I left my job at CrunchBase about 3 weeks ago. A few thoughts on my first 3 weeks working full-time on my venture:
– you will have unproductive/unmotivated days. This came as a bit of a surprise to me. I expected that working on my own thing would mean I wouldn’t have a single day where I wasn’t motivated. That didn’t turn out to be quite true. The reasons are not the same though. Motivation in a job is often a factor of how interesting or important what you’re working on is. When doing your own thing, most everything is either interesting or important. If it isn’t either of those, your priorities are probably out of order.
I’ve worked without a break every single day for the past 3 weeks, weekends included. The unproductive/unmotivated day, has been more a function of just a tired mind. Mental exhaustion. In spite of how interesting the work might be, you just need to force a break of hours or a whole day to get that energy back.
– it’s nearly impossible to switch off. My mind is thinking about my venture 16/7. I can’t get away. This is a good thing but it can also get a bit overwhelming at times.
– there is no boss to tell you if what you’re doing is right. You can look to peers, your co-founders, advisors, well-wishers, and friends for feedback and opinion but the final decision still rests on you. And you have no clue if it’s the right decision. You just have to keep making them and keep moving forward.
– it’s energizing as hell. No question about it. I may still be in the honeymoon period of this and the rubber (product) has yet to meet the road (customer) and I am far off from having employee/managerial issues. But it is a different high and satisfaction. I suppose because it’s your own child.
That’s all for now.
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