Ask HN: I quit my job .. now what?

I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but... buy and read Steve Blank's The Four Steps to the Epiphany. That's step one. Step two is "do what Steve says." Seriously, he lays out a very detailed methodology for going from "an idea" to "a validated and profitable market for your product." Note that he's only addressing the customer / market side though... You'll have to figure out how to get the product built. If you're a coder yourself, you can play both Customer Development and Product Development (that's what I'm doing, for example), or if you're not a coder (or just need more help) you have to start looking at how to acquire help with the coding side.

I committed to lifting weights 3 times a week though (in the morning), as a way to keep myself going as it makes me get out of the door and I come home refreshed, ready to get to work.

Other than that, eat healthy, get proper sleep, and meet people!

Works for me :)

The more trivial the better, imo. You just need to get some momentum. Now move out smartly, troop.

Some other ideas are to get a mindmap of the possiblities of where you can take this idea.

Use the business model canvas to sketch out your initial business models and the possibilities of your idea (http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/).

Start an action plan - I use Tony Robbins "OPA Method". Ask yourself, What's your desired Outcome (O), What's your "Purpose" (P) - why you're doing the idea and write doing all the reasons, and finally what are the concrete Actions (A) you specifically need to do to turn your idea into reality.

at some point it hits you that 'you are your own boss' means you have to tell yourself what to do

That said, the first thing you need to do is to get your ideas down in writing somehow. Take a day or two if necessary. It's really important. Don't just "start coding" like other people are suggesting. Get organized first. If this idea was so good that you quit your day job, you should have no trouble writing down a few pages about what you're trying to accomplish. Call it a "business plan", or not, at this stage it doesn't matter. But at least write down what you want to do, who will buy it and why, and who your competitors are.

I started to write a bunch of stuff about how to plan out your business, and then I realized that it would be easier for you to just get Four Steps to the Ephiphany by Steve Blank - it's full of worksheets that will help guide you through these early stages.

It sounds like you might need to meet some technical people to help you build your idea. You can meet them here on Hacker News, but it's far better to go to meetups in your area and meet real developers in person. The best developers will want to take some ownership in this part of the business, rather than just being told what to build.

Try to build relationships with people and tell them about your idea. If it's in a space that they're interested in, you'll find people who want to work with you, and at this stage it will be helpful to be able to bounce ideas off of others. Seek out the kinds of people who will tell you what's wrong with your idea or poke holes in it.

Hope this was helpful, and good luck!

Jumping from something stable into the unknown is probably the hardest in my opinion. The road ahead is going to at times seem unclear, just remember to put together a plan of being able to accomplish something, anything towards bringing your idea to reality.

My suggestion: get a whiteboard, now. Don't do anything but decompress for the next few days (i.e.. fuck off) and write anything that comes to mind about your startup.

One of the most important processes for the human brain is externalization: it's why talking about problems helps as you can't think feelings... but you can write them down and later think about them.

I'd wager you're quite emotionally charged right now, hence the paralysis, so just start writing (don't erase anything) and sort it out next week. Things will be much clearer then.

Best of luck to you!

Best of luck.

My email is in my profile, if you want to contact me. I'm ex finance too.