Managing Weekends as a Founder & Dad and 'First Team' Parenting | Patrick Thompson (Dad of 1, co-founder at Clarify)

Patrick Thompson is a three-time founder, starting a company right after college and then founding and selling his second company, Iteratively, to Amplitude in 2019. He stayed on as a Director of Product until leaving recently to co-found his third company, Clarify, a next generation CRM platform. He’s a loving husband and the father of one kid. In today's conversation we discussed:

• How to manage a young family with starting a company

• The differences between his last startup when he wasn’t yet a parent and this one

• Having the conversation with your partner about getting back to building

• Investing in your relationship with your partner

• The concept of “first team” and applying that at work and home

• Rituals for quality time with your kids

• Recharging his batteries as both a parent and founder

• Top tips for airplane travel with an infant

• A potty training disaster story

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Overcast and YouTube.

—

Where to find Patrick Thompson

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickt010/

• X: https://twitter.com/patrickt010

Where to find Adam Fishman

• FishmanAF Newsletter: www.FishmanAFNewsletter.com

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupdadpod/

—

In this episode, we cover:

[1:36] Welcome

[1:48] Shout out to his co-founder Austin

[2:18] Why start a company while having a toddler?

[3:26] How has being a dad changed your company-building approach?

[5:11] Childhood

[7:44] Athletics compared to startups

[10:16] How did you meet your wife?

[11:40] Decision to start a family

[12:52] Decision to leave Amplitude and start a company

[16:45] Investing in your relationship with your partner

[18:58] Applying “first team” at home

[20:05] Taking an 18 month old on an airplane and top toddler travel tips

[22:42] Earliest memory of becoming a dad

[24:48] Most surprising aspect of fatherhood

[25:55] Mistake you made as a dad

[28:30] Advice for pre-kid era Patrick

[30:15] Advice to ignore

[31:32] Rituals in a busy life

[33:19] How to manage weekends as a founder

[34:20] Frameworks for parenting

[36:34] An area Patrick and his wife don’t agree on in parenting

[38:46] Relationship Patrick wants his son to have with technology

[40:51] What he’s given up to become a dad

[42:18] How to recharge your batteries

[43:32] Family favorite trip

[44:59] Follow along Patrick’s journey

[45:45] Rapid Fire

[51:41] Thank you

—

Show references:

Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/

Clarify: https://www.clarify.io/

Boy Scouts: https://www.scouting.org/

Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/

Siqi Chen’s on Startup Dad: youtube.com/watch?v=I2Nm5Mkj0s0

Immad Akhund’s on Startup Dad: youtube.com/watch?v=FR2ws9UKJ2k

—

For sponsorship inquiries email: podcast@fishmana.com.

For Startup Dad Merch: www.startupdadshop.com 

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