HN Explorer

Ask HN: Would you quit your +200K/y job to try the entrepreneurial route?

3 points by montbonnot ↗ HN
I've been thinking about quitting my job for about 6 months now... Being an employee is not for me. I can't function properly under someone else's rules and I hate micro-management in general. I haven't pulled the trigger yet so I keep delaying my decision. I'm working for a big & successful company, blabla blabla and blablabla. Not trying to show off. My job takes up most of my free time so I can't focus on building things on the side. As mentioned in the title, the package is very good.

I don't have a team nor a potential co-founder. On top of that, I don't have a prototype. So basically, I'd have to quit, take some time to build a prototype, then motivate people to quit their jobs and to jump in. Sounds a little crazy. So I'd be curious to hear about people who didn't drop out of college to start their company. I'm talking about people who have bills, mortgages, a great employee-Resume and a fairly descent package.

Would you guys do it? Curious to hear different opinions even though I'm already programmed to quit. I just need the balls to do it!

12 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 40.9 ms ] thread
hoodoof
It depends. Are you a programmer? Do you have a family? How old are you? What skills do you have? How good is your idea? Do you have backing money, if not what is your plan to raise it? Are you aware of how incredibly hard it is to make money?
montbonnot
Sure, i'm in my 30's, programmer, can build a proto from scratch (mobile, server, web, etc). My problem today is a lack of time to build stuff.

About savings, i did a good job and can last for 3-4y without working.

I'm aiming for VC money and i'm aware of all the process. The hardest for me will be to build a great team or to even find a great co-founder. It is indeed a tough route, i've prepared myself for several years and really know that's what i want.

hoodoof
I'll give you the best advice you're ever gonna get, but you'll ignore it.

You can't "last for 3-4y without working". You are massively undervaluing those savings. You look at that money and assume it will be easy for you to get back to that financial position if you burn it on a startup.

You are at the age where you need to start thinking about a wife and family. To do that you need a house and a job. Spend your savings on buying a house.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do a startup - maybe you should - but you should absoutely not do it but burning through your savings even for six months.

If you are a programmer then you do not need VC money, a team or a cofounder. Just write the damn code. If you lack time then reduce your hours or get a job that gives you the time outside hours.

Now you may thank me.

montbonnot
I have a house and i'm married. This is real "saving" money, not money that would turn you cash poor getting into a mortgage. Mortgage is half paid off still need money to pay it off. Getting another job won't fix my problem. What I need is to go fulltime on that for a few months and see how that goes. I code everyday all day at work, i am more interested in hearing similar experience, someone who was willing to give up a sweet spot to start from scratch with a %5-10 success rate
hoodoof
I've been building stuff for years and years along side my job. It's a long term marathon to find something that people will pay for.

If you can, find a way to do it alongside your normal lifestyle then you can do it forever if you want. Currently you're trying to set yourself up for one all-or-nothing run at it. Find a way to do it forever.

mmanulis
This sounds more like burnout and, to some degree, boredom.

I've been there twice now, in the last 5 years. I've been lucky to have someone talk about the underlying desire to quit with me. I've also been unlucky enough to just quit and join a startup.

Instead of outright quitting, can you take 1 month off? Can you take 2 months off? Can you take some unpaid leave that's several months long for "mental health"?

Let's assume you can only take a month off, that's actually plenty of time to answer your question based on your own situation. Spend the first couple of weeks traveling or doing something that does not involve entrepreneurship or tech, just go enjoy the world for a bit, even it just means spending all that time sitting on the beach and reading books.

Spend the next two weeks working through your idea, either building a prototype or networking to meet potential cofounders or doing customer development or whatever.

Then when you go to work, really think about how to carve out enough time for yourself.

I really want to reiterate that this sounds way too much like burnout. Please be careful and consider taking some time first, just to clear your head and to think, before you just quit.

Cypher
I'm in the same boat, same job for a long time... it started out fun hammering away late at night to get this prototypes working to please investors and then reworking new features keep me going. However the work has shifted into maintenance mode and micromanagement crippled my passion. I've been doing some research in the evening since Xmas break and I'm priming myself to go this year. I'm paid a comfortable amount with decent savings, mortgage, wife and kid and their support. I'd say go for it.
bikamonki
It is not rational to quit, seems more of an emotional decision which you aim to rationalize (justify). A rational decision: pay a tiny portion of your 200k to someone else to build the prototype. Do the same to try to sell it. There should be a ton of programmers out there just as good as you are that can deliver a good product. Meanwhile, running this on-the-side-startup might take some of the emotional pressure off, give you fresh air and motivation. I am talking from experience, now I have two companies: the consultancy work (which mostly I dislike but pays the bills) and the startup that takes a little of my time to steer, it's fully staffed, self-funded and it's walking into its 3rd year of profits (which are now enough to pay half the bills). Think rational and controlled transition, not jumping into the void. Also, I did get to program some of the code on the startup so it was fun and distracting!
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
meric
I think I'll do the same in a year's time. I'll do my own thing for a few months full time, and see how it goes. At the same time, I also plan on buying a house and renting it out, for the property I'm interested in, that will be a cash-flow neutral proposition. In the past 2 years, I've saved enough to live for 4 years. I think I'll spend some of the savings on hiring freelancers over the internet rather than convincing someone to quit, because this is a project I want to build, rather than a project for profit generation and I don't intend to lose other people's money on a project whose aim isn't to make money. My job's salary starts with a 1 rather than a 2.

At some point I realised I work to live. I don't live to work. And living means doing the things I want to do, working should only be a means to achieve that.

montbonnot
Buy your house before you quit. You may get a lot of extra costs along the way before you get the ball rolling.
mod
> Would you guys do it?

Nope. I'd find a way to do it in my off time. You say you're too busy with work, so get less busy with work.

If I couldn't do that, I don't think I'd quit a 200k/year job until I had enough to retire, although my view on that is probably drastically different from yours. I'd work on the side project after that.