Full time job + building a startup. Can it work?

oneMoreRedditor · 11 months

Please don't quit your full time job just yet. The comfort of having a steady paycheck (especially since you have a family to support) is absolutely necessary because if things don't work out with the start-up; you will not have to worry about feeding your family. I have quit my super paying job to start a company and there are days when I have my doubts. Fortunately, I don't have anyone to support and have some savings.

mtgcs2000 · 11 months

Try to scale back. Instead of a job programming, take an easier job for less hours and less pay. Work 30 hours a week instead of 40, or just enough to make rent and work on your start-up.

You won't have the money for your usual luxuries, but you won't be as stressed from a tough job and long hours.

JSstartup · 11 months

It's possible, but not easy. At my peak I was working a 50 hour work week while building my startup; I'd get up at 4AM each day to work on it for a few hours before heading off to work.

It was really tough to fight the temptation to quit my job and work on it full time because I knew how much time it still needed. Once the startup got to what I considered to be a minimum viable product (took about 8 months) I quit my day job and started full time on the project.

My suggestion: stick with it until you reach an honest MVP, then quit and go for it full throttle. If you don't have the savings to do that then you need to find runway some other way, either through VC or a loan

csdigi · 11 months

Be careful that the large tech company hasn't got restrictions on start ups in your contract. It is very common for it to have a claim to all the work you do both inside and outside work (even if seemingly unrelated).

amacg · 11 months

With working full-time, you won't be able to everything yourself or if you do, it will take much longer. If you're not a UI person, think about a contractor so you can focus on the back-end.

Launch as soon as your product as mvp, otherwise, you cannot validate your idea.

killerasp · 11 months

let me give you my 2 cents as i am in the exact same boat as you are.

finding the right co-founders.

with my project, i worked with 6 different people over the course of a 1.5 years. people has tons of motivation at the beginning only to see it drop off over weeks as they needed to do real work. usually, after a 2 months, we parted ways and i went on my own merry way to continue the project. you can only motivate someone so much. you can only push them to a certain extent. the perfect cofounder is someone that has self motivation b/c they share the same aspirations as yourself and can see the end goal of all the hard work. they can just hit the ground running and know exactly what the goals are and figure the best way to accomplish those goals (short and long term goals). if you see things are not working out, your other cofounders are not putting in the time, start to show less interest, then its time to have that serious talk and find out how commited they are to the project. things may not turn out the way you want, but its best to end things if they look there is no hope for survival. then go back out there, network and meet other potential cofounders. you wont find the perfect cofounder the first time around (rare occurrence).

plan out your goals/tasks

i find this helps me alot. after a long day at work (IT professional), when i get home, im not really focused. my mind is kinda not in the right zone. then i started to create a to-do list of different things i needed to do/build for my app. so looking at my list, i would focus on specific tasks and get them done. i could only do a certain amount before fatigue set in and sleep was required. i found myself doing alot more on weekends where i could focus my entire day on work.

set deadlines/launch day/beta date

pick a day to launch and stick with it. the longer the project goes, the less chance it will launch. pick a day that everyone can agree with and plan things out and stick with it.

plan dev nights/weekend

i try to meet up with my cofounder everyday after work and code. we have a common place that we can go and have quite time and develop in peace. same on saturdays. we rest on sundays or code from home. i find this better b/c we can chat, work, shoot the shit so its not work 100% of the time.

hope that helps a bit.

[deleted] · 11 months

I don't have the same responsibilities as you, but it was VERY easy for me to build my first few startups just by planning them accordingly. So long as you make realistic deadlines and get the logistics right you can't go wrong. As for the bit about not having money to support your family - freelance jobs are everywhere. I occasionally pick some up when I'm bored and want to do some networking, and some pay on the upside of $2,000 for less than two hours of programming. It really depends on how efficient you are and how well you can make the clients vision a reality.

Good luck and keep us posted! :D

hc000 · 11 months

yes, that is the only way

[deleted] · 11 months

Your best bet is to probably continue working at the job you are, and to go find a programming student at a university to help do a lot of the back end for you guys for whatever price you guys feel necessary. Don't forget your family while doing this, it sounds like they really do rely on you for the paycheck.

Either way you are progressing slowly and that is all that matters.

Seansigep · 11 months

The answer to this is yes. The real question is, can you function on 4 hours of sleep every night?

No matter what business you are in, you need revenue coming in the door. I can guarantee that three months into the startup, when the product is at 80% but you have no customers, that you would KILL for an 8 hour/day job to keep the company alive.

I have seen quite a few people strategically use their vacation days and sick days in order to go sell their products or raise capital. You can do it, you just have to work at it, lose a ton of sleep, and be smart. Oh, yeah, and then there's that "luck" factor...

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