
Ask HN: How has your life changed after selling your startup? - nischalshetty
I just saw a Ask HN post asking about founders who built profitable startups while still holding a day job. While I qualify for that, the comments I read had a lot of selling out stories but none of them seem to give much info on what most of the founders are doing after selling out.<p>If you built a startup and have sold it, how has life been after that? Did you start another or have you retired? Do you like it now or would you prefer the pre-acquisition life of yours?
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geophile
1) IPO: I had already left and moved on to my next startup when the IPO
happened. I put the money in the bank.

2) Acquisition: Stayed with the company for a year until they changed their
minds and discarded what we had built, (this was the dotcom era, but we
weren't a dotcom). I put the money in the bank.

3) Acquisition: Again, after I left for my next startup. Money went to the
bank.

4) Acquisition: Stayed around for 3+ years until the PHBs took over
cmopletely. Went to another startup. Put the money in the bank.

I've been amazingly lucky with my startups. Financially, each one made my life
more comfortable, built a nest egg, helped pay for my kids' education. I keep
saying "this is my last startup", but I keep going back. I am now in a
position that I could "retire", but I'm at startup #5. This is my last one,
this time for sure. If/when I do retire, I'll still be hacking interesting
software, even if it's not for a company.

~~~
mikeleeorg
Out of genuine curiosity, what influenced your decision to put your money into
the bank? Personally, I think that's a very smart decision, though I know a
lot of people who've gone into the angel investor game to varying degrees of
success.

I once fancied the idea of becoming an angel investor (and have made a few
very small investments), but then I spoke to a colleague about that path, and
he gave me the harsh reality of it. That doesn't mean I still don't fantasize
about it, but I know it's a very different skill set than I already have.

~~~
geophile
Neurotic, obsessive contemplation of worst-case scenarios. Useful trait in a
software developer, and it tends to make me conservative financially. But in
many other aspects of life I don't recommend it. Also, angel investing doesn't
appeal to me.

I bought some toys, but mostly a comfy life and peace of mind.

------
jgilliam
The main thing for me was being able to pursue an idea no one would fund. I
could self-fund it to the point where it was obvious people wanted it, at
which point fundraising is easy.

And having done a few startups, I also had the confidence to not need anyone
else to tell me it was a good idea. I just needed to build something customers
would pay for. Those can be two very different things.

~~~
jpdoctor
> _I could self-fund it to the point where it was obvious people wanted it, at
> which point fundraising is easy._

I fall into the same category, except that I didn't bother with fundraising at
all.

I knew that not having investors would be a simplification of the business,
but I didn't appreciate just how much time it would save.

------
tristan_louis
"retired"; got tired of being "retired" after a month; started another
company; took it public; tried retiring again; failed at that and started
another company; sold it; hung around after sale; moved to help turn around
another startup; left that and started another company; sold it; hung around a
long time with the acquirer; moved to a competitor of the acquirer and hung
around for a couple of years there; left the big company world to start
another company; preparing for launch soon...

I guess not much :)

One thing selling did is give me a degree of financial freedom I didn't have
before which is a big change. For example, my current startup (Keepskor,
currently is stealth mode) is currently completely self-funded and will remain
so until we open our doors publicly. I wouldn't be able to do that if I hadn't
sold other companies before.

~~~
bvi
That's impressive. What were all your startups, if you don't mind sharing?

~~~
tristan_louis
In order: internet.com (went IPO in 1999, acquired in 2008 (or thereabout, I
was no longer involved when it was acquired) Earthweb (went IPO in 1997,
acquired by internet.com in 2000) Net Quotient (acquired by Applicom in 1999)
Boo.com (crashed and burned in 2000) Moveablemedia (acquired by HSBC in 2001)

I then did the Wall Street thing for a while, building cool payment stuff for
banks and big tech companies.

Last year, I started working on the outline of Keepskor (not fully revealing
what it's about except for broad stuff like the fact that it will be in the
general space of social, mobile, and include things like localization :) ).
Earlier this year, I left the cushy Wall St. job (I felt I was getting overly
fat and happy) to focus on this full-time. The core ideas sketched out for
Keepskor are still there but the way in which we're interpreting them have
radically changed. We've done some market research to validate the core
concepts, built a prototype, crashed and burned it, rearchitected and
reengineered and are now getting closer to what I consider a solid alpha.

------
bryanlarsen
Your answers are going to be heavily biased towards those who got back into
the game. Anybody that actually retired after their payday are highly unlikely
to be reading HN.

------
diego
Retirement doesn't exist. What happens is that your values change. Money is
not the main driver of your daily work.

I work to:

\- make an impact in other people's lives.

\- earn respect and recognition.

\- do something interesting and challenging.

\- learn new skills (I never want to stop learning).

I "could stop anytime I wanted to" but I never do. I don't want to.

