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Want to give up development and start a company.

7 points by devmonk ↗ HN
Burned out on coding. Have wanted to start my own business for several years, but am having trouble finding the inspiration for the right product/service to provide. Single income family and bills to pay. Want to ensure work-life balance. Family is on-board. Advice?

8 comments

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michael_dorfman
That's a very general question, so here's some very general advice:

Start with something you know. Surely, based on your work and life experiences so far, there are some niches that you know better than most people. Think about those niches, and the kinds of problems they have-- possibly the problems they don't know they have.

Don't be blinded by the idea of mainstream, consumer software. You don't need to create software that your mother will use. Businesses are more inclined to spend money on software, especially if you can demonstrate how the software will make them money, save them money, or solve some other problem.

devmonk
Thanks! I apologize that it's so general. That's part of the problem. I agree that I need to focus on something else, and focus of solving a niche need. Unfortunately after a long career in development, I really am not enthusiastic about more coding. I've been reading 40 Days to the Work You Love, which is a great book. I have yet to read What Color is Your Parachute and related books on finding the right vocation or calling. Mostly I was hoping that someone else here might have previously given up software development for starting up an unrelated company and could provide info about how they changed direction and how they determined their new path and any advice related to that choice. I know some niche dev work that I could do on my own, but I'm just totally not excited about coding anymore- basically I'm only excited about business. I would go back and do the MBA thing, but I don't want to end up working for someone else, so I think that just starting a business once I find the right idea and have a plan, etc. would be the way to go.
AmberShah
Just to be clear, finding a different career and starting a software business are two totally different things. Starting a software business does not get you away from coding, you have to do a great deal of coding, and then learn marketing plus a lot of other things on your own. I would say it's like coding++ so if you're looking to get away from coding, don't start a software business.
devmonk
Totally agree. I want to get away from it, and it would be basically like starting completely from scratch without almost any relevant experience. It's a big step, and without having specific inspiration in what to do next, I continue to burnout with the only relief being that I can at least try to focus on getting out.
AmberShah
You are burned out and being an entrepreneur is not a solution to being burned out. In fact, entrepreneurship is likely to cause more burn out.

I would focus on fixing the burnout first and then if you're serious about being an entrepreneur, do it later. If you do it now, you'll likely just stall out early on and be even more disillusioned.

Get out of burn-out by taking vacation, spending more and more quality time with your family, etc. Once you take some time away from the keyboard, your passion for coding and inspiration for new ideas will start to surface. Once you HAVE to stay up all night to work on an idea because you're so excited, then you'll know you are back.

Once you are serious about starting your business, read http://www.startupbook.net/ and http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/09... to help you identify and verify good business ideas and take the first few steps, lean on HN once you have an idea to help you improve it and iterate on it.

Due to your family situation, you'll probably need to keep your job and work on your startup on the side (welcome to the club!). Once your startup is making some money you can consider switching to consulting or a part-time situation. It's crazy hard enough as it is, and basically impossible when you are demotivated and burned out.

devmonk
Thanks. I already have been doing that. Have taken vacation, and I spend as much time with the family as possible. I have also been trying to exercise more frequently, etc.

In fact, a big part of the reason that I took the job I have now was for work-life balance. But my current job just sucks. The only motivation I have for going into work everyday is to help take care of my family. I love my family, and I want to provide for them the best I can.

I've worked for small, medium, and large businesses/organizations. I know that I'm the opposite of the career large business worker.

I want to be responsible for a business. While I don't believe my business would be perfect, I would like to decide what work I do for others. I want to somehow make this work so that I can achieve a good work-life balance. I know I can do this but I'm having trouble finding inspiration for exactly what I could be doing.

snowcrash
You need to add qualifiers to the discovery process, pick concepts that you can execute quickly and easily. As AmberShah suggests, start with the 'The four steps to Epiphany' this will help you frame the process.

Don't write a single line of code till you have crunched through the viability of the idea for making a return on both financial and personal (happiness) fronts.

Don't get attached to ideas, if you can't execute them with the resources you have move on.

Think lean in everything you do, remember walls are there for smashing through

devmonk
I'm not sure how to "think lean" when I have no inspiration on what to do. I know going back to university wouldn't be lean, so I've crossed that off the list. I know I can't head into something that requires too much initial experience, so I'll cross that out as well. I'll definitely read "The four steps to Epiphany" and see what I can learn about myself. Thanks!