterson
Had a girlfriend when I started my company. I haven't had any time for
socializing since she left. Anyone else in this boat?

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noodle
you don't consider posting on YC to be a form of socializing?

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jpeterson
I was using "socializing" in place of "dating".

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brk
No. I'm married.

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startupcrazy
Man, that is sad.

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startupcrazy
Why all the down votes, I was simply implying that if your wife isn't also
your girl friend it is a sad place to be.

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yan
Yes, and it actually improves my productivity. She edges me on to work when I
feel like slacking off, and I can have intelligent conversations about
whichever ideas I have as long as I can break them down to a non-techie.

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xugglybug
A boyfriend? Why settle with one? I have two.

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edu
Girlfriend, we have been dating for 3 years and 8 months

We both are pretty hardworkers, and planning to start something toghether
(she's been pulling me to apply to this YC's round). I think we are a good
time, I understand computers and she understands people (BSc in Psychology).

I don't think having a gf need so much time, I always feel that I spend more
time procrastinating that staying with her, and with the later I feel better!
:)

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mattmaroon
47 comments, 8 points. Might be a new record for that ratio.

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brlewis
I actually have a date with my wife tomorrow night! Just secured a babysitter.
Our last date was on Valentine's day.

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bkrausz
I have a girlfriend, but the condition I made when starting the relationship
is that she has to be ok with me being too busy certain weeks to see her. I
promise to see her once a week at the least, and she's ok with that. She's not
thrilled about it but feels that some of me is better than none, so she
accepts it.

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powerflex
Yes and its very distracting. Girlfriends are money/time/attention pits (but I
mean that in a good way).

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TheTarquin
I do. It helps that we're both extremely busy, so our "dates" often wind up
being the nights when we both have portable work and can hang out together
while we grind away.

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icky
No, I'm married, and my wife won't let me have one. ;-)

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truebosko
I'm in a long term relationship with my lovely girlfriend. We're currently
living together, can't complain

So to answer your question: Yes

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watmough
All my exes live in Texas.

Seriously, I'm married, though with the amount of work I do, sometimes my wife
fails to recognize me. ;-)

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laktek
Yeah.It doesn't matter as far as you know how to balance your personal life
and work.

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pibefision
married! (and pregnant!)

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ivankirigin
Married to my cofounder

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andreyf
I realize every relationship/business is different, but how is that working
out - both in the relationship and in the business (if you don't mind
sharing)?

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ivankirigin
Generally, investors are wary of married couples, in that they've been burned
before. So we need to be very cognizant of the way we act around each other to
ensure they get the most positive impression. If you read accounts of the
flickr cofounders, you'll also get anecdotal evidence (that I've never
experienced) that some investors are assholes and don't take women seriously.

We have complementing skillsets, which is perfect on the work side of it.

On the relationship side of it, I have no idea how people do startups that
have significant others _not_ involved. Not only do we spend the vast majority
of our time on the project, but we talk about it when we aren't working on it.
How could an uninvolved party tolerate that?

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bap
Michael and Xochi Birch are part of the founding team behind Bebo.com, which
seems to have worked out rather well for them financially. I'm sure founding a
company adds some extra stress to any relationship but you can certainly take
proactive steps to assuage that.

One blogger (relatively well known) but I can't remember which (sorry!)
blogged about how he and his wife set aside a monthly date to re-connect. They
go out to dinner, and exchange gifts (big or small.) There was quite a bit
more detail than that and I think it's a good ready for any of today's super-
busy couples. After 30 minutes of searching around I just haven't found the
link. Maybe someone else here remembers the piece (or wrote it?)

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rglovejoy
No, of course not. Who has the time?

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vikas5678
dating, worse than having a gf i think, the mindgames are still in effect!
grrrr

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kul
No :(

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aneesh
poll?

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ken
Don't ask us. You're the one with enough karma for it.

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xlnt
No, romance is dumb.

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xlnt
We know that romantic relationships frequently hurt people. This leaves some
pro-romance positions available such as:

\- it only hurts foolish people; there are known solutions to all those
problems

\- it's worth the risk of being hurt

\- there is a type of relationship that is different than conventional romance
in a way that prevents being hurt, but is still romantic

So, anyone want to debate, or just stick to downvoting? None of the pro-
romance positions are obviously correct.

~~~
yters
It's a relevant and significant question. The west's views on romance are not
the norm. For example, the Greeks considered the best relationships to be
between men, since men were thought to be the most rational. This is similar
in Islamic cultures too.

While I don't have a specific cite I can show you to back up the claims about
the Greeks, it is pretty evident if you've read Plato and Aristotle. As for
Muslims, this is pretty clear if you just look at how they treat women.

Frankly, I'm disappointed that there is so much knee jerk voting going on
here. On the other hand, it is interesting that xLnt has really hit a nerve.

~~~
xlnt
It's an L. XLNT. Abbreviation of excellent.

I don't mind the voting. It's useful information to find out that I hit a
nerve.

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yters
Yes, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be disappointed with the voting.

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xlnt
You expected more of YC? :)

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yters
Yeah, otherwise it isn't worth coming here. I can go anywhere else online and
find people who'll just spout their preferences instead of respond rationally.

I made a submission out of this: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=149248>

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rms
You're paying too much attention to the voting. It just sorts the comments on
the page and changes an arbitrary number next to your name.

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yters
You're paying too much attention to the posting. It just creates things to be
sorted and changes arbitrary ascii characters next to my name.

