6 ms·

Nice idea. I'd be interested to know (and if you're willing to share with the community): 1. What was your job. 2. How much did you get paid. 3. How much sav

Nice idea. I'd be interested to know (and if you're willing to share with the community): 1. What was your job. 2. How much did you get paid. 3. How much savings(runway) do you have to support this product. Thanks!

gozman 15y ago
1. I was a software engineer that got an MBA and was doing management consulting. 2. Over 80k / year 3. My runway is private, but we financed ourselves by taking on short-term iOS/Wordpress dev/design consulting gigs to stay fed.
- nakkiel 15y ago
  28, an MBA and 80k / year. I must be doing something very wrong.
  - mobiplayer 15y ago
    Me too. 29, no MBA and not even half of that :-)
    - tsunamifury 15y ago
      I'm 26 and I make 160k in financial services. Its enough for me and a girlfriend to afford a 600 sqft loft. 80k will get you 5 roommates and bedroom with a curtain. In San Francisco 250k to 300k/y is high paid. 100k-150k is making it, 80k would be in the low paid arena.
      - suhail 15y ago
        Nah,you can get a nice 1bd in SF for $2100 a month and save $1k/mo
      - brycecolquitt 15y ago
        "San Francisco ranks third of American cities in median household income with a 2007 value of $65,519." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#Demographics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#Demographics
      - guynamedloren 15y ago
        You're full of shit.
      - polyfractal 15y ago
        Meh, quit whining. Try 32k in Boston and get back to me about "low paid"
      - mobiplayer 15y ago
        I've got a 90m^2 flat next to the beach, a car, a girlfriend who has no income since November, a cute dog :-) and money in the bank. All paid with my less than 40k€/year income. Of course this is not The Valley, this is Barcelona. I didn't know that living there was so expensive, I'm sorry for you :-(
- jefftougas 15y ago
  It would be interesting to see more details in a blog post about your transition, such as whether you started working on this before quitting your job, how long since you quit your job, what the makeup of your team is, how you met your team, etc. This looks really cool by the way, good job on launching! EDIT: Correcting typos
- BigCanOfTuna 15y ago
  Thanks. Did you change your standard of living to to follow your dream? If so, to what extent? Are you now eating raman? Also, do you have any dependents (wife, children)? Oh, and how old are you? Sorry, I know you are really interested in sharing your product but many of us want to know what people are willing to give up to chase their dreams. Thanks again.
  - rushfrisby 15y ago
    +1 "many of us want to know what people are willing to give up to chase their dreams."
    - mrgt- 15y ago
      +1
  - gozman 15y ago
    I did change my standard of living somewhat - I didn't travel this year as I usually do, cut out most useless expenses and took public transit whenever I could. We need surprisingly little to live when you think about it. At the same time, I made sure to take on small paid projects to keep fed. I don't have any dependants, but I am married and contribute to the household financially. That hasn't stopped, I just had to take it into account when planning my runway. I'm 28. At this point it's an experiement, If I can turn this into a business I will, if not, I'll dive back into the salaried way of life. It's a great way to live, but I just had to give my dream a shot.
    - bazookaBen 15y ago
      get lots of exercise too! hit the gym at least 3 times a week, one hour per session.
      - rehack 15y ago
        Totally love your suggestion. I myself am on my own Startup for over 4 years now. Once I realized that Startups should be treated like marathons, I myself started running. I run about 5km, five or six days a week. To me running has had a big contribution in staying healthy and coping with stress.
- ajjuliani 15y ago
  You have to put up a blog post on this...
  - BadassFractal 15y ago
    Completely agree, it'd make for a very informative read. You quit your job, worked hard, and now have something impressive to show that many people seem to want to purchase. I'd say you're on the right track!
- phugoid 15y ago
