13 ms·

How to do a startup in your spare time

63 points by vanwilder77 13y ago

efesak 13y ago
Mistitled. Using services is not way to do startup in spare time.
- hatu 13y ago
  This is more like a how to be a startup hipster in your spare time- guide. Just missing tips like where to order your single estate coffee for your hacker space. Managing to juggle two demanding jobs at once is very difficult and what tools you use are pretty irrelevant.
  - Dirlewanger 13y ago
    Even the start-up sounds like a joke. Just a bunch of semi-insightful metrics on a flat dashboard...ugh...er, I mean, yeah there's definitely a market for that.
    - jebblue 13y ago
      I thought a web app that lets users upload pictures was so easy there's no way you could make much money with it.
  - stefan_kendall 13y ago
    I think "engineers" get more giddy about the tools than the job at hand. It doesn't matter what server configuration you have or what language you used if you don't have revenue.
SandB0x 13y ago
I have a list of concerns and questions as I am doing something similar. Would be interested to see what you make of it: What does your boss/supervisor think of your startup? How much do you talk about it at work? Are you worried that your full-time employer will think you're doing your work on their time? Are you worried that you may be technically doing your work on their computers (even by logging into Asana or a similar site)? How do you juggle meeting clients, contacts, mentors, other cofounders, with your day job? Not everyone can meet in the evenings and at weekends. How do you send urgent emails related to your startup in your day job? Will you consider leaving your current job/position to work full-time? Have you set yourself goals or conditions for going full-time (revenue/traction/funding/other?).
- digitalengineer 13y ago
  +1 That's what I thought I was going to read according to the title. In my country most guys can't even do anything else besides their dayjob because of their contract. (Doing something else in the 'open' that is).
- plus- 13y ago
  You don't have to tell your boss in the first place.
- soneca 13y ago
  Much more worthy set of questions. I quit my job a year ago, learn to code a little, build some projects, and for 3 months I've been a full-time founder. But now I have to pay the bills (and still no traction), so I will start a day-job. But before that, I founded a startup while at my last day-job. It was kind of unique, as my boss didn't have any problem at all with it, even allowing me to work on it during work hours (as long as I did my job, reach my goals). Well, what I think: - Talk as little as possible. Even if you have a very transparent, honest relationship with you boss. If your boss might find detrimental you to have a startup, don't talk at all. - Never use the company's computer to any kind of work on your startup. For emergencies (and you must really have a high treshold for emergencies) use your smartphone. But try to do everything out of work hour (before, after and during lunch). - If you have a day-job you won't have an ideal startup management. Accept it. So forget about mentors, you won't be the co-founder doing the fundraise with investors (if all the co-founders have day-job, there would be no fundraising at all). You will try to prove the concept, maybe some traction. Only when you quit you start fundraise (if you need it). Meeting with clients, only on lunch. Meeting with co-founder, only in the evenings and weekends (if your co-founders can't do it, than you have a deeper problem here). - Urgent emails only through smartphone. And be criterious about "urgency". - If you are founding a startup with a day-job you must have already decided that, at the first time possible, you will quit your job to work full-time. There is no "consideration", it must be inherent to found a startup. And about the criteria to do it, I think the best one is enough revenue or funding to pay your own salary. But set a reasonable goal for your salary, don't expect to make the same as your day-job, calculate your minimum life cost possible and that's it. Funding is good, but if all co-founders have day-jobs, it will be just a illusion, so don't consider it. If you start to manage better your risk-aversion, you may use the traction criteria. When you discover that you have a product people want, do some math with your reservers, calculate how many months you can go without income, if it is more than 6 months, go for it
stefan_kendall 13y ago
Write this article when you've succeeded and quit your day job. When.
k-mcgrady 13y ago
Seems like a list of things most startups do/should do. Doesn't seem to have anything specific to doing a startup in your spare time.
edw519 13y ago
