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10 reasons why dating an entrepreneur is a bad idea!
Written by a girlfriend to an entrepreneur who wanted to stay anonymous, this post will resonate with everyone related to the start-up world.
Editor's Note: Entrepreneurs are a different species all together. Sometimes they aren't humans and this post symbolises that very aspect. And it applies both ways, a boyfriend to a lady entrepreneur or a girlfriend to a guy entrepreneur, this particular instance is from a girl who loves an entrepreneur but also hates the fact that he is one!
This April our relationship will complete a year and I can bet he doesn't remember the date on which we met.
Entrepreneurs are hardworking, risk takers, people who have the courage to make a change.
But on the other hand they are also people who are always busy, suck at time management and talk in a language normal people don't understand.
Life of an entrepreneur is like a roller coaster and it's not an easy ride.
So unless you enjoy a roller coaster ride don't ride on one.
Here's why dating an entrepreneur is a bad idea:
Illustration: Dominic Xavier
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1. Time, time, time
A day has 24 hours and they will work for 25 hours if it's possible.
They will never have time for things like family gatherings, birthday parties and stuff.
They will always chicken out giving stupid reasons.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
2. No money, no gifts
Well, when you are running a start-up, you are always struggling with money.
Hence you can never expect that an entrepreneur will get you a decent gift (Unless some friend of his is giving him a discount deal!).
The only gift he has given me was a chocolate on our third date.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
3. He talks, walks and dreams business
Your date will start with a sweet conversation but within ten minutes, you will find yourself evaluating a business model with him.
Words like funding, ROI, business plan, start-ups, new trends, results, VCs will become a part of your life.
Illustration: Dominic Xavier
4. Your friends will hate both of you
Every time you will take him out with your friends, he will keep asking them questions about the companies they work for and their work profile and how things work in their organisation.
He keeps on forgetting that conversation starts with, "Hello, How are you?" kind of things and not with, "Where do you work?"
And if he finds out that your friend works for TCS or something, the evening is ruined.
He will ask them difficult questions about their work profile that they won't be able to answer.
And the meeting will turn into a "Job Interview".
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
5. He will flaunt his intelligence
Entrepreneurs are intelligent people.
They come up with great solutions to every problem. But this can get irritating at times.
If I want veggies, he would suggest me a website to order vegetables.
I would prefer going to the market and getting it myself.
He keeps asking me ridiculous questions all the time like the difference between working of a cooler and a refrigerator.
Luckily, I knew the difference but such tests make me feel like I should beat him up right away.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
6. You'll start hating laptops and anything that comes with an internet connection
He can spend his entire life with his laptop.
Really he doesn't need food, air, bath, people, all he needs is a laptop or anything with an internet connection and he will forget that the world exists.
I make sure there is no laptop or mobile device around us while we meet just to make sure he is listening while I talk.
You also start hating sites like Quora, Harvard Business Review, Techcrunch, Mashable, Yourstory.in because he spends hours reading articles on them.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
7. Networking is everything
He will meet a lot of people in a week on the name of networking but when it comes to meeting you he doesn't have time.
So unless you have a great business idea or you know a VC, it's hard to catch him on weekends.
You will find pictures of him with people from different companies and won't be able to attend the meeting.
Even if you do attend the meeting, it will be boring.
As they will keep on discussing business plans and getting excited about their execution strategies.
Illustration: Dominic Xavier
8. He finds business opportunity in everything
Take a cab with him and he will talk about start-ups related to cab services, show him a pet, he will talk about pet e-commerce.
Ping him on Facebook and he will start talking about how Facebook can be monetised through Facebook Campaigns.
Take him to a relative's house and he will evaluate the value of their property.
Eat snacks and he will find a business idea related to snacks.
His mind is full of ideas, he got a prize for making electricity out of regular garbage.
I sometimes miss being normal and talking about things without bringing business in between.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
9. His phone is always busy
He is always talking to people on phone -- dealers, customers, colleagues, co-founder -- another disadvantage of dating an entrepreneur is that he will never talk to you for hours and his phone will be always busy.
If you ever get kidnapped or something, he won't realise you are missing at least for a week!
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
10. Worst part, you still love him
Every entrepreneur lives with a dream in his eyes.
He works constantly towards achieving it and it makes me love him more. He wants to bring a change in society.
His commitment towards work is amazing. He faces a new problem each day, his ideas sometimes work, sometimes not, but he never gives up.
His entire life is focussed on making his dream a success and it takes a lot of determination and courage to leave everything and focus on achieving your dream.
But I think I will love it if he will balance his life out and take sometime out for his loved ones because there is no point of getting success if you don't have people to share it with.
My little piece of advice to those who are planning to date an entrepreneur, "It's an fantastic experience but please think twice. You also need to be crazy!"
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh