Life Is Short

In the early days of my first startup, PlanGrid, our cofounder Antoine Hersen-who was only 29 at the time-died of cancer. We lived and worked from a house in Sunnyvale together, and he programmed until his last days.

- Tracy Young

Before he passed, Antoine gave me his copy of On the Shortness of Life by Seneca, and inside he included his last letter to me: "Life is short. Take care of Ralphie. Don't be afraid to try new things. Never do anything that makes you unhappy." There is a balance to everything in life. Although this terrible thing happened to my good friend, and I would give anything for him to still be with us today, the fact is that his death and this book completely changed my life. The quote I think about most often is, "It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it."