Sorry to say but this post really rubbed me the wrong way. Let me explain... Her important headings for "doing a startup in your spare time": - Managing tasks - Sharing links - Talking to other founders - Emailing customers - Blogging - Weekly catch-ups All of this stuff sounds nice, but face it, it's all fluff. We really need to talk about the elephant in the room, the single most important item in a part time startup: how to get stuff built. If you can't get it built in your spare time, none of this other stuff will matter. Building anything of value tends to be difficult; doing it in your spare time is incredibly difficult. Here's why: - In spite of you best efforts, you will be too tired after your day job. - When you're "in the zone" you won't be able to work on your start-up. When your working on your start-up, you won't be able to get "into the zone". - You won't have long enough blocks of time to get large chunks done. - Your attention will more easily be diverted to other things (the day job). - It takes so much longer to have a deliverable, you will lose momentum and interest and get easily distracted or drawn to something shinier. So what should you do? 3 things, religiously: 1. Determine your "Big Fat What". Have a precise definition of exactly what you're going to build. That's right, you must write requirements to yourself. Following the path of least resistance simply won't work for a part-time start-up because you will never be able to sustain enough momentum. Writing requirements forces you to have better discipline and better plan, and it's also the kind of work that fits nicely into those 2 hour blocks of time you have during the week. 2. Determine your "Big Fat How". This is when you translate your requirements into technical specs. You know, program definitions and flows, page layouts, data base schemas, etc. Yes, again you will be writing specs to yourself. Steps 1 & 2 are kinda like linear algebra; you'll spend a lot of time doing seemingly mindless unnecessary steps to get to the where you really want to be... 3. Build it. You do this on weekends when you have large enough blocks of time to crank. But your capability to build will only be as good as your preparation. As you struggle with Step 3, you'll appreciate Steps 1 & 2 and get better at them. Then you'll be surprised at how much progress you can make building in your spare time. Once you have something built (a true feat in any part-time start-up) then (and only then) do OP's suggestions come into play.
- ColinWright 13y ago
  I came here largely to say this, but once again you've expressed my thoughts more completely, clearly, and authoritatively than I ever could. Thank you. Again.
joshsharp 13y ago
Co-founder here - let me respond to some of the concerns voiced here. Firstly, I think if this was titled "what we use to help us do a startup in our spare time", it would make a little more sense. We are not advocating for any particular approach. This is more a list of things that help us. Doing a startup in your spare time is really, really hard. We could've launched months ago but with limited time we're forced to keep pushing back. There are benefits to this — it keeps you really lean, because you just don't have time for all the little extras. But I'd still rather have more time, especially in big blocks. Our main time is evenings and weekends, which limits us severely. Belle works full-time for Buffer doing content, and they're incredibly supportive of us and Exist. Working for a startup who have been there not so long ago is probably one of the points to mention which make this more sustainable. Belle's time is flexible as she works remotely, meaning she can make time in her day for meetings, emails, etc., and still be able to complete her work for Buffer. And I'm freelancing at the moment, meaning my time is just as flexible (in theory — if you're flat-out, that doesn't mean much). I think edw519's points are good complement in terms of actually building your product and managing your time.
drakaal 13y ago
Doing a startup in your spare time is a good way to get fired. It is also a good way to ruin your good idea. Part time startups work only if you are trying to start a "home business" that is very different from you day job. You work at Best Buy, and want to start a new search engine. Great. That is better than quitting you job to start a new search engine. You work at Google and want to start a social network. You are going to get fired. There is a good chance Google will own your code, and you won't have enough time to get your social network off the ground, so now you are doubly screwed. You work at Google and want to start a business selling Clay ovens on the weekend. Congrats you have a startup that won't break Google's moonlighting rules.
- AznHisoka 13y ago
  For the vast majority of people, their startups/side projects are vastly diff. than their day job.
  - alok-g 13y ago
    >> "Vastly different" This is not the case to the best of my knowledge. See details in my older comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6245810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6245810

