Hardcore Founders

Was part of an interesting discussion the past ~week on "hardcore" startups.

Not every company needs to be hardcore, and most aren't, but if you're a startup you need to be sufficiently hardcore to win big and the work happens in sprints.

In a normal job, hardcore might earn you a promotion:

80% = 80% returns
90% = 90% returns
110% = 105% returns and a gold star.

Startups are different. Prefaced by the _correct product direction for the company_ (you need to get that right first), the effort you put in results in:

80% = 80% returns
100% = 1,000% returns
110% = 10,000% returns

It's a power law, and very few people put in those last %.

There was a time in November where I was both the only engineer and all of marketing for higherrrrrrr and we were printing 5k / hr. The site *could not go down* and I was sleeping in shifts and working around the clock. I had to Doordash fresh underwear to my apartment because there wasn't time to do laundry or shower.

Eventually we got it under control and stabilized, but for that period I didn't have a life.

I've done similar several times, both at Coinbase and in my own companies. My average is to work 10-14 hour days 7 days a week. I do take weeks off and breaks, but it's at the whim of the flow of work, not just for fun. When it comes time to sprint, all-out is a necessity.

Startups are not about growth, and if your serious about that you need to commit to it. It's not a popular thing to say, but for the folks who are shipping the future it's true. Also, not everyone wants that! And that's ok too. We're all just trying to contribute to the world in the way we can best. This is just the way that a lot of us in the startup world do it.

Happy Saturday building.