

Why I Quit My Job to Start a Tech Company - frankdenbow
http://viniciusvacanti.com/2011/08/03/why-i-quit-my-job-to-start-a-tech-company/

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UncleOxidant
Doing the opposite now. Spent the last year in a very early stage startup.
Finally got fed up with the low pay ("but we're giving you equity...") and the
lack of direction. It seemed like every other week we had a new direction. And
the latest new direction was so bizarre that I'm tempted to make a
mockumentary about the whole thing.

Finally had enough of the startup scene; I'm going to go to work for a very
large semiconductor company getting paid 2.5x what I was making at the
startup. Feels like I'm getting a real adult job again.

tl;dr: I learned that not every statup idea is worthwhile.

~~~
Udo
> _And the latest new direction was so bizarre that I'm tempted to make a
> mockumentary about the whole thing._

Care to share some dirty details?

~~~
UncleOxidant
I shouldn't. It's possible that some of the folks back there read HN and the
idea would be immediately identifiable. Heck, maybe they'd even sue me for
violating the NDA or something (but it's not like the bizarre idea is even
monetizable).

But in a couple of years... that mockumentary idea would be comedy gold.

~~~
spitfire
You know, there's more than one company doing social mobile photo sharing,
right?

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zmitri
It seems to me like he is replacing money with "status." Building something on
your own, and wanting to tell a room full of people about building something
are completely different.

~~~
frankdenbow
From what I know of Vin, this isn't the ethos of his thinking at all.

~~~
narenl
I second that. I do not know him personally but I've spoken to him at a
Product meetup in NYC and came away impressed by his level-headedness,
tenacity and willingness to share what he had learnt the hard way. I've been
following his blog since then.

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Casc
250k 3 years out of college? Jesus... I have plenty of Ivy league friends in
IB & PE making no where near that.. He landed a serious gig. Definitely tough
to leave something so cushy so young. Sometimes it really is all about the
game.

~~~
rdouble
It seems like a baller gig like that would make it _easier_ to quit and start
something up. You'd be able to save so much more money, than say, someone who
took a typical Silicon Valley entry level programming job. If he had chosen to
work at Google, he'd have been lucky to make 1/2 that.

~~~
yoshyosh
If you were guaranteed $250k a year with potential to receive more every 5
years or so, were able to buy a house, nice car, and support a family without
worrying about any financial hardships, you think it would be _easier_ to
quit? To go to what, the potential for no salary, constant paranoia of whether
you made the right decision or not, and get into a field you know relatively
nothing about?

It's a pity that these tremendous acts of courage are often overlooked because
its _easier_ to walk away from a lot of money.

~~~
rdouble
_If you were guaranteed $250k a year with potential to receive more every 5
years or so, were able to buy a house, nice car, and support a family without
worrying about any financial hardships, you think it would be _easier_ to
quit?_

Yes. If he was being paid $250K/yr, that means he did a great job while he was
there. It would not be that difficult for him to return to finance. I've quit
my job a couple times to travel and when I returned to the workforce my new
position paid _more_ than I made previously...

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idlewords
Privileged person decides to try hand at entrepreneurship, congratulates self
for courage. Reading these is the textual equivalent of watching someone jerk
off.

~~~
kevinskii
A person who spends his childhood as a poor immigrant and then goes on to
achieve considerable financial success through hard work and merit is
"accomplished," not "privileged."

That he would be willing to risk everything on a startup is indeed courageous.

~~~
ca136
As other people have mentioned, it's a lot easier to try a startup when you've
had a chance to save money from a $250,000 salary. Plus, you have the
experience working for a big PE firm so you know you can always find another
great job. I love hearing these stories, but his 'risk' wasn't really as great
as someone who quits an $80,000 job with $10,000 in savings. I know that story
too well :)

~~~
tzuptzup
Indeed, but still, you gotta give him some credit. Not sure that I would take
a shot at entrepreneurship given a comfy six figure salary.

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almightygod
yipit, really? Yet another "Daily Deal" site is what the conf considered most
likely to succeed?

~~~
kshiiba
they aren't just another "daily deal site"--they're trying to own the space.
also, from what I hear, their yipit data product (data and analytics on the
daily deal space) has already experienced good traction from hedge funds and
others interested in this growing space.

~~~
mtogo
Aren't both groupon and livingsocial trying to "own the space"?

~~~
kshiiba
sorry, I meant that as daily deal sites keep popping up, it's much easier to
use an aggregator than to browse individual sites. I assume they're trying to
be a layer upon the daily deal space, not just a singular deal provider.

~~~
kpennell
Dealmap was just acquired by google, seems like there's something to these
aggregators...

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jjtheblunt
One observation: the slight against Warren Buffett is unmerited and
undeserved. He is at least as good an example as this person of not living
lavishly even with adequate money to do so.

