&gt; Lesson 7: Letting Your Startup Rule Your Self Esteem Is Dangerous<p>Seems obvious, but there&#x27;s a reason it happens so often. If you live and breath your startup, you&#x27;re better prepared to take on opportunities. Even if you&#x27;re only at your desk &quot;working&quot; for 8-10 hours a day, you can find a lot of serendipity by talking about it with friends and family. Wait, you know somebody who could be a customer? Wait, you made money on your last job and want to invest? Wait, you want to work with us? It&#x27;s easy to get into a mode where you&#x27;re forever pitching, networking, and being your company, because there are real benefits.<p>That said, I&#x27;ve talked to a weirdly high number of people who had a kid while founding a company. Their tongue-in-cheek logic: &quot;This is something that&#x27;s obviously more important than my company. If I&#x27;m going to have my self-esteem wrapped up in anything external, it&#x27;s better to be my child than my company. My business may fail, but I will not fail to raise this kid.&quot;<p>Me, I got a dog. It&#x27;s working out!