Ask HN: Should I quit my FT job and focus on startup before it's making money? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Should I quit my FT job and focus on startup before it's making money?

5 pointsthrowaway1848275 comments

I am burned out, I hate my job, I despise my boss (terrible ethics, no drive, prideful, hard-headed and a micro-manager), and I honestly want to write my resignation letter today (as in right fucking now).

I have been working on a startup on the side (and on the clock, because fuck it, idgaf anymore) for over a year, and am weeks away from transitioning from early access to full launch, if I can just put in quality time to wrap it up (billing, marketing site, etc).

My FT job has been taxing me lately, having to put in 100% to meet deadlines. Meaning: progress towards my startup has stalled the last few months. I work on it after I get off, but I'm usually too spent to get any meaningful work done.

I'm not charging customers yet, but it is a B2B business and I have made pricing clear and discussed it up-front. I don't know how many early access users will actually convert, of course.

I believe the idea is validated (500 early access users (with varying levels of engagement) + lots of interest from larger companies). But nothing is validated until it starts making money, I know.

I have 3-4/mo runway in savings. Have a wife and 1 kid.

I know at least a few HN users have gone through something like this. Maybe it didn't turn out well, maybe it did. Could you share?

My advice would be to ride out the job until you start seeing some revenue. IF you're already working on it on the clock, why not continue? I know how you feel and am in a similar situation (responsibility-wise), and have struggled with the same feeling and thoughts.

how many customers do you need to cover your expenses? how much does it cost get a paying customer? or how many word of mouth customers are getting each month?

I would come up with an actual plan to break even, first.

I would need ~100 customers to cover expenses. The site is still pre-launch, so I don't know how much it costs to get a paying customer.

Just some input from me... I am somewhat in your position, though I chose to keep my job. I've been trying to get my startup going for a year now. I actually don't have any customers, but I know that I've got a few websites, with tons of visitors, where I plan to mention my products and get them going through there. Me and my fiancee are in quite a bit of debt and working our day jobs and certainly have our dream businesses that we're both working on while working full time. She's as understanding of me as I am of her.

In other words, for me, I began my journey of understanding in 2015, founded the startup in late 2016, and it has taken me a while to build some products, and she's been very patient. This is not to say I'm at a race against time with her, but I've been telling her about it, excited about it, and there's only so much excitement a person can really see and not see actual results (Yes, I've built and showed her the products, but beta testing -- not that I'm finding crazy amounts of bugs, but just things that need to be fixed) ... and I pretty much am just about to enter in my more public beta testing phases right now. As for her, she has had too many ideas for startups and just one has materialized into anything, and while she came up with the idea, I am the one who pushed her to keep going with, even investing a bit of money that we both don't really have into a few products we needed.

I have kept my job and plan to keep it even while running my startup, because I love it, and it is a steady paycheck. So why not just earn both revenues?

It is certainly your decision, but first and foremost: you may want to discuss it with your wife. Her decision will matter more than anyone who posts here. I assure you. Do the right thing and talk to your wife first.

Now that you've done that, depending on what you discussed. There are several outcomes:

1) Keep your job. Keep working. Deal with the bullshit. Get those deadlines met. Have a steady paycheck. Take your time getting this startup going. Eventually, once you start seeing some revenue for your business, tell your boss, well, for good references, just say you've got other things going on that you want focus on right now, give your 2 weeks, wrap up, and be done with it.

2) Risk it. Quit your job in a professional manner. And focus solely on that startup.

2a) Your startup is going to be successful and you will be able to generate enough revenue that your wife and you are going to be happy to send a little extra towards the mortgage every month and also have some leftover for at least a night or two out a week. Please note: Depending on your product, how useful it is, the pricing, how well you market it, you could do well, but it is probably not going to be an overnight sensation, and will require you to focus on your business (finally).

2b) Your startup is not going to be as successful and you will either have to: ask for your job back or find a new one.

No matter what, you know this startup is going to happen. So let it happen. The two choices are simply a question of: how fast is it going to happen? Of course, that choice is yours.

Thanks a lot for the advice. I will dig into your comment more later on this week.

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