I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

http://wasigh.com/scariest-thing-resigned/

by wasigh • 14 years ago

213 133 14 years ago

spicyj• 14 years ago

> Instead of grieving about the fact that I won’t be able to work at one of these companies, I decided to try and build my own.

If you want to do your own thing that's great, but if you really want to work at one of those companies, let them tell you whether you're good enough -- there's no reason to make the decision for them.

primigenus• 14 years ago

Except that he said that he can't relocate. So that would be like rubbing salt in the wound, and kind of a waste of time for Valve/Mojang/Fog Creek/etc.

Maybe he should try 37signals or some other company that meets the criteria without requiring relocation.

theotherone• 14 years ago

Github has remote employees.

jeremyjh2• 14 years ago

Heroku is hiring in Europe.

vignesh_vs_in• 14 years ago

It will be a exciting and scary day when you are free to do anything.

I will be at his position soon, although i started sharpening my skills a year back and trying out some part-time freelancing right now. I am actually thrilled that i will be able decide what to do 24/7.

For me freedom is the ability to win/fail, without the need to explain anybody once u do so.

All i can say is best of luck and keep us updated on your journey.

anovikov• 14 years ago

I know it feels scary, i resigned from a management position in a company i spent my entire career to that date (had some side projects, sometimes successful, but that job was still making most of my living). That was in 2007. Despite being emotional, it proved to be very easy to reinvent myself, and while it never became a real startup, i am much more happy now than then. So good luck, it never harms to change things and it's much easier than it looks.

Maybe, this fact is what makes founding startups, and (as a smaller form of the same), freelancing more profitable than jobs: most people think it is much harder/scarier than it really is, so supply/demand shifts. Everyone wants a job, and there are only so many jobs around, so you have to compete in price. Fewer people want to freelance, and everyone wants to get a specific job done without long term commitments, so it's much easier to breathe in freelance field. When you create startup i.e. innovate, you are in the blue water.

alpb• 14 years ago

Whoops it seems like site is down just at the time it is #1 on HN.

wasigh5• 14 years ago

yep sorry. trying to figure things out ...

breckenedge• 14 years ago

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...

patmcguire• 14 years ago

Somewhat of a correlation there.

consultutah• 14 years ago

Congratulations and good luck - now get off HN and get to work! ;-)

The biggest difference between doers and dreamers is simply that: The doers do and the dreamers dream. You've taken a bigger step than 99% of people are willing to take for themselves, so you are already in the doer group. Just keep it up and you'll be successful.

meritt• 14 years ago

Text-only version of article:

https://raw.github.com/gist/3612652/132c74fbbfc50212f4f93d8e...

wasigh5• 14 years ago

tnx, my VPS is kind of crashing ...

tzaman• 14 years ago

Don't be scared, you'll probably end up working more :)

jnar• 14 years ago

FYI: C9.io, they have an office there. Just in case. Just happened to me the same, best of luck.

edw519• 14 years ago

The good news: If you think you've done the right thing, then you have. Congratulations!

The other news:

  - Your runway is probably 50% of what you think it is.
  - Your task is probably 200% of what you think it is.
  - It will take 200% of what you expect to get your first customer.
  - Your wife will get scared before you do.
  - Some customers will take forever to pay.
  - You'll probably have to backtrack on your design / architecture.
  - When you need to sell, you'll want to code.
  - When you need to code, you'll want to sell.
  - Your MVP will be missing something critical.
  - At some point, you'll question your decision.
  - At some point, someone will discourage you.
  - You may need to pivot your entire business.
  - In a year, you won't be who you are now.

I don't mean to discourage you. I just want you to bottle that enthusiasm for later use. You'll probably need it.

Best wishes!

[EDIT: Changed "less than good news" to "other news". Thanks grannyg00se and untog for pointing out my "less than best choice of words". wasigh, it's all good news.]

grannyg00se• 14 years ago

" - In a year, you won't be who you are now. "

I don't think this one necessarily gets filed under less than good news. Presumably if the guy is uprooting his life like this, becoming someone else is part of the goal.

untog• 14 years ago

I was with you until:

In a year, you won't be who you are now.

