# Side project or full time? > Keeping the job while you start versus quitting, how co-founders with different finances agree on it, and how to protect time and energy either way. - Course: [From Idea to Profitable Product: Building Without Investors](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product.md) - Module: Before you start - Lesson 2/30, ~25 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/side-project-or-full-time ## Two founders, two situations **Alex Tutor:** You and I are still advising GarageDesk's founders, and Richard got his polite no. Next question: who works on GarageDesk, and how much? **Nina:** I've spent five years at an auto-parts distributor watching repair shops run on paper and phone calls. Evenings aren't enough. I want to quit and build GarageDesk properly. **Oscar:** I sell diagnostic equipment to repair shops. But I have a mortgage and a two-year-old daughter. I can't quit now. **Sofia:** Isn't that unfair? One works full time, the other doesn't. **Alex Tutor:** It's normal. Co-founders rarely have the same savings, bills and safety net. The danger isn't the difference; it's not talking about it. **Alex Tutor:** A founder with little money needs the business to pay them soon; one with a cushion can wait. If they never agree on “how soon”, they'll pull in opposite directions. ![Two co-founders walk side by side on tightropes over the same gap; below one is a wide safety net, below the other only a narrow strip.](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/inline/side-project-or-full-time-illustration-2.webp) > **Exercise:** Nina has savings and no family to support; Oscar has a mortgage and a small child. Why does this difference matter for GarageDesk? ## What each path costs **Sofia:** So keeping the job is the weaker choice? **Alex Tutor:** Not at all. A side project keeps the salary coming, so savings stay untouched and there's no panic. The cost is time: progress is slower, and evenings are tired. **Alex Tutor:** Full time buys speed and focus. But every month without revenue eats savings, and the clock starts the day the salary stops. **Oscar:** And my job isn't only a salary. I'm in three repair shops a day, hearing how they book cars and lose customers. **Alex Tutor:** Exactly. A job close to your audience is free research and a ready list of first people to call. > **Exercise:** Oscar sells diagnostic equipment to repair shops, visiting about three shops a day, and works on GarageDesk about 12 hours a week. Which are real advantages of him keeping this job for now? Select all that apply. ## Protecting time and energy **Sofia:** How does Oscar do both without burning out? **Alex Tutor:** Time goes in the calendar, not into “whenever I can”. For Oscar: Tuesday and Thursday evenings plus Saturday morning, about 12 hours a week. ![A father with a toddler on his lap points at a wall calendar where two evening blocks and one weekend morning are coloured orange.](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/inline/side-project-or-full-time-illustration-3.webp) *Side-project time goes in the calendar, matched to short, finishable tasks.* **Alex Tutor:** Then match the work to the time. Oscar takes short, finishable tasks: calls with shop owners, answering early users. Nina takes the long stretches of deep work. **Nina:** And no heroics. If we're both exhausted by spring, GarageDesk dies with us. **Alex Tutor:** Right. Working hard isn't the same as working long hours, and a rested founder makes better decisions. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** for a side project, “I'll work on it whenever I have free time” is better than fixed hours, because it keeps motivation high. **Alex Tutor:** The hours are set. Now, who should do what inside them? > **Exercise:** Oscar has about 12 hours a week in evening and Saturday slots; Nina works full time. Which split of the work would you suggest? ## Put it in writing **Alex Tutor:** Now the step most co-founders skip: write the deal down while you're still friends. Shares, who decides what, how much time and money each puts in, and what happens if one leaves. **Oscar:** 50/50. Nina has the final say on the product, I have it on sales and support. And our shares vest over three years, so whoever leaves early doesn't walk away with half the company. **Sofia:** But Nina works full time and Oscar 12 hours a week. Is 50/50 still fair? **Alex Tutor:** It can be, if the path to equal effort is on paper too: when Oscar goes full time, and what happens if he never does. > **Exercise:** What belongs in Nina and Oscar's written co-founder agreement? Select all that apply. **Alex Tutor:** Oscar mentioned that their shares vest over three years. What is that actually for? > **Exercise:** Nina's and Oscar's shares vest over three years. What does that protect against? ## A trigger to go full time **Oscar:** My share of our family budget is 18,000 UAH a month. At 600 UAH per shop per month, that's 30 paying shops. At 30, I hand in my notice. **Alex Tutor:** Good: a trigger based on revenue, not on mood. Now add a deadline: if 30 shops haven't come within 18 months, you sit down and rethink the plan and the split instead of drifting. ![Oscar keeps 12 hours a week until 30 shops pay, then quits his job; if 18 months pass without 30 shops, the founders rethink the plan and the split.](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/diagrams/m1-l2-full-time-trigger.png) *The trigger is a number and a date.* **Nina:** Fair. I'd rather have that talk on a calendar date than in the middle of a fight. **Sofia:** So the trigger is a number and a date, not a feeling. > **Exercise:** Oscar keeps his sales job for now. His share of the family budget is 18,000 UAH a month, and GarageDesk charges 600 UAH per shop per month. Which trigger for him to go full time is the most useful? **Alex Tutor:** One more check on Oscar's trigger. What if his share of the family budget grows? > **Exercise:** Oscar plans to quit his job once paying shops cover his share of the family budget. Next year that share rises to **21,000 UAH** a month. The price stays at 600 UAH per shop per month. How many paying shops does his trigger now need? ## Your turn **Sofia:** Can I try this on someone else's situation? **Alex Tutor:** Sure. Kate, an accountant I met at a meetup, wants to build an app for accountants. She has four months of savings and a steady salary. **Nina:** Four months? I'd be nervous in her place. **Alex Tutor:** Nerves aren't an argument. Give her a recommendation, a weekly time budget and a trigger, like Oscar's. > **Exercise:** Kate works as an accountant and wants to build a small app that helps accountants chase clients for missing documents. She has savings for four months and a steady salary. Should she start it as a side project or full time? Give your recommendation in 3–5 sentences, with a weekly time budget and a clear trigger for switching. > **Key ideas** > > - Co-founders rarely have equal savings and bills. Talk openly about how soon each needs the business to pay them. > - A **side project** keeps the salary and savings safe but moves slower; **full time** buys speed and focus, and the clock starts when the salary stops. > - A job close to your audience is free research. > - Put a fixed weekly time budget in the calendar and match tasks to it. No heroics. > - Write down shares, decision rights, time and money commitments, vesting, a revenue **trigger** to go full time and a deadline to revisit the plan. **Alex Tutor:** Next time: before Nina hands in her notice, we'll count her **runway**, the months her savings will last. - Previous lesson: [Your own money or investors?](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/own-money-or-investors.md) - Next lesson: [How much money do you need to quit your job?](https://productovi.com/courses/bootstrapped-product/personal-runway.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.