Ask HN: Why is it so hard to quit a corporate job to a startup? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why is it so hard to quit a corporate job to a startup?

9 pointsDonito12 comments

I am 24, and have been working for 3years in a major US software company. Very excited at first, I learned a lot, but feel like the sparkle has gone away. I am not particularly passionate about my current project, and have many ideas/projects I would like to pursue on my own. I try do during my free time, but it is very hard while working full time. Also, with this entrepreneurial dream in mind, I have been saving up money (~$100k) to make up for potential periods with limited income.

So a part me, definitely wants to quit, and give it a try. But another part of me is confused in terms of how to stay in the US for a startup (I'm under H1B). Finally, the biggest worry is whether I am foolish to throw away, in this though economy, a very respectable situation with good work, good salary, and exciting projects from an absolute perspective.

Have you ever felt the same, and how have you dealt with this feeling? Thanks!

-Donito

I built my startup while working full time at a corporate job. After a year and a half I quit because I was able to grow it to the point of where it was able to pay living expenses and support my family. Was it hard? Very. But there are many things you can do to make it easier for yourself.

Use your job to fund the building of your product. You rent your body out for 8 or 9 hours a day, make it work for you as much as possible and hire someone to write code while you work and sleep. This means you can spend your free time marketing (yes, before you launch) and you'll drastically increase your chances of success.

Just out of curiosity, did you let your employer know?

I read this a while ago:

http://blog.asmartbear.com/working-startup.html

I did not let my employer know. I understand that sometimes there can be risks from a legal perspective but given the context I felt the risk was extremely low. Plus, it was none of their business. I'm still blown away that in this country (US) people that work for others have to sometimes worry about their jobs going after them for what they do outside of that job. It honestly sickens me.

To be fair, it makes sense in some circumstances. Would you want your employees taking your algorithms, trade secrets, insider knowledge and networking contacts to build a competing business while you are paying them at the same time?

To put it in perspective a bit, I have scraped together $7000 in savings (over the past year) and plan to live about 6-7 months on that once I quit my job next month. I live in Boston too.

I can't even comprehend having 100k in the bank. There are many reasons which make it difficult to quit, but one of them is definitely fear of not feeding yourself. Sit down and honestly evaluate your budget. Unless you have kids and a mortgage (which at 24 I'm guessing you don't), I can almost guarantee your 100k will last you at least a year while still eating like a human being.

As an aside, there are many ways to go have a more fulfilling career that don't involve betting everything on a startup. You could do freelance work, or develop micropreneurial apps, or spend some time learning new skills and then finding a more exciting desk job.

I quit my job to pursue a startup idea and I ended up regretting it. Getting a regular paycheck every two weeks is something I have learned to appreciate after having to go 8 months without having any form of income. As you probably know, most startup ideas fail and for every Dropbox or AirBnB there are thousands of failed startups that were started by people who were just as smart and just as driven as those individuals were. The fact that you have a 100k in the bank should make things a little easier for you, if you do decide to pursue the startup route I would suggest you put a hard time limit on when you're going to cut your losses and return back to the regular job market something like 8-12 months, whatever you do keep your options open.

Take that 100k and move somewhere that isn't NYC or the valley. Assuming you're 24, have no spouse or kids, and no other expenses, 100k will go a long way in many parts of the country. Here in Pittsburgh, you can live like a reasonably well off college student on 1k a month.

Can't help you on the visa though, I'm not familiar with how that works.

> I try do during my free time, but it is very hard while working full time.

Doing a startup is much harder than this problem of time or focus.

Many people are not good with anxiety/uncertainty about income, and you have additional issue around your visa. And remember doing startup has two costs - first is the opportunity cost of the income you are no longer making, second are any real costs around your business beyond your sweat equity.

If you have a solid day job, one option is to moonlight or work on your night-time project (non-competitive to day job) until you start to see traction or revenue around the idea, then you can make a decision to bail on the day job to be full time on your startup to scale it. There is no sure time frame for getting to that point. But maybe it will be different way for you to think about night hours, that you are experimenting with ideas, not trying to do two jobs at once indefinitely.

I recommend you work for a startup first, this way you can still keep earning a paycheck but get a feel for the frantic pace, etc. I worked for one startup and then now work in a larger company and its a world of difference how they do things. This may then be a good transition to starting your own startup.

i was in your shoes around 5 years ago. I never took that risk to let go of my comfortable living style and great job at the big corporation. I was too used to the lifestyle i was living and quitting to do a startup would mean i had to move back with my parents, change my lifestyle drastically and i wasn't up to it. The only advice i have for you is if you are willing to take that risk make sure to do it now, the longer you wait the harder it gets. in my case, i got married and now that i have to support a family, it's THAT much harder to quit your day job.

At the end of the day you know yourself better than anyone else and if you can handle it or not. but just make sure to do it now before marriage, kids come in and add more problems!

good luck

I am two years ahead of you. And sometimes I feel the same. But over the years I have realized I don't really have what it takes to run a business. I mean I can code, design and do all the technical work. But business is a different beast. I don't know how to do it, and its extremely dangerous to do things which you do don't understand.

All that is besides the point, as many will tell you. Not all start ups succeed. I mean in the financial sense. Many fail. Unfortunately most of us here like to talk of the good stuff to keep ourselves motivated. We don't talk about failed start ups frequently and with harsh criticism. All this creates a sense that start ups are a sure shot way of getting rich. That seems to be hardly the case, and successful start ups end up being outliers.

Also MegaCorp work is not that bad, If you can outshine most of your peers you can make good deal of money. Everybody knows that if you can keep your focus, make good decisions, take some occasional risks and are more productive than others you are going to successful anywhere. But 'more productive' is really in your hands and that sort of really depends on your hard work.

Besides these days you can work full time and still do a lot of other stuff like app development for mobile phones and tablets. There are plenty of good open source projects to work on. So on the learning side you can do a lot even without joining a start up.

> outshine most of your peers

At BigCo Inc, outshining others does not mean just working well. Playing the right cards, being in the right networks (and the right books of those in power) matter a lot. ;) As they say, only when powered by right mindset and driven by right ambitions could one reach the next level.

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