It's fascinating that some founders will always post things like this, "I don’t think true work/life balance is possible in the day-to-day reality of startups" and yet others say that there's really no need to sacrifice work life balance even at a start up, and that if you are working yourself to death, you aren't working smart.
People who say it isn't possible to maintain a work/life balance in a startup are usually those who find it hard to delegate - they don't have people around them that they trust to do as good a job of something as they do themselves so they refuse to hand responsibility to other people or accept that they aren't the best person for the job.
In a small startup that's fine because there aren't that many things to do. A founder can be the developer, support, strategist, and marketer all at once. Arguably it's even a good thing at that stage because it keeps the burn rate down. The problems arise when there's too much growth for the jobs to be all be done, or even just overseen, by a founder. Then they struggle and start to hold the business back.
A good founder is always be looking for people who are better than they are to hand things over to. That's how a business succeeds.
Absolutely. It's crucial for a founder to be able to take a step back and think strategically. Being always under water and completing task after task prevents you from seeing the big picture and taking the big decisions.
I've worked with people who burned out and had to take time off days before deadlines doing demonstrably less than others who worked 9-6 and made sure it mattered. Delegation is certainly part of the problem, but I think there's a point at which people start buying into the mythos and cargo-culting a 'no work/life balance successful startup', which is really damaging.
Great points. Also people that have never experienced the other side of the coin assume the worst or recite some 140 char tweet as gospel. People need to face the fact that life (and business) is not static. It is constantly changing. Its how one adopts to change that's a true sign of a great entrepreneur.