Ask HN: Can a successful company founder still hack?

4 pointskrmboya1 comment

Just out of curiosity, if one's company becomes as successful as, say, facebook, does he become too involved running the company to do actual coding? If so then are his hacking days over? If so, again, then was he really a hacker in the first place, someone who derives his joy from, or lives for, solving technical challenges.

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Not that I have been remotely in the league of Facebook or a billion dollar company as a founder (I have been an executive at some). I do have 3 exits under my belt. 2 where to large travel companies.

That being said, I never felt comfortable getting too far away from development. I always felt that loosing my deep understanding of development would put me at a competitive disadvantage as a technical visionary. Even as my role changed within these organizations, I always found some time to design and write solutions. While it was not all day every day I did get one or two days during the week to do so. I don't know if I am A-Typical or not but I do represent the fact that it can be done if one want's to.

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