4 ms·
OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.
I'm 36, married with numerous kids, career blub programmer with BigCo, and I've had enough.
Friday I notified my boss I would not be there come March, and this weekend my wife and I started work on our new project (I'd forgotten how well we work together). This gives us six months to prepare our family for life beyond BigCo, and I can't wait.
For the first time in ages I'm relaxed and excited about the future. Thanks to everyone here for the inspiration and big thanks to my awesome wife.
- rms 19y agoCongratulations!
- webwright 19y agoWoot. What are you going to build?
- cubicle67 19y agoNothing too fancy. We're taking something that's been done hundreds of times before, but all very badly, adding a bit of a twist and making it usable. Our aims are fairly modest, just to generate enough income to support us. I have no (well, not many :) grandiose visions of selling for millions.
- abstractbill 19y agoCongrats, keep us posted.
- blored 19y agopg, this is all your fault.
- omouse 19y agoAt least it isn't a 10 year old kid or something :P
- staunch 19y ago#9. Family to support http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html
- nostrademons 19y agoThough he did say "I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm saying that I don't want to take responsibility for advising it." PG is wrong when he says "You'll never found the next Google this way", though. IBM was founded by someone who had a wife and kid to support, and had just been convicted of antitrust violations, fired, and had a 1-year jail sentence hanging over his head (later reversed on appeal). You do need to be hungrier for profits and less willing to trade growth for money. The strategy I'm using (try lots of stuff until I build something useful, then try to get lots of users, then figure out how to monetize it) won't work for someone with a family to support. But the strategy my boss is using (go to your industry contacts, talk to them about their problems, get them to pay you up-front for development while you solve them, reinvest the profits for growth) could work very well.
- sanj 19y ago"try lots of stuff until I build something useful, then try to get lots of users, then figure out how to monetize it" Seriously, would you consider business with anyone who worked like that? Stumbling around blindly for an idea, followed by hoping that you'll generate a set of expenses, and then finally hoping that you'll be able to earn revenues. I worry more about you than the bloke with the family to support.
- nostrademons 19y agoConsumer web. People don't visit websites based on who developed them. They visit them because they want to. It's often difficult or impossible to figure out what consumers want, other than putting lots of ideas in front of them. Usually if you ask them, their responses will be wildly different from what they actually do. (I maintained that Reddit was a failure long after I started using it on a regular basis, and did the same with LiveJournal.) It's not a business model that works in every field - in particular, you absolutely don't want to try enterprise applications this way (really, nobody will buy from you if you try it, as you remark). But it does work.
- portLAN 19y agoIf you can get something together by Oct 11 for YC's deadline, you can be demoing to investors in March. http://ycombinator.com/w2008.html http://ycombinator.com/w2008.html
- SwellJoe 19y agoRegardless of YC involvement, you can still be demoing to investors in March. It takes a little more effort--and you'll have to do the demo about 30 times to reach the same number of investors--but you can actually start a company without YC. ;-)
- portLAN 19y agoWhy don't you tell us how you did it? *cough* Virtualmin -- YC Winter 2007 *cough* Are you suggesting in retrospect that you'd have preferred a different strategy?
- JMiao 19y agoI think he's trying to be helpful and encouraging, which I'm sure many appreciate.
- portLAN 19y agoYC is a known strategy. If someone is suggesting an alternative approach, details would be useful. "You can do it too!" works better when they aren't telling you to pursue a different strategy than they did with no specifics.
- SwellJoe 19y ago'"You can do it too!" works better when they aren't telling you to pursue a different strategy than they did with no specifics.' I didn't think I needed to do so, since I assumed everybody here has read all of pg's essays, seen Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start, and read a few other useful books about startups. While everybody who's built a business (I'm on my second) has at least a few things to teach others in the same boat...I didn't want to clutter up the post with a bunch of random rants. I respond to posts here with specific advice whenever there's a question I feel qualified to answer.
- comatose_kid 19y agoCome on...which bigco? And which part of the world do you live in?
- cubicle67 19y agoThink massive international co with a tla for a name. Australia.
- greendestiny 19y agoSo I guess you know quite a bit about linux then? :) What field is your startup going to be in?
- cubicle67 19y ago> So I guess you know quite a bit about linux then? No, the _other_ big three letter IT company. Hint: was started by a prior US presidential candidate.
- greendestiny 19y agoOh rightio, not even I can miss that hint. Yes good idea leaving them, they can be a bit stifling I hear.
- comatose_kid 19y agoThat's funny, my wife worked for them for her first job (when we were in Canada).
