For background, I am a 25 year old Software Engineer who works the corporate life. My company is moving to force engineers to work in person and I just do not want to keep working my life away. The pay is very high and benefits are great, but I know in the end, I want the flexibility of working for myself.

I have opened up some businesses in the past with mixed success. I want to open up a startup that can generate passive income, be a secure investment, and not require too much overhead. I have tried some eCommerce businesses in the past and even worked on a B2B marketplace like Alibaba in Asia.

I really have very little personal expenses since my house and cars are paid off. I have about 100k in savings that I can use for the startup.

I am facing a few issues:

Between long commutes and 8 hour work days, I have very little energy to work on a startup in my free time. Weekends and Off days are always just reserved for running errands and I have absolutely no time on weekdays. Should I quit my job?

The second issue I am facing is that there are so many different places to start. A physical laundromat business, a physical car wash, an online store, or a good old fashioned Computer Science startup. Any Advice on what to start would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, finding a good business partner to help take some overhead is always a big problem that has caused me some headache in the past.

  • FranVue@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

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  • Prize-Payment-9995@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Try dropshipping with a friend or family member. Provided they have enough time and depending on your choices, this might work out for you

  • Loose_Work_6138@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Do not quit such a good situation while you’re building something on the side imo. I would just have a team to implement while you keep your role. It’s tough economy right now

  • ConsumerScientist@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I was in exactly same situation 11 months ago. My company refused to give me work from home and I had to resign to take the risk. I was running marketing agency before as part time and I went all in.

    It wasn’t easy but if it was easy everybody would be doing that. I am now able to launch 2 products plus providing services to high ticket marketing clients.

    When you get full time on your business you can build fast, fail fast and improve faster.

    The sidehustle we do with jobs didn’t give us the full overview of how business works, it’s safe and risk free.

    Now I am taking risks and the freedom itself is a reward for me. I have also became more fearless.

    Also I was able to make couple of partnerships on different products which allows me to scale.

    I am the sales guy and primarily responsible for bringing in the business.

  • SweetRuin4124@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Quit. Do it. I quit my $350-400k job 10 years ago. Now have 2 businesses. Never looked back.

    Don’t procrastinate.

    You can always go back to your swe corporate job later if things don’t work out

    • VettedBot@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

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  • better360@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Between 8 hours a day work and commute. Yeah, you’re still young. Take a look at accountants in big4 or CPA firms who worked like 60-90 billable hours per week. And you said you don’t have enough energy to do that, or you just haven’t tried it?

  • krisnaw@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I agree with @MacPr - Don’t start unless you are sure on the value you will provide

    Also looks like you plan to move out of your current job as your company plans to have teams work from office.

    Once you start your venture - you may end up meeting, networking, visiting suppliers, customers, prospects- So be prepared that your venture may not be a complete remote work.

  • planetofthemapes15@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    You’re concerned about losing the extra 1-2 hours per day by returning to office, which I can understand. But the conclusion you’re making is that you should switch to working for yourself to be more free.

    That… isn’t how this works. I’ve been a tech CEO at it for 10 years. Right now it’s 12:12AM and I just finished my workday. I started at 9:45am. It’s a Saturday. This is normal. I haven’t had a weekend off for over 12 years. My long time friends all are married and have families. I have this business.

    You’re vastly underestimating what this takes and the reality of the entrepreneurial endeavor. At least I’d advise you to meet with and talk to people in the businesses you are considering starting, and see how their work-life balance looks, how much capital the businesses require to start up, and whether you can learn the mistakes from them.

    Don’t make a rash decision based on wantrapreneuer influencers who sell you the dream of a 4 hour workday packaged in a $997.95 12 hour course. Expect to spend at least 5 years working 80+ hour weeks, earning half of what you’re earning now, before you can begin to ease off the gas.

  • Beneficial_Past_5683@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Passive income is for the old gits to keep some cash coming in while they vegitate.

    At 25 you have strength, energy and stamina.

    Now is the time to pull your socks up and graft.

  • surfer_sloth@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    As a serial entrepreneur with two exits and 10 years doing it as a software engineer the best advice I can give you is, if you don’t have time now, while working a full time job it will be hard for you as a startup. Basically being an entrepreneur is working 100 hour weeks, alone for no pay, if your startup makes 20k in the first year it’s a success and it’s a hustle every day. The reality is that 95% of startups fail, so you go into knowing that and being comfortable with that, you will be ok, but you just don’t make something cool and people will come, timing and marketing are hugely critical skills. Building the right solution will take a lot of iteration and pivots, having an MVP out early and getting paid customers before you make any big decisions is the best strategy, if your not embarrassed by your first product you launched to late. Now if you go into this knowing your going to fail and why do it, well this is my why, it’s about growth personally, I’m an amazing software developer, I can make anything, but leadership, marketing, promotion and a ton of other skills I didn’t have while working for someone else, and I wanted freedom over financial success. Starting your own company is the hardest thing you can do, but without change you won’t grow and I’m a firm believer that you have one life to live and I don’t want to live with regrets. It took 2 years to get a salary over 20k, when I left a job making 350k a year that was a big change, but year 3 it started to grow and so did I. Also don’t go into it thinking you will raise millions the reality is that starting out, I didn’t raise 2M until I was at 2M in revenue and it was still hard, it gets easier but raising money is in reality joining an elite club, you are an outsider and not proven, you won’t get your VC membership card until you can make a lot of money, then they will let you in. You will fail, there are a lot going against you but learn as much as possible, get your solution out and iterate on it when it’s making money, and solve an easy and scalable problem, it might be something unsexy but making money is what it’s all about and it’s slow with a lot of ups and downs.

  • MacPR@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Don’t do it.

    Until you’re absolutely sure where to add value, don’t start a business.

    Invest those savings in index funds or a hysa.

    You will work twice as hard for half as much.

  • Sufficient-View7812@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Yes dive in head first you never know how much You will learn along the way! Plus you have enough experience where if you don’t see it working out you’ll get another corporate job in no time. Being uncomfortable for a short period of time could pay off in more ways than you think :’)