i am the owner of a bootstrapped and now 30+ person company, with three kids at home. it took something like 7 years of 10-12 hour days to get our business off the ground, with many many many 7 day work weeks.
now post-startup, i barely have time to keep things going at the level required to maintain excellence, while not neglecting my young family. lots of push/pull around work, and lots of arguments and frustration with my wife. i honestly couldn't imagine getting a new business off the ground right now, where you have to do everything.
Anon account so not going into details, but stumbled into it hobbying and realized there could be a market. Cranked at it to the exclusion of everything else and made it work.
now post-startup, i barely have time to keep things going at the level required to maintain excellence, while not neglecting my young family. lots of push/pull around work, and lots of arguments and frustration with my wife. i honestly couldn't imagine getting a new business off the ground right now, where you have to do everything.