Why You Should NEVER Be a Start-upper’s Girlfriend*
Forget regular 9–5 working hours and the expectation of having him give you all his attention when he comes home. Forget nights out with him with his phone turned face-down to stop all notifications from Slack, and even if he does flip his phone over, he still secretly reads them on his Apple Watch while pretending to give you a big hug. Forget talking about a casual topic that doesn’t eventually lead to his work, and forget any bouquets and chocolates because he’s bootstrapping and does not think them necessary items (apart from appearing on your birthday or Valentine’s day, they’re non-existent). But despite all this, there are some perks.
Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for any break-ups between start-uppers and their girlfriends that stems/partly stems from reading this article.
*This also applies to guys with a girlfriend who has her own start-up.
#Incessant talk about the world of start-ups
If you’re like me, coming from a background of having zero knowledge about start-ups, you’ll soon be learning about words like bootstrapping and angels and unicorns — I mean, these are supposed to exist only in fairytales, aren’t they? You’ll be sucked into a world of people trying to make a living from the ground up and people who are trying to get their ideas known to the world. Why would anyone in their right mind want to be in this situation?
Why would you want to learn new things every day?
#You meet entrepreneurs at every social event you go to with your boyfriend
Oh great, here’s another entrepreneur. So what do you do? I’m trying to create something on my own, I have an excellent idea that no-one’s ever thought of before, these are exciting times, and so on. So many people with so many different ideas and all are trying to share their brilliant ideas with you. Rather than have a nice G&T in a quiet speakeasy bar, you are rushed into a whirling sea of energetic entrepreneurs thrusting name cards at each other. Mind you, this can also happen if you’re a guy and your girlfriend is the start-upper.
Why would anyone want to make connections at a party?
#You feel like you want to build a start-up of your own !
You experience a moment of weakness and your boyfriend’s world suddenly seems inviting. Your brick wall of resistance falls and you start telling everyone you’re an entrepreneur with ideas shooting out of your arse, and you cannot wait to start building your project and working towards making these ideas come to life. Your boyfriend supports you and urges you to follow your dreams.
But do not listen, as this will only result in you quitting your job and becoming a penniless beggar.
#Your boyfriend asks you to help in his startup
I’m a journalist (or was, see previous point). Whatever it is you do, your boyfriend knows this and wants to manipulate this to his advantage because everything to him is a potential opportunity to boost his start-up. Those scheming cogs in his mind have been turning slowly since the day you told him about what you do until one day, he asks for your help. Because you are a kind, loving girlfriend you decide to sacrifice your precious time to help, but this in turn hinders your own performance at work. Take me for example, I ended up featuring his start-up in the magazine I [was] working for.
Why would you want to help your significant other?
#You finally join his start-up
I was weak and I finally came aboard the ship that is OhMyGeorge hence this article you are reading. Whatever you do, I hope you don’t end up in a situation like I am in now that can only be described as an innocent little hummingbird in a sea of big, bad eagles.
*Please note the sarcasm throughout this article.
On a less sarcastic note, being with someone who works in their own start-up company opens up your world to this emerging community — a community full of individuality and creativity that also inspires you to venture onto a different path of your life that is different to your parents’ climb up the corporate ladder.
This article was meant for humour and I quit my job to follow my dreams to do a PhD in media, creative writing and journalism and how they have changed with the digital age. My boyfriend has given me strength to quit my repetitive job that was going nowhere and has been supportive throughout, so that’s why I’m supporting him ! You can help support this great start-up idea to turn trading into an easy-to-play game too → check out OhMyGeorge.com and don’t hesitate to sign up !
