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Ask HN: Should I leave my full time job for personal project?

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Ask HN: Should I leave my full time job for personal project?

#1

Post by techiegirl »

Looking for some suggestions from the experts here. I have been thinking about a project which I believe have a lot of potential. It will probably take me around 6mo - 1year to make it live(beta). I have a decent job and I have an infant, so even though my job is not so much stressful, because of the baby I can't put extra hours after work for my personal project. So I am thinking of leaving my job(a very good, comfortable one). Actually planning to target for 5 months to see if I can progress and then if I see I am failing I plan to start looking for full time job again.

However, this decision will put me in a tight position financially, my family can survive but will have to spend extremely carefully.

I believe in my idea, my project, and I want to give it a shot, will it be a big risk? Any suggestion/personal experiences are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Should I leave my full time job for personal project?

#2

Post by pmtarantino »

Hi techie girl. I am not an expert, neither succesful, but I can give you a simple advice:

Try to go as far as you can with your project without quitting your job. I am talking about validating.

I understand that you believe in your idea, in your project. I've been here. I think everyone have been there. But that doesn't mean anything, sadly. So before you quit your job, before you make any bet, try to cut risk. Send emails to potential customers, to see if they are interested.

To code for a whole year a beta and then see that nobody wants it, that's pretty bad. So try to avoid that.

Re: Ask HN: Should I leave my full time job for personal project?

#4

Post by emilioolivares »

Before quitting your job and writing a single line of code I would recommend you do this:

1. Validate your idea: It's great that YOU believe in your idea, but will others? Test it out, put up a landing page with your concept, see if people sign up to your mailing list. Talk to potential customers, are they willing to pay for your product? Can you get a paying customer before building the product? Some interesting links: http://thedannorris.com/is-startup-validation-bullshit/ http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-142-d...

2. Network with people who are successful: http://www.microconf.com/, tell them your idea and listen to their advice. Learn from all available resources such as: http://startupsfortherestofus.com/.

3. Learn about marketing, SEO and what it really takes to get the word out on your product. This is not trivial and successful founders on HN make it look easy, it's not. If you build it, they WILL NOT COME. Try to build a simple landing page that describes your product and start a blog. Don't start coding until you are able to get a steady stream of visitors to your site who are interested in your product. Start here: http://moz.com/learn/seo http://moz.com/blog/the-noob-guide-to-online-marketing-with-...

Don't quit your job until you are absolutely sure you can make this work.

Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Should I leave my full time job for personal project?

#6

Post by techiegirl »

emilioolivares wrote: post #4

Before quitting your job and writing a single line of code I would recommend you do this: 1. Validate your idea: It's great that YOU believe in your idea, but will others? Test it out, put up a landing page with your concept, see if people sign up to your mailing list. Talk to potential customers, are they willing to pay for your product? Can you get a paying customer before building the product? Some interesting lin…

Thanks a lot! These suggestions are really helpful, and am glad to get some specific direction! About validating my idea, I am not a person who follows the start up news a lot, so, I may be wrong, but is it okay to share a idea before building it? What if someone hears my idea and build it before I do? I am uncomfortable with this, or am I missing something here?

Thanks again :)

Re: Ask HN: Should I leave my full time job for personal project?

#8

Post by techiegirl »

pmtarantino wrote: post #2

Hi techie girl. I am not an expert, neither succesful, but I can give you a simple advice: Try to go as far as you can with your project without quitting your job. I am talking about validating. I understand that you believe in your idea, in your project. I've been here. I think everyone have been there. But that doesn't mean anything, sadly. So before you quit your job, before you make any bet, try to cut risk. Send…

This will be a free website and open for all, so targeting anyone specific is not possible. May be I can talk to friends/family and check whether it sounds like something they want to use.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Re: Ask HN: Should I leave my full time job for personal project?

#9

Post by emilioolivares »

techiegirl wrote: post #6
emilioolivares wrote: post #4

Before quitting your job and writing a single line of code I would recommend you do this: 1. Validate your idea: It's great that YOU believe in your idea, but will others? Test it out, put up a landing page with your concept, see if people sign up to your mailing list. Talk to potential customers, are they willing to pay for your product? Can you get a paying customer before building the product? Some interesting lin…

Thanks a lot! These suggestions are really helpful, and am glad to get some specific direction! About validating my idea, I am not a person who follows the start up news a lot, so, I may be wrong, but is it okay to share a idea before building it? What if someone hears my idea and build it before I do? I am uncomfortable with this, or am I missing something here? Thanks again :)

Everyone has ideas, actually it's very likely your idea already is being worked on or exists in some version. Successful companies are all about execution. Here are some articles that cover this question in detail: -http://cdixon.org/2009/08/22/why-you-shouldnt-keep-your-star... -http://blog.foundersguidebook.com/2013/02/why-you-should-sha... -http://www.natsturner.com/post/20257121566

If you are not comfortable sharing your idea online, I would advise to share it to potential customers, not friends and family. F&F are biased and will tend to give positive feedback. You need feedback from people that are willing to PAY or USE your product, complete strangers.

Re: Ask HN: Should I leave my full time job for personal project?

#10

Post by jasonkester »

It might be worth looking in to reducing your hours at work instead of quitting outright. If you're good, chances are they'll be willing to work with you to keep you around.

Along the same line of thought, a 6-month sabbatical would fit the bill as well. Again, from your employer's standpoint, losing a good developer (and having to roll the dice replacing him) is a disaster. The promise that you might come back when you're done could be enough for them to give you the green light.

Good luck!

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