

Ask HN: Should I leave my full time job for personal project? - techiegirl

Looking for some suggestions from the experts here. I have been thinking about a project which I believe have a lot of potential. It will probably take me around 6mo - 1year to make it live(beta). I have a decent job and I have an infant, so even though my job is not so much stressful, because of the baby I can&#x27;t put extra hours after work for my personal project. So I am thinking of leaving my job(a very good, comfortable one). Actually planning to target for 5 months to see if I can progress and then if I see I am failing I plan to start looking for full time job again.<p>However, this decision will put me in a tight position financially, my family can survive but will have to spend extremely carefully.<p>I believe in my idea, my project, and I want to give it a shot, will it be a big risk? Any suggestion&#x2F;personal experiences are greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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emilioolivares
Before quitting your job and writing a single line of code I would recommend
you do this:

1\. Validate your idea: It's great that YOU believe in your idea, but will
others? Test it out, put up a landing page with your concept, see if people
sign up to your mailing list. Talk to potential customers, are they willing to
pay for your product? Can you get a paying customer before building the
product? Some interesting links: [http://thedannorris.com/is-startup-
validation-bullshit/](http://thedannorris.com/is-startup-validation-bullshit/)
[http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-142-d...](http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-142-does-
startup-validation-work)

2\. Network with people who are successful:
[http://www.microconf.com/](http://www.microconf.com/), tell them your idea
and listen to their advice. Learn from all available resources such as:
[http://startupsfortherestofus.com/](http://startupsfortherestofus.com/).

3\. Learn about marketing, SEO and what it really takes to get the word out on
your product. This is not trivial and successful founders on HN make it look
easy, it's not. If you build it, they WILL NOT COME. Try to build a simple
landing page that describes your product and start a blog. Don't start coding
until you are able to get a steady stream of visitors to your site who are
interested in your product. Start here:
[http://moz.com/learn/seo](http://moz.com/learn/seo) [http://moz.com/blog/the-
noob-guide-to-online-marketing-with-...](http://moz.com/blog/the-noob-guide-
to-online-marketing-with-giant-infographic-11928)

Don't quit your job until you are absolutely sure you can make this work.

Good luck!

~~~
techiegirl
Thanks a lot! These suggestions are really helpful, and am glad to get some
specific direction! About validating my idea, I am not a person who follows
the start up news a lot, so, I may be wrong, but is it okay to share a idea
before building it? What if someone hears my idea and build it before I do? I
am uncomfortable with this, or am I missing something here?

Thanks again :)

~~~
emilioolivares
Everyone has ideas, actually it's very likely your idea already is being
worked on or exists in some version. Successful companies are all about
execution. Here are some articles that cover this question in detail:
-[http://cdixon.org/2009/08/22/why-you-shouldnt-keep-your-
star...](http://cdixon.org/2009/08/22/why-you-shouldnt-keep-your-startup-idea-
secret/) -[http://blog.foundersguidebook.com/2013/02/why-you-should-
sha...](http://blog.foundersguidebook.com/2013/02/why-you-should-share-your-
startup-idea-asap.html)
-[http://www.natsturner.com/post/20257121566](http://www.natsturner.com/post/20257121566)

If you are not comfortable sharing your idea online, I would advise to share
it to potential customers, not friends and family. F&F are biased and will
tend to give positive feedback. You need feedback from people that are willing
to PAY or USE your product, complete strangers.

------
canterburry
I am a solo founder with a 17 month old child, a second on the way and a full
time job. While I don't know your idea, I can tell you that you can accomplish
a ton working nights and weekends and not jeopardize your primary income.

I would suggest you don't quit your job until you know the project has
traction and it's something people need and will pay for. I know it feels more
real if you do it as a full time job but why risk your family's well being if
you don't even know it will pan out...no matter how much you believe it will.

There are some benefits to working nights and weekends: It forces you to make
the most pragmatic choices. What is the absolute minimum required to get X
done by Y schedule given I only have Z hours to work on it?

I have probably slaughtered 75% of what I considered must have requirements
for launch, simply by having insane time constraints...and I don't think my
product is any worse for it.

You also start thinking about what you need to work on and what you can farm
out. I use elance all the time for stuff that doesn't provide competitive
advantage. I probably also use far more third party services than I otherwise
would.

All of these where good decisions I probably wouldn't had made if I weren't
equally time constrained.

------
pmtarantino
Hi techie girl. I am not an expert, neither succesful, but I can give you a
simple advice:

Try to go as far as you can with your project without quitting your job. I am
talking about validating.

I understand that you believe in your idea, in your project. I've been here. I
think everyone have been there. But that doesn't mean anything, sadly. So
before you quit your job, before you make any bet, try to cut risk. Send
emails to potential customers, to see if they are interested.

To code for a whole year a beta and then see that nobody wants it, that's
pretty bad. So try to avoid that.

~~~
techiegirl
This will be a free website and open for all, so targeting anyone specific is
not possible. May be I can talk to friends/family and check whether it sounds
like something they want to use.

Thanks for the suggestion!

------
cprncus
> It will probably take me around 6mo - 1year to make it live(beta).

The rule for estimating project time is to take your estimate, multiple by 2,
and then change to the next unit of time. So this means it will actually take
you 12 years.

Of course, I'm (only half) joking. I started a project 7 years ago that I
began in my spare time and...it's still not done. But I started from zero
programming and had bad habits and put it down for months at a time. If you
are already a programmer and know what you're doing, yes, it may only take one
year.

------
jasonkester
It might be worth looking in to reducing your hours at work instead of
quitting outright. If you're good, chances are they'll be willing to work with
you to keep you around.

Along the same line of thought, a 6-month sabbatical would fit the bill as
well. Again, from your employer's standpoint, losing a good developer (and
having to roll the dice replacing him) is a disaster. The promise that you
might come back when you're done could be enough for them to give you the
green light.

Good luck!

~~~
techiegirl
Thanks! I though of that, but my team is in a state that if I plan to take
leave, they'll hire someone immediately and they may not take me back later as
my position will be filled. Its not a big company.

However, if I decide to quit for personal project, I will start with asking
for leave or part time work. That was the plan. Quitting is kinda the last
option.

------
a3n
> I have an infant

No.

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sharemywin
check out places like odesk or elance and bid your project out. Cut out as
many features(bells and whistles as you can). Get a credit card for 5k-10k let
someone else do the work and pay with a credit card. Now take your salary
every month subtract the monthly credt card payment. Divide that number in
half and send it to me for saving you a ton of risk a lost revenue. Seriously
though at least bid out your project and see what it will cost and compare
that to how much you'll make over the next year.

~~~
techiegirl
LOL. Thanks a lot. Building the project the way you suggested would be great,
but I have seen that managing outsource work is very difficult, and am not
sure if I am good at that.

Also, in the process of building the project, I want to improve my skill sets.
I do plan to do some part of works through freelancers.

------
jstark
Make sure your 0.5-1 yrs also includes marketing time which is probably 2-10x
the coding time.

~~~
techiegirl
yea, I should. Thanks!

