

Ask HN: What should I do? - cloudwalking

I'm graduating in December. I have a really good problem to have: I can't decide between a project and a really good job.<p>My senior project is essentially a startup. We have a few hundred customers pounding on it. We have 4 other people working part-time (and free) who have turned down big jobs to see where this goes. There are people very interested in giving us money to continue working on it. Unfortunately the other co-founder is starting at a reputable valley company after graduation rather than staying with the project.<p>The job I'm being offered is very good. An incredible pile of money at a reputable valley company, working with a fun team of people I know and like. But definitely nothing glamorous.<p>The response to project has been very good (including Startup School). But I can't run it without the other founder, there's too much work. And I can't replace him until June. I'm tempted to call it a learning experience and move on, but it really is a decent idea with real customers.<p>What should I do? I have to get back to my recruiter by Monday.
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davidw
It wouldn't be a startup without a bit of adversity.

I'd go for it and find a way to continue unless you have serious reasons
(debt/family/whatever) to start putting money in the bank ASAP.

Big companies will still be there if you fail, why live with the regret?

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rachnaspace
>Big companies will still be there if you fail, why live with the regret?>>

Totally agree!

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guynamedloren
> But I can't run it without the other founder, there's too much work.

Is it really too much work? Have you tried to do all the work yourself? I bet
you'll figure out a way to get it done with or without the other founder (if
you're passionate enough). Maybe it's a matter of cutting out features, but
maybe those features weren't so important to begin with. Constraints drive
innovation.

I say go for it. Worst case scenario - it doesn't work, you call it quits, you
snag the valley job.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm graduating in December (enterprise
systems engineering), and I'm in a similar situation. I tossed around the idea
of working on my own projects vs getting a "real" job. To make my choice
easier, I applied to and interviewed at exactly zero companies. I decided to
take 6-9 months to see what I can do. I told myself it's now or never. To make
things more interesting, I will certainly be broke by January, I have no
investors, and I barely have an MVP. Also, I just started learning how to
program within the past few months, and I am a single founder. Talk about
constraints! =]

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sebg
One thing that might come up that's worth thinking about is IP. Giving that it
is your senior project, you've had 4 other people working on it, and a co-
founder who is leaving - who owns what share and are they going to give it to
you for you to work on are good questions to ask.

Further, you say that it's too much work for you and your co-founder is
leaving. Which means by turning down the job you are committing yourself to
too much work that you acknowledge is unsustainable for you.

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cloudwalking
All the technology is build by two of us. One other is doing design and the
rest are just helping with sales, albeit quite a bit.

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pbhjpbhj
The selection bias, I suspect, means that people here will tend to say you
should go for it even if they actually think it sounds like it wouldn't work
out for you. (I'm not making a value judgement there).

If the co-founder has left then the project is over.

That doesn't mean you can't restart it though.

How will you afford to eat and pay for accommodation? Would your new employer
consider holding the job for you? Is the co-founder going to be easy to
replace? Could you take the position part time and work on the startup
alongside?

(I'm not asking for answers, just trying to help jog the thought process
along).

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cloudwalking
I don't have to start working until May, and I saved enough money interning
last summer that I can work on the project full-time until then.

I guess the biggest concern is replacing the cofounder; he's an incredible
programmer. That being said, most of the current "featuers" are implemented --
the thing is pretty much completely built. It'll be tough to continue adding
stuff, but right now we can take 10x the customers we have.

Thanks for the prods, these are tough decisions.

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TamDenholm
I'd say go with the startup, even if you fail you wont regret it, but if you
go for a job and then let the project die, you might end up regretting that.

If the other founder is taking a job thats fair enough, support his decision
but see if he can commit some time to it on his off-hours. Either that or try
to find a third cofounder and see if you can reduce the other guys equity and
let him become a silent partner or something.

Either way, go for the project, i'm more most others on HN will say the same,
we're biased in that way.

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Nemisis7654
In my opinion, I think you should go for it. The way I'd look at it is like
this: you will most likely always have a chance to work for some reputable
valley company. However, you may never have the chance at your own start up
again. This goes along the same lines as what davidw posted, but if I were in
your boat and did not take the job, then I know later on down the road, I
would be wondering "what if?" I wouldn't want to have to live with that.

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cloudwalking
The "what if" is weighing heavily on me already. In 5 or 10 years I'm going to
be kicking myself.

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andresvite
Maybe this could be the solution to finding cofounders, please make an opinion
:) <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1919173>

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jhancock
Since you have a few hundred customers already, your project is obviously not
in stealth mode. I think most here could give you better feedback if you
posted a link to it.

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cloudwalking
Fair enough. The site is <http://getpunchd.com>; new landing page coming
tomorrow.

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jhancock
looks like a great app!! If you have a little savings and your job offer isn't
too stellar, I'd say run with it. Assuming it contains a useful set of
features now, focus on marketing what it already does and worry about
replacing your co-founder as a secondary problem. Unless of course your co-
founder was the one you were counting on to do the heavy lifting on marketing
and early adopter customer support.

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cloudwalking
Nope, he's strictly a builder. I'm the talker. My degree is computer science,
but he's a way better programmer than me.

Thanks for your advice!

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jeroen
Can't the other 4 people pick up the work that your cofounder was doing? They
seem to be enthusiastic about it.

~~~
cloudwalking
Unfortunately they're all design or sales oriented, rather than engineering.

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middlegeek
Which of the two can you replace? Which of the two would you regret walking
away from?

