Comment by scarface_74
9 days ago
Saying “no” is always a choice. If a startup can’t afford to hire enough people to not stress out its employees, it doesn’t deserve to exist
9 days ago
Saying “no” is always a choice. If a startup can’t afford to hire enough people to not stress out its employees, it doesn’t deserve to exist
I get where you're coming from, but startups often have to make the most of limited resources. It’s less about saying 'no' and more about prioritizing smartly. Have you found a good way to manage workload in a fast-paced environment?
My thought doesn’t change. Are you a founder? Are you getting outsized compensation for your work? I manage my workload by being able to communicate trade offs between cost, requirements and time and setting a ceiling on how long I’m willing to work.
I put in 40 maybe 45 hours of work and the company gets to choose how they get to use that time. I give my input. But they make the decision.
When I need to do “deep work”, I turn off Slack and email. Even before remote work was a thing, I would tell my managers I need some quiet time to get $x done and I’m working from home. They would get a couple of more hours in from me then.
I’m not afraid to say “no” traditionally because I thought I could get another job quickly. Things are of course crazier now and I’m a lot less cocky. But I still have a years expenses in the bank in addition to investments.
I have been working for 30 years almost and I have found that early stage, underfunded startups aren’t worth the effort or the monetary return.
In my later years, I’ve had multiple opportunities to be a “CTO” or “director” of a startup. The positions were always just a glorified team lead. I’ve said no.
Fair points. I’m not a founder, but I’ve navigated three very different domains—business development in high-end fashion (traveling across multiple countries), niche technical leadership hiring, and now technical marketing, SEO, and product advocacy at a product-based startup. Burnout or feeling overwhelmed isn’t pushing me to quit.....I just want to manage it better.
Prioritization helps, but in a high-growth environment, trade-offs aren’t always straightforward. You mentioned setting a ceiling on your work hours—how do you enforce that when leadership keeps shifting priorities?
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