

Convince me to quit my day job - leeanon8

For the past five months I have been spending nearly all of my free time outside of my day job creating my startup. It is now to the point where I believe I could launch it and begin making money from it within 5-6 months.<p>The product will be competing with my current employer's (no non-compete, no stolen trade secrets, most legal questions already answered), so for legal reasons I have to quit my day job before launching.  I am in a good enough financial situation that, even in the worst case scenario, I can go for a year before having to bail on my startup and start looking for a new job.<p>So HN, tell me your story of quitting your day job or otherwise convince me that leaving my well paying, comfortable job isn't horribly reckless. How do you know when the time is right to launch your product?  Should I have so much faith in my product that I would be alright with marching into my boss's office tomorrow and telling him I quit?
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melling
If you need to be convinced, you probably shouldn't do it.

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jrubyer
explain?

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bartonfink
I think he means that quitting your day job is an extremely subjective
decision and nobody here is likely to be in the same frame of mind as the OP.
We can offer our own perspective, but the factors and weights that led to
whatever decision we recomment are very likely to be different from the
factors the OP is considering. The OP has likely already made up his mind, he
just doesn't know it.

It's like saying "convince me to get married." There are good arguments both
ways, but ultimately nobody here is likely to know you well enough to make a
decision you'll agree with. Either you subconsciously want to get married, and
you'll believe the naysayers simply don't understand why their arguments don't
apply, or you subconsciously don't want to get married, and you'll believe
that those telling you to pull the trigger don't understand the objections
that you've built up in your own mind.

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naithemilkman
Like what melling said, if you need convincing, you're probably not in the
right state of mind.

Personal experience, I just fucking did it. No talk, no post on HN on whether
I should or not. A little less conversation a little more action please.

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achompas
If melling said it, maybe you should just upvote him and leave it at that?

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naithemilkman
I did and I like to talk?

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achompas
That's very, very clear. Ironic given your first post.

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naithemilkman
touche

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MPLaValle
Lot of variables here. Assuming you've already vetted that its a great
business idea (talked to vc's, peers in the space, domain experience, etc) and
that you have the skills and potential team in place to make it work, fucking
go for it. Make sure you are passionate about it and make sure you're
comfortable raising your daily resting heartrate by about 10 bpm. A bit of my
own path follows: [http://www.warandtheentrepreneur.com/uncategorized/stop-
bash...](http://www.warandtheentrepreneur.com/uncategorized/stop-bashing-
morgan-stanley)

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bo_Olean
Just do it. I quited even when i had no product to launch next.

the motivation :

working on your own and with your nearest developer circle is the only thing
that you won't ever get at Google, Yahoo or Microsoft (GYM).

You probably ain't quiting any one of the GYM, right ?

You probably ain't interested in competing with GYM, right ?

You are going to launch your startup, right ?

Just do it.

[edit : added some line]

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Splendorist
5-6 months seems slightly too long, unless you need to work on it full-time
for that whole duration.

If you're considering it then sooner or later you'll probably do it. But
timing is crucial, so unless you can't continue working on it without quitting
it's best to stall for a bit.

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sorbus
While, as other people have said, if you need to be convinced you shouldn't do
it, I would say that if you're seriously considering doing so (which you
probably are, given how much thought your second paragraph shows that you've
put into it), then you've already decided to do so. Now you're just trying to
rationalize it, to convince yourself that it's a good idea.

So just do it. The worst that can happen is failure, and it's far better to
regret trying and failing than it is to regret not taking a chance.

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znt
If you quit your job, but fail and end up homeless & broke you can come here
and start another thread like "You made me quit my job now please help me find
another one".

This is a very helpful community, so I guess you'll probably do OK in the
worst case scenario.

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NonEUCitizen
Why not change jobs and work for a company that is NOT in this field, and then
launch the product?

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mathgladiator
Do you want to be comfortable or happy?

