Decisions ...Follow

Depends on your situation, Before I started a family I would have gone for the startup but now I would continue looking for the steady paycheck.

You only live once and if you think you can swing it, give it a shot. Obviously if it's not working out, you'll need to reevaluate, but it sounds as though you would really enjoy this so why not?

Nexa

If the new company seems that it will take off and is not a HUGE risk then why not. Starting a new company is always a risk, just how much though depends on lots of different things. Location, type of busissness, expense, yada yada yada.

I would kill to get into a new company and build it from the ground up. Being only 25 with a shi[b][/b]tty job to begin with means I have less to lose. Its not like leaving a plush $150k a year job to open up a tanning salon.

That's what it comes down to, really. If you've got a family depending on your paycheck it makes opportunities like this much more risky. If you're still on your own, this could be chance to build something, and have the shot at it being successful and maybe giving you financial independence in the long run.

Paper.
















Sorry I didn't read any of the posts here

I know what you mean... although my story is not quite on the same scale as yours, I was unemployed and looking hard for work about three years ago. After several months of looking for something that would both utilize the few skills I have and not be something I dreaded going to everyday, a brand-new company started advertizing in a neighboring city.

Turns out that this "company" was just a concept; there wasn't even a location for it yet. It was just two men with an idea. I'd seen similar idea try and fail within a year, also local. But hell... I found myself thinking: "Do I really want something safe but bland? Sure, it'd be a steady paycheck, but... there's something exciting about this 'frontier!' Maybe I should take that chance. And if things go for the worst, well, I won't be too much worse off than I am currently."

So I went for it. And everything turned out wonderfully.

It was hard, hard work at the start--- beginnings are very delicate times, y'know--- and days were long and sweaty, and we pretty much had to build/assemble everything from the ground up, not to mention all the netowrking and building of PCs and so much stuff that I can't even list it all here.

Fast forward three years and we're now opening up a third location in this region. Business is grand and the job is something I love. I'm going back to school soon to learn even more things that might benefit the company as it grows.

I say do it!! If not for the excitement of taking a risk, if not for the strong possibility that your friend's concept will grow and thrive... do it because you know that if you don't, that one day you're gonna be working a bland, everyday job and you'll think, "I wonder if I should've...?" Which, IMHO, is a worse kind of torture than trying and failing.

If it is enough to pay the rent and pay the essentials, might as well give it a shot. You can always beg off later if it turns out to be a boondogle, and if it turns out instead to be a huge sucess, well, you'll be ahead of the game, and we can call you CEO Jennock! And then you cna buy us all ponies!