[TimLangley]

Good post Joel ;-) I'm generally in agreement with working in "waves" (it's an approach I've used for past 10 years)

A couple of other thoughts that might be worth considering: 1. Once you decide that the "start-up career" is your full-time career path - then you need to start thinking about "serious stuff like pensions and investing". I generally put 50% of the money that I make between "start-up waves" into investments (for me it's properties) that generate cash flow

2. Find a business partner with complimentary skills to you (understand that they can - and probably will change as your business develops)

3. Before your embark on a start-up wave try to make sure that the market is already there (ie spend the evenings and weekends of your "paying job time" doing Customer Development research (you don't need to cut very much code to do this)

;-)

[joelg87]

Thanks Tim :)

Great to hear someone who's been maintaining the "working in waves" method for longer than me. Not sure I could do it for long though!

You raise some really good points - especially glad you mentioned investments, since I'm starting to think about that now as I am amidst a "work wave" and earning enough to put a portion into investments. Any advice on where to start with this?

#3 is one to remember before the next wave, thanks.

[TimLangley]

wow - #1 is a whole topic in itself Simple answers * I only invest in things I understand * I only invest in things which produce positive cashflow * I only take additional debt when someone else ;-) is paying it off

For me personally this means buying rental properties - I purchase 2by2 properties in North Manchester / the North West. Typically (at moment) properties at about £60k (where I'm putting down about £15k deposit). Get a good agent to manage them (around 10% of rentals). Ping me a message if you want to know more about this

(but pls not - this isn't the only option - there are plenty of other investment opportunities - but see point 1 above - understand them first)