I notice that, nowadays, startups are emphasizing "work/life balance" much more than they used to. I'm sure part of that is because of the pandemic, which created strange new realities, where companies that had previously been workaholic and office-centric were forced to change by the historic events of the last 2 years.<p>But also, I think the trend had started before the pandemic. They heyday of valorizing a workaholic, 24/7 lifestyle was awhile ago, in the years after the 2008 crisis, when young people were trying to start their careers in very difficult economic conditions.<p>As one data point, which I think suggests the change, I've noticed how the comments have been changing, in regards to my book "How To Destroy A Tech Startup In Three Easy Steps" which describes events that happened in 2015. When the book first came out, some people said "Lawrence should not have stayed so long at such a dysfunctional startup" but everyone who read the book seem to know about such workaholic startups. But lately the comments have been more doubtful. A recent comment on Amazon:<p>"Working regularly till 2-3AM? I've never seen that even among startups in co-working spaces. The boss screaming at employees at video calls, yet everyone just takes it and nobody immediately quits?"<p>I don't know who wrote that, but if they've truly never seen such things, that suggests to me that they've been working at places that have a healthy work/life balance, and I think such places (in the startup world) are more common now than 7 years ago.<p>I created the first rough draft of the book simply by copying-and-pasting text from Slack messages and email. Even after editing, 80% of the final copy was based on text written at the time of the incidents. There are no exaggerations in the book. And yet I think the culture I describe is fading away (which is probably a good thing).<p>The last few startups I've consulted with have all emphasized work/life balance, and I'd like to think that startups in general are moving towards supporting a more sustainable lifestyle for their employees.<p>Having said that, I recognize, the world will always have ambitious people who work 100 hours a week because they are trying to get ahead. The question, always, is whether such people have a right to ask others to also work 100 hours a week.