From the tone of your question, it seems that you are attracted to the idea of a startup but haven't identified your passion yet. Toiling away in BigCo means t

From the tone of your question, it seems that you are attracted to the idea of a startup but haven't identified your passion yet. Toiling away in BigCo means that you should be able to build up considerable cash reserves for when you go full-time in your new venture. The prudent course of action goes something like : 1. Find your passion 2. Develop the business around your passion in your spare time 3. When you predict that you can be ramen profitable, and only then, quit your BigCo job 4. Work harder than ever before As someone on HN commented, "mega-successful entrepreneurs are the statistical outliers". But that shouldn't stop you from having a go.