1. Thou Shalt Not Quit Thy Day Job

Filed in archive Entrepreneurship on April 29, 2007

Link: 20 startup tips

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

I've posted about this one before. Leaving your day job before you have a viable business model worked out (not on paper, I'm talking about in the real world) is DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!

Dane has a great observation here:

I advise everyone that asks me, and some that don't, not to quit their day job until they have actually gone out, talked to potential buyers and had someone they didn't already know pay for their product or service. Nine times out of ten, what you originally thought was going to be a big hit in the marketplace is a dud, and you have to go back and rework your product. If you spend all of your savings establishing your corporate presence, you won't have any money left to pay yourself when you have to go back to the drawing board.

But an additional point must be grudgingly conceded to VC Brad Feld, who notes in his own top 10 advice for bootstrappers about the time factor. (See point No. 2)

Romanian blogger and entrepreneur Cristian Dorobantescu is a fanatic on giving 100 percent at the day job plus his part-time ventures.

But, as in my own working life I've discovered, 100 percent for an employer means nothing left for your projects.

Here's another perspective on this dilemma from Atari founder Nolan Bushnell via blogger Scott Burkett.

More on this later, probably...

CONTINUED NEXT POST