

What It Feels Like to Launch a Startup With Two Weeks of Runway - temporary0000
http://3gt6bsdf8tv.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com

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sneak
Why does nobody have any personal savings?

I have 12 months worth of all of my personal expenses sitting in a bank
account. I never touch it. I can't imagine being above the age of about 25 and
not having this. I wouldn't start a new pre-revenue company unless that buffer
was at 14 or 18 months or above.

The only reason that starting something seems so scary to you is that you
haven't planned properly.

~~~
BSousa
I see this a lot here and in other places. I can't speak for the article's
author, but not everyone is in the USA where software developers are payed
100k+.

I get paid 33k (EUR) a year. After taxes that is about 1500 a month. After
bills and food, I have about 400. If I save every penny, in 2-3 years I have 1
year of living expenses.

Yay for me, except I'm in the top 10% earners in my country and earn about 3
times the national average (and 5 times pre tax minimum wage). Even in
software development salaries are usually in the 20-25k range pre tax.

(Portugal if anyone is interested, but even when I was in the UK or
Netherlands, there wasn't that much of a difference)

~~~
megablast
I don't know what you are doing. I lived in Edinburgh for 4 years, at the top
end, in my last 6 months I was earning £33k. Somehow in that time I managed to
save £50k, while having a girl friend, going out on the weekends, and living
in the city center. As well as trip overseas ever year.

I have no idea how people manage to spend so much money. I have never owned a
car in my life. I never go to coffee shops, and I make my lunch from home. We
do mainly cheap stuff, and go on cheap holidays.

~~~
RobAley
I think your last paragraph shows that you do, in fact, have an idea of how
people manage to spend so much money!

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davidandgoliath
And no link to the project referenced? Perhaps that's contributing to the lack
of funding. You'll quickly arrive at the point where you're going to have to
talk about yourself perpetually at this stage otherwise nobody else will
either.

~~~
jmathai
This is a skill which is learned...often too late.

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jakejake
I'm always happy to hear about programmers starting a company but, come on
people! "firing from every single weapon at our disposal without pause," "the
most difficult part of this stage in a founder's life", "everyone who knows
what I'm doing thinks I'm insane"... these are things that we say when we give
ourselves TWO WEEKS to start a company?

The OP already said they are all programmers and can easily get consulting
gigs. If the runway is two weeks, what expenses could they possibly have?
Obviously they didn't sign a 5-year lease. Two weeks isn't probably enough
time to get a payroll system and bank accounts all set up, so I don't see that
happening. A runway implies that the business has to shut down when they run
out of funds. What could there be in two weeks - an AWS bill for fifty
bucks..?

~~~
kelnos
He's talking about a personal runway, not the company's runway. He personally
has enough money for 2 weeks before he's unable to buy food for himself and
his family (etc.).

~~~
jakejake
Not a great position to put yourself in as you are trying to launch a new
startup.

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coudron
Try <https://www.blueshieldca.com> instead of COBRA. Plans start just under
$100 a month and will cover your ass in the case that you break your leg.
(Well... bring a $100k bill down to $10k)

Good luck!

~~~
alok-g
It's giving me $650 per month (for family of three) for a $12,000 deductible.

~~~
ryen
Correct. I think he quoted the price for a young single male non-smoker with
no dependents. Thats me and the price I pay monthly.

~~~
coudron
Sorry, yeah, that was my bad. I was more pointing out that many people think
COBRA is a great deal when in reality it is offen not the case. Another option
to consider: <http://www.healthysanfrancisco.org/> (Must live in SF)

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lnanek2
I've done a lot of contracting. At least for us mobile developers, it is
generally pretty easy to drop by a meetup and just ask if anyone has any gigs.
Often people will announce they are hiring too.

You can get anything from days to weeks to months of easy work this way. Many
people will even pay you by the hour day by day to just sit with them and pair
program and train them how to write apps themselves. Sounds like you are a web
developer, I don't really know how that goes. Asking friends if they or any of
their contacts need some work done is good too.

Then of course there's eLance, oDesk, and the rest. If you don't have good
reviews there and clients asking for you then you pretty much have to
underprice the already cut rate prices to get work. I've hired there and
gotten work for others there, but the wages are too low for me to be willing
to do it myself.

You shouldn't really count on any one contract coming through, though. Always
keep at least two in progress at once and be OK if one client balks at paying
no matter how good a job you did, etc.. It shouldn't have been a big deal if
one client clearly wasn't going to get back to you.

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patrickskim
Everyone on HN sympathizes with the entrepreneur but the way I see it, if
you're financially irresponsible in your own personal life, why the hell
should anyone give you money professionally?

It's like a guy with no training, no climbing experience, NO prep-work,
standing at the base of Everest, telling everyone "Come and watch me climb to
the top."

You ain't climbing shit buddy.

~~~
pc86
I like you.

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csummers
> Yet, this is our chance. This is our chance to actually build a company. We
> have to take it. Another chance may never present itself.

Bah! Two weeks or bust? This is a very short-sited viewpoint: think long term!
Slow down and think about what another 3 or 6 months of runway would do for
your company and product.

You have skills people want. Do some consulting and give yourself a longer
runway. If you truly believe you've got a good product and business on your
hands, then find a way to keep it going even if it's on the side while you do
a consulting gig. (I know split-focus for a few months is not ideal, but "two
weeks or bust" seems like a poor alternative.)

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uptown
This is your chance ... So why is the name of your company a secret? Get out
of stealth mode and attach your business name to everything possible.

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fatalerrorx3
I'm young and live at home (I do pay rent to the parents) and have saved a
bunch by living frugally.

If the OP provided more details about the company I might be looking to invest
5k-10k, and/or offer development help.

Always looking to support local startups being that I work at one also, and I
know how hard it is to build a great product that consumers want, and raise
funding.

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apapli
I sincerely wish you the best with your endeavor. I respect that even though
you're backed in a corner financially you are still going hard. Just remember
your wife and kids along the way :)

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orangethirty
Someone, please explain.

~~~
anigbrowl
OP wrote an app with no business plan and apparently no savings, quit job
shortly afterwards, and is now on the verge of going broke, so s/he's
rationalizing the decision - anonymously, in order to avoid undermining the
app brand.

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diego
OP, do you think you're unique? There are thousands of stories like yours.
You're not risking life and limb. You can always get another job if you fail
(your post implies that you are a software developer in the US). Sure, your
ego may be bruised. Deal with it.

~~~
jmathai
Diego, I realize you've done this before. But it doesn't matter if a million
others have the same story. The stress, uncertainty, doubt and a bunch of
other emotions are very real.

For some it's ego, for others there's a lot more on the line.

Obviously it's not as if we're risking our lives, but you don't have to put
your life on the line for something to be incredibly difficult.

~~~
diego
See my reply to another user. It would be like me complaining about how scary
it is to climb big walls in Yosemite.

If it's too difficult, don't do it. If you choose to do it, don't complain.
Being an entrepreneur is a privilege, not a prison sentence.

~~~
jmathai
I saw that. This has me begging the question. Is this a trait of successful
entrepreneurs?

Now I'm genuinely curious.

~~~
diego
All I can offer is anecdotal evidence. What I can tell you is that as an
investor, I would run away from OP. It's not an entirely rational response,
just instinct.

