Don’t put your hope in the hustle

On Friday morning,

1. One of the most respected modern Christian thinkers passed away.
2. And I saw this on LinkedIn, from a new founder:

we haven’t seen our families in a year and moved 3 times

we didn’t take a day off for a very long time, cried a lot, and celebrated a lot as well

this is what it takes to build a company

this is what you should look for if you are joining a startup

are the founders willing to do literally everything to make it massively successful?

if not, your equity will mean nothing at the end of your journey with the company, and that company will fail

I couldn’t help but feel empathy for the LinkedIn founder.

I get the need to feel validation (drive! hard work!) and potentially a better life.

Work (and money) does offer value.

But…

• What if your equity does equal nothing?
• What if the company does fail?
• What if it’s only moderately successful, not massively?

Was it satisfying not taking a day off? Not seeing your family?

What’s a lifestyle (business) worth?