

How many people are willing to give up their day job to risk a startup? - ChristianPerry
http://trogger.com/discussions/how-many-people-are-willing-to-give-up-their-day-job-to-risk-a-startup

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charlesju
Maybe I have been extremely lucky my whole life, but I have never thought of a
startup as being risky.

Financial risk is all about investing your personal human capital and looking
for the highest expected value.

When I approached the end of college, I looked at what I was given (mediocre
programming skills, some street smarts, a knack for bs) and I realized that my
expected financial return was much higher in a startup.

Take 5 years out for example.

Assumptions:

\- 10% at 20 M = 2 M \- 10% at 10 M = 1 M \- 10% at 5 M = 500k \- 10% at
500,000 = 50,000 \- 60% at nothing = $0 \- Total of 3.55 M expected return on
my personal human capital

\- 100% at 500k (salary over 5 years, being generous) \- Total of 500k
expected return

3.55 M > 500k. Of course these numbers are personal, and everyone is
different, but I don't think they are unrealistic.

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dbul
Could you clarify how you arrived at the numbers for the five year expected
return?

~~~
charlesju
Just come up with expected exits if you were to start a startup then come up
with percentages as to which you think those exits are reasonable.

The numbers I came up with were largely based on my personal feeling of how
good I am at this whole being a business-man business, this is different for
everyone.

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raffi
I find it hard to escape my comfort zone when I'm comfortable. When I had a
"job" I would set a goal each year of setting up a small internet business. I
called it a cyber lemonade stand. I wanted something small that I could learn
from and experiment with different types of promotion. It wasn't until I left
that job this happened. The years I was in my comfort zone I couldn't be
pushed to do the uncomfortable thing of working extra to make a small business
to learn from. Having my back against the wall seems to be a good motivator
for getting things done.

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Skeletor
I resigned from my 8 year career at a large financial software firm to work on
my start-up full time this past January. It is definitely a risk and most
people who work in a large stable corporation won't make that move. They
thought I was insane to leave a stable high paying job for a risky and unknown
venture. I don't know if I'll succeed yet, but I'm sure it was the right move
for me. But there is a company full of people I left who will never make that
kind of leap.

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trapper
After seeing my parents slave for other people, all their ideas wasted or
stolen, why would I think it is the easy route not working on my own thing?

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addicttostress
I've had opportunities to leave a comfortable day job to work on startups.
What kept me from joining up wasn't just risk but I didn't believe it would be
a success. That's most important. Bootstrapping my own startup has taken more
time but I've been completely relaxed on it and able to really set my launch
up well without having to worry about supporting my family through a risky
situation.

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ighost
Nope, that's why I'm doing one right after graduating college. That's before
getting a day job, so I won't have to give one up.

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dbul
I think the answer is surprisingly few. This makes it hard because you need to
have the ganas enough to a) quit b) devote most of your time. On top of that,
you need to have a co-founder who is willing to make the same sacrifice.
Having a co-founder who isn't on the same page isn't completely worthless but
it can be terribly frustrating.

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jerryji
Me.

I had kept a day job and worked on my startup only in (all) my spare time for
more than 2 years, that _is_ challenging, kind of keeping-an-out-of-marriage-
affair challenging -- you get the idea. (or do you? :)

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windsurfer
I wish I had a day job :(

 _(actually, I'm a student, and I'm starting co-op in 2 weeks)_

