Do you take summer off, or do you keep working?
July and August are approaching. The months when pretty much everyone in Europe takes time off. So I'm curious how other founders here handle it.
A lot of founders end up taking their break during this window simply because it's when their kids are out of school and their partner's schedule lines up too. On top of that, many B2B companies see slower activity during these months anyway, so it makes sense to step back when there's naturally less happening.
Personally I prefer to take time off either in May to mid-June, or in September. Fewer crowds everywhere, and honestly the heat doesn't agree with me. Europe has been hitting record temperatures lately, with some places crossing 45°C, which is something we've genuinely never seen before.
So I'm curious:
Do you take a real break in July/August, or do you keep building through it?
Has becoming a founder changed how and when you take time off compared to when you had a regular job?
And if you don't take summer off, when do you actually disconnect?
Replies
15 days before my Product Hunt launch. My "summer break" is when I finish the delivery testing and can breathe for 20 minutes before the next fix cycle starts.
The interesting thing about the European-founder-summer thing is that it becomes a real distribution advantage. B2B pipeline is quieter, cold email inboxes have less competition, and the founders who do keep working can grab attention that gets buried in October. Not fun, but real.
The specific tradeoff I keep hitting: shipping momentum vs. actually taking one full day off. I've noticed that skipping the day off costs more than the shipping I gained. The brain compounds fatigue on a delay.