I have two profitable SaaS products that were built while I was theoretically working full time on something else. I was a bit fortunate that my "something else" was Consulting, which you can ramp down by exactly as many hours per week as you'd like to devote to your side project.
The thing is, if you use the term "Startup" here to describe anything other than a zero-profit 80hr/week scramble for VC funding and eventual acquisition, you're going to get people popping up and claiming that what you're doing is not startuppy enough to count. So for the benefit of that crowd, you might want to rephrase your question in terms of building a product that brings in enough revenue to quit your job.
If that's what you want to build, then yes. It's absolutely possible, and there are dozens of people here who have done so.
Your latter input is appreciated, but I'm not sure being a "full-time consultant" qualifies you to answer this question, which is almost certainly directed at those with less daily flexibility. If my site explodes in activity while I'm at work, I can literally do nothing to sop up any problems that might arise, unless I decide to try to cash in sick time and head out early, or sit on my hands til I get home. A fulltime consultant faces none of these issues.
I have always had a problem with that. A start-up is a start-up if you decide it's a start-up and want to transform it into a viable business. There is no magic line that you have to cross to transform your project into a start-up. I always advice people to call their projects a start-up from the beginning.
It was profitable within 6 months off organic traffic and lead gen. Approximate revenue by year: $10k, 40k, 70k, 100k, 150k, 250k, 500k, 750k, 1.5M, 2.5M.
Built entirely while working for another startup (unrelated), first 3 years I was in graduate school, year 4 I was a product manager for another startup. Year 5 I finally took the leap to run it full-time.
I was the sole owner, never had more than 7 employees, and I sold it for a bit over $10M (ttm revenue was around $700k at the time).
Leading up to launch, I typically worked 10-7 at my day job, then wrote my code from 8p-1a M-F (20 hrs) and all day on the weekends (20 hrs), so 40 hrs per week. During school, my wife handled the sales part-time (16 hrs/wk), and I probably spent 8 hrs a week on it fixing bugs, implementing ad deals etc. In Year 4, I spent ~16 hrs a week on it outside of my day job (misc. tech upkeep, link building, PR, etc.).
It's definitely doable, but your SO needs to be on-board because you'll be taking the time away from them. Or do it before you have a SO to worry about.
I'm almost in the same boat right now. I built a niche Adsense-supported social networking site around mid-2009 and my approximate revenue by year is something like: $100 (Y1), $13.5k (Y2), $90k (this year). Assuming no growth next year, it should be around $130k.
I hope you don't mind me asking these questions since I'm in the thick of it myself at the moment. I'm new here so I hope I'm not breaking etiquette.
At what point did you realize you needed help and then decide that you can actually afford it?
What made you decide to hire your 1st employee rather than a co-founder?
Regarding your SO, I agree that it's important to have someone that understands how you make money and what's required to build a business.
The question I have is, how much more beneficial was it to have your SO involved at some meaningful level? Sales is an interesting spot because it makes a case for itself to justify the time required.
Are there any pros / cons of involving your SO directly and at the core of your business that you'd be able/willing to share? I'd be really interested to know. Thanks for sharing.
I started StyleFeeder in January, 2005, built it into a profitable company of 8 people and sold it to Time Inc in January 2010.
From January, 2005 through May, 2006, I worked on StyleFeeder on the side - while I had a pretty demanding day job, mind you - as I built up the basic business... until I had invested so much time and effort into it that I was maxed out and needed to find a way to work on it full time with the help of others.
I don't see any plausible way that I could have made it into anything significant while at the same time working a day job. I think some people can do it with some businesses, but I think it would have been impossible in my case.
But the bootstrapping phase, yes, I think you can do that while working a day job. That's very common.
Hey - we're building a similar site (fashion search, UK based), and yours has always been one of our comparison sites. Nice job, didn't realize you were a HN'er :)
I found it incredibly difficult to provide the value I'd expect out of an employee at a "day job" while building my business on the side. Ultimately, I took a different route. Note that this plan works best for young, single folks. This is also not a "get rich quick" scheme. Positioning myself took about three years on its own, much less getting going on a start-up. Keep in mind that this was my plan. It is not the only (or best) plan, but it worked for me.
