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Y CombinatorMost Important Lifestyle Habits Of Successful Founders
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At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Founders Prevent and Recover From Startup Setbacks Through Disciplined Lifestyle Habits
- Seibel and Caldwell frame founder wellbeing like healthcare, with prevention through sleep, diet, exercise, living situation, and information diet, plus treatment when setbacks hit.
- They argue founders must "adult harder" than their peers, because habits that work in your 20s can build up personal health debt that comes due over a company's multi-decade life.
- Preventive practices they discuss include a livable founder salary, learning to have hard conversations with co-founders, and setting realistic expectations for yourself and others.
- When a punch lands, they recommend not reacting immediately, sleeping on it, taking a day off, choosing supportive people over destructive crowds, and using therapy or medication when appropriate.
- For fatal punches, they urge founders to examine the facts objectively, avoid ruinous personal sacrifice or harming others, and remember that a failed startup does not make them a failure.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasFounders have to adult harder than their peers.
Seibel says building an extraordinary company likely means opting out of habits your peers keep, and Caldwell adds that this distances you from them.
Your home should add points, not drain them.
Seibel says sleep, who you live with, food, access to exercise, and the presence of alcohol and drugs can make your home a source of unforced errors. Caldwell notes clinicians look first at sleep, diet, and exercise when someone struggles.
Unhealthy habits create debt that eventually comes due.
Caldwell compares it to personal health debt that can be carried for years before a breakdown. Seibel notes the best companies last decades, so you should ask what happens if the startup works.
Curate your information diet like your food diet.
Caldwell argues that what you consume affects your state of mind. Seibel says successful founders block social media, grayscale their phones, turn off notifications, and track screen time.
Co-founder conflict is often about style, not substance.
Seibel says most co-founder problems come from anxious versus avoidant ways of handling frustration. Early disagreements are practice for the bigger ones that come later.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesIf you want to be a founder of a very successful company, you might have to adult harder than the people around you.
— Michael Seibel
The shit that you can get away with in your 20s, you can't get away with in your 30s.
— Michael Seibel
if there's ever a decision that feels like it's action one or action two, there's always a third option, which is don't act.
— Michael Seibel
I think the information we consume affects us.
— Dalton Caldwell
Your startup failed. That doesn't mean you failed.
— Michael Seibel
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