Should I quit my job to start a SaaS app?

I have read about successful startups a lot recently. New apps a launching every day on BetaList and ProductHunt, and you want to be one of them. The question is – should you give up your current career to start building a product?

If you have to ask – probably not.

You have a couple of options:

Option A: Save money

If you are currently making a lot of money, but have no spare time – start saving up for taking some time off of your job to start that business.

Most business takes at least 6 months to generate any revenue, and I would plan to not make any substantial income for at least a year.

Option B: Side Project

This is my preferred option. Build your business step by step on the side, by spending some time on weekends, nights or early mornings. If you fail you may have lost some time, but probably not a lot of money. The bad thing about this is that it can take a lot of time, compared with the other options.

You could even take one day off from work each week, with a slight decrease in salary, just to be able to build your own product. Some employers will be open to this, some won’t. I can understand both stances, so don’t give your boss a hard time on this if he/she won’t agree with your plans – just do it on the weekends instead.

Remember to get written consent from your current employer to do this. If you build a product without authorization that either competes with your current employer in any way or is built using hardware or software from your work (laptop, servers etc.) then it belongs to your employer – not to you. This can vary a bit from country to country depending on the legislations, but I would always inform my imployer of any side projects and get a written note/email from them.

I have example forms for this. Just ask in the comments if you are interested.

Option C: Full Monty

Quit your job and start your own business today. This is probably not a wise move if you have no saved money and/or a significant other, kids, mortgage or anything else that needs steady income.

Option D: Seed money

Get an investment and build a startup with someone elses money. I generally prefer bootstrapping, so I won’t go into detail about getting an investment, but with the right timing, the right amount of money and the right investor this may be the way to go for some of you.