You didn’t mention what situation the 2 other cofounders are in.
Do they put in at least 40 hours a week like you? Do they still have their full time job, or side gigs? Do they have zero income from anywhere, just like you?
You really have to treat this like a passion project, and not a job. If you invest into a passion project, and end up making $5,000 as a one time thing, great! That’s very different than needing it to have a consistent salary.
But, it’s actually more than a passion project. It’s teaching you a lot (so it’s like, a free professional coding bootcamp). And, it’s a good resume builder. Tip: don’t actually put “cofounder, CTO” or any other nonsense on a resume. Just but software engineer at your company.
Doing this is teaching you a lot technically, and it’s good for your resume… both something you should leverage into a real job.
You should always plan for never making a salary from this project. Statically, you’re not going to. If you plan for that, you’ll be okay. And if the company is a success, just quit your job. On the flip side, if you plan for this company succeeding, and it doesn’t, you’re completely screwed.
Alternatively you can look for freelance gigs.
Either way, the mentality should be that you’re never going to make salary from your company. That should be the approach. Doesn’t mean your company actually will never succeed, it just means that’s the approach you should take.
You should take 5-10 hours a week to apply to jobs, and tone down your startup work hours a little. It might take you a while to find one, so I don’t mind you doing the startup full time until you have a job or gig in hand, because, it’s very valuable education.
You didn’t mention what situation the 2 other cofounders are in.
Do they put in at least 40 hours a week like you? Do they still have their full time job, or side gigs? Do they have zero income from anywhere, just like you?
You really have to treat this like a passion project, and not a job. If you invest into a passion project, and end up making $5,000 as a one time thing, great! That’s very different than needing it to have a consistent salary.
But, it’s actually more than a passion project. It’s teaching you a lot (so it’s like, a free professional coding bootcamp). And, it’s a good resume builder. Tip: don’t actually put “cofounder, CTO” or any other nonsense on a resume. Just but software engineer at your company.
Doing this is teaching you a lot technically, and it’s good for your resume… both something you should leverage into a real job.
You should always plan for never making a salary from this project. Statically, you’re not going to. If you plan for that, you’ll be okay. And if the company is a success, just quit your job. On the flip side, if you plan for this company succeeding, and it doesn’t, you’re completely screwed.
Alternatively you can look for freelance gigs.
Either way, the mentality should be that you’re never going to make salary from your company. That should be the approach. Doesn’t mean your company actually will never succeed, it just means that’s the approach you should take.
You should take 5-10 hours a week to apply to jobs, and tone down your startup work hours a little. It might take you a while to find one, so I don’t mind you doing the startup full time until you have a job or gig in hand, because, it’s very valuable education.
Find a job and then do the startup part time.