Building a Business at the Cost Of What?

27 Nov 2013

Inc. has got a great article on Box founder Aaron Levie — Don’t Bet Against Aaron Levie.

He has built Box into a great business. However, I was a bit stumped on the personal front:

Levie’s routine over the past several years has been stringent. He wakes at around 10. He showers quickly, and arrives at the office by 11 a.m. He downs two coffees, sometimes holding two cups at once. He rarely eats breakfast or, for that matter, lunch. He spends 90 percent of his daylight hours in meetings or interviews, to which he walks very quickly or even runs. He is almost never at his desk. At around 7:30 p.m., he takes a nap for about an hour, and when he wakes up, he gets really, really productive. Each night, he probably sends a couple of hundred emails, and by 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., he’s finally done. Levie does not take weekends off, and, in the last handful of years, he has taken one vacation, a three-day trip to Mexico with his girlfriend.

Rarely eats breakfast & lunch!

No sports!

Working through the evenings!

No vacations!

I am guessing that work is life then. Great for some people but personally, I wouldn’t trade my freedom for even a million dollars. To me, success is something very different!


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