Seth Priebatsch: Get a life

http://www.startupswami.com/2010/11/seth-priebatsch-get-life.html

by mdouglas88 • 16 years ago

132 64 16 years ago

Mystalic• 16 years ago

Different lifestyles work for different people. I know Seth -- he's energized and motivated by the work at hand. He's happiest when he's working.

That doesn't mean he doesn't know how to have fun. We were racing bicycles around Google Ventures just for kicks. He's also 21 -- he doesn't have a family he has to worry about. In fact, I'd say his employees and his company are his family.

I like work and life balance, but not everyone needs it. or sometimes you find your fun within your work.

nbauman• 16 years ago

I agree with your point - not everyone needs work life balance; however, I think what the Author is saying is it's far from honorable to lead a company in that fashion. The culture of the company is largely influenced by the behavior of its leaders. If Seth's lifestyle is a point of pride it's likely to be poisonous in the longterm for the company.

codypo3• 16 years ago

I disagree that not everyone needs work/life balance. If you're a leader at a company, your employees count on you to make good decisions regarding their future. I don't think you can make reasonable decisions here if you spend all of your time working and thus lose the perspective one gains from an outside life.

Let's say that I'm an employee of yours and I have a pregnant wife. I wish to take off at 3 PM once a week to accompany her to the doctor. I make this pitch to you, my 21 year old CEO who lives at the office. If you're buried in the business all day, every day, could you comprehend how important something like this would be to me? Even if you did say yes, what would you think of my commitment to the company? Would you factor my behavior into your decisions about my future?

You may find great meaning within your work, but others will have much different priorities in their lives. I think you lose your ability to realize that with this sort of workload.

lkrubner5• 16 years ago

My remark may be dismissed as trolling, but seriously think about the scenario you are putting forward:

"Let's say that I'm an employee of yours and I have a pregnant wife. I wish to take off at 3 PM once a week to accompany her to the doctor. I make this pitch to you, my 21 year old CEO who lives at the office."

This is at a startup?

The early phase of a startup is short - within 2 years the company either takes off or dies. I really, seriously think that if you and your wife want to have children, you should get a job at a larger and more stable organization - its good for your kid, good for your wife, good for you. If you have a pregnant wife, you should not be working at a startup. Find something more stable and secure.

Locke1689• 16 years ago

Everyone has work/life balance. The difference is exactly where each person draws a line between work and life. It seems that Seth prefers to include much of what we would think of as "work" as life.

I find most of these comments on HN especially funny because most of my non-HN friends would find this group of people positively anti-social. They would find the very notion of obsessively commenting on a startup site with a group of people who have never met pretty pathetic, to be honest. Their idea of socializing is getting drunk at a club and finding some hot girl to go home with for the night. Honestly, sometimes that's my idea of socializing, too. Does that make them more "social" than this crowd? No. Is HN's socializing any better? Of course not.

I'm really depressed at the amount of judgmental bullshit that this thread has to spawned, to be honest. People need to understand that others may not be like them and may not make the same life choices. Does that make their choices inherently worse? No. It may also mean that they have different goals. Given that Seth and his company seem to be doing OK it looks like his choices are working for the company and, moreover, he understands his market and his employees.

quanticle3• 16 years ago

That's true, but what I worry about is the implicit pressure for his employees to put in the same sort of hours. Not everyone can be productive for sixteen hours a day. Heck, I doubt that even Seth is productive for the full time that he's at the office. I wonder how much of his day goes to fixing the mistakes he made on the previous day.

mkramlich• 16 years ago

At 21, males are still essentially boys. Physically we treat them as adults. But mentally we are still closer to boys. And when you're a programmer, and a boy, the computer is basically this big awesome multi-purpose toy you can make do all kinds of cool/weird/esoteric things, some on the screen, some in mindspace -- some of which we find that others will pay us millions of dollars to do. Bonus! It's easy to be obsessed with it under these conditions.

jeffclark3• 16 years ago

Out of the last 4 CEOs I've had to work with, the 2 that had no life were definitely the ones I hated working for.

Their constant stress made the rest of the company very antsy. It's unhealthy all around.

peteforde3• 16 years ago

The simple fact is that he'll burn out, sooner or later. That kind of energy can be initially compelling, but very few great leaders thrive without compassion and charisma.