* Position yourself for minimum cash outflow. Minimizing your cash needs means you can take bigger risks. I found a decent 500 sq ft apartment and drove a cheap car. Without a family, all my other expenses were dirt cheap.
* Save up a three month buffer and strike out on your own gig, but not your start-up yet. I chose consulting because the income potential is so high and it provided a great networking opportunity. I doubled my annual income (from my old salary) within a year, but far more importantly, I was able to accomplish a few transitional steps in getting my start-up going:
- I built a relationship with a great developer by feeding him work from consulting clients.
- I built relationships with other business owners and took a lot of time to understand their business.
- Ultimately, I met the person who would connect me with the greatest team I've ever worked with.
By the time I found the right team and opportunity, I had a year's worth of expenses saved up, and a small amount of money to contribute to the operational expenses of the company. Coming to the table with cash in-hand gained me a lot of respect from other team members. Because everyone came to the table with their own income streams, we were able to bootstrap and now, 100% of our equity is founder owned. That's a pretty exciting reality for us.
Yes. For 4 years now...2 hrs in the morning 2-4 hrs at night + bigger chunks on the weekends.
When I look at my day job I only ever get 4 hrs of real work done anyway...with wasted time for meetings, bureaucracy, and being blocked by others. So even though I'm at work for 8+ hours, on my free time, I'm able to work on a similar sized project putting in less hours because there is usually no waste in that time. I've also got 2 kids and train 4 times a week at the gym or jiu jitsu. It can be done!
After reading a few more comments I want to add something. Work hard at your day job, do your best work, and make them dependent on you. Here is why...if you ever come in late, or leave early because there is a crisis on you side project your employer usually won't care. Your the superstar so that's expected. However, you've got to keep your day job really, really happy to walk this fine line between pursuing your own interests and meeting the needs of your day job. Plus when you have a successful side project (that maybe can't support you just yet) and you're out job hunting people will see you as a golden ticket, a diamond in the rough. Usually when I interview people I often ask what they're working on on the side. That indicates to me this person has drive and determination.
I built Visual Website Optimizer during weekends and during evenings after work (while I was working full time at another day job). Initial prototypes and first beta version took about 6-8 months. Beta remained for about 4 months, had thousands of beta users by then, quit my day job, polished beta for 2 more months and then launched paid plans. Today we are a team of 8 people (and hiring more) and many happy customers.
To be honest, I think the time constraints posed by day job (you got only 2-3 hours of working on your startup) really made you focus on important stuff (such as working on user feedback and iterating). Plus, the comfort of having a salary provided let you invest in site design, marketing, AdWords, etc. without having you unnecessarily worry about "funding" or borrowing from parents/friends.
I'm not sure if they are considered startups per say, but I've started two profitable companies while working a day job (to the point where I could quit my day job!) http://www.AUsedCar.com and http://www.BudgetSimple.com . I should say I also created a failed startup during that time. The biggest difference between the successes and the failure were that the successes did not require me to answer phone calls, make sales etc... In other words, completely passive income businesses are the easiest to do with a day job.
I'd be interested in talking about BudgetSimple and some specifics of tactics and implementation if you have the time and interest. Handle at whitetailsoftware dot com.
I wanted to do this so jumped in and read the comments to this post to try to get some ideas on how to do this. They made me a bit depressed: Most people achieved this while working as a consultant (i.e. flexible hours, etc.), not as a big company employee, like me. Also from what I gather, many data points come from young people, unencumbered with a family life and kid(s).
So, my more specific question is: Has anybody done this while picking up your kid from daycare at 5pm, having family business until 8:30pm and working at a day job. Id this impossible?
I think the viable alternatives in this case are trying to earn money from blogs and mobile apps.
I hear ya... This is something I struggle with too. Long workday at Mega Corp., 45min+ drive-commute each way, 3 kids (7, 5, 2), a spouse with a highly variable work schedule, and ongoing charity work.
It's really, really hard to make time for a side business in there too.
Are you working on something? How are you making the time for it? How's your progress?
Are you asking 'can I easily make 10k a month, working only 8 a week on it (a few hours here and there at night an in the weekends) and do it without having anything special (connections, experience, market knowledge, ...)' ? If so, the answer is most likely 'no'.
