How a Weird Sleep Schedule Helped Two Entrepreneurs Launch a Business in One Month

The Power of Biphasic Sleep for Productivity and Learning

What if I told you that the key to starting a successful business was not an MBA, a trust fund, or even a brilliant idea, but simply a strategic sleep schedule? It may sound bizarre, but that‘s exactly how two entrepreneurs with zero coding experience managed to teach themselves programming and launch a company in just one month.

When Steve Corcoran and Ryan Farley first hatched the idea for LawnStarter, an online platform connecting homeowners with lawn care services, they faced a major obstacle: neither of them knew how to code. As "business guys," they had the vision and the drive, but not the technical skills to bring their concept to life.

Rather than letting this roadblock deflate their entrepreneurial dreams, Steve and Ryan devised a plan to rapidly acquire the necessary coding chops. And the cornerstone of this intensive self-education process? A productivity-enhancing sleep schedule called biphasic sleeping.

What is Biphasic Sleeping?

Biphasic sleeping refers to a sleep pattern that includes two distinct periods of sleep per 24-hour cycle. The most common biphasic pattern, also known as "siesta sleeping," consists of a longer stretch of sleep at night (typically 5-7 hours) paired with a shorter midday nap (30-90 minutes).

Many Mediterranean and Latin American cultures have traditionally incorporated afternoon siestas into their routines. This practice likely originated as a way to rest and stay cool during the hottest hours of the day. However, modern sleep science suggests that there may be more benefits to siestas than just avoiding heatstroke.

The Founders‘ Biphasic Schedule

To fuel their coding crash course, Steve and Ryan adopted an extreme version of biphasic sleeping. Rather than a typical siesta pattern, they segmented their sleep into two equal chunks – three hours at night and three hours during the day.

From 9am-9pm, they dedicated themselves fully to business development tasks like market research, customer discovery, and fundraising. After a 3-hour mini night‘s sleep, they then shifted gears into an intensive 6-hour coding and development block from midnight to 6am.

Rinse and repeat, every 24 hours, for one month straight. This grueling schedule allowed Steve and Ryan to essentially live two workdays in one, without sacrificing sleep. The compressed timetable and singular focus was just the pressure cooker they needed to go from coding novices to capable software developers in record time.

The Science of Biphasic Sleep Schedules

How could such an unconventional sleep pattern fuel this kind of accelerated learning and output? The secret lies in how biphasic schedules work with the brain‘s natural rhythms.

During sleep, the brain cycles through different stages, each characterized by distinct patterns of brain wave activity. A typical sleep cycle includes periods of lighter Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep, followed by a stint of deeper Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, when most dreaming occurs.

One full sleep cycle takes roughly 90-120 minutes. Most adults need 4-5 full cycles (7-9 hours) of sleep per night to function optimally. Here‘s the key – it‘s the number of complete cycles that matters most, not necessarily the total hours of sleep.

By splitting sleep into two chunks, biphasic sleepers can experience more complete sleep cycles per 24-hour period. Waking in between cycles (during light NREM sleep), rather than in the middle of a cycle, can reduce grogginess and sleep inertia.

Naps as short as 20 minutes have also been shown to enhance alertness, attention, and motor skills, while longer 60-90 minute naps can boost memory consolidation and creative problem solving. One NASA study found that a 26-minute "NASA nap" improved pilots‘ reaction times by 16% and alertness by 34%.

For Steve and Ryan, strategically timed naps allowed them to recharge their mental batteries and attack their learning with renewed focus and creativity. The 6-hour coding blocks aligned well with the brain‘s natural preference for 90-minute ultradian rhythms of focus.

Notable Nappers in History

Steve and Ryan are not the only high-achievers to harness the power of biphasic sleep. Throughout history, many great minds credited napping as a key to their success:

• Leonardo Da Vinci, the original "Renaissance man," reportedly took 20-minute naps every 4 hours – an extreme form of biphasic sleeping called the Uberman schedule.