There's a large element of the media that champions sociopathic tendencies. It's good for the HN types to visibly push back against it, even if every situation is different.

Sometimes it's good to cry it out with people. Hard to do that if you can't sign a contract ahead of time.

devinj3• 16 years ago

This is more autistic than sociopathic. It's quite possible that he won't burn out, simply because he really isn't interested in socialization.

peteforde3• 16 years ago

Do you know that the man in question is in fact autistic?

Austism and Aspergers are conditions that get casually assigned to geeks with eccentric or anomalous behaviours far too often. Given the degree to which the founder in question is functioning, it's medically unlikely that he has either condition.

Meanwhile, I believe that being averse to forming complex friend relationships combined with creating a culture of constant work (which many would describe as abusive) is sociopathic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociopathy

brlewis2• 16 years ago

Matt Douglas (the author) is CEO of http://punchbowl.com/ whose users have a life. It makes sense for him to have a lifestyle that helps him relate to his users. How big a part do you think the lifestyle of your users should play in optimizing the work-life balance of founders?

I'm looking forward to discussing this and other topics with Boston-area hackers at today's meetup.

edgeztv• 16 years ago

What/where is the meetup today?

brlewis2• 16 years ago

http://anyvite.com/events/home/pypehqiqsd#1

5:30 at Cambridgeside. Bring friends.

Aetius• 16 years ago

Dude, stfu and get back to work. I mean really, who tells someone else how to run their business? If it works for him, it works for him, and that's that.

sz• 16 years ago

The tone of your comment got you downvoted into oblivion but that was my reaction too. Just seems like whining about image.

staunch2• 16 years ago

And yet the Macintosh was created under precisely these conditions. This is often how amazing things are created. It's not the only way, but it definitely can work.

quanticle3• 16 years ago

Oh, its true that the Mac was created under these conditions, but I doubt that any of the creators would describe the experience as a pleasant one. Even the stories on Folklore.org (which highlight the most pleasant parts of the effort) contain a distinct undertone of tension as a reflection of the enormous amount of pressure being placed on the team by Steve Jobs.

staunch2• 16 years ago

I bet a good number of them also think that was one of the best times of their lives.

wildmXranat• 16 years ago

There's nothing great about being the Napoleon of CEOs. Get some proper rest. Enjoy the company of your friends and enhance those relationships. Get perspective on personal life before stress bites you in the ass.

haploid3• 16 years ago

There's no obvious indication that the CEO in question is under large amounts of stress. Generally, many founders who work this much do so in a state of flow, which is very much a non-stressful manner of working.

acangiano2• 16 years ago

While this is a worthwhile discussion, and I fundamentally agree with the points made by the article, I find it distasteful to see articles which isolate a specific person and publicly tell them how they should live their life. Not too long ago there was another article about how it was tragic that Patrick didn't use his skills for more ambitious projects.

The same points could be made without making the article gravitate around the personal life of Seth Priebatsch. If you are concerned about that person in particular, and would like to host an intervention, you can do so privately via email.

nhangen2• 16 years ago

I don't think he's isolating it as an attack on Seth, but as an attack on the media that glorifies Seth's behavior.

cj• 16 years ago

(accidentally voted down)

acangiano2• 16 years ago

That could be done with a title such as, "Mass media: stop glorifying entrepreneurs without a life". If you call it "Seth Priebatsch: Get a life" you are framing the discussion in a confrontational, ad hominem manner.

j_baker2• 16 years ago

If people can't handle others publicly criticizing their lifestyle, they shouldn't bloviate about it to the New York Times or CNN. He willingly made that lifestyle a matter of public discourse.

I see this more as an attempt to prevent other Boston area people from idealizing his behavior. I admit he diluted his point by focusing on Priebatsch himself, but it doesn't make the point less valid.

wpeterson2• 16 years ago

Agreed.

Here's hoping this article starts a productive conversation about work/life balance and startup culture myths.

You've got to pace yourself and keep things in perspective if you want to get things done in the long run.

msarvar• 16 years ago

Give him a break, he's only 21. I mean, he wasn't allowed to drink an alcohol a year ago! I bet when your're a bit little older, you already know what it means to have a balanced life.

mooneater• 16 years ago

"Nothing has been produced from that".

