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Ask YC: Are you working part-time on your startup/project/idea?

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Re: Ask YC: Are you working part-time on your startup/project/idea?

#41
Yes. I have been doing this for last 2 yrs and worked on 3 diff startups. First one is still operational, but I m not part of it, second one failed after 6 months of hard-work, and now I'm working on Third idea since last few months. There are mainly immigration issues bcoz of which I'm not able to go fulltime, so still continuing with part-time option.

During first idea, I was a bachelor, and used to invest more time on business development activities, product planning & management, networking events, mentoring sessions, reading books + blogging. I used to spend daily 3-4 hrs of evenings for this. My co-founders were doing coding. I did this for 1 year. Then bcoz of certain concerns, I left this project and started another.

During second idea, I got married, so working in the late evening was not justifiable. I used to work in early morning from 4am-7am, mostly coding and then in the evening, if necessary, meet some potential clients or advisors for business development activities. So daily I used to work for 4-5 hrs. Unfortunately, my other co-founders were married ones, and couldn't cope up with fulltime + mariage + part-time startup pace. So naturally, I was alone at the end, and after certain time, had to close the idea.

Now I again started with the third idea. Now I spend maximum time on learning technical stuff, and coding my application. Most of the times, I am the only one on this idea, I'm spending max time on developing product rather than building business, which I did lot in previous startups. I spend daily 2-3 hrs on weekday, and 5-6 hrs on one weekend.

In general, I try to put 15-20 hrs a week. Which i know are still very less for a startup :( I think having equally entrepreneurial and passionate co-founders, who are ready to slog hard in the part-time is very essential, which was the case in my first idea.

Re: Ask YC: Are you working part-time on your startup/project/idea?

#43

I did that for about 9 months before going full-time 6 months ago. I'd usually work on the startup for an hour before work and then 1-2 hours after dinner, so maybe 15-20 hours/week. I've found that my coding time hasn't really increased much since going full-time, and yet I'm vastly more productive. The limiting factor in startups does not seem to be time: it's attention. Having that extra 8 hrs/day to think about t…

I only seem to make serious progress on my project when I work for 4 or 5 uninterrupted days. So that's what I do. Thanks to you, nostrademons, now I can describe why. I think you nailed it.

Re: Ask YC: Are you working part-time on your startup/project/idea?

#44
post #42

Make sure you own your IP if you're working at a big company and part time on your startup.

How? Any specific advice for making sure the big employer doesn't own your idea?

Read your employment agreement. Some states are more flexible than others.

Don't use ANY company resource (email, bandwidth, office supplies, their computers) to make your product.

Re: Ask YC: Are you working part-time on your startup/project/idea?

#45
post #39

Make sure you own your IP if you're working at a big company and part time on your startup.

How have people reconciled being able to work on your startup part time while at a large company full time? By reconcile, I mean in terms of legal contracts, etc. I'm pretty sure most people sign a non-compete clause in their employment contract.

The non-compete clause is for when you leave. IP rights are explicitly signed away in employee agreements.

The easiest way to reconcile is to quit and do the startup full time.

People shouldn't do things half-assed anyway. It's all about the focus.

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