Allison Paz retweeted
You're not supposed to say this but having kids completed me
I was taught -- explicitly -- that if you feel incomplete or chronically unhappy without a partner or children they will not complete you and you will ruin your life pursuing them before healing
That was just not true
Allison Paz retweeted
Somewhere between Gen X and Millennial is a micro generation that is defined by this song.
Released in 1996 as the second single from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, “1979” became the Smashing Pumpkins' biggest American hit, reaching No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on both the Modern Rock Tracks and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. The album was eventually certified 10× Platinum in the United States. “1979” was almost left off the album: producer Flood gave Corgan a final deadline to complete the unfinished song or remove it from the record. Corgan went home, finished the lyrics that night, and returned the next day with a new demo that convinced Flood to keep it.
Billy Corgan wrote the track as a nostalgic reflection on adolescence and the transition into adulthood. Although the title refers specifically to the year Corgan was 12, the song is less a literal autobiography than an idealised reflection on what it felt like to be young.
Allison Paz retweeted
Before starting Town, Jean-Denis (@jgreze) and his wife wrote a contract.
“Could I work 90 hours a week? Sure. But then I’d have a divorce and my kids would hate me. I don’t want those.”
“Friday from 6pm until Sunday 9am, that whole window, most weekends, I just don’t work at all. If I need to work, I’m very explicit: I need four hours on Saturday.”
“Every incremental minute of effort increases, maybe a very tiny bit, the odds of success. But I never get the time back with my six-year-old son.”
“If I don’t spend that time for two years, I never saw what he was like as a six or seven year old.”
I just finished reading @ElenaVerna's article on '996' culture in AI and whether we're filtering people out of the industry because of it.
elenaverna.com/p/im-not-doin…
I agree with so much of it.
It's always been a badge of honor for me that I can outwork anybody if that's what the job requires. A long time ago, I was a lawyer and it taught me what it means to work truly hard. In hindsight, this was silly because that work really didn't deserve my undivided attention at the cost of health, friendships, and being happy. But still I learned that there are times in life when going all-in really can make a difference.
Today, as the founder of Town, with an incredible wife and two amazing kids and, yes, friends still and hobbies and many commitments I take seriously outside of work, I have many things that deserve (and/or demand) my time and my love.
And Town is the most immediately demanding of those things. It merits attention: for my employees to have an incredible outcome, for our customers who rely on us to run their business, for our investors who clamor for an outsized return, etc. And the business can always use more of me. Every minute of my time spent on Town has such high ROI. Early in the journey, founder time is so high leverage.
And yet I say no to many of Town's demands.
Should I feel guilty about saying no? I am old enough to live mostly post-guilt thankfully. Elena's articles speaks perfectly as to why I say no.
Before starting Town, my wife and I sat down together and agreed on what it would mean for me to be a great and happy husband, dad, founder, and friend. We talked about the things that are sacred to us that I wouldn't compromise on. The places where she could help me and where I could help her.
It was a tough discussion. The tradeoffs meant I would not be the best dad. Nor the best founder. Nor the best husband. I'd be in ok physical shape but not in great shape. We had the discussion and we agreed on the kind of life we wanted. And now we're doing our best to live up to it.
Town reflects the tradeoffs from that conversation. I think for the best, not just for me, but for our employees.
My co-founder Tony and I have been intentional about building a culture where you can be a great parent and a great employee, where you can be happy in your work life and your personal life, where it's ok to crank when the business needs it, but also to step back when you need it.
A lot of parents don't think they can work in AI or startups and still show up for their spouse and their kids. You can. Our team composition is proof of it.
A lot of people think all of your employees have to 996 or else you won't win as a business. Our growth and success is proof that you can win simply by building a culture that knows when to push hard and when not to, a culture that gives agency for people to govern their time and commitments, trust that people will do what's right both for themselves and the company.
I am very proud of what we're building here. The product, the company, and the culture. Maybe there is an alternate reality where another Town has employees cranking 996 (or 997!) and maybe it's a better business. But I don't think so. I think it has worst talent. I think it's less able to step back and build the right things. I think it loses its soul and burns out before it can be truly great.
So no, we're not doing 996.