Uh-huh. Maybe because watching a movie together is a very poor way to spend time with someone you care about.

Instead, spend even 30 minutes talking about the things you care most about. I guarantee then something "will be produced from that".

j_baker2• 16 years ago

Personally, I think not being productive is the point of going to movies. One only has so many hours they can spend being productive before they become wrecks!

phprida• 16 years ago

"Tunnel vision helps. Being a bit of a shit helps. A thick skin helps. Stamina is crucial, as is a capacity to work so hard that your best friends mock you, your lovers despair and the rest of your acquaintances watch furtively from the sidelines, half in awe and half in contempt" - Felix Dennis, Media Mogul

daimyoyo• 16 years ago

It's a bit odd that the best idea Seth Priebatsch's ever had is to add a game layer to the world. If he were to apply his talents to a real business problem not only would he make substantially more money, he'd change the world. Don't get me wrong, Scvngr is a neat idea, but it's like creating a baking soda volcano for a science fair project when you're capable of demonstrating cold fusion. Hopefully he'll tackle something big after he exits this company.

As an aside; I have no idea what he should do next. I just hope that he can solve a bigger problem in his lifetime than the one he's working on.

ariels• 16 years ago

Some of our best ideas come from when we are away from the computer totally engaged in something other than work. I think Seth and others will ultimately learn this.

southpolesteve• 16 years ago

Maybe he can't get friends, so he says he doesn't want them.

acconrad• 16 years ago

The post makes sense, and we should not be putting people like him on a pedestal. It's in bad taste to call out someone specifically. He is not the only one who does this, and this article can be generalized to any over zealous leader. I feel bad for him for missing out on so much in life, and he's young - there's no reason to knock a young kid when he's down. Eventually it will catch up to him.

usiegj00• 16 years ago

Seth Priebatsch: Love a life. Hey guys--I've had the pleasure of working with Seth. He's a stellar entrepreneur. He is intensely intelligent. He's a humble and thoughtful hacker. He's living a dream--enjoying what he does and working hard. And isn't that the special thing about geeking out today? We get to do the things we love to do. The things we stay home on a Friday night to hack at? It's a choice I make all the time and I love to hear Seth talk about it with a sense of passion. It doesn't have to be your choice--but it's one many of us make--and Seth gets my nod.

bhoung• 16 years ago

Here here. There's nothing as hard as achieving success in all aspects of your life.

bherms• 16 years ago

1) Who cares if he's spending that much time doing it? If he loves it, that's all that matters. If everyone dedicated themselves like that to something that ignited their passion, the world would be better off in general.

2) I would assume that while he does probably work his ass off, there is a bit of exaggeration there. It's for the investors. They want to know they're investing their money in someone who is dedicated to the product and not afraid to bust ass and work long hours. I'm sure he does, but the glorifying of it is probably to retain investor confidence.

3) Someone buy the kid a copy of Rework

jamesaguilar• 16 years ago

Personally, I don't care as long as you don't expect me to be there with you on Saturday. In that case, we have a problem.

jayroh• 16 years ago

According to his bio on scvngr - "Seth Priebatsch was born in Boston, MA at the age of 7." (http://www.scvngr.com/about/team)

How can you hold someone to conventional standards when they're born at the age of 7?! He's got a lot of catching up to do.

JonathanFields• 16 years ago

I look at our minds and bodies like a formula 1 car, you may not like it, but at some point you need to replenish. You can either do it in intelligent intervals that allow not to live with that lingering sense that you might blow up at any given moment. Or, you can push until everything starts to fail and you're forced to recover.

The question isn't whether we need to pause and recover, it's whether we'll choose to integrate that time into intelligent intervals that let you feel good along the way or hold out for one big boom the also happens to leave you feeling increasingly like garbage as you approach your limit.

Just look to the structure of ycombinator. It isn't 6, 9 or 12 months. Because nobody can sanely keep that level of intensity or pace for that long.

Plus, once you're far enough into life to have people and activities that allow you to come alive outside of work (even if you love your work), you do a disservice to both your professional and personal vision by ignoring those people over long periods of time.

Seth Priebatsch: Get a life

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