Question On Family and Entrepreneurship
Interview by: Nina Zipkin, Staff Reporter at Entrepreneur Magazine
Q: What are you glad you didn’t know then that you know now?
A: I'm glad I didn't have kids until later in life. A dirty secret of entrepreneurship is that you never get a memo that says you can't undo personal and family relationships.
I watched people -- who I thought were gods at work -- who had kids that by the time they left home hated their parents because they had never seen them.
I would opt for a happy family over a pile of money. It was harder doing the family right, cost me one marriage in Silicon Valley but luckily there were no kids. I remember one day my ex-wife asked me, what’s more important: me or your job? I remember sitting there, having to think about it. And then we both looked at each other and realized the marriage was over. That was sad, because I wasn't mature enough to understand there were more important things than just doing the thing that was driving my passion. My other passion should be the family. And finally when I did get married again and have kids, I had a greater passion, which was to have a great family.
I don't understand why we're embarrassed to talk about this [topic] or see it as some sort of sign of weakness. Entrepreneurship is 24/7, but entrepreneurship without a family is meaningless. It's one of those fool's gold things.
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