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Ask HN: Is working on a startup a terrible idea for a graduate student?

7 points by throwaway4315 ↗ HN
I'm a graduate student at a good school. (I study hard science, but I'd prefer not to specify which department.) The thing is, this spring I decided to build my programming skills by working on a project; pretty soon, one of my friends said, "That's not just a toy project, that's a business, and I want to be your partner." He's a smart, successful guy, so I got really excited. I've been more motivated and had more fun working on my project than I've ever experienced with academic work. And I've gotten positive responses from a lot of people.<p>But then reality set in. Most startups fail. Most startups take all your time. The most likely scenario if I throw myself into this project is that it'll interfere with school, and I'll wind up with no PhD and a failed business, and I'll be screwed. I really want to at least code up a prototype. But going further than that... I'm worried. I don't want to ruin my life just because hacking is fun.

7 comments

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nostrademons
Most Ph.D programs have a way to take a leave of absence or something similar. Larry & Sergey aren't technically Ph.D dropouts, they're just "on leave from the Stanford Ph.D program".

See if you can do something similar. That way, you can see if your startup takes off, and at worst, you come back to your Ph.D where you left off. At best, you end up making a few million and can return to the Ph.D for fun, but you won't have to worry about ruining your life ever again...

3dFlatLander
I think you should run your idea by a few other people (maybe some advisers?) and see what they have to say. I've never been to grad school, but I don't think it would be out of the question to get that prototype going while pursuing your degree. Assuming you're not devoting crazy amounts of time to research/dissertation, that is.
_3ex7
You might be better served asking somewhere else that is not going to be as biased. Try reddit.com/r/AskReddit .
_3ex7
Oh my bad guys I didn't realize he was just looking for a pat on the butt. In that case, yea dude startups are totally awesome !!!!!!!!!
throwaway4315
nope, just looking for information. "Don't do it" is information too.
ZackOfAllTrades
Depending on the project, you could try to see if can get even one sale before you go all Gung-Ho Startup Mode. If the project can earn that first dollar, then you have much more evidence that it is business material and worth your time. If you cannot get even a dollar, then maybe it isn't worth your time.

And you will probably regret not trying later on. Better to fear regret than taste it.

throwaway4315
Sounds sensible. I think I can get to the point where I can test whether it'll get "one dollar" before the time commitment get crazy.