u/karol-v

TLDR: love letter to founder life in Australia. It sucks balls, but it's worth it. I love this life. I love this country. Founder, life here sucks balls, but I choose it every day of the week and every life in every lifetime.

NOTE: This isn't AI-generated. I just turned on wispr flow and had a crack. This is written by someone who trained legs as the sun rose, just finished running a half marathon as the sun set and sank piss with the boys after, ten beers in after steak night at the local hotel.

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Being a founder is hard anywhere. You can carry uncertainty in your body, and you absolutely do. Payroll becomes personal. Problems do not politely wait until Monday morning. There's always something breaking, something late, something expensive that pops up right before Saturday rolls around. Something you shouldn't have seen earlier pops up, especially when you think things are going well.

Being a founder in Australia has a little bit of spice. We talk a big game about "giving it a fair go", but we are weirdly suspicious of people who take big swings. Ambition gets treated like arrogance. Profit gets treated like something dirty. If you lose, people think you're reckless. If you win, people wonder who you exploited.

The government? Look, I'm not anti-tax or anything like that, and I think the support systems in Australia are leaps and bounds better than the majority of places around the world. I want the country to work to be productive as hard as I do because we are the lucky country. We've been so lucky that we've made it as far as we have with how we go about living life.

Too often, it feels like the system is built to extract as much as possible from the pie instead of helping people grow the pie:

• More compliance
• More reporting
• More friction
• More tax
• More people taking a slice before the thing has even had a chance to stand up properly

Even if you mix sourdough well, once it's in the oven, you're going to have to let it rise. If you take it out before it's ready, you're left with a sad, sad, sad piece of goop. How am I going to put my butter and Vegemite on it? Or butter with sprinkles for my missus?

Founder life sucks balls.

Founder life in Australia can feel like building with one hand while using the other to constantly justify why you're allowed to want more. Still, I would choose this over any other profession any day of the week, any day of the year, and in every single lifetime.

No job has ever made me feel as alive as building a company. Nothing compares to the feeling of taking an idea that only existed in my head and turning it into something using my hard work. Nothing compares to the first customer who pays, the first hire who believes, or the first problem that finally breaks after months of carrying it around in your skull, in your noggin, in your dome.

There's nothing more fulfilling than imagining something or dreaming of something once upon a time and just conjuring it up from nothing to something. Nothing compares to the feeling of taking an idea that only existed in your head and forcing it into this world. Nothing compares to:

• the first customer who pays
• the first hire who believes
• the first piece of feedback that tells you you've changed their life
• the first problem that finally breaks after months of carrying it around in your skull

There's a kind of fulfilment in this life that's hard to explain to people who have not felt it. I have friends who, like me, at the time before I went all in, worked on things on the side: side projects, hustles.

Since going all in, it's quite hard to find people who just get it, who understand what it's like: the highs and lows, the absolute ecstasy of having a win, and the devastation of a loss, especially when it affects your missus or the people you're serving. Not many people get it, but the thing is, it's not exactly happiness.

A lot of the time, it's stress, doubt, exhaustion, and wondering whether or not you're actually insane, especially when you explain to your parents why you've decided to not get paid for a while, sacrificing stability for upside.

Underneath all of this, there's meaning, though.

You're in the arena, you're in the Colosseum, you're in the G. You're betting on yourself, you're building something that would not exist if you didn't decide that it should exist. That's the addictive thing, and that's the most addictive thing in the deepest possible way.

a safe job can give you:

• comfort
• money
• status
• weekends
• holidays
• time off
• time with your family and children, if you're lucky
• probably a cleaner nervous system with much fewer mental health issues
• much more expendable income
• more stability over your lifetime
• likely more respect from the in-laws

I understand why people chase it. For most people, it's a life they've lived once upon a time. For most founders, it's a life most of us have lived and sacrificed for the pursuit of this path

But for me, safety is too small a prize. Few are privileged enough to take big swings. By virtue of being born into a country where the government takes care of you, the minimum wage is high, and you can dine in the same restaurants as billionaires while working as a barista. I think it's our prerogative to take big swings. Safety is too small a prize

I'd rather chase something great than get punched in the face by reality. I'd rather have the pressure, the chaos, the sleepless nights, the stress, the impossible days, problems and issues, and the rare moments where it all works

Founder life is brutal. Founder life in Australia is even harder. Even in a state or a country where the government ensures that the pie doesn't grow, I will make sure it does, and I will force it to do so in my own way. Even by the smallest margin, I will make sure that the sourdough rises, at least for those who follow in my footsteps and stewardship as they work in this company

Founder, life sucks balls, but I would still choose it in every lifetime