"You Never Get That Time Back": US Entrepreneur Regrets Taking Just 2 Days Off For Daughter's Birth

Former Liftopia CEO Ron Schneidermann has expressed regret over extreme early-career sacrifices, including living on canned soup and taking only two days off for his daughter's birth. Reflecting on his past "hustle culture" approach, Schneidermann now advocates for improved work-life balance and champions healthier work cultures. 

Now leading Acely, the 48-year-old founder says some of the sacrifices he once treated as necessary for success were, in hindsight, mistakes. Speaking to Fortune, Schneidermann reflected on the early days of building Liftopia, when work consumed nearly every part of his life.

In those years, he lived frugally in a cramped San Francisco apartment, survived largely on canned soup, and went nearly two years without paying himself a salary, all in the name of keeping the startup alive. At the time, it felt like commitment. However, now he sees it differently.

The impact extended well beyond finances. When his first daughter was born, Schneidermann took just two days off before returning to work. By the time his son arrived three years later, he took a week off, something he considered progress back then.

"I look back; I was just able to justify it as ‘that's just part of the grind'... but you never get that time back. That was a mistake,” Schneidermann told Fortune. 

He now calls that mindset a mistake, one that's rarely questioned in startup circles where long hours and personal sacrifice are often seen as badges of honour.

Over time, that perspective began to shift. Schneidermann says he started rethinking what sustainable success actually looks like, not just for founders but for entire teams. Instead of praising burnout, he started working on making workplaces healthier.

That change became visible during his time at AllTrails, where he joined in 2015 and later became CEO in 2019. He started a simple but meaningful practice there: every first Friday of the month, the company would close so that employees could get away from their screens and spend time outside.

Now at Acely, he's applying those lessons from the outset. The company, still small with fewer than a dozen employees, runs a monthly 'hackathon' day. During these sessions, regular work pauses entirely - no meetings, no KPIs, and no pressure to deliver. Instead, employees experiment with AI tools, test new ideas, and explore creative solutions.

For Schneidermann, it's a deliberate shift away from the relentless pace he once embraced. The goal is not just productivity, but sustainability and building a company where ambition doesn't come at the cost of personal life.