I think the best thing to do in your situation is to work on a project you really enjoy on the weekends. It'll be the equivalent to or replacement of games or other forms of entertainment. Try to write a blog relating to your project on the weekdays, even before you launch your product. By the time you launch, you'll have a good audience. Even if your project doesn't get traction, you technically didn't waste your time for nothing, because it was an enjoyable experience. :)
I'm exactly at this point. A big company, wife, 1 yr old, always wanted create something of value, don't really need it to be super profitable, etc. I have outsourced everything except product management and my only marketing plan is "Show HN".
I started doing affiliate marketing and building websites on the side for about two years before handing my notice. I could have quit after few months where my revenues from the side job exceeded what I had in my day job as a software developer. Nevertheless it took about 2 years because I was scared, I should have quit much sooner. Now 4 years later we are doing 7-figures a year.
I think its the best way to start a company because you are only risking sweat-equity. The danger is that your day job holds you from growing your startup more.
In the last couple of years I have built up Deal Drop (http://www.getdealdrop.com) to be $3,000/month in revenue as an antidote to the abusive relationship with my day job while helping raise my daughter of the same age. I hoped by now that I could quit and work full time on the side project but I settled for a less abusive day job instead.
This week I took a trip to the ER in an ambulance because I had a seizure at my new day job after one too many late nights working on the side project.
It took me 10 years of working on a few apps on the side, but today they are a $600K/year business and my full time job. Not the shoot-for-the-moon social apps everyone wants to do, but I'm quite happy.
I started http://www.justunfollow.com as a way to learn Google Appengine. Sent a tip to TechCrunch, @arrington seemed to like it and profiled it. It started making profits but I did not quit. I finally had to quit after about 1 year of this product going live because it started making me more money in 2 months than my day job was paying me for an entire year!
I quit my job around 9 months ago. Finding too much of time on hand I subsequently started work on a new app, got my friend to join me and we got into Start-up Chile. It's been a great journey but I'm so glad that I did not quit the moment we were profitable. It has taught me the most important thing you need to learn while starting up, being efficient.
I always suggest everyone who has a product to not quit until it is virtually impossible to keep up with a day job. You then become a time management champ and know how to do more with less :)
I built an online payroll service for Canadian families who hire staff like nannies or home care workers, or small businesses that wanted a very simple payroll solution. At the same time I had a day job.
I wasn't raking in money but I had customers and my revenues exceeded my small expenses.
Over the summer I sold the company and went to work for the acquiring company. In retrospect, this was probably the best move for me (I had considered taking investment to move to it full time.)
Like one of the answers above, I don't think I could have grown the business significantly without spending more time on it, and for me (day job, 3 young kids) this was the only way I could have done it.
I've been running side businesses while having dayjobs most of my working life. One of those side projects, my xen vps hosting company, is now my dayjob. Of course, you might not call it a startup; I'm not really looking to sell (I mean, I would if someone wanted to give me a 10x revenue valuation or something silly like that, but I doubt that will happen.) and it's north of six years old, but revenue is doubling every year or so, and it pays my rent and covers another full-time employee (plus contractors)
Having a well-paying dayjob changes things. You will want to hire your first employee long before you would if you were working full-time at the startup. You will want to spend money rather than do work more often than you would otherwise. Assuming you have a high paying dayjob and you are willing to live cheap, your runway is now measured only in terms of your motivation.
Note, you will not be performing 100% at the dayjob. I got asked to choose between the dayjob and my business only once, though, and that was near the beginning, before I really learned to compartmentalize, and when I was most focused on my business.
My style of work is and always has been very burst-y, which works out well. When I wasn't that focused on the business, I'd get a regular dayjob and top off my COBRA and rent money. When I was focused on the business, I'd either focus on the business completely or work contract gigs for extra money. It's interesting; if you contract through a body shop for non-expert work? (e.g. if they rent you out as a normal programmer/sysadmin?) it pays only slightly better than doing the same job as a direct employee (sometimes a little worse if the benefits for the direct employee are good) but the expectations for your work are much lower. I mean, think about it; if they are paying about the same for a contract as for a full-time with benefits job, do you think they are going to get good people? The lowered expectations along with the ability to spend pre-tax dollars on company equipment made that a pretty good deal for me.
