Would you quit your day job and go all out for your project?
I was just wondering how many of you would take the risk of quitting your day job for a project that you care about. In case you have savings.
I struggle to find time, and I know time is everything. Entrepreneurs sometimes have to take risks. I'm tired of counting my minutes to work on my project and seeing all the opportunities to develop my SaaS being limited by my day job. I have savings and am seriously considering giving it a try by quitting my day job and go all out for my project https://owlduty.com.
I have savings that can at least cover 6 months.
I know the general recommendation is : don't quit your day job. Great but what about seeing your ideas implemented by competitors? Seeing how little you can achieve with less than 2h per day (even if you're just trying to build an audience before developing).
And you, would you take the risk?
This is a tough decision. I think 6 months is not enough runway. Anecdotally I think most indie businesses take 1-2 years before they make enough money to support their founders. Yes there are exceptions but 6 months to sustainable income is not the norm. Personally I would wait until I had at least 1 year of runway and/or until the side project had product market fit i.e. making money and on a good growth trajectory.
Alternatively you could find a more flexible job that lets you spend more time on your project or do some freelancing on your own terms to support yourself while growing your project.
Hope that helps and good luck!
Interesting! Thank you for the feedback. For sure it's helpful, all those inputs help me to consider different perspectives.
Freelancing is a great way to manage it indeed. Something like 60% of freelancing would be great in my situation.
I'd quit my day job for the hell of it tbh.
This is really tough decision.
I think it's really personal, so here's what I did:
2 years of runway ? Nice! I would love to be in this situation!
Thanks for the tips! I'm building https://owlduty.com. It started with an open source library, and I decided to build the service on top of this. You can check the indiehackers product page if you want :
https://www.indiehackers.com/product/owlduty
However endpoint monitoring and security with No Code is a medium size project for a solo dev. That's why I'm wondering if I shouldn't switch on it full time to make a bit more progress.
It's a really tough decision and depends on so many factors... I'd keep working on it as a side business until I have enough runway (1 year) to go full-time.
Apparently 1 year is the safest approach considered by indie hackers :) . Thanks for your inputs!
I think it's possible to build your own product alongside your daily job, but to take it to next level demands full time engagement, or even hiring.
Currently, I build panotive.com alongside with my daily job, but can't wait to dedicate myself to it full time.
Right? I think it's a good signal to feel the urge of switching full time. Like, you're really driven by your ideas and your project.
I LOVE your landing page design. Well done! Added to my bookmarks. I might request some design for my future landing pages - I think your service would be great for that.
Just a quick feedback : I don't think I would use your service for a full website design. At least there is nothing in your form to provide you the specifications in a directed way. I would need more directions to be confident in the end result. You should consider to add the possibility to attach files, if it happens later then we should be aware from the beginning. Also maybe some kind of documentation explaining the process to express correctly the needs. Seems like kitchen.co provide these features ;) .
But great job!
Wow, thanks for your honest feedback. 👏 You are right about everything, I must work more on landing page.
Yes, the form is just initiation for collaboration, after that I will communicate with client over Kitchen.co dashboard for more details.
Once more, thank you! ✌️
It is possible to build your product alongside your job. You should try to create a plan for both your product and your job, and then try to follow the plan. It can be hard, but it's possible if you commit to it. The salary from your job can be used as a source of funding for expenses. You need discipline and patience in order to build your product alongside a job, but it is possible.
Thanks ! That's what I tried to do but honestly it's too slow for me. Don't you feel the urge to deliver when you have a project? 10h / week is definitely not enough for me to build everything I need for my MVP while I ensure good marketing so I have at least 100 potential customers the day I publish my MVP. Meanwhile competitors are also growing.
But on the other side having regular income remove some stress and is certainly better for the long run.
Time or money? :)
In my case it worked out well cause I had a reliable co-founder. She and I shared responsibilities and even pooled our salaries to handle the expenses of the project.
Even having one partner can honestly take away a lot of stress, so that's how we managed to work while handling our day jobs.
Yes definitely! I'm still looking for a co-founder ! And quick update : I quit to work full-time on owlduty.com . I'll try to get an MVP in 6months, after what I'll see if I need or not to find a job.
It's certainly the best decision I made for myself and the project. More time to learn along the implementation, less stress, more sleep. A better work/life balance !
That's great, all the best man!
Thanks! You too in your projects!
I already did. It was easily the best decision I ever made.
A couple of questions I asked myself before taking the leap:
If the answer to both questions is yes. There is absolutely no reason not to leave your job if you have 6 months of savings. Monetize aggressively and you will know if you are on track for your revenue goals by end of the 4th month. If you are still uncertain, you have time to go look for another job.
Thanks for your feedback! Glad to see it worked for someone. I feel like it's a big risk but it can also bring very good outcomes !
Very good tips !
Definitely can breed great outcomes, and if your answer to both questions is yes, there is little risk involved. At worst you lose 6 months of income which may adversely affect your life, but for me the greater fear was being old and regretful.
Love the boldness and I'm delighted for you that it worked out!
I have to ask; at what stage were you at with your project before taking the leap?
I had just launched a product and had made $100 in the first week when I made the decision. I was bored at my job at the time which I think made the decision a little easier as well.
People generally say you should have 3 months of savings in case you need to find a job. So if you have 6 months of savings, that doesn't mean you actually have 6 months to attempt a startup. You should subtract the time it will take to find a job.
The more you save and the more runway you have, the higher likelihood your startup can succeed!
That's true, from my past experience it took me 1 month to find a new job tho. I made X3 in annual revenues and switched as a freelance.
The reason is mainly because I learned a niche programming language (rust) - helped me to find a good opportunity . But 3 months of savings for finding a new job is a good base. I'll definitely keep it in mind. Thanks !
Hey Julian, maybe you can speak with your boss and change your full-time to 4 days per week, then 3 days per week, etc. It will give you the stability of employment and some more time for your SaaS.
Hey ! It's indeed a good idea, but that's not possible in my situation. I did that by the past and it's an excellent way to start a company. Works well in European countries :)
Is there any way to, with the limited time you have, set clear targets for where to be in 3 months, 6 months, etc. that would tell you this idea can be big enough or successful enough to enable you to quit your job?
Every case is obviously unique but I do think the more you can test and confirm while still employed (especially in current environment if we're heading into a recession...), the better. However, if you're incredibly employable, that changes the picture. And if you just feel a burning need to do it.
Thanks for your feedback! Indeed I could wait a bit more and achieve some goals before. That's what I started to do but it's definitely way too slow.
My next goal is to create the UI and have enough to show so I can engage people. For this one I plan to keep my day job, as it's doable with few hours per day in a reasonable deadline. The next one is to reach people, write online content to create traffic on my landing page and collect emails from people interested. This takes a lot of time. Writing quality articles requires some investment. This is where I think I'll switch.
I'm working as a test engineer, while I don't find jobs as easily as software engineers, I still have a lot of opportunities even in remote. It, indeed, reduces the risks in case of "failure".