My own advice as a 41 year old w/ two young kids who co-founded a SaaS biz at 36 while working a full-time job and didn't sacrifice income (but certainly quality of life). Your milage may vary.
- Don't start a company to start a company. You will be miserable. Find a space you like and start to explore it for fun (at first).
- DO NOT quit your day job. Nights and weekends to start. Have your partner pick up more kid/life duty if they is can. Quit when it hurts or when the path of your business lowers the risk sufficiently.
- Focus relentlessly on business model fit and real customer problems. B2B is fertile territory. Niche ignored industries with high painkiller need (vs vitamin) are fertile territory.
- Work with a team. Work with a team with no kids. Probably the most important part. :)
- Treat the work time a normal part of your life (like going camping or exercising)
- Ignore all hustle porn start-up mythology nonsense. Build the business around how you want to work that still achieves your goals.
- Don't start a company to start a company. You will be miserable. Find a space you like and start to explore it for fun (at first).
- DO NOT quit your day job. Nights and weekends to start. Have your partner pick up more kid/life duty if they is can. Quit when it hurts or when the path of your business lowers the risk sufficiently.
- Focus relentlessly on business model fit and real customer problems. B2B is fertile territory. Niche ignored industries with high painkiller need (vs vitamin) are fertile territory.
- Work with a team. Work with a team with no kids. Probably the most important part. :)
- Treat the work time a normal part of your life (like going camping or exercising)
- Ignore all hustle porn start-up mythology nonsense. Build the business around how you want to work that still achieves your goals.
- Its never easy, but its not impossible.