Start Up Are Hard

2026-10-23

I have worked on a start up for the past two years on enrich finance and it has given me a new appreciation for the work. I think I mentioned this but there is no team aside from the founders, if I get stuck no work get done. If a bad decision is made it is on me.

And I have stepped back into the corporate world at a medium size start up and put enrich down and I can feel the difference. I have a boss who makes a ton of decisions, I have a team I rely on for knowledge, I am not wholly responsible for the web servers staying up.

And so I come to the realization that in my current season of life that a start up is too hard for me. I don’t want to grind it out with two young kids who could use my attention. I don’t want to take no salary and burn through and get paid mostly in stock mainly for the Hope that the stock will be worth something one day. I guess I don’t want to live on hope right now, I do think you need a lot of hope in a start up, the deck is always stacked against you

Does this make me wimpy or a quitter, probably a little. But I am ok with that in the current season of my life.

Perhaps when my kids are a little older or when my savings are more secure I will try at a startup again, but for now I feel ‘once bitten twice shy’ about being a founder.

Gary

I do have the mindset of a craftsman in my new corporate role and I think it is a good one. ‘Go to work, work hard for 8 ish hours, go home to my family,’ and it stresses me out less. If I am ever a founder again hopefully I can bring with me this mindset instead of feeling the weigh of the company in my shoulders