In this episode, Justin speaks with Aaron Francis about being a new parent and trying to bootstrap a startup. Aaron argued the other side of Justin's tweet thread: "Wait until your kids are older to start a company." Aaron is well-positioned to talk about this because he has twins and is also bootstrapping Hammerstone with his co-founder Colleen. The whole conversation is a nuanced take on the topic and full of important insights, especially on: the risks involved (especially if you're not working a full-time job) the kind of foundation (mentally, financially, emotionally, relationally) you need to be able to take the risk Highlights from this episode: (00:12) - Welcome Aaron (01:16) - Topic introduction (02:28) - What's Aaron's story? (05:34) - What is a maximum effort era? (11:02) - What are you willing to sacrifice? (15:23) - What's your daily routine like? (17:36) - Context matters in all of this (28:07) - Are you sacrificing social connections? (30:59) - Blind spots can affect you on your journey (33:29) - Pain vs risk (37:49) - Being on the same page as your partner (41:53) - Going to therapy sooner (43:57) - Building a good foundation (48:57) - Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (54:00) - Sometimes it's easier to try getting a better job (01:02:48) - Where can people reach Aaron? Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Ethan Gunderson Anton Zorin from ProdCamp.com Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Russell Brown from Photivo.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Fathom Analytics Dan Buda Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★