I'm in almost exactly the same boat, except you'd have to transpose the digits of my age. I almost quit my job today. I have about the same amount of "runway" in savings. I'm planning on moving to Austin instead of San Francisco, though.
Tell HN: I quit my job to bootstrap my startup by myself.
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Re: Tell HN: I quit my job to bootstrap my startup by myself.
#52Firstly, best of luck with your startup! That's an exciting move. I'd also recommend moving somewhere like New York, SF, Boston, Austin where there is an active community of technologists with whom you can bounce ideas. I wanted to point out though that your startup's name brings forth strongly negative connotations. Your startup is photo sharing site called Hard Candy. There's a movie called Hard Candy about a 32 ye…
Thanks. Yeah, I'll change the name. It's not intended to be the final name. Just until I can think of something better. I've never seen that movie.
And you don't want to. Trust me. But yeah, I agree with the OP. The name "Hard Candy" immediately inspired thoughts of castration.
Re: Tell HN: I quit my job to bootstrap my startup by myself.
#53Firstly, best of luck with your startup! That's an exciting move. I'd also recommend moving somewhere like New York, SF, Boston, Austin where there is an active community of technologists with whom you can bounce ideas. I wanted to point out though that your startup's name brings forth strongly negative connotations. Your startup is photo sharing site called Hard Candy. There's a movie called Hard Candy about a 32 ye…
"Hard Candy Shell" is also the name of UX/UI design firm in New York City.
"Candy Schell" is the name of a real life musician I know.
Re: Tell HN: I quit my job to bootstrap my startup by myself.
#54I noticed you worked at Booz Allen Hamilton, is that the consulting company you recently quit from? I am 23 and worked for Booz Allen 4 months ago before I quit myself to work on my startup. Best of luck my friend! It is a much better feeling to be working and struggling for the things you love than having it easy with the things you don't!
Yep, I worked out of their headquarters in McLean, VA. I would definitely like to keep in touch. Good luck!
Re: Tell HN: I quit my job to bootstrap my startup by myself.
#55Are we seeing "The Rise Of the Solo Founder"? Being solo myself, I wonder if we, solo founders, should build a league? "The League of the Solo Founders". As a solo founder, I feel like an "only child", there is always that suspicion that something might be wrong...
Created this: https://convore.com/single-founders
Re: Tell HN: I quit my job to bootstrap my startup by myself.
#56Congratulation. Good for you to save up 12-15 months for expenses. Try to stretch that out to 24 months. Enough financial reserve will give you peace of mind to pursue your startup goal.
Spend your biggest asset, time, wisely. Block off HN/Reddit/Facebook/etc. Turn off IM and set your email polling to a hourly basis. Try to contract yourself to do the work. Set up a hourly rate for yourself and bill yourself to do the work. It's easier to see the value of time once you translate it into money. But don't get burned out either. Exercise. Jogging or walking in the park or along the beach is free.
Try to work at home, or go to library and cafe if need to go out. No need to rent office space or share-workspace. Most libraries and cafes have free net connection. Get a Google Voice number as your work number and route it to your phone.
If you are in the SF Bay Area, there are events you can go to for learning and socializing.
Hackers-and-Founders, http://www.meetup.com/Hackers-and-Founders
BAYCHI, http://www.baychi.org/program
SFBayACM, http://www.sfbayacm.org
Android Developers Meetup, http://www.android-android.net/events/
Search the web or wiki for other interest groups.
Good Luck!
Re: Tell HN: I quit my job to bootstrap my startup by myself.
#57Good luck to you! I previously worked at Booz as well. You may be surprised but your experience (and connections) in consulting will help down the road. A friend of mine (Booz alum) is also transitioning from software development at a consulting firm to the start up world - he is in b-school at the moment.
Thanks! It looks like there are several people from Booz leaving to work on a startup!
Re: Tell HN: I quit my job to bootstrap my startup by myself.
#58I wanted to say good luck with your startup/move. I once had a nice big corp job on the east coast but I always had a startup I wanted to take to silicon valley.
I quit the job, moved out to San Francisco, started a small but successful consultancy doing what I love (SEO) and am using half my time and the bulk of my consulting revenue to fund the startup.
You don't even know how right you are about finding like minded people out here. Everyone is interested in tech, excited about new startups, supportive of new startups, and there is a ton of talent and $ throughout silicon valley.
Best of Luck.
Mike Coughlin
Re: Tell HN: I quit my job to bootstrap my startup by myself.
#59Are we seeing "The Rise Of the Solo Founder"? Being solo myself, I wonder if we, solo founders, should build a league? "The League of the Solo Founders". As a solo founder, I feel like an "only child", there is always that suspicion that something might be wrong...
I like that idea. There needs to be a startup accelerator based on solo founders. We could definitely collaborate on ideas and strategies.
As a single founder attempting to bootstrap, would love that!
Re: Tell HN: I quit my job to bootstrap my startup by myself.
#60Good luck! Have you decided what you want to work on yet? Look me up if you want someone to bounce ideas off of, maybe we can hack something together.
I've got an invitation to Sparkmuse (about to enter beta) for you if you would like to discuss some of your ideas there too.