This Morning I Didn't Go To Work | Hacker News Reader

This Morning I Didn't Go To Work

blog.davejafari.com

94 pointsnetmau532 comments

Good luck man. I'm going through almost exactly the same thing. I am also 28, built up a big "runway" of savings, and my last day at work is next Friday. Hope your ideas work out for you!

Thanks, good luck to you too. Maybe we'll share some sweat sessions in the days to come.

Good luck! I'm quitting my corporate job on 4/3/2012 so I'm very interested in your post at the moment. I only have about 6 months of runway + 2 kids + wife + 2 dogs....maybe I'm crazy? Probably. I suppose I can sell the dogs if worse comes to worse.

I'd sell my house and a kidney before I got rid of my dogs.

Let me call a guy whose an expert in kidneys and see what he says.

...

Looks like, in this market, the best I can do is fifty bucks. This kidney has a lot of wear and tear. If it were in mint condition it could pull a lot more.

I feel responsible for derailing this thread, but FWIW samstave, I did chuckle at your comment.

Is there something in the water? I'm dropping off the corporate map that week as well. Best of luck!

What is your startup?

www.hireriot.com -- I'm working on a new way for companies to hire for entry-level jobs by crowdsourcing resume screening and first interviews to a network of independent industry experts, who essentially act as freelance headhunters.

I think 6 months of runway is not enough. People usually have 6 months of cash cushion to bridge until the next job. But you have to refine a business idea, develop the product, market it, sell it, and turn a profit that can replace your old salary. 6 months are far too optimistic. Two years are more realistic.

If you can't wait for the startup bug, why not do it on the side for now?

My post was rather misleading. I have been working on the side for the past 3 years now on iPhone apps. I have 6 months of savings, and I have a daily income from existing iPhone apps that matches my current corporate job. I'm releasing a new app in a couple weeks that should hopefully boost that daily income significantly.

That's excellent. Congratulation. You are living the entrepreneur dream with plenty of preparation. Enjoy the journey!

Word of caution from a soon-to-be-30-year-old who had built up a runway at 28: Ignore the runway. Get to ramen profitable ASAP.

Thanks. My (still employed) partner and I are actually taking on small consulting projects right now just to make sure we have money coming in. We vehemently do not want to get into services, but it's hard to have a strategy without resources! At the very least, it gives him something constructive to do coding-wise while I'm pounding the pavement.

Word of caution. If one person is still employed, but the other is not, it makes for a very difficult partnership. There's just a lot of risk that the work distribution will eventually become too imbalanced; either your partner will burn out way faster than you'd expect, or you'll be too annoyed with the lack of effort that your partner puts in.

Not saying this will happen to you guys. Just saying there's a risk. Speaking from personal experience.

Be careful not to let your long runway slow you down. It's long enough to make this a success, but not if you launch in 2 years time because you can. Push yourself to get to beta early and live launch not far after. This will give you plenty of time to pivot (although I hate the use of the word these days, it's appropriate) or even just listen to customer feedback and improve.

I guess I see a 2.5 year runway and think that's got to be enough to make something work as long as you still act like you have a 6 month one.

  Welcome to the desert of the real...

I've got a few yrs of runway, since costs are super low in India. Balanced by the lack of early adopter market access I guess.

We sold and launched first prod within 6m, and made some real revenue, trying to go full bootstrap.

We're going the small niche market route.. Let's see if that works, now trying a diff product which might be faster to sell...

May the force be with you!

"You know what's cool? A trillion dollars". Awesome.

I hope niche idea does not mean small targeted marketed. It appears building a dude business takes as much time/effort as building a large business.

I really hope he isn't paying for that office. That's suicide, waste of money. And it looks like it doesn't have any real windows. When you are depressed things aren't going the way you hoped, you want to be able to see the light of day.

Nope, just an unused bedroom in my home. There are two windows but the picture mostly clipped them.

I agree about sunlight. I've spent long hours working alone at night and you have to force yourself into human contact before quietly slipping into the blues.

Good luck. You're in for an exciting roller coaster ride. Try to create a exercise schedule, even if its once a week. When your sanity starts to slip, your health will soon follow.

I try to keep one of the two, though they are somewhat interchangeable.

I left 2 months ago. Now following the big idea! I think it's a good start for you to gather some interest around you. It should help you control your time and become more efficient. I was thinking to do the same but never did...

so what's your idea exactly?

I'm going to dive into it more as I go, but I'm not trying to hide anything either. I just don't feel like it's that important until I can speak with more potential customers.

The niche I find attractive right now is consignment stores. I like the ethics of reuse, the market size and niche-ness, and feel like I can have a real impact in relation to the other software vendors in the space. On a grander scheme, the challenge of helping retail compete in a digital world is fascinating to me.

My god that text is incredibly small. The content is fine, but the comments and titles under the images I could not read.

Off topic, I know.

Thanks, I tried to bump it. I wish the themes on Posterous were as plentiful as Tumblr. Is there no demand for better themes?

Hey thanks. It's now small enough to indicate it's not main content, but big enough to read without having to bump the font size of my browser. If you're this responsive in your business endeavors, I predict great success for you.

It's funny you should say that. I'm fairly certain Tumblr and Posterous use the same theme format.

Best of luck to you and everyone trying to be an entrepreneur! Are you trying to get into any incubators/accelerators?

There is a local incubator that I will apply for this summer if the time is right, but I am generally avoiding it until I think it makes sense. I know I wouldn't invest in anything without at least one paying customer, so I think it would be rude to try to hustle without one.

Right! it may look stupid but it is the best thing to do. Take time compose yourself and your ideas

Good luck.

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