

Living in a Startup Bubble - stefl
https://medium.com/p/570cfe0e69ac

======
enra
Hate be negative, but based on the title, I was expecting something different,
and since its HN, something with depth.

It was a lovely post, but what I got from it was "startups are risky, need
belief, and it's tricky as a family and here's a link to my blog".

Edit: (I wonder if Medium is going to tackle the issue of people start treat
it mainly as "medium" of promoting their own blogs or companies)

~~~
stefl
Ah, yes. Sorry - I should probably have pointed out "not that kind of bubble".

------
dylangs1030
Medium blog posts are basically roulette when it comes to quality. This
particular one is trash. It uses the keyword startup a lot, talks about how
they're risky, and gives some paltry relationship advice. It's not written
well and basically compiles the most general facts known about startup
culture, consolidating all of them into a vague article that's all over the
place.

This post reads like one of those keyword articles that only exists to collect
hits for a website. It is utterly devoid of any depth, and lacks the substance
to really portray any meaning to startup life.

In fact, reading this it's almost as though she wrote this as a book report.
It's badly written and conveys nothing about "startup life" despite the fact
she repeats that phrase over and over.

Here's a few sentences that should clue you into this:

1\. _" Add to this our four young children (6, 4, 2 and newborn), and you’ll
understand our startup life is pretty full on."_

No, I don't understand. What does having children have to do with your husband
and you having a "full on" startup life? If anything, that would make it more
difficult for you to commit yourselves to startups. If you tried to convey
that you must be uber-committed to startups because you're doing it despite
having children, it didn't work.

2\. _" Startup life is so part of our life that it is far more than just our
work, it is our life."_

Badly written. And I don't mean this in a pretentious, grammatical way, I mean
the word "life" is repeated enough times that this sentence doesn't capture
any of the passion you're trying to portray. It's empty.

3\. _" The more I’ve tried to explain things to friends and family, the more
I’ve realised that startup life is a bubble and really not like other ways of
living and working."_

You didn't explore the bubble bit, which is arguable and by no means widely
accepted. You also didn't justify a connection between a bubble and being
different; there's no inherent correlation.

4\. _" It often feels like the startup is everything and far more important
than our relationship. There have been so many times when I’ve felt like a
startup widow. I think we are getting better at making sure that doesn’t
happen. Changing some of the ways we work for a start. And having great
communication is key to relationships and family life working together with a
startup._"

You lost track of your central point here. Are you talking about startups or
your relationship? You began this blog by talking about how different startup
life is, yet you have not defined it at all. You just keep reiterating the
effect without tying in a relevant cause.

Furthermore, communication is important in any relationship. That's just
another platitude; this is full of them. Again, meaningless.

5\. _" Startup life takes a huge amount of belief in what you are doing and
belief that you have what it takes to make it happen, or the skills/sense to
hire the right people to make it happen."_

The next three paragraphs go on and on, repeating the same idea: startups are
hard, you need to be committed. Got it, but we all know that already. It's
self-evident.

6\. _" Startup is a process"_

I don't even know what this is supposed to mean, and the consequent paragraphs
in this section fail to give me any clues.

I can go on and on with these. Literally every other sentence is written like
an ezine article. It's crap, and doesn't stimulate meaningful discussion.