Unless you mean "you will be the wrecked shell of the person you once were", I don't think that making a startup actually changes who you are. We glamorize it, but a lot of people set up their own business every day and don't change a bit.

andrewljohnson• 14 years ago

A start-up changes a person in the same way a war does - trauma, triumph, battle, and blood. If you aren't changed after you start up, it probably wasn't your first time.

suren• 14 years ago

To the contrary, I think startup experiences brings profound changes in the way you live. At least that happened to me in the following ways

1. Your free time is limited. You try to make the most of it. Something like work hard and play harder

2. Your emotions go through a sine curve. You can deal with stress better than most others. That could also mean you get numb to common day problems. You stop working yourself up for small issues. And on the other extreme, you start to think anything is possible if you start applying yourself. Almost everything looks like an optimization problem with 2 or 3 variables.

3. You can no longer say things like "Oh, I don't do that, a sales/PR/designer person does that". You get to do other stuff and realize you might like doing them too.

4. People fail you or you fail people - deals don't go through, you miss dinners/meetups etc etc. It hurts you in the beginning but you get used to that.

May be most of it applies only to young startup people like myself but I sure did learn and change a lot over my time at startups.

kamaal5• 14 years ago

That's not with respect to start ups, but any 'testing task' in general.

People emerge totally changed individuals during and after times of hardships. During disease, financial difficulties, tough assignments, chasing near impossible goals, during times crisis, turmoil and difficulties.

You get to see who is jealous of you. Who envies you , who admires you, who is ready to help, who discourages you. You learn not just about work, but also a lot about people, places, things and life in general.

That is why some people who go through life threatening diseases, fatal failures, harsh financial conditions are so successful, resilient, self sufficient, motivated and hard working.

orangethirty• 14 years ago

To which I add:

    - Time will now move at a different rate. You will get   desperate when things don't happen fast enough, and you will get desperate when things are going to fast. The trick here is to find a good rhythm.

Good luck.

electic• 14 years ago

I agree. To get to my Series A after resigning my job was nothing like I expected and it was far longer than I had anticipated. I hope whatever you're making has a revenue element to it.

buro9• 14 years ago

6 months in and I recognise most of that. About to make my first hire, so I guess the other half of that will come.

raverbashing• 14 years ago

Been there, done that, and this list is pretty accurate. YMMV however.

sigkill• 14 years ago

You've summarized my entire past year in these nifty points my friend... and I'm not even in the computers/IT industry (and I'm not married). But seriously, I only wish someone had told this before. I'd have tried to be better prepared for it (and I also know that you're never 'better prepared' ever).

robomartin6• 14 years ago

And, when you finally succeed, some asshole will tell you that you didn't actually build your business. That your success isn't due to having worked hard (because there are tons of people that work hard) or because you are smart (because lots of people are smart). No, you had nothing to do with building a successful business despite your sacrifices, risk, uncertainty, sleepless nights, good and bad decisions, family sacrifices, etc., etc. You don't matter.

Mvandenbergh2• 14 years ago

Who cares? People say things that are wrong all the time, it's better to ignore them and say "How interesting, I'll keep that in mind" than to devote mental resources to getting upset about it.

chrisbennet• 14 years ago

See Just World Fallacy

petercooper• 14 years ago

Who would actually say that? Sounds like you've had some experience of this.

A lot of conservatives misinterpreted something Obama said as meaning much of what you've said, even though if one reads the entire paragraph, the "that" in his sentence was infrastructure such as the Internet, roads and bridges.

thaumaturgy3• 14 years ago

This comment has absolutely no place in this thread. This wasn't the appropriate place to inject your politics.

_pius2• 14 years ago

Why the gratuitous, partisan threadcrapping? And with a debunked "quote" to boot?

ktizo10• 14 years ago

some asshole will tell you that you didn't actually build your business.

I though the whole thing was very similar to Carl Sagan's comment - If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. - and I never thought that Carl Sagan was having a go at bakers.

dbecker• 14 years ago

And this is how a topical thread about startups gets derailed into unproductive political bickering.

xfernandox• 14 years ago

The political argument isn't that you had "nothing" to do with your success. All businesses require help from many factors. You need luck. You need other people (um, like customers, your employees, the gov. for public infrastructure investment, your family, your friends).

It's just egregious to claim that you alone are 100% responsible for your success, like you don't interact in a world with 7+ billion. You're telling me your business doesn't rely any small subset of those people?

I don't doubt that you work hard, or don't deserve your success.

31reasons• 14 years ago

You are over dramatizing the bad part. I quit my job exactly a one year ago to make sustainable business developing iPhone apps. I have failed and I am looking for a job BUT the entire year was a lot of fun, I learned a lot. Its not the end of your life if you run out of money for a while. You will add more skills in the worst case. If you are single its easier.

ak39• 14 years ago

Jesus Christ! Someone ought to make a freagin poster of that! Awesome!

