How did you manage the legal issues surrounding IP ownership while working at a full time job? Were your employers aware of your startup?
How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance
11–20 of 74 posts
Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance
#12This doesn't really address any practical issues you faced in holding down a full-time job whilst also building the startup. Based on the title, I was expecting more. Something like how you managed your time? That said, congrats on launching.
I worked most nights during the week for a 1-2hrs and every weekend, sometimes spending full days working on the weekends. I found the time when I could and delegated work to my cofounders who did the same. It was just a lot of hard work and extra hours. I sacrificed some social life but still managed to enjoy New York hugely over the past year.
I am also in finance working full-time. I spend about 2 hours a day working on our payments platform. 6 months ago I cut off my cable and it's amazing how much I'm actually getting done! People who use "lack of time" as an excuse to not get anything done should seriously consider adding up all their idle time, you'll be surprised!
Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
he got between 10-20% equity and we were doing a comparable amount of work (10-20hr per week) up until I quit my job. now I'm putting in more hours.
Hmm, well I guess you were lucky to have found someone competent who took that offer. I'm not sure if I would be willing to work equal hours for 4 times less equity.
I'm assuming the Biz dev cofounder would have taken a similar amount. Which should make the equation a little better. However, I agree - he got a good deal with the cofounders (not sure if that is necessarily a good thing)
Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
I worked most nights during the week for a 1-2hrs and every weekend, sometimes spending full days working on the weekends. I found the time when I could and delegated work to my cofounders who did the same. It was just a lot of hard work and extra hours. I sacrificed some social life but still managed to enjoy New York hugely over the past year.
I think people underestimate how much you can get done if you commit to at least 1-2 hours during the week EVERY DAY, and at least another 12-16 hours on the weekend. Working during the week is critical, even if it's difficult, simply because it keeps the momentum going and motivation fresh (in my experience of trying it every other way). It's also a deceptive 30-80% additional capacity than what you have merely work…
Sounds good in practice, but I have a real hard time building anything in 1 hour increments. I need a good 3-4 hours scheduled to make solid progress on any of my side projects. I have a feeling others may have the same problem... and PG described this pretty well in his "makers schedule" essay.
Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance
#15This doesn't really address any practical issues you faced in holding down a full-time job whilst also building the startup. Based on the title, I was expecting more. Something like how you managed your time? That said, congrats on launching.
I worked most nights during the week for a 1-2hrs and every weekend, sometimes spending full days working on the weekends. I found the time when I could and delegated work to my cofounders who did the same. It was just a lot of hard work and extra hours. I sacrificed some social life but still managed to enjoy New York hugely over the past year.
Can you elaborate on the level and detail of planning you had to do to be effective in 1-2 hour chunks?
I think it would be really interesting for the productivity obsessed to maybe even see a mockup of the task lists you would generate to get a sense of how detailed of a list was good.
Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think people underestimate how much you can get done if you commit to at least 1-2 hours during the week EVERY DAY, and at least another 12-16 hours on the weekend. Working during the week is critical, even if it's difficult, simply because it keeps the momentum going and motivation fresh (in my experience of trying it every other way). It's also a deceptive 30-80% additional capacity than what you have merely work…
Sounds good in practice, but I have a real hard time building anything in 1 hour increments. I need a good 3-4 hours scheduled to make solid progress on any of my side projects. I have a feeling others may have the same problem... and PG described this pretty well in his "makers schedule" essay.
I think this will depend on what role you play. As someone who's technical, 3-4 hours is the minimum for sure but if you're responsible for business relationships (like making sure you try to sign an artist every day) then 1-2 hours sounds possible.
Reminds me of a saying from my former CEO, "it's not about the time left in the game, but the number of swings at the bat you get."
Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance
#17How much work did the technical co-founder do compared to you and how much % did he get?
he got between 10-20% equity and we were doing a comparable amount of work (10-20hr per week) up until I quit my job. now I'm putting in more hours.
Based on the title of your post I was assuming to read something like '..and I picked up Ruby on Rails, a few tutorials, and just started coding..'
How much technical knowledge did you have before starting this project? And how much did you learn in the process? Doesn't it feel awkward to say you have 'built' it?
Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance
#18How did you manage the legal issues surrounding IP ownership while working at a full time job? Were your employers aware of your startup?
Not all employers care about all IP ownership. They just want stuff done on their time and stuff relevant to their business to be theirs.
I also built a project that became a startup while I was at a wallst bank. Although it didn't become a company till after I left.
Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance
#19How much work did the technical co-founder do compared to you and how much % did he get?
he got between 10-20% equity and we were doing a comparable amount of work (10-20hr per week) up until I quit my job. now I'm putting in more hours.
since he was the technical guy, can you talk about what your role was as the founder? did you pick up any technical stuff to help build the product (technically)? if not, what were your main contributions aside from the idea (i assume coming up with what features the site should have, etc...)?
Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance
#20This doesn't really address any practical issues you faced in holding down a full-time job whilst also building the startup. Based on the title, I was expecting more. Something like how you managed your time? That said, congrats on launching.
I worked most nights during the week for a 1-2hrs and every weekend, sometimes spending full days working on the weekends. I found the time when I could and delegated work to my cofounders who did the same. It was just a lot of hard work and extra hours. I sacrificed some social life but still managed to enjoy New York hugely over the past year.
Did you (do you) have family?