3 ms·

Concentrating on your idea full-time will certainly move it along faster than if you are working on it as a side-project. However, this self-funded model can a

by brk 15y ago

Concentrating on your idea full-time will certainly move it along faster than if you are working on it as a side-project. However, this self-funded model can also be a slippery slope to self-bankruptcy if you're not careful. I would suggest laying out a careful plan beforehand. Figure out what your base living expenses will be, and determine how long you can go on 75% of your current savings. Set some realistic goals and expectations while you have a clear head (now), and as you start to approach a critical low-cash point stop and evaluate where you are vs. what you expected. Keep in mind that this might make it harder for you to find a job if you take this personal sort of time and it doesn't work out. I would only suggest doing this if you can live for 8 or 9 solid months on savings, and STILL have another 3-4 months of savings to live on after that. 6 months seems like a good checkpoint time, you should have made some serious measurable progress by then. If you haven't, you'll need to start looking for alternate income, which may be time consuming and take a couple of months. I would also suggest around the 5-6 month checkpoint trying to speak with some angel investors. Partly for the obvious point of raising money, and partly to get some unbiased outside feedback as to the viability and potential market of what you are working on.

BadassFractal 15y ago
How uncommon is it for entrepreneurs to take the plunge and have absolutely no income for those 6-12 months? Is this something that's theoretically possible, but most people choose not to go through with it because they would much rather not bankrupt themselves, or do folks actually do it? It's just that most success stories you read about these days involve some sort of seed money / angel investment that at least guarantees you don't need to immediately start depleting your reserves. In any case, when you say 5-6 month checkpoint, is that from the moment one would hypothetically start working on startup full time, or while still doing it part-time?
- brk 15y ago
  5-6 month checkpoint is from the time you go full time. I hear of people doing it from time to time, but I generally think the self-funded folks fly under the radar. When people raise money you see more press coverage, so in terms of what you read about online I think the visible data may be slightly skewed. I know many many people that worked for some amount of time (usually less than 1 year) self funded and then either raised money or pulled the ripcord and went back to work. I do not personally know many who were able to get to something near break even or viable in less than 1 year. But that is just me.
  - BadassFractal 15y ago
    What I read on other sites was that people would be ok with making considerably less than what they were at their full time jobs, for a long while, as the business is ramping up. So if you were making 6 figures before quitting, now you'd be making possibly under minimum wage :| On the other hand if there's a strategy behind that and you can clearly see how you'll get to the light at the end of the tunnel, sucking it up for a yearish shouldn't be too awful.
- candyopener 15y ago
  I've done it. Lived on just savings for 9 months before getting some seed funding, which lasted 4 months. Then, we made a pivot so that was another 6 months of savings and counting, but we are close to closing an angel round. My cofounder did the same. I prepared enough savings to last about 2 years (living very frugally) before I took the leap. I'm single. Do I regret it? Not really. Not even if this startup fails and I deplete most of my savings. However, two things I would maybe do differently: 1) I would have kept a job while I networked and learned more about the startup world. Seeing how you are on HN and read a lot about other startups, your case is probably different. 2) I may also have started with less savings. I think I worked at a slower pace in the first 9 months than I am working now, because 1) I was burned out from corporate and 2) I knew how long my savings could last me for.

by brk 15y ago

BadassFractal 15y ago

How uncommon is it for entrepreneurs to take the plunge and have absolutely no income for those 6-12 months? Is this something that's theoretically possible, but most people choose not to go through with it because they would much rather not bankrupt themselves, or do folks actually do it? It's just that most success stories you read about these days involve some sort of seed money / angel investment that at least guarantees you don't need to immediately start depleting your reserves. In any case, when you say 5-6 month checkpoint, is that from the moment one would hypothetically start working on startup full time, or while still doing it part-time?

brk 15y ago
5-6 month checkpoint is from the time you go full time. I hear of people doing it from time to time, but I generally think the self-funded folks fly under the radar. When people raise money you see more press coverage, so in terms of what you read about online I think the visible data may be slightly skewed. I know many many people that worked for some amount of time (usually less than 1 year) self funded and then either raised money or pulled the ripcord and went back to work. I do not personally know many who were able to get to something near break even or viable in less than 1 year. But that is just me.
- BadassFractal 15y ago
  What I read on other sites was that people would be ok with making considerably less than what they were at their full time jobs, for a long while, as the business is ramping up. So if you were making 6 figures before quitting, now you'd be making possibly under minimum wage :| On the other hand if there's a strategy behind that and you can clearly see how you'll get to the light at the end of the tunnel, sucking it up for a yearish shouldn't be too awful.
candyopener 15y ago
I've done it. Lived on just savings for 9 months before getting some seed funding, which lasted 4 months. Then, we made a pivot so that was another 6 months of savings and counting, but we are close to closing an angel round. My cofounder did the same. I prepared enough savings to last about 2 years (living very frugally) before I took the leap. I'm single. Do I regret it? Not really. Not even if this startup fails and I deplete most of my savings. However, two things I would maybe do differently: 1) I would have kept a job while I networked and learned more about the startup world. Seeing how you are on HN and read a lot about other startups, your case is probably different. 2) I may also have started with less savings. I think I worked at a slower pace in the first 9 months than I am working now, because 1) I was burned out from corporate and 2) I knew how long my savings could last me for.