
Ask HN: Founders who were established engineers. How did you make the change? - koudos
I am currently engineer&#x2F;manager running a fairly large team in a stable well paying job. How did you guys make the jump?
I find myself running into several problems<p>- Golden handcuffs
 - Legitimate problem&#x2F;product
 - Cofounder<p>It is really easy to say &quot;just quit and make the leap&quot; but I am cautious about diving right into that. What are some little things you did that eventually got you there? I am trying to figure out a plan to get me there one step at a time.
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ttul
Find an experienced cofounder who can hustle. Your technical depth and
managerial experience will lend credibility to his or her efforts to secure
funding.

Finding legitimate problems is not hard. Finding novel solution approaches is
hard. Universities are often brimming with innovative solutions and innovators
who could not sell beer to an alcoholic. Maybe find a great idea at a
university and then you provide the engineering while the hustler does the
fundraising and selling.

~~~
iKSv2
"Universities are often brimming with innovative solutions and innovators who
could not sell beer to an alcoholic"

This hits home

~~~
koudos
How would I find out about these? Attend pitches? Talk to grad students?

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slededit
You either want it or you don't. If you haven't been laying the ground work
for years it's not likely to work out. Have you saved enough? Structured your
living situation so you can move to wherever is most optimal?

Not only will you not be making money, your business will need capital to
prove product market for before anyone will even offer seed money. Can you put
up the cash?

This isn't just another job it's a lifestyle change. A lower paycheck is the
least of your problems. Is your family 100% invested? Your work will look like
fooling around to them when you have no office or product in the early stages.
Subtle hints about "maybe it's time to get a _real_ job" will sting. Partly
because you won't be 100% sure yourself at times.

My advice is don't do it.

~~~
koudos
The financial aspect is definitely something that I've been saving up and
working towards for a long time now. The path of transition is really what's
not clear in my head. Your advice on the investment of my family is a good
point.

~~~
slededit
The path to transition is pretty easy, you quit, go home and figure it out.
You'll end up working on something different than what you planned anyways
unless you've already been talking to customers.

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troydavis
Regarding the question in the title:

1\. I got as much experience spotting problems that I had and coming up with
solutions to them as I possibly could. Build things, even tiny things, then
see how well they solve your problem and how well they solve anyone else’s
problems.

2\. I had a fair amount of experience with the presales and sales process, and
had a strong opinion how I’d want to purchase what I made. Try to charge money
for something. Even if it’s just consulting services, going through the sales
process with a handful of customers is incredibly helpful.

Finally… the golden handcuffs are a different story.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17286939](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17286939)
and [https://danluu.com/startup-tradeoffs/](https://danluu.com/startup-
tradeoffs/), if you’re employed at a very large tech company (with the
compensation Dan described) and want to maximize your risk-adjusted/likely
income, stay there. If you want to make something that no large company will
pay you to make, a startup is probably the way to do that.

So… when you leave, your expected income will be less, not more. Only do this
if you care more about creating something, or solving a specific problem, or
testing your own skills than about maximizing risk-adjusted income.

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stealthmodeclan
1\. Golden handcuffs

I saw it a high risk/high reward investment.

The money was not available to me in short-term but I could enjoy the
compounded returns after sometime.

It's about giving up short term gains for long term gains and more control
over your direction.

I never used much money from my compensation. Traveled a bit until i got
bored, bought more toys untill i had enough.

Then the paycheck went directly into investment accounts.

So, attachment to money wasn't a problem for me.

Companies only paid me low millions annually. With that money, I can't control
a major corporation and its future direction, though i might be able to
influence some.

So there is no use of money for me, it helps pay bills and that's all about
it. I don't know how more money will change my life.

~~~
koudos
Definitely not generating income at your level and so probably why there's a
bigger need for a plan on my end. The risk/high reward advice makes a lot of
sense. Sometimes it probably is just the way you view it.

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jmheinkle
> golden handcuffs

There's no way you won't feel like you're taking a major salary hit. You want
to save up enough for a year of expenses basically, and reduce expenses. This
hurts and is hard.

> legit product

This is critical. You should absolutely believe in and find working on your
product to be better than anything you can do in your job

> cofounder

Not sure other than usual networking. Note that cofounders are like marriages,
its a damn committing relationship.

Your questions are excellent, but overall based on them you seem far, far off.
I would try to look for entrepreneurial situations in your work or try to hop
onto a startup you like, versus founding.

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alain94040
Been there, done that.

>Golden handcuffs

That's the toughest question. Depending on your age, grab your chances.

>Legitimate problem/product

If you use your experience and start something in a related space, you are a
lot more likely to succeed.

>Cofounder

That should be some previous co-worker with whom you worked great and have
tons of respect.

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koverda
1\. Start networking to find a co-founder.

2\. Think about problems in your life that you'd like to solve. Talk to
potential customers to validate.

3.Transition slowly from one thing to the next. Use the golden handcuff money
to fund the initial steps of your venture.