  I'm in a similar situation (quit high-paying job, following startup dream). May I ask how you broke into dev/design consulting? I'll have to go that way too, and soon. But I'm still a bit mystified about where one finds consulting gigs... Places like ODesk/Elancer?
  - andys627 15y ago
    +1 - best fastest way to find freelance jobs? edit - not sure why this was downvoted 4 times - but to elaborate on my question - what were the most rewarding gigs - in terms of ease of getting hired & finding them, most money, learning stuff that was relevant, expanding network, bbb
    - robbiea 15y ago
      the best way is to expand your network and go to networking events. go to mobile meetups, tech meetups, business meetups, etc. From there you will notice a lot more opportunities will arise. This is also assuming you are good at something. Wether it's development / design or making pancakes. You have to be good at something before someone else will bring you on as a consultant / freelance.
  - mgkimsal 15y ago
    Networking by and large will be your best bet. An odesk may get you some short-term work, but it won't necessarily be all that high paying. With a decent rep on odesk or elance you might get some good gigs, but those will probably develop in to non-odesk relationships with clients ("going direct"). I don't know many people who use odesk who pay more then $20-$25/hour, and it's typically for smaller type stuff. There are people who get "I want a full copy of XYZ for $500" and a number of people who bid on that, but there's "real" projects in there too sometimes. I just have a hard time looking at elance/odesk sites as something that 'real' companies use for 'real' (read: valuable) projects.
    - ahmadss 15y ago
      I didn't cover "pricing" in my post since it all varies based on your situation, your location, your skills, and the project itself. (crappy project/crappy client = ++rates). I know a few YC founders that pay $70/hr - $80/hr for really great Rails devs, iOS devs, and front-end engineers that are not local to SF/PA (mid-west devs or southeast devs). I think the price for an experienced Rails freelancer in a big metro is around $100/hr - $125/hr. On the design side, I have friends in DC, SF, and Chicago that are top notch visual designers and have worked on big "brand" sites, and depending on how busy they are, they'll charge anywhere from $75/hr - $80/hr. An art director I know will not go below $150/hr bc it's not worth his time to do more work outside of his day job. But there are price inefficiencies everywhere, and if someone fresh out of college doesn't really understand how good of a designer they are or the going rates for freelancers, then you can find someone who's good for your MVP for $25/hr. All of the above assumes you are pricing projects on a straight hourly rate (legalese = "Time & Material Rates"). Be warned that most small business owners will want firm-fixed pricing (ie - "I want a fully redesigned site for $a,000"). In that case, you'll need to figure how long it will take for you to complete the project, add a 10% - 15% buffer for client changes/indecision, and then settle on a firm-price of $x,000.
- miles_matthias 15y ago
  I'd love to hear about your experience as a tech person getting your MBA. Also, great idea and website. Oddly enough I just heard a presentation yesterday about MobileIgniter, who amongst several other things, does something similar. They did the TechStars iOS app, which does exactly the same thing - pull blog entries from WordPress. Nice work!
- alphamale3000 15y ago
  Since when is 80k / year "high-paying"? Hopefully the per diems were high enough to compensate the salary level.
  - TomGullen 15y ago
    I don't know what you consider high paying but to me that seems like high pay
  - designium 15y ago
    You have to realize that in Quebec, Canada, that's actually a high-level salary. If you are living in NYC, nah.
  - elliottcarlson 15y ago
    Depending on where you live that can be considered to be in the higher scale as far as pay grades go - and obviously in other places it might be lower or average. You can't only go by what people are paid where you live.
  - toddmorey 15y ago
    Whoa. Let's not forget that 80k/year puts a person among the top 0.78% richest people in the world. [1] Just offering a bit of perspective. [1] http://www.globalrichlist.com/how.html http://www.globalrichlist.com/how.html