Allison Paz retweeted
CLASSIC woman in tech experience watching a billionaire and two bros (non-derogatory) discuss your own invention without credit :sob-glasses:
Allison Paz retweeted
This is just to say
I have hoarded
the dry powder
that was in
circulation
and which
you were probably
hoping
for exits
Forgive me
the valuations
so rich
and so cold
Allison Paz retweeted
Lots of VCs kindof sound like this: "Your basketball team doesn't have a moat, any healthy human can throw the ball into the basket thingy. "
People who have not run companies before don't understand how much the team matters more than some imagined structural moat.
When you rid yourself of a partner like this, you realize you’ve been let out of prison .
Allison Paz retweeted
As an opera singer, I am qualified to say that you absolutely do not have the right to inject your own political beliefs into a performance that the public expects to be treated as the composer intended. It is extremely disrespectful to the paying audience, and your professional colleagues. He should never work in any house ever again.
Allison Paz retweeted
People love to throw the “enjoy being old and alone” threat out there when a person, especially a woman, is not prioritizing getting married. I am once again reminding those people that you can be married for 30+ years and your husband or wife can have the audacity to die (or run off with a younger model) just before your mobility declines, or the cancer diagnosis comes, or your vision fails. Marriage is not insurance against the inevitable decline of our bodies and very likely loneliness of old old age if you have the good fortune to be old old. Marriage or partnering of two lives is a thing you should do because right now today you want to spend your days with a person and figure out life together. The future with someone is not guaranteed.
Allison Paz retweeted
Far Left 🫱🏾🫲🏼 Far Right
“You moved here for work? This isn’t your neighborhood.”
Vs
“You moved here for work? This isn’t your country.”
Horseshoe theory strikes again
unavailable
Allison Paz retweeted
Someone told me he thinks dating apps are bad because they let you access connection without having any motion in your life. Normally meeting people requires going out into the world, entering new scenes and navigating unfamiliar situations. You have to be living a life that brings you into contact with other people. Dating apps let you order connection without doing any of that work
Allison Paz retweeted
we shouldn't minimize the life changing benefits of GLP-1s while debating their risks, and access shouldn't be determined by wealth but by choice.
Allison Paz retweeted
It’s actually crazy how you grow up thinking home-cooked meals every day are just normal, then get older and realise how much time and effort it took your Mom to make that happen and how lucky you were to have that.
Allison Paz retweeted
If @DanielLurie can issue an order to ban data centers in SF, why doesn’t he just issue a ban on fentanyl?
And as an added bonus, tax-paying San Francisco residents with kids wouldn’t get randomly attacked by homeless people’s dogs on a main commercial street after getting their morning coffee. Cc @scsherrill
The SF homelessness trap, simply:
Advocates convince liberals they're helping locals priced out of housing. The city spends billions on housing and services. But many recipients are drug users from outside SF.
Users attract dealers. Drugs stay cheap, services stay generous, and more people come. Cartels see this and bring in cheap fentanyl. Problem explodes.
Advocates mean well, but the unintended consequences are too great. The money we spend on housing, treatment, and healthcare for out-of-town drug users could go to San Francisco Kids & Schools.
Allison Paz retweeted
Are data centers banned like housing or banned like fentanyl?
Today I signed the data center moratorium legislation.
San Francisco is the national leader in innovation, and that innovation is one important driver of our city’s recovery. We can never take that position for granted. As our city recovers, our administration is working to deliver a recovery that reaches every family and truly supports our communities.
Over the next 45 days, alongside departments and the Board of Supervisors, we will continue the work our administration has already started to develop a thoughtful, responsible framework that allows for the technology infrastructure our hospitals, office buildings, academic institutions, and government rely on while prioritizing community needs, keeping electricity rates low, and protecting the clean water and air our residents deserve.
Allison Paz retweeted
"See! A good guy stopped a bad guy with a gun --"
Wrong. A parent had to kill a 16 year old child with a gun because even though law enforcement responded quickly, it wasn't enough to save the four people that were already murdered -- including THREE CHILDREN. The only thing your "good guy" stopped was further escalation and more unnecessary trauma.
It's. Still. The. Fucking. Guns.
