What I never expected when I quit my job to start up

For the past two weeks I spent my Chinese New Year just like everybody else — visiting relatives, gorging myself on new year goodies and collecting angbaos.

But amidst the joy and festivities, there was a deep dark fear inside me.

“So where are you working at now?”

That was the sentence I really feared to hear all through Chinese New Year, even more than “When are you getting married?”, even though that was just as scary.

Admittedly at the start, I didn’t have a hard time telling friends and family about my decision to leave my job as a mobile developer to start up. I was a little worried about the response people would have, but was generally not too bothered by comments and opinions dished out to me.

“Why do you want to quit your job?” to “I thought your job was paying you quite well?” and “Why start from square one?”

Those were the questions thrown at me when I mentioned that I was quitting my job to start up with some friends. And for most startup founders here in Singapore, I’m pretty sure these questions are nothing new.

Even so, I thought I knew what I was getting into when I “threw in the letter.”

I knew I was going to have to work hard, I understood the financial circumstances I would be in, I acknowledged that it might fail. I thought I had already had most of them sorted out.

At the same time, I was super super super psyched that I could be a part of building my own product. 😀

Even so, I never really expected to face these issues.

A lot less time with loved ones

The emotional rollercoaster

Losing a constant stream of income

Doing things I dislike

Facing failure