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IMO startups aren’t worth it anymore if you’re not clearing at least twice the salary of two remote developer jobs (annualized). Reason being, it is easier to

by xwdv 5y ago

IMO startups aren’t worth it anymore if you’re not clearing at least twice the salary of two remote developer jobs (annualized). Reason being, it is easier to work two remote jobs simultaneously than it is to build a successful startup. It is also far more enjoyable and calls on your direct expertise instead of requiring many skills, some of which you may not do well at all. Given that two developer jobs will have you clearing at least $300-400k in income per year, this is a sobering heuristic of how successful you have to be at building a startup to consider it being worthwhile. If the author was working two jobs instead of doing this failed startup, after 20 months he would have roughly $600k+ in earned income to show for it, instead of a ~$200k loss.

altdataseller 5y ago
That all makes sense but in practice, it is hard to calculate how much you will make in a startup (if we could, we obviously would either give up or go on) For instance, you can easily go through years 1-4 making 1/2 your income. But all of sudden in years 5-6, you gain more credibility, your product starts to achieve PMF, word of mouth takes over, etc. And maybe in years 7-8, you attract a big company that buys your company, and all of a sudden you just earned the equivalent of 25 years of a salary.
tonyedgecombe 5y ago
Except most entrepreneurs aren't looking to get rich, they just want to replace their job with something a bit less shitty. http://reactionwheel.net/2019/01/schumpeter-on-strategy.html http://reactionwheel.net/2019/01/schumpeter-on-strategy.html
distances 5y ago
Mind expanding about the "two remote jobs" part? As an internal your contract likely prohibits you from taking another job, and as a freelancer you're billing time. So I don't see how that would work out without screwing the company or forgoing all your free time.
- xwdv 5y ago
  You are not prohibited from taking another job. Also, because developers really only do 4 hours of work a day on average and spend the rest of their time thinking, it is easy to multi task two jobs.
  - distances 5y ago
    In all my contracts there has been a clause prohibiting a second job without prior approval. I'm in Europe though so don't know how it is in the US. TBH I'm not sure what to even say about the idea of doing two full-time jobs simultaneously. I definitely wouldn't have time for that with my current contributions, and would feel betrayed if any my colleagues did that. I'm pretty sure I would snitch to management if I found out.

by xwdv 5y ago

altdataseller 5y ago

That all makes sense but in practice, it is hard to calculate how much you will make in a startup (if we could, we obviously would either give up or go on) For instance, you can easily go through years 1-4 making 1/2 your income. But all of sudden in years 5-6, you gain more credibility, your product starts to achieve PMF, word of mouth takes over, etc. And maybe in years 7-8, you attract a big company that buys your company, and all of a sudden you just earned the equivalent of 25 years of a salary.

tonyedgecombe 5y ago

Except most entrepreneurs aren't looking to get rich, they just want to replace their job with something a bit less shitty. http://reactionwheel.net/2019/01/schumpeter-on-strategy.html http://reactionwheel.net/2019/01/schumpeter-on-strategy.html

distances 5y ago

Mind expanding about the "two remote jobs" part? As an internal your contract likely prohibits you from taking another job, and as a freelancer you're billing time. So I don't see how that would work out without screwing the company or forgoing all your free time.

xwdv 5y ago
You are not prohibited from taking another job. Also, because developers really only do 4 hours of work a day on average and spend the rest of their time thinking, it is easy to multi task two jobs.
- distances 5y ago
  In all my contracts there has been a clause prohibiting a second job without prior approval. I'm in Europe though so don't know how it is in the US. TBH I'm not sure what to even say about the idea of doing two full-time jobs simultaneously. I definitely wouldn't have time for that with my current contributions, and would feel betrayed if any my colleagues did that. I'm pretty sure I would snitch to management if I found out.