71% of startup founders sacrifice private lives for work — survey

71% of founders see work as a higher priority in their lives, sacrificing some of their “off-work” time for success. However, 45% of founders said the ability to spend time with friends has declined.

ULTRA.VC, an impact-focused EU accelerator and VC, conducted a survey of founders aged 18 to 60+ about their work-life balance. The survey managed to get responses from 202 startup founders across 47 countries, with the majority of the respondents based in the European Union. AIN shares the key notes.

• 71% of surveyed founders see work as a higher or the highest priority in their lives, sacrificing some or any of their “off-work” time for success.

Plenty of entrepreneurs see it as a necessary trade-off for potential success. Gen Z founders are more inclined to extremes, with 31.8% ready to sacrifice their personal lives for work, compared to 14.9% of Millennials and 12.5% of Gen X respondents.

• However, 70.8% of founders admit that their work-life balance remained unchanged or improved over the last year.

While only 37.5% of pre-seed/seed stage founders see their personal-professional harmony improve, early-stage and later-stage startups show more positive statistics, with 54% and 61% of founders, respectively, succeeding in balancing work and personal lives.

• Yet, for 45% of founders, the ability to spend time with friends has declined.

Over the past year, it led to increased stress (41.7%), burnout (15.3%), and anxiety (13.9%). While spending time with family and friends gives founders support and inner strength in stressful environments, distressing activities become equally important during pressing times.

• The top 3 activities founders tend to sacrifice are hobbies (18.8%), leisure time (15.5%), and physical activity (14.7%).

• Physical activity (45.5%) and romance (23.8%) are the founders’ first choices for emotional support.
• While only 37.5% of pre-seed/seed stage founders see their personal-professional harmony improve, early-stage and later-stage startups show more positive statistics, with 54% and 61% of founders, respectively, succeeding in balancing work and personal lives.