Especially during the money-losing phase (and this /will/ be longer than it would have been if you were full time.) the taxes are complex and can make a huge difference. get a good accountant, and listen to him or her. Small bullshit changes can make the difference between spending pre tax money buying servers and spending post-tax money on those servers.
My technical blogs, while not technically a startup, do have the habit of making me mid-four figures per month with very few hours per month investment.
I have built, launched, and run Swappa http://swappa.com while having a day job. Revenues won't support me quitting yet (or anytime soon), but Swappa is profitable.
I'm doing that right now. My startup is selling you, your kids and the girl next door. Heck, I can even sell your grandmother!
Advertising agency's (my day job) can rent them for a fixed price. Royalties included.
(I'm not spamming. You're not my targets and only Dutch people can read it anyway). But have a look at the several hundred people that signed up if you're interested: http://royaltyfreemodels.nl/zoeken/page:11
I started working on a bug tracker (who hasn't at some point, right? :)) because we were using Bugzilla at work and I absolutely hated it and didn't think it fit with our workflow at all.
About a year later I brought it to the team and we decided to switch to it. A few months of light iteration and polish after that and we launched it as it's own product (https://bugrocket.com) for $20/month.
Pretty happy with how it's going, too. It hasn't really interfered with the 'day job' at all besides the occasional email to answer or tweet to reply to. We have really flexible hours here so I shift my day around sometimes to accomodate both projects. Totally do-able.
edit: Seems there is some interest in the 'family situation' of these success stories. I'm married (with kittens, no kids) and it generally hasn't been too difficult to keep a balance. It's helped me a lot having some people working with me (especially on non-technical bits), and not just alone as a single founder. It's hard to say how much time I actually put in because it's kind of a 'here and there' whenever there's the opportunity kind of thing. I'd probably estimate 3-5 hours during the week and then either a lot (8+ hours) or nothing on the weekends, depending on else is happening.
[+] [-] jasonkester|14 years ago|reply
The thing is, if you use the term "Startup" here to describe anything other than a zero-profit 80hr/week scramble for VC funding and eventual acquisition, you're going to get people popping up and claiming that what you're doing is not startuppy enough to count. So for the benefit of that crowd, you might want to rephrase your question in terms of building a product that brings in enough revenue to quit your job.
If that's what you want to build, then yes. It's absolutely possible, and there are dozens of people here who have done so.
[+] [-] dclowd9901|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prayag|14 years ago|reply
I have always had a problem with that. A start-up is a start-up if you decide it's a start-up and want to transform it into a viable business. There is no magic line that you have to cross to transform your project into a start-up. I always advice people to call their projects a start-up from the beginning.
[+] [-] donnfelker|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] a5seo|14 years ago|reply
It was profitable within 6 months off organic traffic and lead gen. Approximate revenue by year: $10k, 40k, 70k, 100k, 150k, 250k, 500k, 750k, 1.5M, 2.5M.
Built entirely while working for another startup (unrelated), first 3 years I was in graduate school, year 4 I was a product manager for another startup. Year 5 I finally took the leap to run it full-time.
I was the sole owner, never had more than 7 employees, and I sold it for a bit over $10M (ttm revenue was around $700k at the time).
Leading up to launch, I typically worked 10-7 at my day job, then wrote my code from 8p-1a M-F (20 hrs) and all day on the weekends (20 hrs), so 40 hrs per week. During school, my wife handled the sales part-time (16 hrs/wk), and I probably spent 8 hrs a week on it fixing bugs, implementing ad deals etc. In Year 4, I spent ~16 hrs a week on it outside of my day job (misc. tech upkeep, link building, PR, etc.).
It's definitely doable, but your SO needs to be on-board because you'll be taking the time away from them. Or do it before you have a SO to worry about.
[+] [-] jadoint|14 years ago|reply
I hope you don't mind me asking these questions since I'm in the thick of it myself at the moment. I'm new here so I hope I'm not breaking etiquette.
At what point did you realize you needed help and then decide that you can actually afford it?
What made you decide to hire your 1st employee rather than a co-founder?
What role did your 1st employee have?
What kinds of employees did you end up hiring?
How did you find your employees?
Any insight would be appreciated!
