[arunaugustine]

Also an Ex-FANG software engineer.

1. Quit and returned to home country before starting up. I did try the evenings and weekend startup approach, but got close to burn out. For me at least, starting up meant working on something full time.

2. Took 4 pivots and as many years to get our first dollar. In year 2, we did earn some money but was cost of goods sold (travel tickets, building materials, do can't really count that as dollar earned).

3. It was a series of plateaus. Took a long time for the first $10, then about a year to first $1000, then an year to $3000 and then another year to $10K. This is just one data point. Smarter/Luckier people may do it faster/better.

4. I love software engineering. I am still doing it at my startup. I'm doing it my way, learning and experimenting with stuff. Actually my core motivation is to keep doing software (and someday even build a programming language) supported by a team and company creating value for others and getting paid for it.

5. With a co-founder.

6. An article on the initial journey, I wrote down a while back. https://medium.com/messengermarketing/from-quitting-silicon-...

Btw, the idea mentioned at the end of the article also failed. But that final pivot is what we are still working on (in-cart campaign software for Shopify stores). This second half of the journey is still ongoing. Will try to write it down someday.