

Ask HN: Why is it so hard to quit a corporate job to a startup? - Donito

I am 24, and have been working for 3years in a major US software company. Very excited at first, I learned a lot, but feel like the sparkle has gone away. I am not particularly passionate about my current project, and have many ideas/projects I would like to pursue on my own. I try do during my free time, but it is very hard while working full time. Also, with this entrepreneurial dream in mind, I have been saving up money (~$100k) to make up for potential periods with limited income.<p>So a part me, definitely wants to quit, and give it a try. But another part of me is confused in terms of how to stay in the US for a startup (I'm under H1B). Finally, the biggest worry is whether I am foolish to throw away, in this though economy, a very respectable situation with good work, good salary, and exciting projects from an absolute perspective.<p>Have you ever felt the same, and how have you dealt with this feeling? Thanks!<p>-Donito
======
rubeng
I built my startup while working full time at a corporate job. After a year
and a half I quit because I was able to grow it to the point of where it was
able to pay living expenses and support my family. Was it hard? Very. But
there are many things you can do to make it easier for yourself.

Use your job to fund the building of your product. You rent your body out for
8 or 9 hours a day, make it work for you as much as possible and hire someone
to write code while you work and sleep. This means you can spend your free
time marketing (yes, before you launch) and you'll drastically increase your
chances of success.

~~~
kp212
Just out of curiosity, did you let your employer know?

I read this a while ago:

<http://blog.asmartbear.com/working-startup.html>

~~~
rubeng
I did not let my employer know. I understand that sometimes there can be risks
from a legal perspective but given the context I felt the risk was extremely
low. Plus, it was none of their business. I'm still blown away that in this
country (US) people that work for others have to sometimes worry about their
jobs going after them for what they do outside of that job. It honestly
sickens me.

~~~
polyfractal
To be fair, it makes sense in some circumstances. Would you want your
employees taking your algorithms, trade secrets, insider knowledge and
networking contacts to build a competing business while you are paying them at
the same time?

------
polyfractal
To put it in perspective a bit, I have scraped together $7000 in savings (over
the past year) and plan to live about 6-7 months on that once I quit my job
next month. I live in Boston too.

I can't even comprehend having 100k in the bank. There are many reasons which
make it difficult to quit, but one of them is definitely fear of not feeding
yourself. Sit down and honestly evaluate your budget. Unless you have kids and
a mortgage (which at 24 I'm guessing you don't), I can almost guarantee your
100k will last you _at least_ a year while still eating like a human being.

As an aside, there are many ways to go have a more fulfilling career that
don't involve betting everything on a startup. You could do freelance work, or
develop micropreneurial apps, or spend some time learning new skills and then
finding a more exciting desk job.

------
kristenlee
I quit my job to pursue a startup idea and I ended up regretting it. Getting a
regular paycheck every two weeks is something I have learned to appreciate
after having to go 8 months without having any form of income. As you probably
know, most startup ideas fail and for every Dropbox or AirBnB there are
thousands of failed startups that were started by people who were just as
smart and just as driven as those individuals were. The fact that you have a
100k in the bank should make things a little easier for you, if you do decide
to pursue the startup route I would suggest you put a hard time limit on when
you're going to cut your losses and return back to the regular job market
something like 8-12 months, whatever you do keep your options open.

------
keiferski
Take that 100k and move somewhere that isn't NYC or the valley. Assuming
you're 24, have no spouse or kids, and no other expenses, 100k will go _a long
way_ in many parts of the country. Here in Pittsburgh, you can live like a
reasonably well off college student on 1k a month.

Can't help you on the visa though, I'm not familiar with how that works.

------
mjs00
> I try do during my free time, but it is very hard while working full time.

Doing a startup is much harder than this problem of time or focus.

Many people are not good with anxiety/uncertainty about income, and you have
additional issue around your visa. And remember doing startup has two costs -
first is the opportunity cost of the income you are no longer making, second
are any real costs around your business beyond your sweat equity.

If you have a solid day job, one option is to moonlight or work on your night-
time project (non-competitive to day job) until you start to see traction or
revenue around the idea, then you can make a decision to bail on the day job
to be full time on your startup to scale it. There is no sure time frame for
getting to that point. But maybe it will be different way for you to think
about night hours, that you are experimenting with ideas, not trying to do two
jobs at once indefinitely.

------
devs1010
I recommend you work for a startup first, this way you can still keep earning
a paycheck but get a feel for the frantic pace, etc. I worked for one startup
and then now work in a larger company and its a world of difference how they
do things. This may then be a good transition to starting your own startup.

------
soho33
i was in your shoes around 5 years ago. I never took that risk to let go of my
comfortable living style and great job at the big corporation. I was too used
to the lifestyle i was living and quitting to do a startup would mean i had to
move back with my parents, change my lifestyle drastically and i wasn't up to
it. The only advice i have for you is if you are willing to take that risk
make sure to do it now, the longer you wait the harder it gets. in my case, i
got married and now that i have to support a family, it's THAT much harder to
quit your day job.

At the end of the day you know yourself better than anyone else and if you can
handle it or not. but just make sure to do it now before marriage, kids come
in and add more problems!

good luck

------
kamaal
I am two years ahead of you. And sometimes I feel the same. But over the years
I have realized I don't really have what it takes to run a business. I mean I
can code, design and do all the technical work. But business is a different
beast. I don't know how to do it, and its extremely dangerous to do things
which you do don't understand.

All that is besides the point, as many will tell you. Not all start ups
succeed. I mean in the financial sense. Many fail. Unfortunately most of us
here like to talk of the good stuff to keep ourselves motivated. We don't talk
about failed start ups frequently and with harsh criticism. All this creates a
sense that start ups are a sure shot way of getting rich. That seems to be
hardly the case, and successful start ups end up being outliers.

Also MegaCorp work is not that bad, If you can outshine most of your peers you
can make good deal of money. Everybody knows that if you can keep your focus,
make good decisions, take some occasional risks and are more productive than
others you are going to successful anywhere. But 'more productive' is really
in your hands and that sort of really depends on your hard work.

Besides these days you can work full time and still do a lot of other stuff
like app development for mobile phones and tablets. There are plenty of good
open source projects to work on. So on the learning side you can do a lot even
without joining a start up.

~~~
raghava
> outshine most of your peers

At BigCo Inc, outshining others does not mean just working well. Playing the
right cards, being in the right networks (and the right books of those in
power) matter a lot. ;) As they say, only when _powered by_ right mindset and
_driven by_ right ambitions could one reach the next level.