[+] [-] j45|14 years ago|reply
The question I have is, how much more beneficial was it to have your SO involved at some meaningful level? Sales is an interesting spot because it makes a case for itself to justify the time required.
Are there any pros / cons of involving your SO directly and at the core of your business that you'd be able/willing to share? I'd be really interested to know. Thanks for sharing.
[+] [-] njstartups|14 years ago|reply
Thanks
[+] [-] whirlycott1|14 years ago|reply
From January, 2005 through May, 2006, I worked on StyleFeeder on the side - while I had a pretty demanding day job, mind you - as I built up the basic business... until I had invested so much time and effort into it that I was maxed out and needed to find a way to work on it full time with the help of others.
I don't see any plausible way that I could have made it into anything significant while at the same time working a day job. I think some people can do it with some businesses, but I think it would have been impossible in my case.
But the bootstrapping phase, yes, I think you can do that while working a day job. That's very common.
More details here:
http://www.whirlycott.com/phil/2011/08/05/stylefeeder-histor...
[+] [-] geoffw8|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Liu|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rokhayakebe|14 years ago|reply
Edit: Had you reach 7 figure revenue yet?
[+] [-] AznHisoka|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bradleyland|14 years ago|reply
* Position yourself for minimum cash outflow. Minimizing your cash needs means you can take bigger risks. I found a decent 500 sq ft apartment and drove a cheap car. Without a family, all my other expenses were dirt cheap.
* Save up a three month buffer and strike out on your own gig, but not your start-up yet. I chose consulting because the income potential is so high and it provided a great networking opportunity. I doubled my annual income (from my old salary) within a year, but far more importantly, I was able to accomplish a few transitional steps in getting my start-up going:
- I built a relationship with a great developer by feeding him work from consulting clients.
- I built relationships with other business owners and took a lot of time to understand their business.
- Ultimately, I met the person who would connect me with the greatest team I've ever worked with.
By the time I found the right team and opportunity, I had a year's worth of expenses saved up, and a small amount of money to contribute to the operational expenses of the company. Coming to the table with cash in-hand gained me a lot of respect from other team members. Because everyone came to the table with their own income streams, we were able to bootstrap and now, 100% of our equity is founder owned. That's a pretty exciting reality for us.
[+] [-] clistctrl|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] fotoblur|14 years ago|reply
When I look at my day job I only ever get 4 hrs of real work done anyway...with wasted time for meetings, bureaucracy, and being blocked by others. So even though I'm at work for 8+ hours, on my free time, I'm able to work on a similar sized project putting in less hours because there is usually no waste in that time. I've also got 2 kids and train 4 times a week at the gym or jiu jitsu. It can be done!
After reading a few more comments I want to add something. Work hard at your day job, do your best work, and make them dependent on you. Here is why...if you ever come in late, or leave early because there is a crisis on you side project your employer usually won't care. Your the superstar so that's expected. However, you've got to keep your day job really, really happy to walk this fine line between pursuing your own interests and meeting the needs of your day job. Plus when you have a successful side project (that maybe can't support you just yet) and you're out job hunting people will see you as a golden ticket, a diamond in the rough. Usually when I interview people I often ask what they're working on on the side. That indicates to me this person has drive and determination.
[+] [-] paraschopra|14 years ago|reply
To be honest, I think the time constraints posed by day job (you got only 2-3 hours of working on your startup) really made you focus on important stuff (such as working on user feedback and iterating). Plus, the comfort of having a salary provided let you invest in site design, marketing, AdWords, etc. without having you unnecessarily worry about "funding" or borrowing from parents/friends.
[+] [-] kalid|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ry0ohki|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] rgraham|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] timimit|14 years ago|reply
AUsedCar.com
How does that site compare in a very busy market with established big name players?
Thanks
[+] [-] cpeneguy|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] acangiano|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Jun8|14 years ago|reply
So, my more specific question is: Has anybody done this while picking up your kid from daycare at 5pm, having family business until 8:30pm and working at a day job. Id this impossible?
I think the viable alternatives in this case are trying to earn money from blogs and mobile apps.
[+] [-] Sukotto|14 years ago|reply
It's really, really hard to make time for a side business in there too.
Are you working on something? How are you making the time for it? How's your progress?