• Nikola Tesla, the brilliant inventor, claimed that his productivity and creativity were dependent on naps. He aimed for 2 hours of sleep per night supplemented by naps.

• Thomas Edison had cots available in his labs for on-demand napping. He viewed sleep as a waste of time and tried to limit it as much as possible.

• Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was known to take daily naps before public speaking engagements to boost her energy and focus.

• Winston Churchill, UK Prime Minister during WWII, relied on a daily afternoon nap to cope with the demands of wartime leadership. He slept from around 4-6:30pm each day.

• John F Kennedy, the 35th US President, ate his lunch in bed and then settled in for a 1-2 hour nap daily. He claimed it helped him get through his schedule.

Today, napping is ingrained in the cultures of many countries, from Spanish siestas to Italian riposos to Japanese inemuri. A Pew Research Center poll found that 51% of adults worldwide report napping at least once a week, with napping especially common in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

Some progressive companies, including Google, Zappos, and Ben & Jerry‘s, now provide dedicated nap rooms for their employees, recognizing that a quick snooze can enhance worker well-being and productivity.

Adopting a Biphasic Sleep Schedule

Though Steve and Ryan‘s exact schedule may be a bit extreme for most people‘s lifestyles, the general principles of biphasic sleeping can be adapted in less intense ways:

Siesta schedule option 1:

• 6 hours of sleep at night
• 90 minute nap in the early afternoon

Siesta schedule option 2:

• 7 hours of sleep at night
• 20 minute nap in the early afternoon

The key is to keep a consistent schedule, ideally timing the naps to occur roughly 8 hours after waking in the morning, and not too close to bedtime.

It can take some trial and error to determine your own ideal nap length and timing. Factors like your age, genetics, sleep debt, and caffeine intake can all impact how you respond to biphasic schedules. Tracking your sleep with a journal or app can help you identify patterns and optimize your routine.

As with any new habit, expect an adjustment period of at least 1-2 weeks. You may feel groggy at first as your body adapts. Stick with a consistent schedule and practice good sleep hygiene (dark room, no screens before bed, relaxing rituals).

Potential Pitfalls of Polyphasic Sleep

It‘s important to note that biphasic sleep, while feasible for many people, is not necessarily for everyone. Some potential downsides include:

• Difficulty napping due to environment or responsibilities
• Disrupted nighttime sleep if naps are mistimed
• Not getting enough total sleep to align with circadian rhythms
• Reduced sleep efficiency from segmented sleep
• Social and schedule disruptions

If you have a pre-existing sleep disorder or medical condition, it‘s always wise to consult with your doctor before making major changes to your sleep habits.

For Steve and Ryan, the unorthodox schedule was not a long-term lifestyle, but a means to an end – rapidly acquiring a difficult new skill in service of their greater vision. While not sustainable forever, their biphasic experiment allowed them to accomplish in 30 days what many thought would be impossible.

Key Takeaways

As an entrepreneur myself, I‘m always fascinated by creative productivity hacks like Steve and Ryan‘s power-napping protocol. While I‘m not quite ready to commit to a 3-and-3 split, their story illustrates some valuable lessons:

1. Big goals often require unorthodox solutions. When the conventional path is blocked, get creative!

2. Self-imposed constraints can spur rapid progress. Necessity is the mother of intense learning.

3. Small habits compound over time. A seemingly small change in sleep schedule made a massive impact in only 30 days.

4. Mindset matters most. Steve and Ryan‘s unwavering commitment and belief outweighed their initial lack of coding skills.

5. Sleep is a tool to be leveraged, not an obstacle to overcome. Work with your biology, not against it!

Whether you‘re an aspiring entrepreneur, a student, or simply a curious self-experimenter, consider giving biphasic sleep a trial run. At the very least, you may emerge feeling a bit more well-rested. At best, you just may discover a secret weapon for accelerating your learning, creativity, and productivity.

As Salvador Dali, the famous surrealist artist and devoted daytime napper, once said: "Have no fear of perfection; you‘ll never reach it." But with a well-timed nap? You may get there a bit faster!