voices

You’re the Boss Blog: The Hidden Costs of Starting a Company

June 3, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Fashioning Change

A social entrepreneur tries to change the way people shop.

I was at a StartupsUncensored event some time ago where a speaker, Jason Nazar, the founder and chief executive of Docstoc, said: “You can have your start-up and one thing. You can have your start-up and your health. You can have your start-up and your family. Or you can have your start-up and your significant other, but you can’t have multiples. If you try to have multiples, you’ll be poor at all of them.”

I had never heard someone speak so candidly about the lack of work/life balance when it comes to start-ups. As we continue to build Fashioning Change, I am often reminded of his words. Since I started the company, managing interpersonal relationships with family, friends and a significant other has been really hard.

I’ve lost friends because they thought I was crazy to try to build my own company. It took my father a very long time to understand what I was doing. In fact, it wasn’t until Fashioning Change was featured in the December issue of Entrepreneur that he really expressed acceptance of what I had dedicated my life to do. I’ve been in relationships that ended because I was told I’m “too ambitious” or because the guy would make me feel guilty when I couldn’t drop what I was working on to grab dinner — or make dinner.

I’m a Type A personality. I’m competitive and driven. Because the landscape of “shopping for good” continues to grow with inauthentic voices and so-called greenwashers, I’m driven to work harder. Still, I’ve learned that working at 110 percent seven days a week isn’t sustainable and can even compromise what I create. And I have come into a place where I’m on a personal mission to create a more normal start-up work/life balance. Over the Memorial Day weekend, I spent my first weekend in almost three years with no access to a computer or phone.

And I’ve been chatting with other start-up friends, 99.9 percent of whom are men — I do wish there were more women starting companies. None of the men I spoke with have ever been told that they are “too ambitious,” but many expressed overlapping challenges that we all know are common in the start-up world: depression, reckless partying, drug abuse, drug addiction, frustration with family members who don’t accept their work habits, compromised health and failed marriages.

I have one friend whose former wife cheated on him, and he blames himself for working too much and tearing apart his family (they have two kids together). Much of what you see in the media tends to glamorize start-up life (“The Social Network” is a great example). Until recently, the toll taken by the start-up life has gotten little attention.

A friend of mine, Bobby Matson, founded Startups Anonymous with Diego Prats. They are both entrepreneurs who persevered over the challenges of a failed start-up. Startups Anonymous is a Web site that aims to help start-up founders and employees connect anonymously with serial entrepreneurs about the real challenges they face. After being live for just a few hours, the site had received more than 40 e-mails from founders all over the world eager to connect with someone — an indication of how many isolated people there are trying to figure out the challenges that come with building a start-up.

Have you thought about this, too? What have you given up for your start-up? Do you see it as sacrifice or as just part of what has to be done? Have you learned anything about managing your work/life balance?

Adriana Herrera is chief executive of Fashioning Change. You can e-mail her at adrianah@fashioningchange.com, and you can follow her on Twitter at @Adriana_Herrera.

Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/the-hidden-costs-of-starting-a-company/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Banks Park Record Amount With E.C.B.

January 4, 2012 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Opinion »

Op-Ed: Who Should Contribute?

Noncitizens who lawfully reside in this country have a right to add their voices — and contributions — to the electoral process.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/business/global/banks-park-record-amount-with-ecb.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: banks park, electoral process, voices

Bits Blog: Arrington Is Out at AOL and TechCrunch

September 12, 2011 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Michael Arrington, the TechCrunch blogger turned venture capitalist, is no longer an employee of AOL.

In a statement Monday, AOL said Mr. Arrington “has decided to move on from TechCrunch and AOL to his newly formed venture fund.”

But TechCrunch immediately cast doubt on how voluntary the move was, placing quotation marks around the word “deciding” in the headline “‘Deciding’ to Move On.”

Mr. Arrington, making a surprise appearance Monday at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, the start-up conference he founded, called it “a sad day for me.”

“It’s no longer a good situation for me to stay at TechCrunch,” he said. He said he would continue to work on the venture fund, CrunchFund.

Erick Schonfeld, who has been co-editor of TechCrunch alongside Mr. Arrington, has been named editor, AOL said. TechCrunch is also hiring new editors.

But some of TechCrunch’s writers and editors are considering leaving AOL and TechCrunch to start a rival blog, according to a person briefed on the developments who was not authorized to speak publicly. It is unclear whether TechCrunch would remain as popular — or be worth as much to AOL — without its current band of writers and editors, including Mr. Arrington, each of whom have strong voices.

Mr. Arrington said at the conference that he was proud of keeping the team together after AOL bought TechCrunch. “Unfortunately, I’m going to be the first one to leave,” he said.

AOL did not address the issue of whether writers might leave, but said in the statement, “The TechCrunch acquisition has been a success for AOL and for our shareholders, and we are very excited about its future.”

Before the announcement, Arianna Huffington, who oversees AOL’s Huffington Post Media Group, which includes TechCrunch, said last week that Mr. Arrington would not be an editor but could be an unpaid blogger for TechCrunch. At the Disrupt conference, Mr. Arrington wore a T-shirt that was printed with “unpaid blogger.”

The announcement came after several days of silence after AOL gave conflicting signals when Mr. Arrington announced last week that he had started the venture capital fund, backed in large part by AOL, that would invest in start-ups like the ones that TechCrunch covers.

At first, AOL said Mr. Arrington would remain at TechCrunch. Then, in response to questions of whether he would have a conflict of interest, it said he would no longer have an editorial role at TechCrunch but would be an employee of AOL Ventures. Now, he is entirely independent from the company.

It is unclear how his departure will affect his financial windfall from AOL. It bought TechCrunch last year for a reported $30 million, and Mr. Arrington was guaranteed part of the payment if he stayed at the blog for three years.

AOL will continue to invest $10 million in the $20 million CrunchFund. “Michael is a world-class entrepreneur and we look forward to supporting his new endeavor through our investment in his venture fund,” the company’s statement said.

At the Disrupt conference, Mr. Arrington tried to refocus the attention on the start-ups that were the subject of the conference.

“There’s a little drama around TechCrunch and me,” he said, adding, “Let’s get this out of the way” so that the audience could focus on the start-ups presenting at the event.

Speaking to the start-up founders in the audience, he said he “may be investing in a couple of you guys some day.”

Article source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/arrington-is-out-at-aol-and-techcrunch/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: co editor, current band, voices