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Currently have 60k in savings, with the strong urge to start a company. Some part of me feels like the most logical path would be to secure a larger safety net by working in the USA, before taking on bigger risks.
How large of a safety net did you have before beginning your startup journey?
Now, 60K in savings, in my mind is zero. I mean, you do need to live, and also working in your startup - very likely you'll need to spend at least 2-3K/month. You'll end up with no money in 6 months, and with your morals completely down.
If I was living in Canada, I'd keep an at least $200K safety net.
For all of them, I started with no safety net at all. Sometimes I had a side job (if you're starting a business, your business must be your main job and anything else is your side gig), sometimes I had an investor, and sometimes I white-knuckled it. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to each approach.
Except for when I had an investor or side gig, I arranged my business so that it would generate some income from day one (that income being from efforts that were not what the business was attempting to do, but could leverage the same assets -- this was usually contract work. This is part of a business rule I believe very strongly in: anything you do should pay you in more than one way.)
That said, I'm currently preparing to start a new venture, and this time I'm building up a bankroll first, as I'm of the age where my risk tolerance is lower than it was when I was younger. My target bankroll is $100,000. That is money I can burn, and doesn't count retirement, personal savings, etc. $100,000 would let me work on the business without any additional income for two years.
I've started about a half dozen companies over the decades, half of which were successful, profitable enterprises. For all of them, I started with no safety net at all. Sometimes I had a side job (if you're starting a business, your business must be your main job and anything else is your side gig), sometimes I had an investor, and sometimes I white-knuckled it. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to each…
I would say don't just calculate safety net based on savings but also on your employability. Good luck.
I've started about a half dozen companies over the decades, half of which were successful, profitable enterprises. For all of them, I started with no safety net at all. Sometimes I had a side job (if you're starting a business, your business must be your main job and anything else is your side gig), sometimes I had an investor, and sometimes I white-knuckled it. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to each…
Intresting, do you mind me asking what age you are at that made you feel like you need that large of a bank roll first?
I'm choosing to have a largish bankroll this time because, quite frankly, I don't want to have to make the sacrifices that are otherwise likely when you don't have an ongoing income -- and during the initial stages of a business, you won't have a meaningful income personally, it will be going into the business.
I could get by without the bankroll, as I've done before, but this time I want a little bit more comfort.
I should add that this is because of how I prefer to do business -- I am unwilling to take debt, large investments or VC money. Not that there's anything wrong with doing those things -- they just don't mesh well with my personality.
The upshot is: they will probably take a bigger risk. Targeting enterprise grade hardware, rather than consumer internet. But in no way would I construe that as translating into a higher TAM, or probability of success, or ability to execute.
I feel incredibly blessed by my own position. Being able to bootstrap on little more than allotted cloud credits.
And to be honest you can start with less. There are people sourcing orders without a product first via pre-sales commitments. You can even get by without a landing page if there is already inherent market demand. An email address, a phone number, a side deck on google docs. Very little is required to begin testing your ideas immediately.
Best of Luck ;)
My advice if you are going to start a company and bootstrap it: cashflow is king. Ensure that you always have cashflow. Funded startup is an entirely different beast where the company itself is the product - so you can burn like crazy because you're (supposed to be) creating value in the business/IP itself.
My advice would be to actually keep your job and work on your startup at the same time. Clearly, this is not for everyone - it can put a lot of pressure, but I do think it's sustainable 1-2 years. Now, 60K in savings, in my mind is zero. I mean, you do need to live, and also working in your startup - very likely you'll need to spend at least 2-3K/month. You'll end up with no money in 6 months, and with your morals co…