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"building something of my own has been consuming me lately." How bad is it consuming you lately ? Do you think about this every day ? Do you feel like if you d

"building something of my own has been consuming me lately." How bad is it consuming you lately ? Do you think about this every day ? Do you feel like if you don't do something about this, you would be very unhappy say 5 years from now ? Let me be brutally honest hoping it helps. Most people think about doing this own thing since it is a "nice idea". But the execution part is where a lot of us fail. So the question is: what are you willing to give up today to start something of your own ? Are you willing to give up the salary cushion you have ? Are you willing to grind day in day out for 5/7/10 years ? Let's say you do your own thing today and 5 years from now, you decide that it is not for you and you want to go back to a job. Would you regret your decision in hindsight ? Would you hate yourself for losing all that cash you could have made in 5 more years from your current job ? For me, the answer is No, not at all. I did not fail so you can call it survivorship bias but 7 years ago, I quit my very high paying consulting job to do my own thing. I was able to make it work but even if I had failed, I would have 0 regrets. I cannot die knowing that I never tried my own thing. Can you ?

toujourscurieux 5y ago
You gave me something to think about codegeek. Haven't looked at it from this lens yet. Thank you.
- codegeek 5y ago
  Not a problem. Doing your own thing is one of the best decisions you can make for yourself but you cannot have it both ways. If you are worried about Opportunity Cost, you would never truly be free in actually doing it. For me, doing my own thing is my way of life. I cannot accept anything else. Of course, I hope I get rich doing it as well but even if it keeps me afloat, I would be ok with it. You don't do your own thing because you want to get rich. You get rich because you did your own thing. 2 different things. The focus should be "I really really wanna do my own thing and willing to accept whatever risks it brings". Good luck to you.
  - ackbar03 5y ago
    As per the intro on your user info page, how do you prefer one get in touch with you to have a chat? Curious about what your business does and how you got started
thrwawy21062114 5y ago
I second that. You regret the things you DON'T do more than the things you do. In 10-20 years' time you might get bitter wondering what could have been, and seeing another company succeed with "your idea". It also sounds like you can afford to make this bet. You are young, good savings, tech skills, and I'm assuming "asset light" life (no family or lots of bills weighing you down). If the startup fails you can get back to corporate life after a few years, which startup life experience under the belt. Another answer said that you should love the market you're in. I agree. You'll live and breathe this market for 7-10 years, so you better love it. That being said, most startups fail. You have to be fine with the fact that you might lose your savings and those years of your life. And if it does, fine, it's an investment that didn't pan out. What I did when we made the jump (8 years ago) was set aside a pile of money and a 1-year window to see if the company floated. If the time or money ended before we saw paying customers and some small traction, we'd stop. It all worked out fine but we were very lucky.

toujourscurieux 5y ago

You gave me something to think about codegeek. Haven't looked at it from this lens yet. Thank you.

codegeek 5y ago
Not a problem. Doing your own thing is one of the best decisions you can make for yourself but you cannot have it both ways. If you are worried about Opportunity Cost, you would never truly be free in actually doing it. For me, doing my own thing is my way of life. I cannot accept anything else. Of course, I hope I get rich doing it as well but even if it keeps me afloat, I would be ok with it. You don't do your own thing because you want to get rich. You get rich because you did your own thing. 2 different things. The focus should be "I really really wanna do my own thing and willing to accept whatever risks it brings". Good luck to you.
- ackbar03 5y ago
  As per the intro on your user info page, how do you prefer one get in touch with you to have a chat? Curious about what your business does and how you got started

thrwawy21062114 5y ago

I second that. You regret the things you DON'T do more than the things you do. In 10-20 years' time you might get bitter wondering what could have been, and seeing another company succeed with "your idea". It also sounds like you can afford to make this bet. You are young, good savings, tech skills, and I'm assuming "asset light" life (no family or lots of bills weighing you down). If the startup fails you can get back to corporate life after a few years, which startup life experience under the belt. Another answer said that you should love the market you're in. I agree. You'll live and breathe this market for 7-10 years, so you better love it. That being said, most startups fail. You have to be fine with the fact that you might lose your savings and those years of your life. And if it does, fine, it's an investment that didn't pan out. What I did when we made the jump (8 years ago) was set aside a pile of money and a 1-year window to see if the company floated. If the time or money ended before we saw paying customers and some small traction, we'd stop. It all worked out fine but we were very lucky.