Ask HN: How much money have you lost on side projects/businesses?

Re:Ask HN: How much money have you lost on side projects/bus... by jmathai on Thursday April 10, 2014 @07:51PM (#7570428)

Left my job to do (current) startup. Spent 14 months w/o salary before we got funding. The total sounds like a lot but if I had to do it again I would.

I'm a big proponent of being open about finances and the financial struggle of doing startups - especially when you have kids and one stay at home parent in my case.

  Loss of salary for 1 year, 2 months
  Does not include loss of 401k match or ESPP
  -$140,000

  Successful Kickstarter @ $25k
  +$20,000

  8 week contracting project @ 20hrs / week
  +$16,000

  Living expenses for 14 months (savings/stocks)
  -$70,000

  Post funding difference in salary from market rate
  -$50,000 (year 1)
  -$40,000 (year 2)

Total ≈ -$264,000

My wife randomly reminds me what started off as a 3 month experiment has turned into a 3 year "adventure". She's not adventurous though :).

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Re:Ask HN: How much money have you lost on side projects/bus... by S4M on Friday April 11, 2014 @04:33AM (#7571792)

Thank you for sharing. One thing I would question though: why do you count your living expenses as a loss, since you would have still spent that money if you had your job. In fact, I would say that you are most likely saving on living expense, since you must be trying to spend less since you are earning less.

Good luck with your startup!

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Re:Ask HN: How much money have you lost on side projects/bus... by jmathai on Friday April 11, 2014 @12:46PM (#7573979)

That's a good point. I guess I counted it because it visually drained my savings. It felt different to see my savings account dwindle than it did to simply spend $ from paychecks.

But I think you're right that it's money which would have been spent.

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