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Ask HN: 5-7 months of living expenses left; terrified. Advice?

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Re: Ask HN: 5-7 months of living expenses left; terrified. Advice?

#31

Post by somnambulist »

Hi there!

I really don't know as to whether whatever I will be writing down will be of any help to you or not, but I would be very happy if it would. Anyway I'll give it a try.

You ask 'Has anyone here been through disaster before?' Well, the truth is almost everyone (barring exceptions, and exceptions don't account for any rule) has been through some kind of predicaments in life. But the problem is many of us thinks that that our individual problem is the penultimate (no offence, simply stating the fact).

In troubled times, we usually have two options; either to succumb to the surmounting pressure, or accept the challenge and come out of it. If we are negative in these troubled times, we succumb and if we are positive we come out of it, stronger, much more stronger, with wisdom.

You say that you have funds for at least another 6-7 months. That's certainly is a lot of time, provided that you are calm, pateint and positive. I am sure, you must be aware of the fact, that there are many people in life, who even don't have money to eat a single meal. And here you are, 6-7 months.... Things can change for the better.. You never know.. And things have changed in the past.. After the night.. there is always the day.. and after the day.. there is the night.. the cycle.. continues.. and the one who knows this facet about life has known one of the important arts to live life...

Anyway you state that you do like the startup and the projects you are working on.. So why worry? Enjoy whatever you are doing.. and take one step at a time... Don't worry unnecessarily... after all.. worrying is not going to help you..... What sense would it make, if you were making lot of money but you were just not enjoying whatever you were doing....

Before I conclude, I would like to share with you a few quotes that perchance might rejuvenate your spirit....

1> Do the things you FeAr & FeAr will disappear.

2> I will certainly strike the iron when its hot. Else I'll continue striking it till it gets hot!

3> In life when one door of happiness closes, another one immediately opens. But often we get so lost and absorbed in our sorrows and problems, we fail to see the one which has opened for us. - Hellen Keller

4> God isn't such a miser that he'll give you just one chance.

5> It's very easy to dream when everything seems to be going right with you. But the most important thing is to dream when just about everything seems to be going wrong with you. - Azim Premji (Founder of Wipro-India's 2nd ranked IT Company)

6> Many of the failures in the world were those people who were so close to success when they gave up. - Thomas Alva Edison

7> The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.

8> If you're not failing, you're not trying anything. - Woody Allen

9> The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams - Anna Eleanor Roosevelt

Lastly, if you haven't watched the movie 'In Pursuit of Happiness,' starring Wills Smith, I strongly recommend you to watch it. It's the perfect time for you to watch it.

Peace & Love, Somnambulist

Re: Ask HN: 5-7 months of living expenses left; terrified. Advice?

#32

Post by mattmaroon »

Eliezer wrote: post #30
mattmaroon wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your startup doesn't have a 19 in 20 shot of being funded AFTER you get a term sheet.

I realize this is a cheap shot... but... 95% probability of a startup being funded? You didn't work on the software that rated mortgage default probabilities, did you?

creditdefaultswap.com baby. Web 2.0 mortgage derivatives.

Elevator pitch: It's like Flickr for collateralized debt obligations.

Re: Ask HN: 5-7 months of living expenses left; terrified. Advice?

#33

Post by ciscoriordan »

ars wrote: post #16

What will you do after 5-7 months? If your money did actually run out what would you do? Whatever that is - do it now, not in 5-7 months. For example: say you'd stop paying rent, and get evicted, where would you go? Whereever that is - go there now. What else would you stop paying for? Phone? Cable? Pretend you have no money, and act that way. As a side suggestion to where to live, see if you can live in the startups…

Also use it as an opportunity to sell / give away things you don't really need.

Re: Ask HN: 5-7 months of living expenses left; terrified. Advice?

#34

Post by ellyagg »

asnyder wrote: post #18
vaksel wrote: post #10

cut your living expenses...have a car? sell it for a beater. Have high rent? Move to Bronx or Brooklyn or Queens or Jersey City(if your work is close to penn station). Or if your parents live locally, move in with them(I did this). Switch to a ramen diet....stop going out, stop buying shit. Stretch every penny. You won't believe how little you can live on, if you cut out all the bullshit. Start working on your contac…

It's likely he doesn't have a car, most New Yorkers don't. I'd also recommend switching to a fruits and vegetables diet, instead of ramen. There are enough dedicated fruit stores in New York that make fruits and vegetables cheaper and healthier than ramen. In New York, an example of this kind of store would be "Three Guys From Brooklyn", or "Circus Fruits". With these sorts of stores you can easily bring your food ex…

I'd recommend sticking with ramen. There's zero chance that fruit is cheaper anywhere on a cost per calorie basis, ramen is easier to find everywhere, ramen is pretty tasty and you can take more calories of ramen before you want to throw up, you can take more calories of ramen before you have diarrhea, ramen stores compactly and easily, ramen doesn't go bad, and the health benefits of fruit and vegetables are greatly exaggerated ( partly by some folks whose interest in promoting them has nothing to do with their purported health benefits). I, for one, never get sick, work out all the time, am slim and stronger than 99% of the population, have good blood pressure and cholesterol, and, to cut costs, a significant portion of my diet is ramen.