63 points by vanwilder77 13y ago

efesak 13y ago

Mistitled. Using services is not way to do startup in spare time.

hatu 13y ago
This is more like a how to be a startup hipster in your spare time- guide. Just missing tips like where to order your single estate coffee for your hacker space. Managing to juggle two demanding jobs at once is very difficult and what tools you use are pretty irrelevant.
- Dirlewanger 13y ago
  Even the start-up sounds like a joke. Just a bunch of semi-insightful metrics on a flat dashboard...ugh...er, I mean, yeah there's definitely a market for that.
  - jebblue 13y ago
    I thought a web app that lets users upload pictures was so easy there's no way you could make much money with it.
- stefan_kendall 13y ago
  I think "engineers" get more giddy about the tools than the job at hand. It doesn't matter what server configuration you have or what language you used if you don't have revenue.

SandB0x 13y ago

I have a list of concerns and questions as I am doing something similar. Would be interested to see what you make of it: What does your boss/supervisor think of your startup? How much do you talk about it at work? Are you worried that your full-time employer will think you're doing your work on their time? Are you worried that you may be technically doing your work on their computers (even by logging into Asana or a similar site)? How do you juggle meeting clients, contacts, mentors, other cofounders, with your day job? Not everyone can meet in the evenings and at weekends. How do you send urgent emails related to your startup in your day job? Will you consider leaving your current job/position to work full-time? Have you set yourself goals or conditions for going full-time (revenue/traction/funding/other?).

digitalengineer 13y ago
+1 That's what I thought I was going to read according to the title. In my country most guys can't even do anything else besides their dayjob because of their contract. (Doing something else in the 'open' that is).
plus- 13y ago
You don't have to tell your boss in the first place.
soneca 13y ago
Much more worthy set of questions. I quit my job a year ago, learn to code a little, build some projects, and for 3 months I've been a full-time founder. But now I have to pay the bills (and still no traction), so I will start a day-job. But before that, I founded a startup while at my last day-job. It was kind of unique, as my boss didn't have any problem at all with it, even allowing me to work on it during work hours (as long as I did my job, reach my goals). Well, what I think: - Talk as little as possible. Even if you have a very transparent, honest relationship with you boss. If your boss might find detrimental you to have a startup, don't talk at all. - Never use the company's computer to any kind of work on your startup. For emergencies (and you must really have a high treshold for emergencies) use your smartphone. But try to do everything out of work hour (before, after and during lunch). - If you have a day-job you won't have an ideal startup management. Accept it. So forget about mentors, you won't be the co-founder doing the fundraise with investors (if all the co-founders have day-job, there would be no fundraising at all). You will try to prove the concept, maybe some traction. Only when you quit you start fundraise (if you need it). Meeting with clients, only on lunch. Meeting with co-founder, only in the evenings and weekends (if your co-founders can't do it, than you have a deeper problem here). - Urgent emails only through smartphone. And be criterious about "urgency". - If you are founding a startup with a day-job you must have already decided that, at the first time possible, you will quit your job to work full-time. There is no "consideration", it must be inherent to found a startup. And about the criteria to do it, I think the best one is enough revenue or funding to pay your own salary. But set a reasonable goal for your salary, don't expect to make the same as your day-job, calculate your minimum life cost possible and that's it. Funding is good, but if all co-founders have day-jobs, it will be just a illusion, so don't consider it. If you start to manage better your risk-aversion, you may use the traction criteria. When you discover that you have a product people want, do some math with your reservers, calculate how many months you can go without income, if it is more than 6 months, go for it

stefan_kendall 13y ago

Write this article when you've succeeded and quit your day job. When.

k-mcgrady 13y ago

Seems like a list of things most startups do/should do. Doesn't seem to have anything specific to doing a startup in your spare time.

