Work-Life Balance is Overrated | Siqi Chen (father of 2, co-founder/CEO Runway)

Siqi Chen is co-founder and CEO of Runway, the finance platform you don't hate. He was also the president, chief product officer and CEO of Sandbox VR, the VP of Growth at Postmates and he sold his first company to Zynga in 2010. He is an angel investor who has invested in companies like Touch of Modern, Amplitude, Italic, and Clubhouse. He is a husband and the father of two daughters. In today's conversation we discussed:

His life moving back-and-forth to China as a kid
The realities and myth of work-life balance
Sharing the load with your spouse
How his parenting and leadership has evolved over time
How to exercise with your kids and incorporate them into your day
Teaching kids how to use technology as a tool for leverage
A fascinating story of how his daughter uses ChatGPT 

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Where to find Siqi Chen
Linkedin:   / siqic  
Twitter / X:   / blader  
Runway: https://runway.com/

Where to find Adam Fishman
FishmanAF Newsletter: https://www.fishmanafnewsletter.com
LinkedIn:   / adamjfishman  
Instagram:   / startupdadpod  

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In this episode, we cover

[1:34] Welcome
[2:27] Work/life balance
[6:49] His childhood
[10:52] All about his kids
[11:30] How did you meet your wife?
[13:37] Decision to start a family
[15:33] Load balancing parenting
[18:50] Earliest memory of being a dad
[21:04] Most surprising thing about becoming a dad
[23:13] Giving younger self advice
[25:52] Advice to ignore
[27:45] Favorite book to read to his kids
[29:10] Frameworks
[32:35] Any parenting evolutions?
[35:11] Kids’ dynamic
[35:42] Where do you and your partner not align?
[37:47] Kid’s relationship with tech
[40:45] Most interesting way kids used ChatGPT
[43:11] What did you give up to be a dad?
[45:30] How do you recharge your batteries?
[46:10] What is a mistake you made as a dad?
[49:16] Rapid fire round
[53:31] Thank you

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Show references:
The Matrix: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
Transformers: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418279/
Scratch: https://scratch.mit.edu/
Talktastic: https://talktastic.com/
Amazing Panda Adventure: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112342/
Stanford: https://www.stanford.edu/
Bye Bye Baby: https://buybuybaby.com/
Dalian, China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalian
Peter Thiell, Thiel Scholarship: https://thielfellowship.org/
Unity: https://unity.com/
Gundam: https://en.gundam.info/
Postmates: https://postmates.com/
Sandbox VR: https://sandboxvr.com/
ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/
"Blub Blub Fish" Book: https://www.amazon.com/Pout-Pout-Fish...
Work-life Balance is Overrated:   / siqic_work-life-balance-is-overrated-impli...  
Second Time Founders Podcast reference:    • E58 Siqi Chen’s secrets on how to raise hu...  

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For sponsorship inquiries email: [email protected].

For Startup Dad Merch: www.startupdadshop.com 

Production support for Startup Dad is provided by Tommy Harron at http://www.armaziproductions.com/