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Ask HN: length of "vacation" between leaving job and starting own company

5 pointsbr0ke11 comments

I've just left my daytime job to start my own company and have consciously decided to take a break to recoup/recover before starting the new adventure. How long did you take, did you feel like you should have taken longer/less and why? Thanks!

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A pause between 2 jobs should be at least 2 weeks IMHO. But for your own company, I'd say you should start right away? Aren't you excited? Can't you stop yourself from thinking of it all day long?

You could go for a trip while working as you are now free.

Whatever time you decide, I'd recommend you pick a "start date" for your own company, and stick to it. That morning, get up early, shower and dress sharply, and report to your new "office" at 9am. Maybe not literally, but try to get into the mindset of productivity and dedication to your new job. Especially after a week or three off, it would be very easy to ease into it lazily and half-heartedly. But if you are starting your own company, you'll want to hit the groudn running, with momentum and acceleration.

What do you need to recoup/recover from? This is your dream (or I assume it is) - so I don't really understand why you need to take a break. You've crossed a major line - celebrate by rocking the #$(&* out of your new opportunity. I took no time - I couldn't wait. Too excited to work on the 1,234,567 things that needed to get done!

Or take a vacation if you want to. You're the effing boss now - ain't nobody telling you what to do anymore.

I just took a one year trip. I think it helped me to get a lot of perspective on my life, this might be interesting to you or not.

I was on the verge of starting my own business but I back tracked as I saw it in a different light, I gained new perspective on it.

I spent one year in South America learning Spanish, studying yoga and mediation in Thailand and India, learning bit of Chinese, learning to run and running a 10k and getting fit. Getting a real low paying job in America selling fireworks. ect...

Now I am back at the full time gig and getting shipped off to Puerto Rico to build a solar farm, something that would have never been on the table if I didn't take the time.

two weeks seems so laughable to me.

I spent 12 days in a silent meditation retreat, that is almost two weeks there.

One way to look at life is through the lens of time, we all have x amount of time, we get to choose how to use it. Everybody is given time, rich people and poor people all have this x amount it's a great equalizer.

My year abroad cost about $17,000, that is an incredible deal.

I'd love to hear more about this. Have you written about it in a blog post or somewhere?

I'd say 4 weeks is perfect. Take your family, friends, {girl,boy}friend and enjoy the most. The time you will spend now you won't get it after you get into the Startup race.

It depends what you can afford and are willing to lose. If you have a lot of money the bank take as much time as you want. How long is it going to take to get this adventure profitable. If it's a service business and your doing the work and you already have a client that's one thing. If you have a business idea and no proof of revenue I would get to work rgith away.

I've never taken more than a day/weekend between jobs. I've been in the workforce for 10 years, 4 jobs, 1 and 2 overlapped by a week, 2 and 3 overlapped by 3 months, and I took a weekend off between 3 and 4. Work is a reality that you can't avoid, and if you're not excited to get started at your next job then why even switch jobs.

"if you're not excited to get started at your next job then why even switch jobs"

Why does being excited about a job preclude you from being able to take a vacation? I started a new job recently, and while I was excited, I took a few weeks to visit with friends&family, took a trip to Montreal, and spent some time away from coding and computers. It was a great time, and nothing would have been different had I started work a week or two sooner.

@OP, if you can afford it, take a few weeks to enjoy yourself!

Work to live, don't live to work

I guess, I mean, I love software development and even if I were at home I would be doing it. Also, if I were leaving my day job to start my own business and I... wanted time off before doing it, I would be very concerned I was making a bad decision.

Anyhow, I've been fortunate to have jobs with awesome PTO. With 20+ days of PTO I didn't see the necessity of going a few weeks without a paycheck.

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