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Comment by chime | Hacker News Reader

I hate you for asking me this because it is such an emotional issue for me. I've been asking myself the same question for over a year now. The answer has almost always been savings. I have a wife/house/car/loans and need at least $3000/month. The good thing is that I see the light at the end of the tunnel. July 2009, I thought I'd start in Feb 2010. Feb 2010, I thought I'd start in July 2010. Right now I'm aiming for next month. I know it's a moving target but it is getting really really close. If magic-pixie-unicorn-fairy gave me $6k no-strings-attached, I'd do it today. Otherwise I think by mid-Sep, I'll be in a good position to dive right in. Counting days at this point...

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Start part-time. Figure out how to reduce time you waste on your full-time job. Get some angel money - you will need some prototype for that though. Reduce your monthly spending and pay off loans first. Join early stage startup that is willing to pay some salary since the beginning. Just some obvious advices on top of my head.

Maybe startup isnt for you? Thats just fine, its not for everyone and millions enjoy happy lives and families being employed. Once you admit this it may become less emotional for you and you might actually feel much better mentally!

I think its kind of problem for many readers here: HN pushes that mantra that every hacker have to start something himself.

You count part-time as having started one's dream company?

Sure. I see no problem in starting something part-time, why not? If you dont have enough savings and want to bootstrap it might be the only option. And its not bad! I was always inspired by DHH talks on coding basecamp and rails for like 10h/week. Personally I start all my projects part-time.

You don't? If that's the only way to get off the ground, then yeah, that might just be the start of your dream company. Better part-time than never.

I've started part-time and wanted to know if this Ask HN was directed toward people like me.

A typical web-app startup isn't for me at this point indeed. I don't want to create a company from get-go. I want to create the science (hardware+software+new algo) first, spend 6-12 months working on it with my target users, and then once it is functional, make it a product. I can't do this part-time. I have to do this full-time but I can work part-time (consulting etc.)

I will have sufficient savings soon. For me it's not a question of if but when. It is the wait that's killing me. And then I see questions like this that make me feel even more impatient. But I truly appreciate such questions. Keeps me steadfast.

I have the same issue. I just started my company part-time on the side and it has worked out so far. Things move a bit slower but you don't have to worry about funding or coming up with enough every month to pay for the house.

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