[il]

I don't think this is good advice. If you have the burning desire to start a company, you should start the company and not worry about timing the market to ride the bubble. People start startups because they have a solution to a major problem inside their head that's dying to get out, and because the alternative(getting a stable job) is out of the question, not because they think economic conditions are more favorable.

[bad_user]

You can also build the initial version while still going to your regular job. So you don't have to give up on your safe salary.

If you can't do that because of a lack of focus, then maybe you are not ready to start a company. If a lack of time is what gets in the way, then maybe you need to be smarter about it and build less. If you can't do that, then maybe you don't have the discipline required to start a company.

IMHO, it's a bad investment to start a company without having real proof that the product is wanted by people. And ideally you must also have a couple of paying clients.

[michaelochurch]

Solving a technical problem and starting a company are two different processes. I would say that it's better for most people to focus on the first, and then if there seems to be demand for the solution, consider the second.

If there's established demand for a product, then it might be time to start a company. If you already have clients or people dying to fund you (they asked you, not vice versa) then go. That's more acyclical than trying to become a VC darling.

Also, getting a stable job isn't out of the question for most people. This isn't 2008.