~~~
ChuckMcM
For a long time I realized that there was a cognitive disconnect between what
I meant when I said 'retire' and what people heard. This captures the 'after
you don't need to please someone else in order to fund your daily life
expenses' mode that I think of as 'retirement.' I know I'll be hacking new
things and reading interesting papers and writing code right up until the
point where the EEEG straightlines :-)

~~~
broody
> I know I'll be hacking new things and reading interesting papers and writing
> code right up until the point where the EEEG straightlines

I haven't started any startups (want to so badly) but this line here resonates
a lot with me :)

------
huhtenberg
Going from needing to work to not needing to work is a _major_ readjustment,
and not always a positive one. A dream fulfilled means there is no more dream
and a need to come up with a new one.

------
zbruhnke
In short my life hasn't changed at all.

Though mine was a relatively small exit in comparison to some of these 9 and
ten figure behemoths you hear about.

I thought I would not work for 3 or 4 years, that did not even last three or
four months. But I still made time for fun in there too.

I was barely old enough to drink so I spent some time (and money) doing some
stupid things (bought a bar once while I was hammered). Then I spent some time
helping my dad's company get off the ground and primed for acquisition and now
I am on to my 3rd startup.

Life only changed for me in the sense that I have less to worry about. As a
whole I am still the same person and I still live basically the same.

I don't live a lavish lifestyle and I budget and save money like everyone
else. I own a modest home and I drive a car which in not special (3 series).

I hope that I'll keep working until I am no longer physically capable but the
most important thing to me at this point is being happy with what I am doing
and spending time with my family and friends.

------
freemanindia
got into philanthropy

went traveling

did massage school

set up a big art space in LA

tried to set up a media incubator in LA

made some large burningman structures

moved to india

worked in a startup as a coder again

did another incubator

set up another art space

...

I find that not being 'hungry' has reduced my tolerance for spending time on
activities which don't seem important. This can make me an awkward partner in
some situations because the pursuit of money is a very good unifier.

Getting clarity on what I feel is important has been a much longer and more
rewarding process than I expected.

~~~
scottmcleod
Nice I like what you're up to..Lets set up art spaces :)

------
jasonkolb
I now have the freedom to work on what I want to work on. I can take the time
to brainstorm and build whatever I think needs to be built, rather than
considering deadlines and having other people demand that I prioritize X or Y.
I can take the time to explore avenues that I might otherwise have to scrap
simply because of time/budget constraints.

As a coder, it landed me my dream job :)

~~~
nischalshetty
Nice. But, I've always felt, if there was no time and money restriction, work
would move at a lot slower pace than otherwise. Which would in turn impact our
ability to launch. Has that happened to you?

------
xrd
Got married, moved temporarily from Oregon to Georgia with my wife. Got a dog,
walking him a lot. Meditating a lot. Writing a lot. Working on three startup
ideas. Loving life. Clarified what is important to me: being creative,
learning, writing, freedom. Looking at building a new type of startup that has
a structure that is additive to life and building fun things. I believe it is
possible.

~~~
amackera
I believe it is possible also, good luck!

------
cottonseed
Moved abroad, traveled a lot, now in a PhD program.

------
jumby
resting & vesting & waiting for my 2 year anniversary

------
brianobush
financial freedom, but other than that... no. would like to try it again to
see if what happened was luck or skill.

------
earle
Learned to surf, and started another!

~~~
cgag
Maybe it'd be different if it actually happens, but I can't imagine starting a
second one without learning to surf and traveling the world first.

------
itmag
For those of you who made over a million bucks: did you do two chicks at the
same time?

~~~
matwood
Living a life of debauchery can happen just as easily with much much less than
a million bucks.

~~~
itmag
Heh, I misread that as "Living a life of douchebaggery" and heartily agreed :)

