I have a 17-month-old son, recently left one startup after five years of growing it from 5 to 110 people and launched my third startup in 10 years at the beginning of this month.   So I can tell you from deep in the trenches that there are tons of parallels between stating a family and starting a company.  Here’s a short list of my top 7:

1. Dependant – both kids and companies are completely dependant on you, the founder, for survival the fist several years of their lives.
2. Emotional– startups are full of high-highs and low-lows.  One day you are celebrating a huge deal and the next your trying to save the company from bankruptcy.  Similarly, with kids you can be celebrating the first step one day and be in the hospital getting stitches the next. Both are roller coaster rides.
3. All Consuming – raising kids is 24×7 and by far the hardest job in existence. The only thing that comes even close is a startup.
4. Fulfilling – while both are 24×7 jobs, building your kids/startup from scratch and watching them grow up, take on a personality of their own and become independent is by far the most rewarding and fulfilling feeling in the world.
5. Unpredictable – you can and should always have a very detailed plan when starting a family/company, but the only certainty is uncertainty, so expect the unexpected.
6. Surprisingly Expensive – however much you think it’s going to cost to run your company/family, triple it!  It never ceases to amaze my how many little unforeseen expenses pop up from school trips to servers.
7. Ever Changing – kids and companies change drastically every six months for the first several years. This is why age is referred to in months for the first two or three years of a child’s life! Maybe we should recite a startups age the same way? “How old is your company Bob? 22 months Joe”

People outside of the technology industry are always bewildered that multimillion dollar, highflying startups like Facebook can be started by college kids with little to no real world experience. Well, the fact is that this is the best time to start a company because at this stage of your life you are full of the energy needed work around the clock, have nominal living expenses (and nominal startup paycheck to match), and have little to no responsibilities outside of yourself.

So if you are starting a company around the same time you are thinking about starting a family, just know that you are starting multiple companies at once. You better make sure you have a good partner/wife/husband that can help you keep all the balls in the air.

Did I miss any comparisons? If so, please add them in the comments section.