Startup Dad

Buster Benson is Principle Product Manager at Medium, the platform creating a new model for digital publishing. He a published author of the book Why Are We Yelling? The Art of Productive Disagreements, the founder of 750Words, and most importantly t...

Show Notes

Buster Benson is Principle Product Manager at Medium, the platform creating a new model for digital publishing. He a published author of the book Why Are We Yelling? The Art of Productive Disagreements, the founder of 750Words, and most importantly the father of two boys. In this episode we discuss:


  • Joining and leaving companies in pursuit of being a better father

  • Starting a family while being broke with no insurance

  • Home birthing

  • Having a kid who doesn't sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time

  • Separation and divorce

  • How to talk to your kids about divorce

  • Maintaining an amicable relationship with your ex and connection to your kids



Where to find Buster Benson:


- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buster


- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/busterbenson/


- 750 Words: https://750words.com/


- Amazon: Why Are We Yelling?


 


Where to find Adam Fishman:


- Newsletter: https://www.fishmanafnewsletter.com


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


- Twitter: https://twitter.com/fishmanaf



In this episode, we cover:


[1:26] Introduction


[2:30] Background


[6:22] Decision to start a family


[7:49] Homebirth


[9:28] Homebirth community


[11:06] About Buster’s kids


[12:47] Why parenting is hard


[14:40] Buster’s earliest fatherhood memories


[17:53] Surprising fatherhood things


[19:45] External pressure


[21:45] Frameworks for parenting


[24:14] ADHD/Diagnosis


[25:13] The story of his separation and divorce


[28:43] Telling the kids about their separation


[31:04] Advice for separation


[34:46] Agreements in parenting


[36:42] Managing complex demands


[39:46] Mistakes in fatherhood


[43:33] Rapid fire round



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


Episode art designed by Matt Sutherland at https://www.mspnw.com/


 



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit startupdadpod.substack.com

What is Startup Dad?

Adam Fishman (author of a top business newsletter on Substack with 11K+ subscribers) interviews executives, entrepreneurs, and company leaders in technology companies who are also fathers. They discuss the tough aspects of work, parenting, family, the mistakes made and lessons learned along the way. All episodes at www.startupdadpod.com.