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Yep, nights and weekends, not full time. It worked for Obsidian Portal, and it's working so far for DoLeaf. I know the conventional wisdom is "Quit Now!", but

Yep, nights and weekends, not full time. It worked for Obsidian Portal, and it's working so far for DoLeaf. I know the conventional wisdom is "Quit Now!", but I like to eat.

pclark 18y ago
were you seed funded with that startup? I ask because I can't imagine applying for seed funding without being 173% committed -- eg, I have to make this work because I like to eat.
- jeremytliles 18y ago
  I think the idea is that if TechStars accepts you, then you quit your day jobs and jump in full-time. That is part of the opportunity they are providing.
- MicahWedemeyer 18y ago
  No funding on either project. We fully expected to work full time on DoLeaf if we got accepted to TechStars. We know how it works.
  - pclark 18y ago
    of course. I wasn't being a dick, sorry -- I was just curious. I think these funds really value if the founders have already made the jump and are powering along 24/7 before seed funding. Looking forward to your next post. You can totally jump down my throat when I write a post if we don't get into YC tomorrow ;)
    - MicahWedemeyer 18y ago
      Please do write a post. I want more info out there about the "real" state of startups. There's too much get-rich-quick crap that distorts the reality (especially about iPhone apps). The truth is that it's a long hard slog to any sort of success. We also applied to YC, so we expect to get rejected tomorrow as well ;)
      - bgnm2000 18y ago
        Don't we hear back today? Says April 6th here: http://ycombinator.com/s2009.html http://ycombinator.com/s2009.html
        Major_Grooves 18y ago
        We only hear back if we get invited to the interviews. My finger is hovering over the "buy tickets" button on Expedia. ;)
        pclark 18y ago
        tell me about it. Talk about pay thru the nose from the UK.
        Major_Grooves 18y ago
        Return flights London to SF were about £340 last time I checked a few days ago, but they involved some fairly horrible connections making the whole flight ~17h. Hopefully I _do_ have to go through that torture! :)
  - pclark 18y ago
    PS: It's a really great idea.
abossy 18y ago
> I know the conventional wisdom is "Quit Now!", but I like to eat. I assume then that Obsidian Portal hasn't provided enough income to sustain yourselves?
- MicahWedemeyer 18y ago
  That is correct. Still, it's profitable and runs pretty much on its own. Our free -> premium conversion is pretty good and keeps going up. We've hit the bullseye as far as feature set for our target market. We just need to advertise better and get more signups. I guess that's true of most startups, though.
  - abossy 18y ago
    I see. Thanks for the info. It sounds like you've got a great thing going there. Why not direct more energy towards growing it?

Yep, nights and weekends, not full time. It worked for Obsidian Portal, and it's working so far for DoLeaf. I know the conventional wisdom is "Quit Now!", but I like to eat.

pclark 18y ago

were you seed funded with that startup? I ask because I can't imagine applying for seed funding without being 173% committed -- eg, I have to make this work because I like to eat.

jeremytliles 18y ago
I think the idea is that if TechStars accepts you, then you quit your day jobs and jump in full-time. That is part of the opportunity they are providing.
MicahWedemeyer 18y ago
No funding on either project. We fully expected to work full time on DoLeaf if we got accepted to TechStars. We know how it works.
- pclark 18y ago
  of course. I wasn't being a dick, sorry -- I was just curious. I think these funds really value if the founders have already made the jump and are powering along 24/7 before seed funding. Looking forward to your next post. You can totally jump down my throat when I write a post if we don't get into YC tomorrow ;)
  - MicahWedemeyer 18y ago
    Please do write a post. I want more info out there about the "real" state of startups. There's too much get-rich-quick crap that distorts the reality (especially about iPhone apps). The truth is that it's a long hard slog to any sort of success. We also applied to YC, so we expect to get rejected tomorrow as well ;)
    - bgnm2000 18y ago
      Don't we hear back today? Says April 6th here: http://ycombinator.com/s2009.html http://ycombinator.com/s2009.html
      - Major_Grooves 18y ago
        We only hear back if we get invited to the interviews. My finger is hovering over the "buy tickets" button on Expedia. ;)
        pclark 18y ago
        tell me about it. Talk about pay thru the nose from the UK.
        Major_Grooves 18y ago
        Return flights London to SF were about £340 last time I checked a few days ago, but they involved some fairly horrible connections making the whole flight ~17h. Hopefully I _do_ have to go through that torture! :)
- pclark 18y ago
  PS: It's a really great idea.

abossy 18y ago

> I know the conventional wisdom is "Quit Now!", but I like to eat. I assume then that Obsidian Portal hasn't provided enough income to sustain yourselves?

MicahWedemeyer 18y ago
That is correct. Still, it's profitable and runs pretty much on its own. Our free -> premium conversion is pretty good and keeps going up. We've hit the bullseye as far as feature set for our target market. We just need to advertise better and get more signups. I guess that's true of most startups, though.
- abossy 18y ago
  I see. Thanks for the info. It sounds like you've got a great thing going there. Why not direct more energy towards growing it?