Before you start a company, answer these questions
I started a company, by myself, November 2012.  I&#x27;m still in business but haven&#x27;t released the original intended product.<p>1) What was my motivation?
I was tired of working for someone else, I&#x27;d had it with commuting, working with people that kept bringing diseases from their kids in daycare and hence getting colds and flus mutliple times per year, living in a state with absurd taxes and cost of living.  Working hard to afford a &quot;condo&quot;  that might be paid off once I hit 65 was beyond stupid.  Oh and I wouldn&#x27;t work in an &quot;open office space&quot; setup if you paid me $1 million a year.  I don&#x27;t do headphones, ever.<p>2) Is this idea worth my time?
The idea was an iPhone game, I did complete it, but never released it.  They released new phones, new ipads with new resolutions, so I was in the process of adding that capability when a consulting opportunity arose (work 100% from home).  I could get into why I abandoned releasing iPhone and Android apps, but have decided to redo it in HTML5 and free myself from the rules the stores impose and cut they take.  But ultimately I had decided even if my product only generated $30k a year that was good enough.  To own and control my time and product was worth that drastic cut if it came down to it.<p>3) What have you done to validate this idea?
I did research into the potential market size, I used to play a similar game on yahoo games before it was shut down and they would have 10&#x27;s of thousands of players every day.  I looked at similar games on iTunes that were pathetic weekend hacks that left much to be desired and they had downloads, so the market existed.  And I really liked the game, still do, I play my game on an ipod touch that I hacked to an older date so the certificate never expires.  My UI, and the options that I added also made it far more enjoyable to play.  I had big plans for multiplayer.<p>4) Are there real customers for this?
Yep, see above.  Maybe it won&#x27;t make me a millionaire, but I could live off of it.<p>5) Do you have the endurance for the marathon version of your company?
Absolutely, I worked non stop for 2 years when I was about to release.  I did not make any money during that time, in fact if I had a &quot;real&quot; job I would have given up.  A regular job sucks away all mental energy and leaves one like an empty shell at the end of the day (at least that is my experience).<p>6)  CMO (Chief Marital Officer)?
Don&#x27;t have one, did have a girlfriend back then but we lived in different cities so going for a visit was a nice vacation from the work.<p>7) Is quitting the right next step?
As far as I&#x27;m concerned you are either all in or it&#x27;s a hobby that is going nowhere.  If I kept working I&#x27;d never even had developed a prototype non the less a full working product, with multiplayer server on the back end.  So if you really believe in your product, quit the day job.  You can&#x27;t do both, period.<p>Where is my company now?<p>Well, I&#x27;ve gotten side-tracked with consulting business.  I&#x27;ve never met a customer on site, I work 100% at home.  They send me their devices, buy whatever compiler licenses so I can do the work.  I work when I want to, so if I want to take a week off to work on a project at home, or take a trip I do.<p>Last year was crazy, I moved to Wyoming to drastically lower my taxes, even Nevada was not low enough. Bought a house, while taking care of multiple clients sometimes work ing 260 hours a month.  Billables were just under $250k last year.  Now that I&#x27;m settled in the new house, which cost less that just property tax payments in CA, I&#x27;ve cut back the work to maybe $150k this year, which will free me up to migrate my Objective-C app to HTML5.  All the valuable code exists on the game server anyway, so no risk there.<p>Was it worth just quitting and going for it?  Absolutely.
Did it turn out exactly as planned?  Not even close.<p>If anyone else out there is trying to decide and wants to know more about my adventure, send me an email.  I&#x27;m happy to share what I&#x27;ve learned if it helps others to escape the rat race too...