I now weigh 200 pounds, thanks to the startup lifestyle of 9-9-6, working from 9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week.
I weighed 170 pounds earlier this year and was in the best shape of my life.
A year ago, I was competing in martial arts and benching 225 pounds.
Then I decided to jump back into the game and build my new stealth AI startup.
I went from hitting the gym 5 times a week to barely 1 time a week.
Working out keeps getting pushed to weekends.
Before, I would go on random walks or hikes during the day.
Now I am sitting behind a desk all the time.
My family is tired of hearing about my new startup 24/7, but that is all I can talk about.
I still try to order healthy when I have business lunches or dinners, but literally everything on the menu is loaded with calories and sugar.
This was not as tiring when I did my last startup in my 20s, but in my late 30s, I seem to be really feeling it fast.
When I was a VC, I used to tell founders in my portfolio to focus on work-life balance, as I eventually suffered burnout.
They would look at me with blank stares.
Of course, I felt like some wise sage having crossed another dimension.
In truth, I was just disconnected from reality as I became a VC, which is nowhere near as stressful and tiring.
I have since concluded that it is simply not possible to maintain work-life balance when you are running an AI startup, especially in this era.
The physical and mental toll is something founders understand but rarely talk about openly. I documented what that schedule actually looks like with a newborn in the mix.
