Comments on: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job

By: Fred T

Fred T — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:55:10 +0000

“In retrospect, jumping into the startup led to some immediate and unexpected benefits that, at least for me, far outweighed the forgone salary of my previous job and positioned me better for my future. Quitting turned out to be a zero risk move.”

Definitely true. It would have been riskier if we shelved our dreams and kept treading through the “what if” questions all these years. That itself, is very costly.

By: Fred T

Fred T — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:55:10 +0000

Definitely true. It would have been riskier if we shelved our dreams and kept treading through the “what if” questions all these years. That itself, is very costly.

By: joe heitzeberg

joe heitzeberg — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:59:06 +0000

Yeah, I think this is why the advice of “wait until you have experience and are totally prepared” is not wise. That's such a risk-averse strategy. The longer one waits, the harder it gets to actually make the leap. I have a lot of friends by now that would make great entrepreneurs but over time have grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle and have very real payments, mortgages and mouths to feed that they can't afford the financial cost of striking out. The very real non-financial experiential upside comes at a short-term financial cost and that is easier to do when people are not as far into their careers…and have less experience.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:17:45 +0000

Great post Joe, couldn't agree more. I've been giving some similar advice to a couple friends who are hesitant about jumping from a certain big tech company. Found the exact same thing out in the last few months…the decision keeps feeling less and less risky as time goes on.

By: links for 2010-05-10 « Daniel Harrison's Personal Blog

links for 2010-05-10 « Daniel Harrison's Personal Blog — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:02:45 +0000

[...] » Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job – Currently Obsessed (tags: startups entrepreneurship) [...]

By: jfornear

jfornear — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:47:36 +0000

That is very true, and I didn't mean to take anything away from you. I just think we're sold a lot of BS that discounts the importance of optimizing those things (tenacity, talent, intelligence, and hard work) toward getting that job at Google or getting into that top MBA program.

By: joe heitzeberg

joe heitzeberg — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:31:02 +0000

I think there is a lot of truth to what you say. Also, a correlation effect: to succeed in either of these, one needs a high degree of tenacity, talent and intelligence…and then there are those like me who rely on just plain working hard

By: jfornear

jfornear — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:26:19 +0000

> On one hand, an MBA (tuition alone) might run about $85,000 whereas the startup has cost me only $5,000. The salary was the same ($0) but the learning and networking with the startup was much, much greater than with the MBA.

Isn't there a causal relationship between these things? For example, your networking success could be due to your Sloan MBA, and your startup might have only cost you $5,000 because you had already invested $85,000+ into yourself.

It seems to me that successful startup founders benefit enormously from their brand name MBA (or prior work experience at a brand name company) in terms of being able to attract investors, hire talent, network, and get attention from the press.

I think that what I'm really trying to say is this: How many successful startups have you come across founded by an ex-Nobody? I think the MBA vs. startup debate is pretty dumb. If you get an MBA at any top school, it's a great stepping stone/advantage because people take you more seriously (just like landing a job at Google or Facebook).

By: “Unexpected Startup Lessons” | Kevin Bedell on Internet Tech

“Unexpected Startup Lessons” | Kevin Bedell on Internet Tech — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:57:22 +0000

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By: joe heitzeberg

joe heitzeberg — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:55:52 +0000

Thanks, Eric. Clearly if you're moving to Rwanda to start a company you've got the irrational gene covered in spades!