To startup or not

Use regret minimisation framework

• 10 years or even 30 years: will you regret starting up and failing (max losing 2 yrs of earnings - can always get a job again) OR not even trying

Was in same boat. 8yoe, tier 1 college, Great salary and work opportunities. But decided to go Full time on my startup now. Key things needed

• conviction on what you want to build as a company (problem/user/space)
• co founders (or early team) who can build with you
• you will try for 1.5-2 years regardless of funding. You will ensure you launch something quick and then iterate/pivot. Also have milestones every 6 months to decide whether to continue/pivot/stop

Basically- most people optimise on how to lose small… better bet is to optimise on how to win big. Its an asymmetric bet - high upside.low downside. Worst case join at a similar level after 2 years - you will still have a profile and learnings that <5% of your peers will have.

Plus early stage founders will prefer you

From my limited experience, always better to find some kind of fit as a side project before committing fulltime. It's simply better risk management.

You got any ideas that excite you or is it purely coming from the exponential return angle (which are certainly uncertain)? Hmu if you have bandwidth to give 10-20 hours per week on the side...

• Attract people with complimentary skills (sales/marketing). Helps validate your idea.
• With your higher current salary, the opportunity cost is higher. Which is also a good thing.
• Try to sell with minimal/no product to guage interest in market.
• Engineers usually have the itch to build functionality as we don't like to meet people outside to sell.

Try as long as your savings allow you. Good luck!

If your idea involves Edtech then you should consider not starting up at all.

Stick to the current rate, no start-ups. They are traps