spif

Could this also work as a music curation for in our office? Would save the SONOS battles that can turn ugly pretty quickly.

1) You are not alone. Most founders will completely sympathize with you and understand your feelings. There are a growing number of founders that are coming out with their stories. Remember pg's articles about the highs and the lows? Also check #3 of YC's survey here: http://www.paulgraham.com/really.html

2) It's normal. Knowing that everybody hurts. It's normal that things are hard. If you can acknowledge this one simple fact, things become much easier.

3) Openness. Talking to friends and family and being open about it. The hardest thing I found was to be vulnerable wit those I feared might abuse it (investors, spouse, co-founders). In the end it actually improved everything about my relationships with most of those (and some that it didn't - it showed their true colors). For example with my gf - for her it was an instant revelation how I was feeling and she understood why I was cranky, tired or otherwise distant. After telling her how I felt - it was like instant intimacy.

4) Time out. Taking constructive time out and feeling happy are correlated immensely. Constructive time out is not watching the newest Walking Dead, but for me an effective time out was writing lists of my thoughts down. Taking the time out meant I would feel more in control. Feeling in control directly leads to more peace and happiness.

5) Doing GTD. The other items in the list are somewhat softer but this is one that has made the biggest practical impact. I religiously follow zero inbox and for me it is a something I pride myself in too -> feel better about things and gives me the brainspace to think about the higher level stuff.

Hope that helps. Feel free to email if you want to discuss more. There's much more back story to this than can be public. ;-)

Why do you think this is true?

You might be totally right, but it would be a more subliminal egoism, like feeling like a victim and being excessively defensive. I don't think most people will understand why being tired and selfishness are linked. Curious to why you make this causality / correlation.

If the employees get screwed over, then it doesn't sound like they are valued. I see many startups where the employees are super valued assets, get a decent salary AND they do what they love.

One of the cool side effects I'm expecting from christeen starting this is that through her experience she'll understand me better. Looking back I hope she can place into perspective all the ups and downs that startup-life brings.

And I hope I'll be able to understand better what she's going through.

The original idea started in 2006 while I was working with Eight Media, which I had founded together with Daniel Spronk (spazmaster). After hacking away at a prototype for a while we presented our MVP to a live audience in London in 2007. The response was overwhelming, we got serious about it. Found an angel willing to invest.

Then in 2009 Daniel went back to focus on Eight.nl while I kept going with Soocial. Looking back I think it was much harder without Daniel as a co-founder than I expected. It makes such a big difference to have someone there to bounce idea's, make decisions together and just have the support of someone else who's just as involved and committed.

Very much agree with PG's statement that although possible as a single founder, you're chances of success are less.

That feels like an honor coming from you, thanks. Have you been in Amsterdam often?

I find though that nothing beats being on location with developers in the same room while working on a project. Find someone close by or at least willing to start off the project together on location.

If you can stomach frog torture then here's some more background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog

It's much more important to understand the dynamics at the decision point of investment (like Fred also says) whether or not you invest. Obviously the decision to invest is bimodal (you do or you don't) and you do this depending on what the investor believes the outcome (also bimodal - success or failure) to be.

From an entrepreneurs perspective you don't really care if you make 10x or 3x because at that level it's a success either way.

'Self-conciousness' is the enemy of 'interestingness'

(Yeah, I'm aware that Gladwell uses a lot of anecdotal evidence, still in this case I believe it's correct and exactly what the op says)