I mean this in the nicest way possible, but this is one of the most frustrating things I've ever read, as well as many of the comments echoing the author. I do commend you for posting this publicly, that takes guts, but you have to do something about it. If I were your CEO, I'd insist you take a very long break, right now.
You realize you're going to die, in the best case, 70 to 80 years from now, yeah? Likely much sooner with the mental state you just described. This is all very blunt, and probably harsh, but my point is life is short and you only get one shot. I can't believe you'd subject yourself to this, all for a startup, or for the startup lifestyle. I do not mean to belittle what you are passionate about, or the time and effort you've clearly put into your company, but there is more to life than this.
Take a break. Take a very long break (I'm talking a year at least). Go travel, go home, go somewhere, but stop slaving away and sitting in your room for days at a time. Go be around other people, be it family or friends. Find love, and love yourself. You can always pursue your entrepreneurial dreams after you're happy (and your company will benefit from your happiness).
The startup lifestyle is an incredible journey, I'm on a third myself, but if I felt even remotely close to what you just described, I'd quit in an instant. It's not worth that to me, not even close. I'd prefer to be happy, love, be loved, and work in a coffee shop for the rest of my days before I'd trade it for being depressed in the way you describe.
You owe it to yourself to be happy, so quit wasting time.
Thank you. I wish parents taught their kids to 'know when to quit' more often. I've read stories from founders who missed the birth of their children, left their dying parents, sacrificed everything important for some dumb startup that sells shoelaces or soap or diapers. It's one thing to be persistent and another to be delusional. And the best way to find out which one you are, is when you take a step back, clear your mind for a week or two and have a good look at yourself when you're not stimulated on coffee and twitter.
I agree. While I can have empathy for OP's feelings, when he says he's changing the world with upverter, you can't help but think he's being delusional. It's just a site that shares your mechanical drawings.. let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
Your own happiness comes first, not some imaginary customers who want to use your product to make themselves more money, or inject themselves with more dopamine... they don't care about your well-being at all.
Should I ever have kids -- and I'd like to! -- this would be the only thing in raising them that I wouldn't teach them like my parents taught me: failing is OK. There is always a way to continue and failing just means discovering a "way that didn't work".
My happiness and that of the people around me are the real concerns, everything else I do is just serving those goals.
I think this is good advice, but summed up better would be know when to take breaks (maybe 4 a year). Use the depressive episodes as an indicator that your mind and body need a holiday.
Good grief, are you serious? This is the worst, most short-sighted, destructive and downright mean piece of advice I've ever seen.
Here you've got a very young man describing decisions he has made in his life that are killing him, and your big solution is to pivot his business focus? Look, people get burnt out, it happens. When you spend 365 days a year spinning your brain at 100k RPM, every so often you need to let it cool down and recharge.
This isn't "quitting" it's called "pacing yourself." Christ. You act like the grandparent comment was saying never ever program or build a business again. He said take a year-long break.
You're painting with very broad strokes. There are more than the two extreme types of people you seem to classify everyone into.
For example, have you forgotten DHH and Peldi? They've created some of the best software businesses, contributed huge amounts to the community and love "wasting time" on beaches.
I'm personally probably closer to the blog author's type, but racing sportscars definitely sounds more fun than the 10th pivot to me.
You realize you're going to die, in the best case, 70 to 80 years from now, yeah? Likely much sooner with the mental state you just described. This is all very blunt, and probably harsh, but my point is life is short and you only get one shot. I can't believe you'd subject yourself to this, all for a startup, or for the startup lifestyle. I do not mean to belittle what you are passionate about, or the time and effort you've clearly put into your company, but there is more to life than this.
Take a break. Take a very long break (I'm talking a year at least). Go travel, go home, go somewhere, but stop slaving away and sitting in your room for days at a time. Go be around other people, be it family or friends. Find love, and love yourself. You can always pursue your entrepreneurial dreams after you're happy (and your company will benefit from your happiness).
The startup lifestyle is an incredible journey, I'm on a third myself, but if I felt even remotely close to what you just described, I'd quit in an instant. It's not worth that to me, not even close. I'd prefer to be happy, love, be loved, and work in a coffee shop for the rest of my days before I'd trade it for being depressed in the way you describe.
You owe it to yourself to be happy, so quit wasting time.