I left the previous startup last January (was there about five years). Between travels I did a few projects:
- Contract app development.
- Wrote some graphics code for fun (real-time voxel renderer).
- Wrote a web app as an experiment (web clippings tool).
What I learned: Contract development is not for me. Writing code for myself is much more satisfying, the graphics project was really a lot of fun. From the clippings app (clipng.com, it works and I use it but it could use some polish) I learned that working on your own is a lot harder than working in a team. At the same time, finding co-founders is really difficult.
In January I decided to join up with a seed-stage company whose CEO I met at a networking event. They have a good business model but needed someone to take over engineering and get the product shipped. So far that's working out well from a business standpoint and it has me at ramen-sustainable cash flow. Total time to sustainable: 1 year, 2 months.
Right now I have four ideas in-queue that I think would make good businesses but finding a co-founder is my first priority. If anyone reading this is in the Bay area and looking a project let me know.