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by DoreenMichele 2803 days ago
YCombinator Startup School heavily emphasizes leaving your day job and committing 100%.

A. This is a luxury many people do not have. For example, most women are unable to do this, in part because they can't get the same financial support for their business ideas as men.

B. I'm a fan of YC, but "consider the source." They are an incubator who only funds people doing this full time, not part time. That's their business model. So that's what they know. That doesn't mean it is the right answer for everyone all the time.
1 comments
com2kid 2803 days ago
Both statements are true, which is why I talked about people who can and cannot split their focus.

Some people are great at having a side hustle, but it sounds like OP isn't one of them.

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DoreenMichele 2803 days ago
Yes, but leading with that statement suggests it is "gospel," not "the right answer for some people who can't split their focus."
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com2kid 2803 days ago
True, unfortunately I'm on mobile now and not really able to reformat everything.

Hopefully this thread serves as a disclaimer!

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ehnto 2803 days ago
I disagree, they have built and maintained side hustles and proven they can do it. It is just that they have yet to find monetary success. There is success in launching at all with a full time job.

I agree that if you can devote more time then definitely do though. Maybe that is going part time, or getting rid of some debt first so you can take longer breaks and focus then.

The other difference I think showing here is that a side hustle doesn't look anything like a startup. A small business doesn't even look like a startup. If you have a startup you probably have VC and employees, then of course you should quit your job.

A side project you are trying to turn into a small business can be done alone and slowly scale up. At some point in that long process you will probably need to quit your job, but that will hopefully be easy to see when you get there.

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