edw519 13y ago

Sorry to say but this post really rubbed me the wrong way. Let me explain... Her important headings for "doing a startup in your spare time": - Managing tasks - Sharing links - Talking to other founders - Emailing customers - Blogging - Weekly catch-ups All of this stuff sounds nice, but face it, it's all fluff. We really need to talk about the elephant in the room, the single most important item in a part time startup: how to get stuff built. If you can't get it built in your spare time, none of this other stuff will matter. Building anything of value tends to be difficult; doing it in your spare time is incredibly difficult. Here's why: - In spite of you best efforts, you will be too tired after your day job. - When you're "in the zone" you won't be able to work on your start-up. When your working on your start-up, you won't be able to get "into the zone". - You won't have long enough blocks of time to get large chunks done. - Your attention will more easily be diverted to other things (the day job). - It takes so much longer to have a deliverable, you will lose momentum and interest and get easily distracted or drawn to something shinier. So what should you do? 3 things, religiously: 1. Determine your "Big Fat What". Have a precise definition of exactly what you're going to build. That's right, you must write requirements to yourself. Following the path of least resistance simply won't work for a part-time start-up because you will never be able to sustain enough momentum. Writing requirements forces you to have better discipline and better plan, and it's also the kind of work that fits nicely into those 2 hour blocks of time you have during the week. 2. Determine your "Big Fat How". This is when you translate your requirements into technical specs. You know, program definitions and flows, page layouts, data base schemas, etc. Yes, again you will be writing specs to yourself. Steps 1 & 2 are kinda like linear algebra; you'll spend a lot of time doing seemingly mindless unnecessary steps to get to the where you really want to be... 3. Build it. You do this on weekends when you have large enough blocks of time to crank. But your capability to build will only be as good as your preparation. As you struggle with Step 3, you'll appreciate Steps 1 & 2 and get better at them. Then you'll be surprised at how much progress you can make building in your spare time. Once you have something built (a true feat in any part-time start-up) then (and only then) do OP's suggestions come into play.

ColinWright 13y ago
I came here largely to say this, but once again you've expressed my thoughts more completely, clearly, and authoritatively than I ever could. Thank you. Again.

joshsharp 13y ago

Co-founder here - let me respond to some of the concerns voiced here. Firstly, I think if this was titled "what we use to help us do a startup in our spare time", it would make a little more sense. We are not advocating for any particular approach. This is more a list of things that help us. Doing a startup in your spare time is really, really hard. We could've launched months ago but with limited time we're forced to keep pushing back. There are benefits to this — it keeps you really lean, because you just don't have time for all the little extras. But I'd still rather have more time, especially in big blocks. Our main time is evenings and weekends, which limits us severely. Belle works full-time for Buffer doing content, and they're incredibly supportive of us and Exist. Working for a startup who have been there not so long ago is probably one of the points to mention which make this more sustainable. Belle's time is flexible as she works remotely, meaning she can make time in her day for meetings, emails, etc., and still be able to complete her work for Buffer. And I'm freelancing at the moment, meaning my time is just as flexible (in theory — if you're flat-out, that doesn't mean much). I think edw519's points are good complement in terms of actually building your product and managing your time.

drakaal 13y ago

Doing a startup in your spare time is a good way to get fired. It is also a good way to ruin your good idea. Part time startups work only if you are trying to start a "home business" that is very different from you day job. You work at Best Buy, and want to start a new search engine. Great. That is better than quitting you job to start a new search engine. You work at Google and want to start a social network. You are going to get fired. There is a good chance Google will own your code, and you won't have enough time to get your social network off the ground, so now you are doubly screwed. You work at Google and want to start a business selling Clay ovens on the weekend. Congrats you have a startup that won't break Google's moonlighting rules.

AznHisoka 13y ago
For the vast majority of people, their startups/side projects are vastly diff. than their day job.
- alok-g 13y ago
  >> "Vastly different" This is not the case to the best of my knowledge. See details in my older comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6245810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6245810