For me, the #1 way it changed me, for life, is I can never decompress.
When I was a Director, then a VP, at two start-ups, I could always turn it off. Turn it off on Saturday. Turn it off when I got home. Turn it off when I went for a run.
After being a 2x founder over 9 years (13 if you count SaaStr as a start-up) … now I can never turn it off.
I’m always thinking about whatever I’m working on, every moment of the day, or at least close to it.
That’s a good thing. It’s necessary to be a very good, let alone great, founder.
But part of me still remembers when I could shut it off. I miss some of it, and it takes your toll on the rest of your life. Because once you are a founder, the rest of your life is still always competing for mental mindshare with what you are creating, nurturing, and scaling.
