I have been in several startups over the years and cultivated a good network and reputation: I have a couple VCs that keep bugging me to go work for them as EIR (entrepreneur in residence), where they basically take you under their wing, give you a salary for one year or so and match you with another partner and idea. They say I would be a good CTO in their opinion and I should just find the right business cofounder (CEO) and they would be happy to give me seed money. I have solid technical and product skills (worked as SWE and architect in my career and got a front row seat in how early startups operate) and I’m pretty good at ruthlessly prioritize technical execution. The problem is, I would like to save more money before I am able to take that risk, especially in this period where it’s so easy to be well paid in the Bay. I’m currently 32yo with a liquid net worth of 1.5M (I rent) and I also have a bunch of equity currently locked in the startup I’m at right now (paper value 4M, but that’s paper value). What do you think a reasonable net worth should be before embarking into something like this? I also don’t plan on having a family, me and my girlfriend don’t want to have kids, so time is not a factor.
Make a prototype in your spare time. See what feels good. If you think that a project will succeed, attempt it. If not, start again. Live cheaply the whole time. 1.5M is a stupid amount of money, as long as you're not stupid. Edit: It's utterly meaningless to ask us how much it will cost to do something if you don't even know what you're going to do. Different things take different amounts of effort. Start small.
1.5 is good money. Don’t be greedy dude. You know one thing you won’t get back? TIME. You will look back on this topic in 20 years and think “man... what if?” I’ve attempted two startups and while they didn’t take off like I wanted, I was very young and I’m so glad I did it. I wouldn’t trade any TC in the world to take that experience away.
Zeroeth world problems.
You just described the whole Blind
Probably you will never start your startup cause if you feel like you’re risking a lot with 1.5 m cash maybe startup is not for you. Maybe you’re just too risk averse
More than risk averse I’m realistic. 1.5M is nowhere close to my retirement number, so if I waste 5+ years of my life in a startup that doesn’t go anywhere I might find myself pushing 40, likely victim of ageism due to not having been a corporate cog for most of my career, and with little savings...
Also, 1.5 is not cash. I said liquid, which means it’s fully invested in index funds.