Do startups have an alcohol problem?
The beers and whiskies start at 3pm. By 6pm, at least half of the staff are noticeably drunk. At 7pm, a large group heads out to a local bar for rounds of tequila shots and/or jager shots. Around 11pm, some of the developers go home and start committing code, others head to another bar. Around 1am, someone deploys directly to production. Around…
I think that many startups, especially those founded by young men in their early 20s (or older men who haven’t yet found a reason to leave their mid-20s mindset behind) have a frat-boy culture that they have trouble growing out of. It’s the idea that we need to drink in order to unwind, that getting rowdy is the antidote for a hard week of studying —…
Sarah,
Thank you for sharing your experience and helping to move the conversation about addressing the tech and design culture promoting alcohol use forward. I really appreciate how well you portray what it feels like to be an alcohol abuser in these settings. I’ve been speaking and writing on this topic for the past year…
Sarah Jane Coffey, let me apologize to you on behalf of the startup ecosystem. You are right and they are wrong. Simple.
I have founded several companies and I have built three of them to 500 employees. I was an energetic and driven Alpha Male leader having been an Army officer (paratrooper) in the past.
Sarah — thanks for your wonderfully eloquent post. I’ve been fortunate to work in tech companies, and a couple of startups, where a firm “no” was enough. I had a similar experience to you with my soccer team where one member seemed to need others to drink around him and didn’t want to take no for an answer. I defused the situation by telling him the…
An alcoholic tee-totaler name of ‘Coffey’. Makes sense, sort of.
The drinking culture of [non-Islamic] corporate Asia is astonishing. Get this: classified HELP WANTED — PROFESSIONAL POSITION ad in a Seoul blat: “Young Marketing Executive, 27~30, Marketing Degree from good school. Must be able to drink 350ml. of soju without…