I am broke and in debt due to taking in 1/3 of my previous salary and having big delays to our v 1.0. I am married with 1 kid. My wife is footing some of the bill and I am on my fourth debt renewal. Wondering how people in the same situation are coping or getting by.
Ask HN: Who is currently broke due to being in a startup?
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Re: Ask HN: Who is currently broke due to being in a startup?
#2[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Who is currently broke due to being in a startup?
#3Maybe you should just quit for the sake of your family. I am not being defeatist, or else just work out some milestones that you'll obtain from here onward. If you don't meet them, then quit.
Re: Ask HN: Who is currently broke due to being in a startup?
#4I took the first job I could get out of college. I am paid, like you, 1/3 of what I should be making (according to state stats). I have a mortgage, and a puppy to take care of. I barely squeeze by, but the company would be screwed if I left. I've tried to get other jobs with no success so far. I'm starting to feel like I'm stuck not only in my current job, but in New Mexico. Sorry for the rant, but I feel where you're at twidlit.
Re: Ask HN: Who is currently broke due to being in a startup?
#5How much more would you be delayed if did contract work 2 days a week? Would your startup be more at risk of failing if you freelanced those two days a week, or if you risked surviving without it?
Re: Ask HN: Who is currently broke due to being in a startup?
#6I took the first job I could get out of college. I am paid, like you, 1/3 of what I should be making (according to state stats). I have a mortgage, and a puppy to take care of. I barely squeeze by, but the company would be screwed if I left. I've tried to get other jobs with no success so far. I'm starting to feel like I'm stuck not only in my current job, but in New Mexico. Sorry for the rant, but I feel where you'r…
Where in NM are you? (I'm in Los Alamos.)
Re: Ask HN: Who is currently broke due to being in a startup?
#7I dono, man. I mean, I'm making between 1/3rd and 1/4th what I'd be making normally, and I'm feeling pretty good about things because my net worth is increasing quickly.
I mean, things have been much worse. At its worst, I was personally on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars of company debit, and making even less money than I am now. failure is something that I've faced before and that I'll probably face again. But, the thing is, I've never had any real financial responsibilities. If failed, really, my creditors would have been the only people who were hurt. Hell, even now, yeah, I'm living with someone, but she's another bay area nerd and doesn't need my money.
I personally would feel very different about taking the risks I take if others were depending on me. Would I do it anyhow? I don't know. but I'd think much harder about it. (and yeah, this is part of why I've avoided taking on those responsibilities.)
On the other hand, I do know other very successful entrepreneurs who made their money while supporting families. But most of those took the lower-risk 'productize your consulting business' route.
Re: Ask HN: Who is currently broke due to being in a startup?
#8Just fixing this problem myself at the moment. Currently living with parents working on a new version of my main startup. Bartered a work exchange with a designer for a new design for the site so I can purely work on the code. Last week picked up a side contact for 5 days every 2 weeks for a minimum of 10 weeks and got another possible contract after they have finish their funding run.
So will probably be back working full time with contract combo and will just hire out simple bits of code / skip sleep for my start up
Re: Ask HN: Who is currently broke due to being in a startup?
#9Maybe you should just quit for the sake of your family. I am not being defeatist, or else just work out some milestones that you'll obtain from here onward. If you don't meet them, then quit.
Quitting is not an option and even ridiculous to me. I dunno if its the founder optimism at work but I am sure this is gonna play out great after launch. We are just 6 months into the startup and have yet to release our v1.0 with the iphone / android app. (ETA 2 months). Its tough but not impossible.
Re: Ask HN: Who is currently broke due to being in a startup?
#10How much more would you be delayed if did contract work 2 days a week? Would your startup be more at risk of failing if you freelanced those two days a week, or if you risked surviving without it?
Yes, we are transitioning to that just to extend the runway. Our 1st step to building that safety net is spiffing up the company website and taking in Facebook and Twitter application contract work + white labeling the product we are building.