I bet anyone who has ever tried to build a startup has already heard about how brutal it is, but whatever you have heard, it is even more brutal when you are in the arena. Building a startup, for mots people, will be the hardest thing that they ever do. So in the pursuit of building a startup, many founders are advised to go all-in. To, put all their eggs in one basket, and then see if it works. So this brings us to our question; can one do it while working a full-time job?

For most full-time jobs, they run from 9 AM to 5 PM, hence the phrase, “9 to 5”. This would give any founder some time to work on their startup in the evening upto until midnight. So on a timescale, it is doable. And it has its own advantages.

You see, most startups struggle in the early days. There are a few exceptions, but the majority do not make meaningful recurring revenue in the early days. The early days are usually a battle to find product market fit which involves a lot of pivots. As a startup is doing this, it is burning a lot of money. And if a startup is not venture-backed, it pauses a serious question: where is the money going to come from? This is where your salary comes in. 

If one is working a full-time job, their salary can work as the “angel investment” that makes the startup tick. Any founder or founders can get a portion of their salary and commit to invest in the startup for a year or two, as the startup goes through its natural growth to making consistent revenue. When a startup gets to this level, the founders can hunt for angel investment to allow them to move into the startup full-time, or better still, if the startup is making enough revenue, it can support both founders. 

But for one to grow their startup, it is unlikely they can do this while working in a separate job full-time. 

Another thing founders can do is to transit from full-time work to working as a consultant in fields that they are conversant with. Working as a consultant can help the founders to keep making significant personal income but without the rigours of full-time work. 

Another route is to save money beforehand, then move into building the startup once the founder has built a big enough war chest to cater for the operating expenses of the startup in the first few months, while also catering for his ability to keep personal living expenses catered for. 

Also, I know a few founders who took another path to funding the early days of their business. In this, these founders invested in passive income-generating activities, hit a certain monthly income, and transitioned to full-time building. This is also a path that is available for founders. 

The founders can also look to get cheap capital. Cheap capital can be obtained from targeted grants. Grant funders are more relaxed than venture capital investors, and will give a founder equity-free financing. Once a founder gets this, they can use it to build their startup to a level that can attract angel investors or seed-stage investors.

Any founder needs to choose what would ideally work best for them. The reality is, that most founders are not in a position where they will get an angel investment to fund the early days of their startup, so they do have to get crafty. Yes, maintaining a full-time job and using those monetary resources earned to build your startup is one of the ways this can be done. 

However, there are a few other options that a founder can use. In most cases, it is about understanding your own standing before building a startup. However, it is important that a founder budget for at least 10 months and if the founder can have those operating expenses, they will give their startup a fair shot at success. Building a startup that is entirely dependant on raising an angel round, may not be a smart strategy. Even angel investors make an entrance when the founders have done significant groundwork.