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26 Comments

Quitting JPMorgan & a 100,000-pound job to startup

  1. 7

    I realised that I didn't address one point in this tweet thread.

    Life as an entrepreneur is not easy. It is tough. To the point that there are loads of lows vs. the highs.

    So, don't start for the wrong reasons of:

    1. Money: You will probably not make a lot of it for a while.

    2. Independence: It is quite difficult to be your own boss.

    3. Fame: Now, let's not try to be funny.

    4. Well, many other things.

    Do it because:

    1. You are able to dust yourself up to again start fighting the next day.

    2. You like working 80-100 hours for yourself at half pay instead of 40 hours for someone else.

    3. You can't find happiness any other way. Because probably the other way is easier.

    That's my story.

    1. 1

      You are so right! I think some people don't realize how hard it is..

    2. 1

      You are the real deal. Good luck!

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          I agree, but for me independence is a great motivator, way more important than money.

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            That's great Vitukov. As long as each of us recognises that working independently is liberating but also tough, I think it will work fine.

            I've met a lot of people with blind aspirations and then when reality hits them they feel quite betrayed.

            Anyway, I'm sure that's not the vase with you. All the very best!

  2. 3

    There’s a quote I always think about. “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

    I’ve spent years at jobs I couldn’t stand. Looking back, I wonder why I stayed so long. I realize change is hard for everyone.

    Now, I ask myself, “Do I enjoy spending my hours doing this thing....” If the answer is yes, I continue.

  3. 2

    I wish you good health(mental and physical) lots of energy and a touch of luck, ahhh and the mental strength to never give up

    1. 1

      🙏

      Thank you sir :)

  4. 2

    Well done. it's a good time in his life to do that. Fingers crossed!

    Personally, I was surprised to learn than anyone at JPMorgan makes £100k/year.

    1. 1

      Thanks a lot for the kind wishes :)

      Personally, I was surprised to learn than anyone at JPMorgan makes £100k/year.

      haha, why?

      1. 1

        I just had the impression that everyone there was making several time that amount. But I now know better :-)

        Flexible and Remote Tools look great!

        1. 1

          Ahh, I was just an analyst in IB. Analysts make round about that. It is only once you start climbing the corporate ladder does that salary increase exponentially.

          Thanks a lot for the kind words around Flexiple and Remote Tools :)

  5. 1

    Hey @karthik_2206 really enjoyed reading about your journey! Have been through something similar myself (IB internship > startups > founder for 5+ years of a funded startup > indie hacker). If you're still in London and fancy meeting like minded makers I'd be up for chatting over an (outdoor) walk or drink!

  6. 1

    What was the number 1 reason you were not satisfied with your JP morgan job?

    I mean specifically about your day to day job tasks.

    www.leagueofstartups.com

    1. 2

      Lot of things which I don't think I can choose one from.

      1. Poor working environment
      2. Below-par work quality. People think Investment Bankers are doing smart work, buying & selling companies, etc. but it is so much more boring and intellectually less stimulating than that - full of same excels and PowerPoints.
      3. Bar a few, I don't think I identified with most of my peers either.

      So overall, I was not happy doing a job in a place I didn't like, doing work that I felt wasn't great with people whom I didnt motivated around.

  7. 1

    I have gone through similar path in my life- quitting $6Figure Consulting Job 5 years ago and starting my own ventures. First 2 years -I have to go through so many emotional challenges- made shit load of mistakes but recovered slowly and steadily.
    As long as you have stomach to handle the challenges, with Patience, Persistence and relentless self awareness, you will rise to the top.

    Good Luck !

    1. 1

      Great to hear and am quite glad that you have figured it out now! Power to you :)

      Thanks for the wishes 🙏

  8. 1

    Some people make it and post on indie hackers but a bunch of people don't ever make it and their existence is erased forever. Without money to pay for servers projects end up dying. Quiting your job especially a high paying job I'm totally against now that I've done it. Because your chance of failure are much higher when you are relying on your own product for revenue and eventually you will have to start making that money with your own product, burn rates and they can always increase as developers move on to other companies as costs for servers increases and as your product grows it will have a higher technical cost for errors and bugs that you will have to fix. I think that as an entrepreneur your first job is an investor not just investing time but investing your own money and I think that it takes at least four years of managing people hiring and firing people to get a good sense of what is a good employee and what's not going to work for your business. I suggest stay employed as long as you are good at your job and it pays enough to hire talent. Taking the core role as lead investor and financial officer. Use your money to pay salaries so that while you're working at a Joby you have an employee working at the same time . So when you get off work and start working on your startup it's like your startup has somebody working 24/7. I think if I would have done that my MVP would have been finished by now.

    1. 1

      I agree and mentioned as much in a comment on this thread - life as an entrepreneur is hard, no questions about that.

      Personally, I don't think I will do a good job of managing a permanent role and a side gig at the same time. People who think they can should definitely try it.

      Also, I spend quite frugally for myself, so the amount of money I need to make to survive isn't high. So I have managed to scrape through the tough times.

      All the best to you :)

    2. 4

      This comment was deleted a year ago.

  9. 1

    You confirmed my assumptions about MBA life

    1. 1

      If there are some assumptions unanswered, please let me know.

      I feel I have a contrarian view on this because most people are afraid to say it out loud after having spent a fortune on something which is hardly useful

  10. 1

    This is great! I left a similar paying position to take a route to find happiness and meaning (I was an analyst and CPA and the work, regardless of salary, was not doing it for me!)

    Love the idea behind Flexiple, we work with a few offshore/nearshore teams and although we've had a lot of success building a great team, it's been hit/miss at points!

    I love the idea of being able to piece together a rockstar team from across the globe and the tools that empower that are cool to see.

    1. 1

      Hey @dfrancoeur65, Congrats on your journey and I'm happy you took the "tough" step too!

      Also, thanks for the kind words :). Indeed, I think offshoring isn't straightforward and I have spent quite a while trying to get it right and finally think I am on to something here.

      If you generally want to have a chat about this or anything else hit me at [email protected]. No sales pitches at any point, I promise :)

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