Ask HN: Should I leave my full time job for personal project?
14 comments
Before quitting your job and writing a single line of code I would recommend you do this:
1. Validate your idea: It's great that YOU believe in your idea, but will others? Test it out, put up a landing page with your concept, see if people sign up to your mailing list. Talk to potential customers, are they willing to pay for your product? Can you get a paying customer before building the product? Some interesting links: http://thedannorris.com/is-startup-validation-bullshit/ http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-142-d...
2. Network with people who are successful: http://www.microconf.com/, tell them your idea and listen to their advice. Learn from all available resources such as: http://startupsfortherestofus.com/.
3. Learn about marketing, SEO and what it really takes to get the word out on your product. This is not trivial and successful founders on HN make it look easy, it's not. If you build it, they WILL NOT COME. Try to build a simple landing page that describes your product and start a blog. Don't start coding until you are able to get a steady stream of visitors to your site who are interested in your product. Start here: http://moz.com/learn/seo http://moz.com/blog/the-noob-guide-to-online-marketing-with-...
Don't quit your job until you are absolutely sure you can make this work.
Good luck!
1. Validate your idea: It's great that YOU believe in your idea, but will others? Test it out, put up a landing page with your concept, see if people sign up to your mailing list. Talk to potential customers, are they willing to pay for your product? Can you get a paying customer before building the product? Some interesting links: http://thedannorris.com/is-startup-validation-bullshit/ http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-142-d...
2. Network with people who are successful: http://www.microconf.com/, tell them your idea and listen to their advice. Learn from all available resources such as: http://startupsfortherestofus.com/.
3. Learn about marketing, SEO and what it really takes to get the word out on your product. This is not trivial and successful founders on HN make it look easy, it's not. If you build it, they WILL NOT COME. Try to build a simple landing page that describes your product and start a blog. Don't start coding until you are able to get a steady stream of visitors to your site who are interested in your product. Start here: http://moz.com/learn/seo http://moz.com/blog/the-noob-guide-to-online-marketing-with-...
Don't quit your job until you are absolutely sure you can make this work.
Good luck!
Thanks a lot! These suggestions are really helpful, and am glad to get some specific direction!
About validating my idea, I am not a person who follows the start up news a lot, so, I may be wrong, but is it okay to share a idea before building it? What if someone hears my idea and build it before I do? I am uncomfortable with this, or am I missing something here?
Thanks again :)
Thanks again :)
Everyone has ideas, actually it's very likely your idea already is being worked on or exists in some version. Successful companies are all about execution. Here are some articles that cover this question in detail:
-http://cdixon.org/2009/08/22/why-you-shouldnt-keep-your-star...
-http://blog.foundersguidebook.com/2013/02/why-you-should-sha...
-http://www.natsturner.com/post/20257121566
If you are not comfortable sharing your idea online, I would advise to share it to potential customers, not friends and family. F&F are biased and will tend to give positive feedback. You need feedback from people that are willing to PAY or USE your product, complete strangers.
If you are not comfortable sharing your idea online, I would advise to share it to potential customers, not friends and family. F&F are biased and will tend to give positive feedback. You need feedback from people that are willing to PAY or USE your product, complete strangers.
I am a solo founder with a 17 month old child, a second on the way and a full time job. While I don't know your idea, I can tell you that you can accomplish a ton working nights and weekends and not jeopardize your primary income.
I would suggest you don't quit your job until you know the project has traction and it's something people need and will pay for. I know it feels more real if you do it as a full time job but why risk your family's well being if you don't even know it will pan out...no matter how much you believe it will.
There are some benefits to working nights and weekends: It forces you to make the most pragmatic choices. What is the absolute minimum required to get X done by Y schedule given I only have Z hours to work on it?
I have probably slaughtered 75% of what I considered must have requirements for launch, simply by having insane time constraints...and I don't think my product is any worse for it.
You also start thinking about what you need to work on and what you can farm out. I use elance all the time for stuff that doesn't provide competitive advantage. I probably also use far more third party services than I otherwise would.
All of these where good decisions I probably wouldn't had made if I weren't equally time constrained.
I would suggest you don't quit your job until you know the project has traction and it's something people need and will pay for. I know it feels more real if you do it as a full time job but why risk your family's well being if you don't even know it will pan out...no matter how much you believe it will.
