

Ask HN: How do you know you're ready to quit your day job? - BadassFractal

This has been puzzling me for a while now and I was hoping HN would be so kind as to provide advice and feedback.<p>I'd love to quit my day job to pursue working full time on a project I've been working on with a couple of people for more than half a year now, but I don't quite know at what stage that's generally not too crazy of an idea. Obviously if I were to do it right now, I'd be without any income whatsoever, which is a fairly bad idea, even though I don't have any dependents. I imagine I could quit if the seed round was sufficiently beefy, but it's my understanding that most people end up waiting until they have real customers and serious income and then they actually jump ships.<p>I honestly don't know how long I can continue doing the whole 80 hour weeks for, if half of that is spent on a drudgy dead-end job (I'd honestly be ok with spending that much on my own company), and as I found out it's pretty hard to keep the two separated if so much of your energy is drained by the "secret project". I feel management will eventually catch on to what's going on heh.<p>Do you have similar experiences to share? Any tips? Any rules of thumb?
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prawn
Obviously you're ready to make the move save for the financial situation.

I'm not sure if this is good advice because I've just thought of it and
figured I'd suggest it, but what about getting a basic job that pays your
essential bills/food away from technology. I imagine that many people
freelance or shift to part-time and the line between that work and their
start-up is blurred meaning that neither really gets full focus.

What if you found a job away from a computer? I know most of those wouldn't
pay exceptionally well, but perhaps that separation would help? You'd come
home from a bar or gallery and step into your startup space to get working.
Are there any fairly-available non-tech jobs in your location that pay
reasonably well?

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BadassFractal
That's a very interesting perspective! I've actually not had non-tech jobs so
far and so I haven't even remotely considered doing something that doesn't
involve software... In fact I don't think I've ever asked myself the question
of whether I'd be able to make above minimum wage doing anything but software!

~~~
prawn
I haven't worked outside web in 15 years so no idea what the landscape is like
and I don't know what your living costs are like either, but thought it might
put a different perspective out there. Of course, if hospitality is paying
$10/hr and you can get a near-endless supply of freelance work at $100/hr,
it's hard to ignore but like I said, you might be constantly battling that
temptation to take the immediate money rather than go cold turkey and work on
the startup.

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gapanalysis
Before you bail put a "business plan" together. How much (how little) do you
need to earn to meet your living expenses? What can you do to earn that amount
while you work on your project? What skills can you market? To whom?

When I left my full time job, I was able to freelance write for tech pubs and
blogs, and my partner hacked code in a developer-for-hire position. Look for
the kinds of jobs where you can manage your time, schedule and how much you
earn.

~~~
BadassFractal
Are there perhaps well established venues for being hired as a temp/contractor
on existing projects? Some reputable site perhaps that gets you in touch with
people in need of specific expertise?

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gapanalysis
I honestly didn't use venues of this kind. I was fortunate to have some folks
contact me. There are publishers who look for authors for book chapters. I
found these to be too much work for too little compensation. I don't know if
ifreelance.com or similar sites (search "freelance tech writer") are reliable
but you have some time to research perhaps?

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gexla
The rule of thumb for starting any business is that ideally you would have
enough personal funds socked away to be able to live for 6 months.

~~~
BadassFractal
What are you trying to reach though during those 6 months? Are you waiting for
some sort of investment or are you waiting for actual revenue?

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plasma
Can you take several months leave from work (even if its unpaid)?

It's something I'm doing soon.

~~~
BadassFractal
Are you saying you'll not officially quit your job, but instead announce a
several months leave hoping you can score an outside opportunity in the
meantime, and still have a plan B in case you tank?

~~~
prawn
I think they meant just Plan B (return to the original job if the startup
thing fails). You'd probably want some cash reserves to keep you afloat during
that period of leave.

