[rick888]

Most of the time, if your startup is a side-project (IE: you have a full-time job), it won't be successful. Not to say that this is impossible.

I've found that when you are working full-time on something, your mind is in a different place. You can also move much faster.

[akg_67]

I don't recommend anyone to quit a FT job unless startup is already generating cash flow and need more hours of your time to scale further. My last startup failed because we foolishly quit our jobs prematurely, it created pressure on us to generate income, we had to abandon bootstrapping, forced us to look for outside financing, wasted too much time trying to chase angels and VCs instead of focusing on business, made us quit 12 months before cloud backup (our target) took off.

Now, whenever someone tells me that such an such angel asking him to quit job to show commitment to startup, I tell him to tell angel to write a check for $X and then you will leave your job. Don't quit job if someone want to see that as your commitment to the cause.

[rick888]

Either the startup is generating cash or you have enough money in the bank to last you at least a year. A year and a half ago, the company I was working for went out of business and I was let go. I had 3 years of savings and I decided to go full-time with my side projects.

It's tough to juggle both because you have to switch your mind from one thing to another. Not only this, but if you are working full-time and working on your company in your free time, you have little time left over to just relax. This caused me to burn out a couple of times a year.

Another concern of mine was that the company I was working for would try to claim ownership over my projects if they ever became successful. Even though the code bases were completely different (and so were the industries), I never wanted to take that chance.

I suppose I could have just put everything out there and told my former employer what I was working on, but this would have caused lots of problems for me.

I'm in a better place now and I've accomplished more in a week than in a month when I was trying to do both. I am also in a good position because I don't have a wife or kids. I realize that not everyone can do this.

[akg_67]

Only point I wanted to make was that quitting job is not a pre-requisite to having a successful startup, which you were implying. I used to hear that often and naively believed that to my own peril. I discourage others to do the same however amount of saving you may have unless you are at a stage where you never need to work for money.

[rick888]

"Only point I wanted to make was that quitting job is not a pre-requisite to having a successful startup, which you were implying. I used to hear that often and naively believed that to my own peril. I discourage others to do the same however amount of saving you may have unless you are at a stage where you never need to work for money."

If you don't have any money in the bank, then you shouldn't quit your job. However, I feel that it's better to quit your job after saving money than toil away for a much longer period of time trying to do both.

I suppose it also depends on your startup. If you are trying to start the next zany Twitter or Facebook app or your goal is to just get funding, then yeah, maybe a year of savings won't work...

[mattm]

I'm at a similar point. I have about one years worth of savings in the bank and could probably stretch it to two years if I sell some stocks. I'm also young so if I blow through that money I will recover.

A friend of mine had a great idea that we are going to work on and I just thought it's now or never. If I try to work and do this on the side, I don't really see myself putting in as much as I could and it would be a regret down the road.

The "To quit or not to quit" question isn't so black and white. Definitely don't quit if you are living paycheck-to-paycheck but if you have at least a year's worth of living expenses saved up, I think it's worth it to give it a shot.

Yes, some people build businesses while they are working full-time. Other people need the motivation or time of giving it their all. It's a case-by-case scenario.

[rick888]

I had to rewrite lots of my code because it became fractured when I was working. It was mostly because some parts required me to sit down for many hours to write it out and test it and I had to try to squeeze this into 2-3 hour blocks after work.

In addition to this, a full work day sucks most of the creative energy out of me. At the point when I would just be getting to my side project, all I wanted to do was take a break, which I pushed through, but my projects suffered.

[alain94040]

Before you quit your job and plan to spend a year on your startup, validate your asumptions. Will there be anyone who cares about your product once it's finished? Don't write one line of code until you really know the answer to that question.

[bignoggins]

I disagree, it's perfectly possible. My side project started last year and I didn't quit until my revenues matched my salary. Now I'm on course for 250-300K in revenue this year. You just need to scale the startup appropriately. An groupon competitor just is not appropriate for a bootstrapped startup, in my opinion. Whereas something like an iphone game definitely is.

[aaronlerch]

So very true. I struggled with that decision a lot, but ultimately chose not to. Mostly because of the impact it would've had on our adoption.