~~~
jhen095
My interpretation of this "slight" is that Warren Buffett uses money as a
measure of success. It does not imply any sort of lifestyle just that he
strives to be more successful and that means having more dollars. After having
read a biography on Mr. Buffett I agree with OP on this and disagree that it
is "unmerited and undeserved"

~~~
astrec
Of course he uses money as a measure of success, he's an investor!

Buffet did an interview on CNBC some years ago where the question where he was
asked about success and his reply was something to effect of "Success doing
what you love and doing it well".

This rings true to me.

A little anecdote told by my father in law, who was Buffett's pilot for a
time, tells of Buffett being welcomed home to Omaha by a hostess. On remarking
that he'd lived in the same house for 50 years it's claimed she said "Gee! You
must have a lot of equity in that house Mr. Buffett."

Whether this speaks to the unpretentiousness of Warren Buffett or the
unworldliness of the hostess is an exercise for the reader.

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famoreira
Most people would consider a $250k salary as 'making it'. Kudos to you for
being brave and building something on your own.

~~~
czzarr
yup, and don't forget that 5-10 years later he'd probably bank 1mil+/year
having started so high if he was good at what he did, which he probably is.

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dmmalam
Similar position here! Spent 4 years working as a programmer for a few
faceless corps. While some of that was pretty interesting (wrote a quant
investing engine from scratch) the politics eventually took its toll. So I
spent the whole of last year travelling, came back refreshed and am now in the
middle of a startup with two other college friends. If anyone else is in a
similar position I wholeheartedly recommend both ( the travelling and/or the
startup)

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iqster
Pretty motivational stuff! Props!!

1) As an aside, he says his job was Private Equity Investor. Does that mean we
worked for a hedge fund?

2) How does one get hired as a PEI right out of college? I'm just curious what
skill set is required. What do they do exactly?

~~~
namityadav
Private Equity is an asset class focusing on equity in non-public companies.
Technically, even Venture Capital is a part of PE. But people have started
using the term PE for investing in mid to late stage companies, and the term
VC for investing in early stage companies. In other words, PE invests in
growth, makes leveraged buyouts or buys distressed assets. Recently VCs are
also getting into the growth stage, making the distinction between PE and VC
difficult.

A lot of MBA students in top business schools dream of getting into PE firms
after MBA. But only those who have some finance background (Investment
Banking, for example) have a realistic shot of getting in.

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Nemisis7654
As a young man still in college who wants to build something, this was very
inspiring. Especially this line:

    
    
      The only way to know how good you might be at something is to fail trying it.
    

Great post. I'm bookmarking it.

~~~
knieveltech
It is worth keeping in mind that pithy little catch phrases like this
typically ignore the fact that failure can come with some life-altering
consequences. It seems like nobody wants to talk about filing for bankruptcy
after running up a quarter of a mil in combined school loans and credit card
debt.

~~~
a3camero
It's also worth keeping in mind that he was making $250k a year doing
_something_ shortly after school and then started this company. Presumably he
has a lot more of something or rather than the average (or even above average)
person. His story is an extreme outlier.

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frankdenbow
Props for measuring success on metrics other than how much money you are
making

~~~
Iv
Props for that but I am not sure that replacing the money metrics by the buzz
metrics is the way to go.

~~~
Maro
This thread is freaking me out =)

So you start a company and you're not supposed to care about money nor buzz?
So how do you measure success?

The answer for a for-profit company must ultimately be money.

~~~
Iv
It is about the success of an individual, not about the success of a company.

The success of a company, IMHO (and in the not so humble opinion of M. Ford)
has three components : the bottom line, the reputation and the employees. So
yes, buzz and money are on the top 3.

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JoeBracken
Quitting to start a tech company is much easier when you have had 3 years of
banking $250k per year. It reduces the risk and stress of possibly eating
ramen daily. Also investors love when entrepreneurs are willing to invest some
of their own money into a concept.

More people on HN, in my opinion, would quit today if they had enough money in
a war chest to survive for year or more.

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inmygarage
The Quadrangle Conference that he references was called the "FourSquare
conference". Coincidence?

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conradboyle
Great story. Takes guts. Inspirational for someone in tech finance.

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swah
Is he an HNer?

~~~
nandemo
I'm pretty sure he is, I remember his name.

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pitdesi
Related, but very different: Reasons to leave the corporate world to join a
startup (and why you should consider it too)
[http://feefighters.com/blog/5-reasons-to-leave-the-
corporate...](http://feefighters.com/blog/5-reasons-to-leave-the-corporate-
world-and-join-a-startup/)

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lclaude01
I have been drinking HN's kool-aid way too long.../// don't be anyone bitch !
(quote by F. Wilson)

