Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–118 of 118 posts

Re: Ask HN: What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup?

#111

Post by bluesroo »

fancy_pantser wrote: post #94
ryandrake wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your (and other) replies seem to assume that the startup is something you're already doing on the side, while employed full time doing something else. Is this really that common?? Most, if not all places I've worked assert IP ownership over anything you do while employed, even on your own time. That's 100% what keeps me from moonlighting and/or starting my own thing on nights and weekends, and keeps me from contribut…

Even if you signed a PIIA, double-check that it's enforceable where you are employed and is as far-reaching as you think it is. For example, the California Labor Code stipulates that regardless of what an employment contract or PIIA says, an employee owns the copyright and patent rights to his inventions if the invention is made entirely on the employee’s own time, without using any of the company’s equipment or tech…

Your last line is very important. In PA I was able to get a full write-up on the NDA/ IP portion of my contract for $150. If you are planning on making something potentially profitable/ valuable in your spare time, $150 is peanuts for peace-of-mind.

Re: Ask HN: What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup?

#112

Post by issa »

wirelessest wrote: post #84
issa wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is just a disagreement over the term "startup". For something like a new restaurant, or a mom and pop store to be profitable, it might take many years. But most actual startups are going to validate an idea quickly and either make money or not in a short amount of time.

You have examples? Every startup I've been with has been many years to profitability and the common names follow that pattern as well. Some get traction, or maybe growth early on, but actual startups don't seem to "make money in a short amount of time"

I guess it depends on what you consider "making money" to mean. In this case, I felt we were discussing making the equivalent salary to the full-time job you would be giving up. There are certainly other definitions.

But overall, I think a startup's job is to validate an idea, then grow. If you can't make money at first, you probably don't have a valid idea. The next phase is pure growth--and I'm sure very few new businesses can make money AND grow at the same time.

Re: Ask HN: What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup?

#113

Post by issa »

miguelrochefort wrote: post #72
mej10 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I know that's really not even a "fair" rate in the US at least. I.e. full time employees with benefits can pretty easily make more.

I earn that much a week in Canada...

Sounds like you are being underpaid! I would expect an entry-level developer to make at least $75k a year, which would work out to $300 a day.

Re: Ask HN: What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup?

#114

Post by welanes »

berzerk5 wrote: post #98
welanes wrote: post #61

> What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup? 1. Time became my most valuable asset. Everything was filtered through the lens of "does this save me time?" and so I optimized everything: The gym (worked out at home), shopping (got delivered), dating (used fleshl...joking! :). In the words of Joel Spolsky, "Every day that we spent not improving our products was a wasted day". 2. I worked har…

What process did you use to validate your idea? That's where I'm stuck. I have tons of ideas but I don't want to spend months and months working on something that people don't need or care about because as they say "cashflow is the lifeblood of a business".

Hey, excuse the late reply on this. Someone answered for me though: "Build something that people are already paying for".

In the world of software, there's almost always room for better so I'd change that slightly to "build a better version of something that people are already paying for".

You can find out what 'better' means by studying the product that people are already paying for, seeing what those people complain about, and resolving those complaints.

That's a good place to start.

Re: Ask HN: What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup?

#115

Post by OverThere »

welanes wrote: post #61

> What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup? 1. Time became my most valuable asset. Everything was filtered through the lens of "does this save me time?" and so I optimized everything: The gym (worked out at home), shopping (got delivered), dating (used fleshl...joking! :). In the words of Joel Spolsky, "Every day that we spent not improving our products was a wasted day". 2. I worked har…

> dating (used fleshl...joking!)

Lol

Re: Ask HN: What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup?

#116

Post by fredrivett »

cheez wrote: post #69
adventured wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Four years is an absurd amount of time to get to break-even (ie paying yourself an income that covers your bills and the company bills), particularly if it's a one-person bootstrap. Lightning in a bottle is 1-2 months to break-even under the bootstrap scenario. 6-8 months is closer to reasonable depending on cost of living for where someone is living. Anything much beyond that time-frame means something is very, very…

Sounds like you're experienced, which is great. Tell me about the first business you started and how long it took you until you were able to live like you live today. I totally agree that it's very easy to get to a few thousand dollars a month in sales. It's getting beyond that which is hard.

"Very easy" is an interesting way to put it.

How long did it take you to get to a few thousand dollars a month cheez? Out of interest, how far into your career was that?

I'm not sure I'd class getting to a few thousand dollars as "very easy", certainly do-able for a lot of businesses with a few months to a years hard work, but I wouldn't call that "very easy", personally.

Re: Ask HN: What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup?

#117

Post by easytiger »

issa wrote: post #113
miguelrochefort wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I earn that much a week in Canada...

Sounds like you are being underpaid! I would expect an entry-level developer to make at least $75k a year, which would work out to $300 a day.

300 CAD to GBP = £180

Re: Ask HN: What was it like to quit your job and focus on your successful startup?

#118

Post by cheez »

fredrivett wrote: post #116
cheez wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you're experienced, which is great. Tell me about the first business you started and how long it took you until you were able to live like you live today. I totally agree that it's very easy to get to a few thousand dollars a month in sales. It's getting beyond that which is hard.

"Very easy" is an interesting way to put it. How long did it take you to get to a few thousand dollars a month cheez? Out of interest, how far into your career was that? I'm not sure I'd class getting to a few thousand dollars as "very easy", certainly do-able for a lot of businesses with a few months to a years hard work, but I wouldn't call that "very easy", personally.

Since you asked: it took exactly one month and about 4 years into my post-university career to get to a few thousand. A lot of it was right place, right time of course.

The one thing I did right was find the market first, then built a product for that market.

Post reply on HN