Thursday, July 19, 2007

Leaving

I gave notice yesterday. Went reasonably well - boss said he'd like to keep me, but he's obviously not going to twist my arm, and we left open the possibility of some consulting or part-time work in the future. I did have to listen to a long lecture about how it's too early, my chance of success in negligible, I don't have the technical chops, etc. Ah well - I did hear some things that I'll want to keep in mind anyways.

A quick selection of quotes I've heard from various people around me when I mentioned I wanted to go full-time on the startup:

"So, mom and I were talking about your startup in the car, and while we think it's great that you're trying - we honestly don't think you'll succeed." - my sister

"Don't quit your day job!" - my dad

"But how are you going to eat?" - Cindelius, a netfriend

"So you're basically going to play the lottery?" - Todd, a coworker

"If you can't even convince me that a market exists for this product, how are you going to convince investors or customers?" - Sheldon, my boss

These quotes are perhaps a bit unfair and out of context - Cin and Todd have actually been quite supportive, and even the boss & family members just want to make sure I'm aware of the risks. But I thought I'd put them up there for posterity's sake. [Edit: Yeah, and they were exactly right. ;-)]

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