I am addicted to my startup

Hello, my name is Stuart and I’m a startupaholic.

Working so much on a startup can have this affect on you. Be warned.

Let’s rewind the past week.

First of all, there was a bachelor party. Still being part of a relatively small team, it is impossible for me to take my fingers off the pulse, with the abundant alcohol which was going around during the weekend, I still had my pulse on my emails.

I always carry a battery and charger with me. I’m obsessed with always being reachable by email and phone. That’s when it it dawned on me that I may have a problem. And I think it’s probably common in startups: the inability to switch off!

When growing a startup and starting to see results you will be so unbelievably passionate about it (forget having a child!), this startup is your baby and you want to see it succeed.

It will take up all your waking hours and if it wakes you up in the middle of the night, it is just part and parcel of it.

Fast forward a few days without alcohol (thankfully) and I find myself at a wedding. Albeit weddings in Thailand are a little different than I am used to. I think I am the only guest who brought along a Macbook.

After the reception and formalities are done and the beer is out, I’m on my Macbook replying to emails and getting things done. Do things get easier? Not sure, but this is just part of the job.

If I wanted to have a boring office job I imagine it to be similar to studying. I am fortunate to have never had a boring office job but I imagine you go in, do some stuff, leave at X o’clock and it doesn’t follow you home. Now, if I did that I am sure I would be a DotA 2 progammer by now but startup life seems to have consumed me.

Going to bed last night and waking up today to 24 emails in the space of 6 hours made me realize

I love the buzz and it is an addiction. When a new deal comes in or a new customer is signed, it is just incredible. Long may this feeling continue, if the joy and happiness out of running a startup was to disappear then I guess I would stop doing it.

But finding something you are passionate about and doing it full time is an incredible feeling. Sure, there are sacrifices but they are okay for thinking about where you want to be.