Thanks EDW!

btilly• 14 years ago

Which company did you work for?

The first company that comes to mind in the Netherlands for me is Booking.com. If you're looking for contract work to get started, could be worth talking to them?

I would also strongly suggest contacting http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jacquesm. He lives in the Netherlands, has started multiple startups, and is a generally wonderful person. If you can prove yourself to him, his network could be an incredibly valuable resource for you.

wasigh5• 14 years ago

I worked for Colours. A fullservice Internet Agency in Den Bosch. They have a fairly strict "no re-hiring policy". They don't want to encourage people to quit by hiring them back as contractor immediately. Which I can understand.

I've had contact with Jacques before. I will surely contact him again. Tnx

ryanjodonnell• 14 years ago

I just came off my 18 month stint of doing something similar and it was the greatest 18 months of my life :) Good luck! You'll learn more about yourself during this next phase of your life than any other period thus far.

kureikain• 14 years ago

Hi, also You can try to do some small code component and sell in http://codecanyon.com It's a great way to earn extra money. And once it's there, you keep getting money without worry about it.

You have a great family, a great wife. Let chase your dream ;). Try your best and wish you luck.

tluyben2• 14 years ago

Gefeliciteerd!

There are more than enough nice companies in the Netherlands to go for. I like the same as you; small teams, hacker culture, getting things done. I found that in my companies over the years, but there are plenty of those around depending on what you want to do. Even in slightly bigger teams, it can be hacker culture; q42 (den haag) comes to mind.

Just take some time to talk to people and search around, apply for some stuff! Succes!

Edit: you can of course just start something for yourself; it is very common in NL (ZZP) and it works really well. On your own it's not hard to find gigs, but you have to like that kind of thing. More interesting is to do this with a few like minded folks, work on freelance jobs at companies for a few days a week and in the rest of the time make a niche offering. For instance Jurg van Vliet (9apps) would be someone who did something like that well in the cloud hosting niche.

wasigh5• 14 years ago

dank je!

The same suggestion was made to me on twitter. I will surely have a look!

chlee• 14 years ago

Hey, I was in a similar boat. I also resigned to start my own thing about a year ago.

I had a well paying job in one of the top tech companies. However, I felt unsatisfied with my job responsibilities and disconnected between what I enjoy doing and I was actually doing.

Therefore I took a year off (this month marks about 1 year and 2 months off) to work on my own thing/project. With that said, I hope to share some of my experiences with you.

1) Take regular breaks and avoid burnout

I was working on my project 24/7, from the moment I woke up to the moment I fall asleep ... 7 days a week. In hindsight, that was a recipe for burning out. I was mentally fatigued after 6-8 months into this routine.

Looking back, I should have taken regular breaks from work and not think about the project at all. Maintain an active social life, go on trips, spend time with friends, or as simple as forcing myself to take a day off every week would have done wonders for my own mental health.

2) Maintain your physical health

Physically and health wise, I was in a fantastic shape before I left my job and started on my own venture.

However, my health quickly deteriorated because I neglected my physical well being. For example, I exercised less and eventually none at all. I ate less than I should (I would go as far as eating 1 meal per day). My sleeping schedule quickly fell out of whack.

Take good precautions and maintain a good physical and mental health. This will go a long way in preventing you from falling into a negative feedback loop and damaging your well being.

3) If you build it, they will not come (think about marketing)

I gave vague thoughts to marketing while working on my project. I demoed my product to my close friends and family. They loved it, so i thought, if I build a great product, users will automagically show up. Boy, I was wrong.

It is good to develop a plan on how to reach your protential users and/or customers. Think about SEO. Think about finding a niche or community of [potentially enthusiastic] users to whom you can demo your product. Think about finding bloggers who can help you spread the word.

4) Everything will take twice as long to implement

Think a feature will take a week to implement? It will probably take two weeks if not more. I saw the iceberg effect firsthand while developing my own product. So be careful, be cautious, and plan accordingly.

5) Just ship it. D@mn it.

You will always notice issues, flaws, bugs, and imperfections within your product. As creators/founders/makers, we all do. However, we can spend eternity tinkering and fixing those issues, but our product will never ship.

Therefore, you should give yourself a rough deadline or an idea as to when you'll ship, no matter how imperfect your product is.

6) You'll need to hustle after you ship

Shipping is only half the battle. It is unlikely that tens of thousands will show up on your front step after you ship.

