Money Problem — 200 days to YC #W3
My teeth broke recently, but I didn’t have dental insurance. My current job gave me an amazing network and exposure to founders, but it doesn’t pay well. I can barely make ends meet.
As a person who is not so driven by money, I don’t really mind not having money. It is just sad that I don’t have money now, and I will still not have money if I decide to found my startup. That’s the hard part.
The worst part is not being poor but the bad decisions I have made due to a lack of money. So, I started to ask myself a series of questions.
- What kind of bad decisions have I made due to my scarce financial mindset?
- I didn’t have good insurance, don’t feel comfortable buying productivity tools (e.g. mac and monitor), and my furnishing was initially a disaster because I just don’t feel comfortable spending money on it until I realized it was fucking up my brain. House search and moving house is also stressful.
Yet, if I want to work on a startup, or persist on anything for a long time, it needs to be sustainable. So the next question for myself is,
- What kind of spending is necessary for being a happy healthy human being?
a decent insurance, taking Uber in the SF evening, spending money on tools for work, going to dance classes, and yoga classes, buying clothes, furniture, and traveling from time to time.
- What does sustainability in finance for me feel like/look like?
I don’t feel stressed when I spend on the necessities mentioned above, and I can feel comfortable making good decisions for my health, education, living, safety, and productivity.
I can pay back my current debt.
I also want some savings for emergencies.
- How much extra money do I have that I will feel comfortable with?
At least an extra 2K a month in SF with 60K in the bank.
- When do I want to reach that?
Next May for the monthly goal.
- What is the effort to put in to reach that?
More cost-cutting for spending. I set up a monthly financial reflection meeting with myself / Switch my job / Find another money stream
The big challenge here is that if I don’t have money, I also don’t have the runway to work on my stuff too.
- Should go back to well-paid big tech to accumulate some wealth to get ready?
- Should I work for a bigger edtech company as a compromise in between?
- Is there a way to raise funds early and quickly?
I realized I’ve been just sucking my money problem up, but building my passion is useless if I’m not even healthy and happy. How do all these founders navigate their money problems in their early years? What are some financial attitudes to cultivate?
Please enlighten me if you have ideas or readings.