There are some benefits to working nights and weekends: It forces you to make the most pragmatic choices. What is the absolute minimum required to get X done by Y schedule given I only have Z hours to work on it?
I have probably slaughtered 75% of what I considered must have requirements for launch, simply by having insane time constraints...and I don't think my product is any worse for it.
You also start thinking about what you need to work on and what you can farm out. I use elance all the time for stuff that doesn't provide competitive advantage. I probably also use far more third party services than I otherwise would.
All of these where good decisions I probably wouldn't had made if I weren't equally time constrained.
Hi techie girl. I am not an expert, neither succesful, but I can give you a simple advice:
Try to go as far as you can with your project without quitting your job. I am talking about validating.
I understand that you believe in your idea, in your project. I've been here. I think everyone have been there. But that doesn't mean anything, sadly. So before you quit your job, before you make any bet, try to cut risk. Send emails to potential customers, to see if they are interested.
To code for a whole year a beta and then see that nobody wants it, that's pretty bad. So try to avoid that.
Try to go as far as you can with your project without quitting your job. I am talking about validating.
I understand that you believe in your idea, in your project. I've been here. I think everyone have been there. But that doesn't mean anything, sadly. So before you quit your job, before you make any bet, try to cut risk. Send emails to potential customers, to see if they are interested.
To code for a whole year a beta and then see that nobody wants it, that's pretty bad. So try to avoid that.
This will be a free website and open for all, so targeting anyone specific is not possible. May be I can talk to friends/family and check whether it sounds like something they want to use.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks for the suggestion!
> It will probably take me around 6mo - 1year to make it live(beta).
The rule for estimating project time is to take your estimate, multiple by 2, and then change to the next unit of time. So this means it will actually take you 12 years.
Of course, I'm (only half) joking. I started a project 7 years ago that I began in my spare time and...it's still not done. But I started from zero programming and had bad habits and put it down for months at a time. If you are already a programmer and know what you're doing, yes, it may only take one year.
The rule for estimating project time is to take your estimate, multiple by 2, and then change to the next unit of time. So this means it will actually take you 12 years.
Of course, I'm (only half) joking. I started a project 7 years ago that I began in my spare time and...it's still not done. But I started from zero programming and had bad habits and put it down for months at a time. If you are already a programmer and know what you're doing, yes, it may only take one year.
It might be worth looking in to reducing your hours at work instead of quitting outright. If you're good, chances are they'll be willing to work with you to keep you around.
Along the same line of thought, a 6-month sabbatical would fit the bill as well. Again, from your employer's standpoint, losing a good developer (and having to roll the dice replacing him) is a disaster. The promise that you might come back when you're done could be enough for them to give you the green light.
Good luck!
Along the same line of thought, a 6-month sabbatical would fit the bill as well. Again, from your employer's standpoint, losing a good developer (and having to roll the dice replacing him) is a disaster. The promise that you might come back when you're done could be enough for them to give you the green light.
Good luck!
Thanks! I though of that, but my team is in a state that if I plan to take leave, they'll hire someone immediately and they may not take me back later as my position will be filled. Its not a big company.
However, if I decide to quit for personal project, I will start with asking for leave or part time work. That was the plan. Quitting is kinda the last option.
However, if I decide to quit for personal project, I will start with asking for leave or part time work. That was the plan. Quitting is kinda the last option.
> I have an infant
No.
No.
check out places like odesk or elance and bid your project out. Cut out as many features(bells and whistles as you can). Get a credit card for 5k-10k let someone else do the work and pay with a credit card. Now take your salary every month subtract the monthly credt card payment. Divide that number in half and send it to me for saving you a ton of risk a lost revenue. Seriously though at least bid out your project and see what it will cost and compare that to how much you'll make over the next year.
LOL. Thanks a lot. Building the project the way you suggested would be great, but I have seen that managing outsource work is very difficult, and am not sure if I am good at that.
Also, in the process of building the project, I want to improve my skill sets. I do plan to do some part of works through freelancers.
Also, in the process of building the project, I want to improve my skill sets. I do plan to do some part of works through freelancers.
Make sure your 0.5-1 yrs also includes marketing time which is probably 2-10x the coding time.
yea, I should. Thanks!
However, this decision will put me in a tight position financially, my family can survive but will have to spend extremely carefully.
I believe in my idea, my project, and I want to give it a shot, will it be a big risk? Any suggestion/personal experiences are greatly appreciated! Thanks!