[+] [-] roel_v|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ttran08|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] therandomguy|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] forcer|14 years ago|reply
I think its the best way to start a company because you are only risking sweat-equity. The danger is that your day job holds you from growing your startup more.
[+] [-] acangiano|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dazzla|14 years ago|reply
This week I took a trip to the ER in an ambulance because I had a seizure at my new day job after one too many late nights working on the side project.
Be careful and know your limits better than I do.
[+] [-] nsiemsen|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DougN7|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] roel_v|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nathanbarry|14 years ago|reply
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3238834
[+] [-] nischalshetty|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nischalshetty|14 years ago|reply
I quit my job around 9 months ago. Finding too much of time on hand I subsequently started work on a new app, got my friend to join me and we got into Start-up Chile. It's been a great journey but I'm so glad that I did not quit the moment we were profitable. It has taught me the most important thing you need to learn while starting up, being efficient.
I always suggest everyone who has a product to not quit until it is virtually impossible to keep up with a day job. You then become a time management champ and know how to do more with less :)
[+] [-] roel_v|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] swalberg|14 years ago|reply
I wasn't raking in money but I had customers and my revenues exceeded my small expenses.
Over the summer I sold the company and went to work for the acquiring company. In retrospect, this was probably the best move for me (I had considered taking investment to move to it full time.)
Like one of the answers above, I don't think I could have grown the business significantly without spending more time on it, and for me (day job, 3 young kids) this was the only way I could have done it.
[+] [-] jv22222|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TY|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lsc|14 years ago|reply
Having a well-paying dayjob changes things. You will want to hire your first employee long before you would if you were working full-time at the startup. You will want to spend money rather than do work more often than you would otherwise. Assuming you have a high paying dayjob and you are willing to live cheap, your runway is now measured only in terms of your motivation.
Note, you will not be performing 100% at the dayjob. I got asked to choose between the dayjob and my business only once, though, and that was near the beginning, before I really learned to compartmentalize, and when I was most focused on my business.
My style of work is and always has been very burst-y, which works out well. When I wasn't that focused on the business, I'd get a regular dayjob and top off my COBRA and rent money. When I was focused on the business, I'd either focus on the business completely or work contract gigs for extra money. It's interesting; if you contract through a body shop for non-expert work? (e.g. if they rent you out as a normal programmer/sysadmin?) it pays only slightly better than doing the same job as a direct employee (sometimes a little worse if the benefits for the direct employee are good) but the expectations for your work are much lower. I mean, think about it; if they are paying about the same for a contract as for a full-time with benefits job, do you think they are going to get good people? The lowered expectations along with the ability to spend pre-tax dollars on company equipment made that a pretty good deal for me.
Especially during the money-losing phase (and this /will/ be longer than it would have been if you were full time.) the taxes are complex and can make a huge difference. get a good accountant, and listen to him or her. Small bullshit changes can make the difference between spending pre tax money buying servers and spending post-tax money on those servers.
[+] [-] acangiano|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 16BitTons|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] benedwards|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] digitalengineer|14 years ago|reply
Advertising agency's (my day job) can rent them for a fixed price. Royalties included.
(I'm not spamming. You're not my targets and only Dutch people can read it anyway). But have a look at the several hundred people that signed up if you're interested: http://royaltyfreemodels.nl/zoeken/page:11
(It's run on CakePHP for the interested).
[+] [-] thenduks|14 years ago|reply
About a year later I brought it to the team and we decided to switch to it. A few months of light iteration and polish after that and we launched it as it's own product (https://bugrocket.com) for $20/month.
Pretty happy with how it's going, too. It hasn't really interfered with the 'day job' at all besides the occasional email to answer or tweet to reply to. We have really flexible hours here so I shift my day around sometimes to accomodate both projects. Totally do-able.
edit: Seems there is some interest in the 'family situation' of these success stories. I'm married (with kittens, no kids) and it generally hasn't been too difficult to keep a balance. It's helped me a lot having some people working with me (especially on non-technical bits), and not just alone as a single founder. It's hard to say how much time I actually put in because it's kind of a 'here and there' whenever there's the opportunity kind of thing. I'd probably estimate 3-5 hours during the week and then either a lot (8+ hours) or nothing on the weekends, depending on else is happening.