How do you build a startup while working a full-time job?

“My very first out of uni job was a data scientist. I was working at then a small startup called Max Kelsen. We were doing data consulting in the ML, AI space. I was doing that for a year. Some software is built out of a problem and we had been providing a service to multiple customers and decided why not build a product out of it. So it was very new. No one really knew much about building software or products. I had done some reading around what a product manager does. And kind of just put my hand up for that role and suggested I was the best person to take it. I was doing two roles at that point, so they really needed someone on the ground talking to customers in Sydney. And I was like, hey, product managers also talk to customers a lot. And that's, that closes, that closes the loop. So I was doing two jobs initially, a product manager and also key account success. For a product that spun out of Max Callison that was called Otso. And that was all about sifting through unstructured text data and enriching it with ML models, all that, all that fun stuff. So that started my career into product management. That was probably around 8 years ago or so. And then past that, I started at Ignition where I really got an opportunity to hone my product management skills and really find a lot of love for the role, something that is both equally challenging, rewarding, puts you in front of a lot of people, and means you can have an impact in what you build.”

“So many times I've got this thing and I said, okay, what are you doing? I've got my full-time job. So I says, well, then you're not passionate about what you're about to build, are you? Yes, I am. Well, why are you still got your full-time job? Got to pay the bills. Well, then work out how you get to the point where you don't have to worry about the bills. Either raise some money or get a co-founder or work out a way, move back home with the young. I'm in my early 60s. I'm starting again. I've got another startup from scratch. I'm lucky I've got— I can look at my father. He was wiped out at 55. And his business, the engineering business, restarted at 60. When he passed away last year, he was in his early 80s. My mum's got a couple of million dollars to live off for the rest of her life. And that traveled the world and built some great products. So the age is not the barrier. The barrier is people's attitude.”