I've been working (with a co-founder) on a side project that's about to pan out for the past 2.5 years. About 1.5 years of that was working after hours, then about 10 months or so of 6 hours at my day job and 2 hours in my company, then just recently I quit my job with about a years worth of savings and am full time in the company.
The risk I took, until recently at least, was almost nothing, since I had a job all along and was actually saving money at a quick pace.
You too can start a company without going bankrupt with a bit of planning and a bit of frugality.
nb. I'm counting my project as a success if it brings me >= 1x median wage on the side, which is a low bar. Also, I am not rich.
'Working on the side' doesn't work so well for me. I've tried it, and I really struggle to make any progress. I also make art and usually that's where my productive free time goes. And switching off the artistic side is bad for me, mentally. Side projects and art draw from the same pool of mental energy as my day job and they both get the back seat, unfortunately.
That's part of why I would really like to make a clean break... I just can't do the weekend warrior thing
I believe the parent comment is actually implying the opposite.
You said, "it really underscores the reality that most of these founders have rich family or friends to fall back on", someone else replied saying that they've been bootstrapping a business on the side and you come back with, "I just can't do the weekend warrior thing".
You can't say "well only rich people can start a business!" and then dismiss bootstrapping as an option just because you personally can't "do the weekend warrior thing".
I wasn't dismissing bootstrapping. That's how I intend to do it. All I said was that weekend warrioring wasn't for me. I have a plan that allows me to optimize for already-spoken-for free-time; that's what this entire thread is about
I've been working (with a co-founder) on a side project that's about to pan out for the past 2.5 years. About 1.5 years of that was working after hours, then about 10 months or so of 6 hours at my day job and 2 hours in my company, then just recently I quit my job with about a years worth of savings and am full time in the company.
The risk I took, until recently at least, was almost nothing, since I had a job all along and was actually saving money at a quick pace.
You too can start a company without going bankrupt with a bit of planning and a bit of frugality.
nb. I'm counting my project as a success if it brings me >= 1x median wage on the side, which is a low bar. Also, I am not rich.