
The natural evolution from side project to full-time business - tortilla
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1764-the-natural-evolution-from-side-project-to-full-time-business
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gruseom
The best statement on this topic that I've seen was a comment on HN, which
unfortunately I don't have a link to. It said: if you spend half your time on
a startup (e.g. because you have a job), realize that you won't be half as
productive, you'll be an order of magnitude less productive. As soon as I read
that, it made sense of my experience.

Keeping it in mind helps to manage the process if you're on that path: it
prevents your expectations from being continually thwarted. But it also
provides a powerful reason to get off that path.

~~~
diN0bot
totally. at least for designing and implementing the core technology, i've
found that i need large chunks of focus time. i also need time to mentally
shift from one set of problems to another...kind of like writing things to
disk and then loading up the next set.

it doesn't have to be an order of magnitude less productive, though. i find
that if my brain is too cluttered to change problem solving paths for the
night, then i'll go to bed early and wake up between 3 and 7am for a
productive morning.

i also find myself taking off work days around weekends. i split my weeks
between solid days of work and solid days of side-project. these large chunks
are so awesome for getting "real" work done, which is more than useful, it's
also motivating and satisfying.

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MicahWedemeyer
My favorite analogy: Raising kids. Quit your day job and raise your kid,
putting all your energy into them. When you're out of money 6 months later,
you still have a 6 month old kid. Maybe they can walk a little sooner than
their peers, but you can't artificially grow them into a teenager. The same is
true with growing a user/customer base. Some things just take time.

I wish I could quit my job for 1 month while I build the core technology, then
get my job back while I build the userbase. Since that's usually not an
option, I'll spend 3-4 months of spare time building the technology while I
keep my job, then grow it organically over time.

~~~
icey
You'd be amazed at the number of places that are willing to grant people a
month long _unpaid_ leave of absence for a wide variety of reasons.

~~~
MicahWedemeyer
True. I'm just worried that requesting leave to _start my own business_ would
raise too many eyebrows. It's not exactly something a love-my-job employee
asks for. And I do really like my job.

~~~
icey
If you were going to try to do this, I'd recommend not mentioning that part of
it. Say you've got a big project you're working on, or whatever. Of course, it
all kind of depends on what your relationship is with the people you work for.
Maybe they already know you have the entrepreneur bug.

~~~
MicahWedemeyer
Yeah, my manager reads my dev blog and knows about all my side projects.

~~~
icey
In my (limited) experience with this sort of thing, that's the type of manager
who is far more likely to be understanding of what you're trying to do.

I was able to get my consulting company off the ground by going from full-time
employment down to 3 days a week, and I used the other 2 days a week to pick
up clients and freelance. I did that for about 9 months before I went to
consult full-time. After that, I kept my old company as a client, and when
they needed help, they had the benefit of dealing with someone who already
knew all their systems.

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bored
I find that doing a side project along with your day job is more of a
psychological problem. You lose motivation knowing you can just stop your
project with no real consequences. I think you need to make some sacrifices
(maybe not quit your day job) in order force yourself to put in a lot of
effort.

~~~
aditya
Yeah, that is pretty hard, the fact that there's nothing to lose. I think it
all comes down to motivation.

This quote from pj is possibly the best advice I've seen, although he was
probably talking about full-time startups:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=625644>

~~~
bored
Ah, I read that before and it also stuck in my mind.

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andygeers
The thing I've been thinking about recently is that when you're working on a
very large project like the game I'm developing, I'm not sure I have the
patience to work on a single project as a sideline for several years. I wonder
if it's a case of blitzing it full time and finishing in a few months or not
finishing it at all because you're so fed up you've moved on to something
else.

~~~
tortilla
I think it depends on your project. Some projects require huge bursts of
energy in a short span and others can be developed incrementally over a longer
period of time.

~~~
ddemchuk
I agree with that. I have a few small side projects in mind as well as a
bigger one, and the only thing that keeps me focused on them is when I'm done
working for the day, I put together a list of all of the stuff I want to add
the next time. That way, I have a clearly defined list of milestones waiting
for me the next time I get to the app, rather than having to rejuice my brain
when I have some more time to work.

Also, I've been spending time thinking about how to create small, focused,
monetized, short-term development apps that can bring in some revenue so I can
start cutting back on my daytime work hours. That way I can get some more dev
time each day.

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dpnewman
For me the best combo is consulting and side project as opposed to day job.
With contracts I can keep them to 20-30 hrs per week and then have substantial
time and focus to work on my baby. And if I need 2 weeks or pure focus, I
usually can get that too. All the while, keeping some decent income coming in.
It works ideally for me - but f course it depends on many factors.

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staunch
> _You box yourself into a position where you have to profit immediately or
> the whole thing goes under. You’ve got to make it work now or give up
> forever._

That's a feature, not a bug! Procrastination kills more businesses than
anything else. With a day job it's too easy to put off building a new
business. Without one it's easier to succeed, than to fail.

~~~
MicahWedemeyer
Got any stats on that procrastination claim? I thought the conventional wisdom
was that projecting profits too early and running out of startup capital kills
most new businesses.

~~~
staunch
I think procrastination (caused by day jobs) usually kill startups in their
infancy, before anyone except the founder(s) would even notice. Maybe the
founder(s) launch a version 1.0, over the course of months. They work on it
for a while, but it's not profitable and sucks up all their free time. When
something important (like a high priority project at their day job) comes
along they neglect it, and it eventually dies.

I personally have met dozens of people who have this kind of story. Probably
quite a few people on HN do.

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hwijaya
Ah, the classic debate of part time vs full time again. Sigh..

I think it's depend on people to people. I personally know that i'm not the
"part-time-and-do-it-safely" kind of person. I get too comfortable.

I function much better as soon as i burn off my ship and jump off the cliff.
Somehow, that's how my survival instinct works. That's how i signed up for 1/2
marathon and full marathon while i haven't been able to run one (and, of
course, after that i became much more discipline in training and eventually
finished).

Again, it depends on your personality.

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bcl
A large part of this decision depends on the type of product and market
segment that it is targeting. Time to get to market can be very important. If
you spend a year working part time you may be trumped by someone else. I have
been involved in more than one project where we missed the market time window.

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edw519
This is exactly the opposite of what pg has said in some of his essays, but
like a lot of things, it's possible for both of them to be right.

For some people, quitting their job is not an option because of things over
which they have little control (family, health issues, etc.) Even though it's
not ideal, for them, OP provides great encouragement.

~~~
staunch
Knowing that you're doing something that's not optimal is important, so that
you can compensate. Pretending it's _better_ to have a day job is harmful.