- steve 19y agoMan it would be awesome to have a wife that I could work well with, I think.
- gwenhwyfaer 19y agoYou might want to check how many kids you actually have. Just in case you forget to, you know, feed one or two of them.
- yamada 19y agoGood point. Parents often get confused as to how many kids they have. Why just the other day Homer forgot to count Maggie ... and if it happens on t.v., well then we know it happens everyday in real life. I mean, 1, 2, 3 ... so hard to keep track of them all.
- ratsbane 19y agoNow YOU are the inspiration. Good luck!
- staunch 19y agoYou'll probably fail, make sure you prepare for that. You definitely put to shame the very young single guys who don't want to give up their cozy cube jobs. Good luck!
- cubicle67 19y agoHence the six months lead time, not 'I quit now!' I've been without income before and am acutely aware of how much it hurts. I'd like to say I have no plan B, that we will make this work, but I have to be realistic and I'm in no hurry to risk my family's welfare again. We're doing all we can to minimalise the risk, but there comes a time when you have to be willing to take on some or spend the rest of your life in regret. I too have a cube job - hence the name :)
- prakash 19y agoGood luck. Make sure you build something users want and something that has a business model. Kids get cranky if you don't feed them :-)
- nanijoe 19y agoway to go man... What is a blurb programmer?
- cubicle67 19y agokinda like a blub programmer, but with more rrrrr
- edw519 19y agoAge has nothing to do with it. Marital status has nothing to do with it. Smarts has little to do with it. Don't do it because you're moving away from a job you don't like; that's a bad formula. Do it because you want it that badly. That's what matters most. The decision has been made. Good. Don't hestitate. Don't wonder. Don't look back. Don't ever quit. Use us for encouragement. Looking forward to hearing about your success.
- andreyf 19y agoLooking forward to hearing about your success. Or your [failure, perseverance]*, and following success :)
- Neoryder 19y agoGood Luck! Thanks for giving us fence sitters another kick in th a$$. I feel each every post like this is going to push me to the brink and finally make me take the plunge. Thanks Again.
- cubicle67 19y agoThanks. I've been reading ycombinator about six months or so now and discussing ideas with my wife for about as long. It's reached the stage where we decided we may as well actually do something. Tell you what, though. Gives you a whole different outlook on work when you can see the end in sight.
- dean 19y agoThat's fantastic! Congratulations.
- andreyf 19y agoI've been thinking of working on things with people I'm romantically involved with... what's the experience like? What are the ups and downs?
- cubicle67 19y agoYou know, I hadn't realised until I read your comment, but our tenth wedding anniversary coincides very nicely with our leaving the BigCo life. The Downs: You don't always see eye to eye, and you need to be able to work things out. The Ups: For me, my wife is not IT oriented, so doesn't try to tell me how to do things, but provides very valuable insight into how a normal user would approach things; her ideas are very good. Another point - You know your partner isn't an idiot:)
- rokhayakebe 19y agoO boy. Now you got two option. 1-Die trying (and as they say, if you do you won't care anymore) or 2-Become successful. I see you choosing option2.
- geebee 19y agoHey Dude, I'm 36 too, I have a wife and kid, and I left a boring safe job to work for what I'd describe as a late-stage startup. My wife works a stable job and brings in a better health lan, too. So while I'm not doing something quite as risky as leaving to start my own probject, I do understand the urge to try something a little more thrilling with a higher potential payout. Truth is, you'd probably be able to get a big boring job again quite easily if you wanted one. The last time I looked for a job, I had two offers within a few weeks and a substantial counteroffer from my (now ex) employer. The market has its ups and downs, sure, but in the end, I doubt it would be all that hard for you to go back to a bigco and blub away if it comes to that. Which I hope it doesn't for you and for me. It's excellent that you're giving this a try. Good luck. Do you have a blog or anything? Keep us posted!
- jsjenkins168 19y agoCongratulations on your decision. I know what you are going through, I did the exact same thing 2 weeks ago. Full time startup starts for me in just 2 days, I cant wait. I'm sure you know this, but make sure your company is cool with you starting your project right now. Mainly, that you are not under any IP agreements. The worse thing would be if your company catches wind of your work and decides that they want to "own" it.
- german 19y agoCongratulations! I know this is a big decision, but working in something that you are passionate about is always great. Hope it will work just the way you want. Good Luck.
- dpapathanasiou 19y agocubicle67: I'm happy to report there is indeed life beyond the BigCo cubicle. I made a similar move a few years ago, and haven't regretted. Good luck.