[albedo]

This is part of what we were trying to avoid while starting Lambda (http://getlambda.com). Do contract work to bootstrap your company, especially for technical founders. It's very much worth it to take 1-3 months off to freelance, make ~$20-50k, and keep your entire company.

[angersock]

If you're young and not in an area where people are used to paying market rates for development work (read: the midwest), doing contracting work is not a silver bullet.

[ereckers]

I'd say making $20-50k for 1-3 months of freelancing may be just enough to make me want to ditch the startup altogether.

[albedo]

Yes, freelancing is very lucrative, if you're a good developer with the right skillset. People are generally willing to give up a lot of money in exchange for a steady income guarantee.

[phamilton]

"a steady income guarantee" plus access to good mentorship/infrastructure/etc.

Having done both, I find there's a level of engineering growth that you miss out of by doing freelance work. Most freelance work won't involve supporting millions of requests a day. There's value in that exposure.

[outworlder]

Only do this if you expect to make an amount which will get you a few months of runway.

If it is just enough to cover your operating expenses plus a small surplus, it will be very easy to fall into the trap of doing consulting and then creating the product "on the side".