Therefore you'll need to go out and hustle. You'll need to think about things like marketing, customer acquisition, customer, retention, customer service, and so forth.

bsaunder• 14 years ago

In hind sight was it a good decision? Would you do it again? How are things going one year in?

antonioevans• 14 years ago

Happy Independence Day!

sidcool• 14 years ago

I think we crashed the site. It's not opening.

diego• 14 years ago

If you really mean that resigning is the scariest thing you could imagine, then you're in for some surprises. I assume it's just hyperbole.

guiomie2• 14 years ago

"To be successful I have to get out of my comfort zone." ...

This is my current mentality (I fear being in my confort zone), glad you share it... Anyone has an opinion on this type of behavior? Is this a good or bad habit on the long term?

kamaal5• 14 years ago

No,

Taking risks increases your chances of being successful. Not the only way of being successful.

You will be surprised how many people are rich working in big corporates by just saving and investing well.

micheljansen• 14 years ago

Good luck, fellow Tweaker and Dutch person :)

city41• 14 years ago

I've been attracted to companies that appear to have a "hacker culture" too. It seems I always end up at companies that used to have a hacker culture. Companies grow, responsibilities and clients get bigger, more checks and balances start emerging and that hacker mentality is usually the first casualty.

I'm curious how much of a hacker culture is still left at places like github, Fog Creek, etc.

I'm starting to think the most surefire way to submerge yourself in a hacker culture is to join or start a startup.

edwinnathaniel• 14 years ago

I often read or heard things like: "I want to work for Company X because they're so cool!" because a few written articles about the office settings and the "culture".

For some, that may work, for others, be careful of what you wish for. This is not a warning to stay away from such companies but when the companies are dominated by young energetic single employees and you're a father of 1 year old child (and maybe another one coming), there lies a cultural barrier between you and the rest of the company (unless you're going there as a Dev Manager).

As people get older, they no longer too crazy about the tech side as they used to be so sometimes conversation becomes dull for both side.

ideamonk• 14 years ago

Good luck! Doing contract work as a web/app developer brings in good money (depending on what your expenses are), and also leaves free time (depending on what you charge hourly).

I'm trying the same since July. One of the important lessons I learnt on the way - be super-serious about organising your time. July & half of August flew away in a jiffy as I was trying to do/learn too many (mostly new) things at the same time. I'm trying to form habits around the way I spend time, not letting new ideas distract me on a daily basis.

You've been working in a jungle of roles for 8 years, bet that bit wont be hard. Good luck again :)

dan1234• 14 years ago

Site's down atm but here's the Google Cache http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%...

zackyap• 14 years ago

Congratulations and good luck!! There's nothing better than to be working on something you can call your own, and to be building a company of your dreams.

It will be a tough journey ahead, but the courage to resign is a first step. There's a tonne of work that needs to be done so remember to stay FOCUSED. :)

wensheng3• 14 years ago

One of the main things that prevents me from doing the same is health insurance. Will I be paying $2000 per month instead of $200 that I'm paying now for a good coverage.

What are my options? Can anyone shine some lights on this issue?

(I know it's a US thing, as those in EU have free health plan and all that.)

tarr11• 14 years ago

$2000 month is high (depends on your situation though). I've also done this, on Cobra, my payment is 1100 for a family of 4. If you have low deductibles, it would be higher.

You are probably also paying some part of your health insurance as it is (it will often come out of your paycheck pre-tax) You should check if that's going on.

In 2014, Health Insurance operations commence in each state due to the Patient Protection And Affordable Care act. So, if you resigned now, you could get Cobra for 18 months, and then switch to an individual plan.

wensheng3• 14 years ago

Thank you. Hope Obama get re-elected so PPACA won't be reppealed.

callmevlad• 14 years ago

I'm in the same boat as the OP, and was able to find health insurance for about $500/month for a family of 4. The main catch is that it's a very high deductible, so we'd have to spend at least $5000 per year out of our own pocket (or HSA) for the insurance part to kick in. If I were to keep my old employer's coverage through COBRA, it would be closer to the $2000/month number. But if you're saving $1500 per month in premiums, and are reasonably healthy, having a high deductible "catastrophic" plan with some backup money in an HSA makes a lot of sense.

wensheng3• 14 years ago

Thanks for the info. It does seem to make more sense to opt for a high deductible plan.

drivingsouth• 14 years ago

that's the easy part

Naushad• 14 years ago

Wish you the best, im young, single, not a developer and ive quit. Doing the same :)

Lucadg• 14 years ago

good luck mate. I did the same 11 years ago and never looked back.

michaelkscott• 14 years ago

Well, that page certainly resigned on me. Edit: here's the cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%...

finkin1• 14 years ago

Good for you. Good luck. It's a hard road.

wilzy• 14 years ago

Very exciting and scary stuff - good luck! :)

notlisted• 14 years ago

Wasigh, are you Dutch? If so, please ignore all the silly American right-wingers below (stelletje suffe sound bite sukkels).

