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Ask HN: Take the job? Or Pursue the startup?
I run a smallish analytics web service, we're doing okay. Actually grew 190% last month. Before you say damn 190% keep doing it, that's a revenue increase from $1,700 to $4,300 - with a profit of $205. Now, that's not enough to buy diapers for either of my kids. I have 2 other businesses I do consulting for that are willing to pay me 2.5K and 1.5K and in return I would be obligated to do about a week a month of work between the 2 of them. I also have a few other web consulting gigs that come in at around 3-5 every so often like every other month.
My question for hacker news is.. I also have a great job offer to make about 10K after taxes and work in an environment where I get to work with my peers. Also remember it's just me running this business and there's a lot of shit that I'd need to do right to grow my profit from $200 a month to $10K.
Do I take the job? Or do I slug it out putting my kids futures on the line?
- bartonfink 15y agoDo you have savings that you are prepared to burn while your own service grows? How stable are these other consulting gigs? Those are important ?'s to answer, because they can frame your situation drastically differently ($7k monthly from consulting is FAR different from $200 monthly from your service). Assuming the worst, though, I can't see a world where leaving $9800 a month on the table is a responsible decision. If, as you put it, your kids futures are "on the line," this is a no-brainer. Kids are not cheap, and they're not really something you can put off. I'd take the job and try to do consulting as well to save up a runway for your service down the road.
- c0der77 15y agothanks for the feedback - I am thinking the same way - to take the job.