| Hi, I've done exactly this (although my full time job is great, and I love it). I think it is a really great way of dipping your toes in the water while keeping your risk low. Time management: I get up at 6, allowing me an hour and a half's work before the day job. I also work in the evenings for maybe an hour or two, and often at weekends. I'm lucky in that my fiancee is a medical student, who also needs to work evenings and weekends, so we tend to work together. It is important to give yourself a day or two off now and then, or you'll burn out. Focus: I think the 'Lean Startup' lessons apply even more when you're working in your spare time on your product. Limited time means you have to be ruthless with your feature-set, find your market and users early, and don't waste time on unnecessary stuff. Things you shouldn't be doing include Billing Systems, Automated Support, anything that isn't a key feature that is going to sell your service. I'd also recommend not trying to use a new technology which you're not familiar with. Although there're huge benefits to using new languages etc, this isn't the time- you have very limited time, so any non-productive time looking up language/library features really eats into your time. |