gozman 15y ago

1. I was a software engineer that got an MBA and was doing management consulting. 2. Over 80k / year 3. My runway is private, but we financed ourselves by taking on short-term iOS/Wordpress dev/design consulting gigs to stay fed.

nakkiel 15y ago
28, an MBA and 80k / year. I must be doing something very wrong.
- mobiplayer 15y ago
  Me too. 29, no MBA and not even half of that :-)
  - tsunamifury 15y ago
    I'm 26 and I make 160k in financial services. Its enough for me and a girlfriend to afford a 600 sqft loft. 80k will get you 5 roommates and bedroom with a curtain. In San Francisco 250k to 300k/y is high paid. 100k-150k is making it, 80k would be in the low paid arena.
    - suhail 15y ago
      Nah,you can get a nice 1bd in SF for $2100 a month and save $1k/mo
    - brycecolquitt 15y ago
      "San Francisco ranks third of American cities in median household income with a 2007 value of $65,519." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#Demographics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#Demographics
    - guynamedloren 15y ago
      You're full of shit.
    - polyfractal 15y ago
      Meh, quit whining. Try 32k in Boston and get back to me about "low paid"
    - mobiplayer 15y ago
      I've got a 90m^2 flat next to the beach, a car, a girlfriend who has no income since November, a cute dog :-) and money in the bank. All paid with my less than 40k€/year income. Of course this is not The Valley, this is Barcelona. I didn't know that living there was so expensive, I'm sorry for you :-(
jefftougas 15y ago
It would be interesting to see more details in a blog post about your transition, such as whether you started working on this before quitting your job, how long since you quit your job, what the makeup of your team is, how you met your team, etc. This looks really cool by the way, good job on launching! EDIT: Correcting typos
BigCanOfTuna 15y ago
Thanks. Did you change your standard of living to to follow your dream? If so, to what extent? Are you now eating raman? Also, do you have any dependents (wife, children)? Oh, and how old are you? Sorry, I know you are really interested in sharing your product but many of us want to know what people are willing to give up to chase their dreams. Thanks again.
- rushfrisby 15y ago
  +1 "many of us want to know what people are willing to give up to chase their dreams."
  - mrgt- 15y ago
    +1
- gozman 15y ago
  I did change my standard of living somewhat - I didn't travel this year as I usually do, cut out most useless expenses and took public transit whenever I could. We need surprisingly little to live when you think about it. At the same time, I made sure to take on small paid projects to keep fed. I don't have any dependants, but I am married and contribute to the household financially. That hasn't stopped, I just had to take it into account when planning my runway. I'm 28. At this point it's an experiement, If I can turn this into a business I will, if not, I'll dive back into the salaried way of life. It's a great way to live, but I just had to give my dream a shot.
  - bazookaBen 15y ago
    get lots of exercise too! hit the gym at least 3 times a week, one hour per session.
    - rehack 15y ago
      Totally love your suggestion. I myself am on my own Startup for over 4 years now. Once I realized that Startups should be treated like marathons, I myself started running. I run about 5km, five or six days a week. To me running has had a big contribution in staying healthy and coping with stress.
ajjuliani 15y ago
You have to put up a blog post on this...
- BadassFractal 15y ago
  Completely agree, it'd make for a very informative read. You quit your job, worked hard, and now have something impressive to show that many people seem to want to purchase. I'd say you're on the right track!
phugoid 15y ago
I'm in a similar situation (quit high-paying job, following startup dream). May I ask how you broke into dev/design consulting? I'll have to go that way too, and soon. But I'm still a bit mystified about where one finds consulting gigs... Places like ODesk/Elancer?
- andys627 15y ago
  +1 - best fastest way to find freelance jobs? edit - not sure why this was downvoted 4 times - but to elaborate on my question - what were the most rewarding gigs - in terms of ease of getting hired & finding them, most money, learning stuff that was relevant, expanding network, bbb
  - robbiea 15y ago
    the best way is to expand your network and go to networking events. go to mobile meetups, tech meetups, business meetups, etc. From there you will notice a lot more opportunities will arise. This is also assuming you are good at something. Wether it's development / design or making pancakes. You have to be good at something before someone else will bring you on as a consultant / freelance.
- mgkimsal 15y ago
  Networking by and large will be your best bet. An odesk may get you some short-term work, but it won't necessarily be all that high paying. With a decent rep on odesk or elance you might get some good gigs, but those will probably develop in to non-odesk relationships with clients ("going direct"). I don't know many people who use odesk who pay more then $20-$25/hour, and it's typically for smaller type stuff. There are people who get "I want a full copy of XYZ for $500" and a number of people who bid on that, but there's "real" projects in there too sometimes. I just have a hard time looking at elance/odesk sites as something that 'real' companies use for 'real' (read: valuable) projects.
  - ahmadss 15y ago
    I didn't cover "pricing" in my post since it all varies based on your situation, your location, your skills, and the project itself. (crappy project/crappy client = ++rates). I know a few YC founders that pay $70/hr - $80/hr for really great Rails devs, iOS devs, and front-end engineers that are not local to SF/PA (mid-west devs or southeast devs). I think the price for an experienced Rails freelancer in a big metro is around $100/hr - $125/hr. On the design side, I have friends in DC, SF, and Chicago that are top notch visual designers and have worked on big "brand" sites, and depending on how busy they are, they'll charge anywhere from $75/hr - $80/hr. An art director I know will not go below $150/hr bc it's not worth his time to do more work outside of his day job. But there are price inefficiencies everywhere, and if someone fresh out of college doesn't really understand how good of a designer they are or the going rates for freelancers, then you can find someone who's good for your MVP for $25/hr. All of the above assumes you are pricing projects on a straight hourly rate (legalese = "Time & Material Rates"). Be warned that most small business owners will want firm-fixed pricing (ie - "I want a fully redesigned site for $a,000"). In that case, you'll need to figure how long it will take for you to complete the project, add a 10% - 15% buffer for client changes/indecision, and then settle on a firm-price of $x,000.
miles_matthias 15y ago
I'd love to hear about your experience as a tech person getting your MBA. Also, great idea and website. Oddly enough I just heard a presentation yesterday about MobileIgniter, who amongst several other things, does something similar. They did the TechStars iOS app, which does exactly the same thing - pull blog entries from WordPress. Nice work!
alphamale3000 15y ago
Since when is 80k / year "high-paying"? Hopefully the per diems were high enough to compensate the salary level.
- TomGullen 15y ago
  I don't know what you consider high paying but to me that seems like high pay
- designium 15y ago
  You have to realize that in Quebec, Canada, that's actually a high-level salary. If you are living in NYC, nah.
- elliottcarlson 15y ago
  Depending on where you live that can be considered to be in the higher scale as far as pay grades go - and obviously in other places it might be lower or average. You can't only go by what people are paid where you live.
- toddmorey 15y ago
  Whoa. Let's not forget that 80k/year puts a person among the top 0.78% richest people in the world. [1] Just offering a bit of perspective. [1] http://www.globalrichlist.com/how.html http://www.globalrichlist.com/how.html