You Can’t Half-Ass a Startup
That’s it. I’m quitting my job of 7 years, cashing out my 401k, and moving from Tampa to Dallas to start a new company. I already put in my notice.
I’m full speed towards the edge of my comfort zone. My life has become too comfortable. I worked so hard to make it this way and now that I have it, it’s not enough!
This became ever more clear recently. Life threw me a curveball and it reminded me of how little time I have and the urgency of now. There’s nothing like a health scare to light a fire under your ass.
So you really want to start your own business? Try quitting your job; that’ll take care of motivation. — Oliver Emberton
I’ve been so concerned with living comfortably, with protecting my downside (keeping my job to pay the bills) that I’ve been half-assing my startups. They shouldn’t even be called startups. They were side projects. I guess I had to learn this one the hard way:
You can’t half ass a startup. You have to be all in.
The reason is psychological. When you have that safety net your brain always defaults to this can fail and it won’t matter, because you’ll still have the job. It’s the same reason playing poker for fake money doesn’t work. There’s really nothing at stake.
Statistically, if you want to avoid failure, it would seem like the most important thing is to quit your day job. Most founders of failed startups don’t quit their day jobs, and most founders of successful ones do. — Paul Graham
I’ve seen multiple episodes of Shark Tank where the entrepreneurs don’t get funded because they kept their day job. Sometimes quitting their job is a condition of getting the investment!
I’ve been bombarded with too much evidence against my strategy of protecting my downside. So I’m changing my mind. I’m going all in.
I can’t be an employee any longer.
Employees work for the business, entrepreneurs work on the business.
I’m armed with 3 years of business building failure and I finally realized something: My day job has been holding me back!
This decision was not easy. It’s quite terrifying to remove your safety net, to step out onto that ledge and take the plunge. But time is wasting and I can no longer let fear come between me and my legacy.
So that’s it. I’m tying up all my loose ends in Tampa and going to live with my brother to start a new company. More details on the way as I get everything situated to make the big move. Simply follow me on Medium or subscribe to my newsletter to stay in the loop and see how this all turns out.
Geronimo!
Special thanks to The Writing Cooperative for helping me edit.
This story is part of a series documenting the journey of a 2016 Dallas startup called Feather. If you would like to read more, here is the Table of Contents for the series.
Previous Story: Series Introduction
Next story: How I’m Starting Over
