Ways to bootstrap a startup: “working in waves”

Good post Joel ;-) I'm generally in agreement with working in "waves" (it's an approach I've used for past 10 years)<p>A couple of other thoughts that might be worth considering: 1. Once you decide that the "start-up career" is your full-time career path - then you need to start thinking about "serious stuff like pensions and investing". I generally put 50% of the money that I make between "start-up waves" into investments (for me it's properties) that generate cash flow<p>2. Find a business partner with complimentary skills to you (understand that they can - and probably will change as your business develops)<p>3. Before your embark on a start-up wave try to make sure that the market is already there (ie spend the evenings and weekends of your "paying job time" doing Customer Development research (you don't need to cut very much code to do this)<p>;-)

I cant think of a single hacker I know that would be happy in doing a 'work wave'. There's that itching inside, you know you should be building something and its impossible not to work on it..<p>So I can't really see how 'wave' working would ever really work without hacking drifting into the little free time you have.

I feel like the biggest danger with a system like this is that you might lose focus or passion while you're in between waves. Even if you're passionate about something while you're working on it, it seems like it would be very easy to become complacent working at your "in-between" job and difficult to get back working on your idea.

Working in Waves is quite an interesting approach. Although it is best suited for young founders with little responsibilities who can do contract jobs.<p>Another option is the "Nights and Weekends" option best suited for those who have full time jobs.