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First of all, now is probably the worst time to buy a house if you plan to start a startup, it's an illiquid asset that has a whole bunch of associated closing

by Eridrus 10y ago

First of all, now is probably the worst time to buy a house if you plan to start a startup, it's an illiquid asset that has a whole bunch of associated closing costs and you don't know what your monetary situation will be in the near future, you're just setting yourself up for a pile of stress. It's always hard to step back from your idea when you're convinced it's a good one, but the most common advice is not to start with an idea, but to start with potential customers and find out what their pain points really are. If they're not spending a lot of money outsourcing this, it will probably be really hard to convince them they should pay you for your software. I thought this advice didn't apply to me and spent months of late nights and weekends working on a product, but it does. If businesses are not crying for your product, selling it to them will be hard. It can be done, but it will be hard. As a technical founder, the things that are likely to kill your startup are not going to be technical implementation issues, and as much as the temptation will be to spend a lot of time at your computer working on your product, that is probably the least useful thing you can do. Figure out if people want to pay for the product you have in mind. Don't just assume that they should. Talk to them. I would not advise quitting your day job before getting started. You should start talking to people who may want your product and finding out if they really do, way before you have it built. If you just start writing code you will likely spend months on a pile of software that no-one wants to even bother integrating, let alone paying money for and the only thanks you will get is a hole in your finances, and then after that you'll be stuck in job search that's even harder than it would be now because you have nothing to fall back on. I don't want to get you down, but you need realistic expectations, not about the fact that it will be hard, but that you will most almost certainly fail; the best thing you can do is find the sources of risk for your fledgling startup and figure out if you can address them, which is all easier to do with the safety net of a job.

Blackstone4 10y ago
I've already spoken to 5+ people in the industry using my contacts and have already changed my idea once. I've shifted from an UI first approach to focusing more on the API. I've also gotten feedback on data formatting and I have some ideas there on how to deal with it. I'm still not there yet because my change in tack means that I need to speak to a slightly different set of people. So I'm getting out there and doing the research. One of main concerns I guess is that if I stay in my job I will never get anything done or if I do it will be at a much slower pace...then the idea will fade and die... PS on buying a house, it would be a small $150k house with the mortgage, tax and insurance coming to $1k pcm which I'm comfortable with especially since we'd have some savings.
- Eridrus 10y ago
  > I've already spoken to 5+ people in the industry using my contacts and have already changed my idea once. I've shifted from an UI first approach to focusing more on the API. Do they have the authority to authorize purchases or have very significant input on purchasing? Are those people telling you they would buy it at a price that it makes sense to develop this tech? Have you talked pricing with them? Can you get them to sign a contract saying they will buy it if you can deliver it by some date in the future? Can you get them to sign a letter of intent? A lot of people will tell you that your idea is interesting, most of them will flake out on you. > One of main concerns I guess is that if I stay in my job I will never get anything done or if I do it will be at a much slower pace...then the idea will fade and die... The idea may die and fade, but that will be because you have decided it's not a good idea to continue with. You have way more free time than you think, you can spend all of that time on your startup idea. If you really do want to accelerate development speed, consider using something like UpWork; you can find developers who are specialists at what you want for much lower than your current salary. IANAL, but you may even be able to write this off on your taxes if you file as a sole proprietorship. > PS on buying a house, it would be a small $150k house with the mortgage, tax and insurance coming to $1k pcm which I'm comfortable with especially since we'd have some savings. You know your own situation best, but make sure you understand all of the one time costs involved with buying a house and how much savings you will have left over and consider what will happen if things go much worse than expected.

by Eridrus 10y ago

Blackstone4 10y ago

I've already spoken to 5+ people in the industry using my contacts and have already changed my idea once. I've shifted from an UI first approach to focusing more on the API. I've also gotten feedback on data formatting and I have some ideas there on how to deal with it. I'm still not there yet because my change in tack means that I need to speak to a slightly different set of people. So I'm getting out there and doing the research. One of main concerns I guess is that if I stay in my job I will never get anything done or if I do it will be at a much slower pace...then the idea will fade and die... PS on buying a house, it would be a small $150k house with the mortgage, tax and insurance coming to $1k pcm which I'm comfortable with especially since we'd have some savings.

Eridrus 10y ago
> I've already spoken to 5+ people in the industry using my contacts and have already changed my idea once. I've shifted from an UI first approach to focusing more on the API. Do they have the authority to authorize purchases or have very significant input on purchasing? Are those people telling you they would buy it at a price that it makes sense to develop this tech? Have you talked pricing with them? Can you get them to sign a contract saying they will buy it if you can deliver it by some date in the future? Can you get them to sign a letter of intent? A lot of people will tell you that your idea is interesting, most of them will flake out on you. > One of main concerns I guess is that if I stay in my job I will never get anything done or if I do it will be at a much slower pace...then the idea will fade and die... The idea may die and fade, but that will be because you have decided it's not a good idea to continue with. You have way more free time than you think, you can spend all of that time on your startup idea. If you really do want to accelerate development speed, consider using something like UpWork; you can find developers who are specialists at what you want for much lower than your current salary. IANAL, but you may even be able to write this off on your taxes if you file as a sole proprietorship. > PS on buying a house, it would be a small $150k house with the mortgage, tax and insurance coming to $1k pcm which I'm comfortable with especially since we'd have some savings. You know your own situation best, but make sure you understand all of the one time costs involved with buying a house and how much savings you will have left over and consider what will happen if things go much worse than expected.