Do startups require anything remotely near peak mental fitness? It's oft debated here, but i'm pretty sure the consensus is talent and intelligence isn't that big of a deal. it's commitment.
To put it another way, how many startups that depend on doing original research get funded? I (perhaps foolishly) believe startups bring technology to the masses, but only after research shows it can be done.
I guess another argument would be, if you were to invest in a company, would you tie your investment to the founders to sleeping a minimum number of hours? Lack of sleep is easily as detrimental to mental fitness as poor diet.
This is actually a good line of thinking. Although you feel your best and think the clearest when you've kept near-perfect sleep and nutrition hygene, sometimes you need a different bag of emotions to get an idea. That could mean fasting, sleep deprivation, alcohol, caffeine, smoking...
However, not knowing which one is useful to you at any time, it's hard to know which is the most effective for work. But being mostly sober/mostly healthy is known to be the best (long-term) for staying alive and well, and startups are, on a human scale, a long-term game. You don't make $1,000,000 because you stayed up all night to ship.
To put it another way, how many startups that depend on doing original research get funded? I (perhaps foolishly) believe startups bring technology to the masses, but only after research shows it can be done.
I guess another argument would be, if you were to invest in a company, would you tie your investment to the founders to sleeping a minimum number of hours? Lack of sleep is easily as detrimental to mental fitness as poor diet.