Convince me to quit my day job

8 points by leeanon8 15 years ago | 15 comments

For the past five months I have been spending nearly all of my free time outside of my day job creating my startup. It is now to the point where I believe I could launch it and begin making money from it within 5-6 months.

The product will be competing with my current employer's (no non-compete, no stolen trade secrets, most legal questions already answered), so for legal reasons I have to quit my day job before launching. I am in a good enough financial situation that, even in the worst case scenario, I can go for a year before having to bail on my startup and start looking for a new job.

So HN, tell me your story of quitting your day job or otherwise convince me that leaving my well paying, comfortable job isn't horribly reckless. How do you know when the time is right to launch your product? Should I have so much faith in my product that I would be alright with marching into my boss's office tomorrow and telling him I quit?

melling 15 years ago |

If you need to be convinced, you probably shouldn't do it.

jrubyer 15 years ago | |

explain?

bartonfink 15 years ago | | |

I think he means that quitting your day job is an extremely subjective decision and nobody here is likely to be in the same frame of mind as the OP. We can offer our own perspective, but the factors and weights that led to whatever decision we recomment are very likely to be different from the factors the OP is considering. The OP has likely already made up his mind, he just doesn't know it.

It's like saying "convince me to get married." There are good arguments both ways, but ultimately nobody here is likely to know you well enough to make a decision you'll agree with. Either you subconsciously want to get married, and you'll believe the naysayers simply don't understand why their arguments don't apply, or you subconsciously don't want to get married, and you'll believe that those telling you to pull the trigger don't understand the objections that you've built up in your own mind.

naithemilkman 15 years ago |

Like what melling said, if you need convincing, you're probably not in the right state of mind.

Personal experience, I just fucking did it. No talk, no post on HN on whether I should or not. A little less conversation a little more action please.

achompas 15 years ago | |

If melling said it, maybe you should just upvote him and leave it at that?

naithemilkman 15 years ago | | |

I did and I like to talk?

MPLaValle 15 years ago |

Lot of variables here. Assuming you've already vetted that its a great business idea (talked to vc's, peers in the space, domain experience, etc) and that you have the skills and potential team in place to make it work, fucking go for it. Make sure you are passionate about it and make sure you're comfortable raising your daily resting heartrate by about 10 bpm. A bit of my own path follows: http://www.warandtheentrepreneur.com/uncategorized/stop-bash...

bo_Olean 15 years ago |

Just do it. I quited even when i had no product to launch next.

the motivation :

working on your own and with your nearest developer circle is the only thing that you won't ever get at Google, Yahoo or Microsoft (GYM).

You probably ain't quiting any one of the GYM, right ?

You probably ain't interested in competing with GYM, right ?

You are going to launch your startup, right ?

Just do it.

[edit : added some line]

Splendorist 15 years ago |

5-6 months seems slightly too long, unless you need to work on it full-time for that whole duration.

If you're considering it then sooner or later you'll probably do it. But timing is crucial, so unless you can't continue working on it without quitting it's best to stall for a bit.

sorbus 15 years ago |

While, as other people have said, if you need to be convinced you shouldn't do it, I would say that if you're seriously considering doing so (which you probably are, given how much thought your second paragraph shows that you've put into it), then you've already decided to do so. Now you're just trying to rationalize it, to convince yourself that it's a good idea.

So just do it. The worst that can happen is failure, and it's far better to regret trying and failing than it is to regret not taking a chance.

znt 15 years ago |

If you quit your job, but fail and end up homeless & broke you can come here and start another thread like "You made me quit my job now please help me find another one".

This is a very helpful community, so I guess you'll probably do OK in the worst case scenario.

NonEUCitizen 15 years ago |

Why not change jobs and work for a company that is NOT in this field, and then launch the product?

mathgladiator 15 years ago |

Do you want to be comfortable or happy?