3 ms·

Dug up a post of mine from 2 years ago [1]. I bootstrapped for 14 months without salary and then took a pay cut for 2 years. Here are my numbers. I blogged abou

by jmathai 11y ago

Dug up a post of mine from 2 years ago [1]. I bootstrapped for 14 months without salary and then took a pay cut for 2 years. Here are my numbers. I blogged about this as well [2]. Loss of salary for 1 year, 2 months Does not include loss of 401k match or ESPP -$140,000 Successful Kickstarter @ $25k +$20,000 8 week contracting project @ 20hrs / week +$16,000 Living expenses for 14 months (savings/stocks) -$70,000 Post funding difference in salary from market rate -$50,000 (year 1) -$40,000 (year 2) Total ≈ -$264,000 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7570428 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7570428 [2] http://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/ http://jaisenmathai.com/openphoto-trovebox/

noname123 11y ago
Thank you jmathai for digging up your numbers and posting them again. Really appreciate it, echoing the previous poster, I think living expenses really shouldn't be part of equation as you would incur them anyways if you had a FT job. I think it is really impressive that you generated a significant income, which puts you arguably in a relatively high percentile of people who try to do startups.
xiaoma 11y ago
What about taxes?
sergiosgc 11y ago
Thanks for the numbers. I imagine you got equity of the company in the end, so in terms of your personal asset accounting, it should be factored in (not that getting a valuation on equity is easy, if it hasn't been traded).
- jacquesm 11y ago
  Trovebox shut down in January 2015 so that equity is worth nothing.
  - jmathai 11y ago
    We sold the technology to Western Digital and went along for an acquihire. In the end it approaches break even but even that's nearly negligible.
    - jacquesm 11y ago
      Pity! I had my fingers crossed that you would have some kind of neat exit, you certainly deserved it with all the hard work put in. Better luck next round!
base 11y ago
Your living expenses don't belong in those calculations. In both cases that would be money spent. In case of a startup if you have less expenses they would even offset the total.

by jmathai 11y ago

noname123 11y ago

Thank you jmathai for digging up your numbers and posting them again. Really appreciate it, echoing the previous poster, I think living expenses really shouldn't be part of equation as you would incur them anyways if you had a FT job. I think it is really impressive that you generated a significant income, which puts you arguably in a relatively high percentile of people who try to do startups.

xiaoma 11y ago

What about taxes?

sergiosgc 11y ago

Thanks for the numbers. I imagine you got equity of the company in the end, so in terms of your personal asset accounting, it should be factored in (not that getting a valuation on equity is easy, if it hasn't been traded).

jacquesm 11y ago
Trovebox shut down in January 2015 so that equity is worth nothing.
- jmathai 11y ago
  We sold the technology to Western Digital and went along for an acquihire. In the end it approaches break even but even that's nearly negligible.
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    Pity! I had my fingers crossed that you would have some kind of neat exit, you certainly deserved it with all the hard work put in. Better luck next round!

base 11y ago

Your living expenses don't belong in those calculations. In both cases that would be money spent. In case of a startup if you have less expenses they would even offset the total.