A "smarter" way to resign voluntarily, in Holland, is to gather proof with regards to your mental state/wellbeing, e.g. if there's a track record of you being "overspannen" (tr: burnt out) you would, with the right evidence, still be able to apply of unemployment benefits. Instead of quitting, call in sick, make an appointment with your Dr. and if he/she signs the appropriate paperwork, you can dissolve your contract "amicably" (ontbinding met wederzijds goedkeuren) which, in some cases, would allow you to retain the right to apply for WW (unemployment benefits).

Just in case you are in the US: depending on the state you live in, one may still qualify for unemployment benefits even if you quit yourself for "good cause" (it's actually somewhat similar to the Dutch situation, ie you need proof of undue stress, demands by your boss exceeding your contract, changes in job description/responsibilities, health reasons, family reasons, unsafe working environment, etc. etc.). Details vary by state, see http://jobsearch.about.com/od/unemployment/a/unemploymentoff...

Note: I've been self-employed for 10+ years now. Love it now, but many of the points outlined elsewhere are extremely valid... Don't think lightly about this decision. It's a big change, and despite the admiration for the entrepreneurial spirit in the USA, the deck is really stacked against you (think: healthcare, taxes, etc. etc.)

veesahni• 14 years ago

I quit my job 9 months ago with similar goals - I want to build products that people love. I want to build a company that I can be proud of. I went through a short period of excitement to a period of shock. I've since hit my groove and am now growing my first product. It's been quite the roller coaster.

Stay focussed. Give yourself small goals and take it one day at a time. You'll come out of this a changed man. Good luck!

digitalengineer2• 14 years ago

Congrads, you've made it to HN! Now for Pete's sake add some contact info and details on your blog! I'm from the Netherlands like you, but you're contact page is almost empty. Put your company's name, address, experiences, linkedin, projects and what not on there. You need to start building trust with regards to future clients and people that might want to hire you to help them finish their projects.

wasigh5• 14 years ago

Thx, I will add the details. In the mean time. If you need to contact me. Check out: www.wasigh.nl!

digitalengineer2• 14 years ago

Much better! If you make the links in the About page clickable, I think people would really like that ;-)

mrchess• 14 years ago

I did the same thing. Quit my cushy salaried corporate job for something bigger. While I don't regret it, I do wish I wasn't so rash with my decision. The biggest I didn't realize until it actually happened was that it really hurts to consistently lose money when you had been used to getting a sizable paycheck.

This hurt made me frustrated when my projects didn't succeed or generate revenue -- I'd ask myself why I sacrificed $X dollars for failure. I could argue I was gaining knowledge, but it sucks to have a negative income. Every day I felt strained to figure out how to make money again, and this stress didn't give me the relaxed atmosphere I thought I would have.

In retrospect I won't quit my full-time job again until I have something that already generates revenue, or a much larger nest egg.

anil_mamede• 14 years ago

I'm also in the process of quitting my job. What I wanted is product development so I decided to focus more on enterpreneurship instead of IT consultancy and data maintainance. So far I learned a lot. More in months than years of IT consultancy. Enterpreneurship is exciting but it is very hard. Its like a rollercoaster. Right now I'm working on quopox.com. It has been a very rewarding experience. I'm also 32 but I don't have much financial burden so it's now or never. Good luck on your endeavor. I wish you all the best!

markmm• 14 years ago

I think you have acted foolishly and based on your decision you might not be cut out to run a company. The best strategy would have been to develop a business with your free time after work/weekends until you make enough to support you and your family.

jeremyjh2• 14 years ago

When you have children you have very little free time. Maybe 10-15 hours a week if you are really dedicated.

DaveChild• 14 years ago

I'm in almost exactly the same situation. Scarily similar. Also 32. Wife is pregnant with our first baby, due February. And I've spent the last few years in the same company, but have reached the point where I want to achieve things that I can't do where I am. So, I handed in my notice a few weeks ago, and my last day is friday.

On monday, I start down a new road :)

I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

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