Should You Go Full-Time or Part-Time?

I get this question a lot, and honestly, both are fine.
There’s no right way to start. It depends on you, your risk tolerance, your finances, and how secure you generally feel in life.

Whatever path you choose, remember: most people never even start. If you’re reading this, you’re already ahead of 99% of them.

Let’s break it down.

Full-Time Founders

Going all in means fast progress.
You’ll build quickly, ship quickly, and fail or succeed quickly.

That’s not a bad thing. The faster you fail, the faster you can adjust or move on to something that works.
If you have savings, a strong safety net, or live in a country where failure doesn’t destroy you (hello Switzerland 🇨🇭), then full-time can make sense.

Personally, I went full time because:

• I had savings.

• I could always get a well-paid job again.

• And honestly, even if everything collapsed, my country, family, or friends would catch me.

If you feel that kind of safety, go for it.

Famous full-time examples:

• Elon Musk: went all in with Zip2 and later Tesla, sleeping on the factory floor.

• Brian Chesky (Airbnb): quit everything, maxed out credit cards, sold cereal boxes to stay afloat.

They moved fast. They also risked everything.
And they remind us that at some point, every big success looked like a crazy risk that might not work.

Part-Time Founders

Then there’s the slow and steady path.
You keep your day job. You build at night. You test, pivot, and keep experimenting until something finally clicks.

Theoretically, you can’t fail. You just keep iterating.

A friend once told me about a mushroom producer in Switzerland. The founder worked a day job and ran the mushroom business on the side. It lost money for 28 years.
He just kept pouring money into it year after year.
Now it’s thriving.

That’s the part-time advantage: infinite runway.

Some famous part-time success stories:

• Phil Knight (Nike): started by selling shoes while working as an accountant.

• Sara Blakely (Spanx): sold fax machines by day, built her billion-dollar brand by night.

Less pressure. Just persistence.
And persistence always wins in the long run.

So, What Should You Do?

Here’s a quick decision helper:

If you keep answering yes: Go full-time!

1. Do you have 6+ months of living expenses saved? (feel free to pick another amount you feel comfortable with. You can even start full time while being in debt, but you might also want a longer runway)

2. Do you feel comfortable with high risk and uncertainty?

3. Can you easily find another job if it fails, or do you have another safety net (like a generous state)?

At the end of the day, it’s not about right or wrong.
It’s about speed versus safety.
Both paths lead to the same destination — entrepreneurship — just at different paces.

The key is simple: Start.
Because no amount of thinking will ever replace doing.
Every small step counts. Even one hour this week can set your next big thing in motion.

Your task for today:
1. Answer the questions from above
2. Write down which type you are right now and why.
3. Define your next clear step to move your project forward.

Whether you go full or part time doesn’t matter.
What matters is that you start and keep going.

Ready? Join the launchASAP family to learn how to make your venture a success.

What topic should I tackle next? Send me your thoughts!

Best of luck,
Michael

P.S. I believe Switzerland might be one of the best places in the world for starting a business.

Let's go!