{"id":1000,"date":"2025-05-14T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T06:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2025-05-14T16:50:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T16:50:20","slug":"my-startup-was-my-family-until-it-wasnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/14\/my-startup-was-my-family-until-it-wasnt\/","title":{"rendered":"My startup was my family \u2014 until it wasn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can you build a family and a business at the same time? In a new bi-monthly column, founder-father Varun<\/span> Bhanot offers a candid behind-the scenes look at the wins and the whines of being a “Startup Daddy” today.<\/em><\/p>\n

I have been called Startup Daddy<\/strong> in part because I run a business and partly because I became a dad. Surfing through life as a challenging founder and father has made me realise what “family” means, and what it’s about, especially in the world of startups.<\/p>\n

Previously, I have heard a phrase many times before that goes, “Oh, we are not just a team, we are a family here.”<\/em> And while this statement is often well-meaning, I have grown increasingly wary of that comparison.<\/p>\n

Let’s just remind ourselves that families are truly unconditional. Startups, by their founding nature, aren’t.<\/p>\n

In one of our early ventures, we built a tight-knit team. We have celebrated birthdays, pulled all-nighters together, and even taken a weekend retreat. It felt like a family, until it didn’t.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you had to let go of someone due to their negligible performance, it wasn’t just hard, but it felt like a good betrayal, apart from being vengeance. Why so? Because we have crossed certain blurry lines. We sold them a family, not a workplace, to pitch in their ideas.<\/p>\n

Here’s what I’ve learned:<\/h3>\n

Agility doesn’t mean burnout. I remember watching a junior developer working 14 hours a day, thinking it was expected because “Oh, isn’t that what family is about?” We didn’t ask much, but we didn’t stop. That’s completely on us.<\/p>\n

What’s my take on it?<\/h3>\n

Startups only work best when people feel valued, safe, and secure. Not purely obligated by family guilt. I would rather aim for a highly trust-based team where people can thrive, achieve, agree, disagree, and even leave without feeling like they are being walked out on by a family.<\/p>\n

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\n About Varun Bhanot <\/span><\/p>\n

Varun Bhanot is Co-founder and CEO of MAGIC AI, the cutting-edge AI mirror that makes high-quality fitness coaching more accessible. Under his leadership, MAGIC AI has raised $5 million in venture funding and earned multiple industry accolades — including being named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024. As a new father as well as founder, Varun shares candid insights on balancing parenting and entrepreneurship in his bi-monthly guest column, Startup Daddy.<\/p>\n

Learn more about MAGIC AI <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post My startup was my family \u2014 until it wasn’t<\/a> appeared first on Startups.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can you build a family and a business at the same time? In a new bi-monthly column, founder-father Varun Bhanot offers a candid behind-the scenes look at the wins and the whines of being a “Startup Daddy” today. I have been called Startup Daddy in part because I run a business and partly because I became a dad….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1000"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1003,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000\/revisions\/1003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}