Re: Ask HN: 5-7 months of living expenses left; terrified. Advice?

#35

Post by ellyagg »

curiousgeorge wrote: post #24

You should assume funding will not happen. Follow your intuition here. And then calm down and realize that 5-7 months of living expenses isn't exactly scraping by. Follow everyone else's advice on cutting costs, and look for part-time work. Your deeper problem is the expectation that someone else will invest in a company with a large team, obligations to cover back pay, several months of development behind it, and no…

> You should assume funding will not happen. Follow your intuition here.

That's following your intuition, not his. I agree with yours, though.

Re: Ask HN: 5-7 months of living expenses left; terrified. Advice?

#36

Post by terpua »

ellyagg wrote: post #34
asnyder wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's likely he doesn't have a car, most New Yorkers don't. I'd also recommend switching to a fruits and vegetables diet, instead of ramen. There are enough dedicated fruit stores in New York that make fruits and vegetables cheaper and healthier than ramen. In New York, an example of this kind of store would be "Three Guys From Brooklyn", or "Circus Fruits". With these sorts of stores you can easily bring your food ex…

I'd recommend sticking with ramen. There's zero chance that fruit is cheaper anywhere on a cost per calorie basis, ramen is easier to find everywhere, ramen is pretty tasty and you can take more calories of ramen before you want to throw up, you can take more calories of ramen before you have diarrhea, ramen stores compactly and easily, ramen doesn't go bad, and the health benefits of fruit and vegetables are greatly…

ramen + exercise > fruits/veggies + no exercise

Re: Ask HN: 5-7 months of living expenses left; terrified. Advice?

#37

Post by sh1mmer »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #26
asnyder wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's likely he doesn't have a car, most New Yorkers don't. I'd also recommend switching to a fruits and vegetables diet, instead of ramen. There are enough dedicated fruit stores in New York that make fruits and vegetables cheaper and healthier than ramen. In New York, an example of this kind of store would be "Three Guys From Brooklyn", or "Circus Fruits". With these sorts of stores you can easily bring your food ex…

With these sorts of stores you can easily bring your food expenses below $60 a month while maintaining a healthy diet. Is that a typo? $60/mo eating fruits and veggies? I live in SF and I have a hard time imagining doing that here, let along NYC...

You have to know where to go, what to buy, and what to cook.

I've been a vegan for a number of years now and I could live off $60/mo if I wanted to. The main point is convenience. If you don't want the effort of preparing food then it costs a lot more. Simple staples like lentals, rice, etc supplemented with vegetables is a crazy cheap way to eat.

In SF districts like the mission it's easy to get cheap fresh fruit and vegetables. A lot of it is supply and demand. If you shop at Safeway they have an expectation about your spending and price accordingly.

If you are trying save every penny shop where other people who have no money shop. That probably means neighborhoods you might avoid otherwise.

Re: Ask HN: 5-7 months of living expenses left; terrified. Advice?

#38

Post by calvin »

recession wrote: post #4
ksvs wrote: post #3

One thing you could start doing now is lining up potential alternative jobs. You could even start working part-time somewhere else. One good thing about startups is that they can be flexible about things like that. And the founders who recruited you can hardly blame you.

How do you find (decent) part-time work in technology? That may be what I have to do, but I have no idea how to go about it.

Ask friends. If you don't have friends in the local tech community, find out what tech groups there are in your area and visit them. I don't know about New York, but in Seattle there are dozens focused on every aspect of technology you can imagine (Mac programming, Perl, PHP, security, blogging, computer networking, business networking, et cetera).

I moved to Seattle two years ago and knew virtually nobody. I met a lot of people through local groups like SaturdayHouse, Six Hour Startup, and nPost, got to know people, and even found a job through a friend of a friend.

It can be difficult and take time to find the kind of employment that pays and allows you the freedom to do what you love, but it is possible. I wish you much luck.

Re: Ask HN: 5-7 months of living expenses left; terrified. Advice?

#39

Post by asnyder »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #26
asnyder wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's likely he doesn't have a car, most New Yorkers don't. I'd also recommend switching to a fruits and vegetables diet, instead of ramen. There are enough dedicated fruit stores in New York that make fruits and vegetables cheaper and healthier than ramen. In New York, an example of this kind of store would be "Three Guys From Brooklyn", or "Circus Fruits". With these sorts of stores you can easily bring your food ex…

With these sorts of stores you can easily bring your food expenses below $60 a month while maintaining a healthy diet. Is that a typo? $60/mo eating fruits and veggies? I live in SF and I have a hard time imagining doing that here, let along NYC...

It's not a typo. In the post I mentioned Three Guys From brooklyn, here's a link to their weekly circular. http://3guysfrombrooklyn.tripod.com/id4.html, note that the price listed for fruit and vegetables in that circular are about the average prices for all their fruits and vegetables. Certainly things like packaged foods will be a little higher, but if you purchase mostly fruits, vegetables, tubas (the average price of a bag of 5lbs potatoes there is $1.99), etc, in addition to a few packaged foods such as orange juice, you can easily eat for less than $60 a month.
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