CEO admits startup grind cost him his family time

The price of building Liftopia

Ron Schneidermann scaled his first company, a digital marketplace for ski resorts, into a business with more than sixty million dollars in annual revenue.

Two days off for his daughter

When Schneidermann's first daughter was born four years into Liftopia, he took just two days off work. Three years later, he allowed himself just a week for his son's birth and thought that was progress.

Looking back with regret

Schneidermann told Fortune he justified the extreme sacrifice as part of the grind, but now sees it differently. "You never get that time back," he said. "That was a mistake."

“You never get that time back. That was a mistake.”

Turning regrets into strengths

Now in his late forties, Schneidermann has reframed his Liftopia experience entirely. "For everything that was frustrating, that went wrong, that I regretted about Liftopia, I was able to take the inverse and turn it…

“For everything that was frustrating, that went wrong, that I regretted about Liftopia, I was able to take the inverse and turn it into a strength.”

AllTrails changes the culture

By the time Schneidermann joined AllTrails in two thousand fifteen, his mindset had shifted. He became CEO in two thousand nineteen and instituted a company-wide ritual: the first Friday of every month, AllTrails shut down…

Acely gets a different approach

In August two thousand twenty-five, Schneidermann became CEO of test-prep startup Acely. Instead of monthly trail days, the company runs a monthly hackathon where its less than a dozen employees pause routine work for the…

Never again for money alone

After graduating in two thousand, Schneidermann worked at Accenture as a business process consultant.Despite the lucrative salary at the Fortune five hundred firm, he quit.

“I am never going to take a job for money again. Life is too short.”

Relationships matter more than résumés

Schneidermann landed at Hotwire, a travel startup later acquired by Expedia, through a friend of a friend.

Gen Z needs to show up consistently

Schneidermann emphasizes that young workers should invest in their network and treat relationships as built on consistency, reputation, and how they show up over time."There's a human on the other end.

“There's a human on the other end. Don't ghost people and just show up.”