I'm guessing you don't have a wife and children. It isn't about the money, it's about not seeing them.

You are also forgetting that it isn't just your sacrifice in terms of the time you are giving up with your wife and children for three months, but also that you are forcibly restricting them from being able to see you too. They didn't choose that.

Once you have a family you have a bunch of responsibilities and you've signed up for life. You can't just pick and choose when it suits you.

I realise that there are a lot of young folks on HN and probably not so many parents, so I'm expecting a barrage of down votes, but maybe in ten years time when you've reached my perspective you'll come back and upvote me!

I was raised by a single mother, in part because my father didn't want the overhead of raising kids. I know many other people like that (or other similar situations like parents voluntarily enlisting in the military). Obviously an anecdote with sample size n=1, but different people make the choice of prioritizing different areas of life based on what makes them happy.

But I think for you it is clear that family comes before business. Which is a fine personal choice for you, but is it the kind of choice people putting their money in your business want to see you making?

(And yes I don't have kids or a wife.)

> You are also forgetting that it isn't just your sacrifice in terms of the time you are giving up with your wife and children for three months, but also that you are forcibly restricting them from being able to see you too. They didn't choose that.

“He who would accomplish little need sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much. He who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.”

You missed the point. Your anecdote is about the returns gained when you choose to personally sacrifice one thing to gain another.

My point was that in this scenario, you are forcing sacrifices on other people whether they like it or not through your actions.