SXSW2009 – Quitter: How to Leave Your Perfectly Good Job

2:58 PM AdamSchwabe - Session Description: Your folks won’t understand it, but sometimes you just need to quit your perfectly good job and go to work for yourself. This panel discussion will seek to understand what it is that makes a good entrepreneur and what are the best first-steps towards being one.

Bryan Mason – Small Batch Inc
Ryan Freitas – Plinky
Christopher Sacca – Lowercase Capital
Laura Mayes – Kirtsy
3:00 PM AdamSchwabe - Session running a tad late, people stil filing in.
3:02 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: Why now is the perfect time to give Chris Sacca equity in your startup or how to get laid off or fired.

3:02 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason used to work at Adaptive Path, left in August for his current job.
3:02 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: Worked with Twitter in design/business contract.
3:03 PM AdamSchwabe - Ryan Freitas, also a former Adaptive Path guy. Lead redesign of MySpace. Does exceptional work “so he quit”
3:04 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Former Google employee.
3:04 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Electrical data, WiFi, 100 MHz networking stuff at Google. So he quit.
3:05 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: VP of ad firm in Houston for 9 years. Left 2 years ago.
3:05 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes started Kirtsy, “Digg for chicks”
3:06 PM AdamSchwabe - Employement figures shown for CA (10%), NY (7.6%), Texas (7%), National average (8.4%)
3:06 PM AdamSchwabe - Rase to Witch Mountain is the #1 movie in America right now (about the apocalypse) – good times.
3:06 PM AdamSchwabe - Things to do if you want to quit…
3:06 PM AdamSchwabe - 1) Resign. For legal reasons, all you really have to do is a one liner (like Nixon).
3:07 PM AdamSchwabe - 2) Get a copy of all agreements (showing Google’s confidentiality agreement.. hah) for no poach, non-compete, equity agreements.
3:07 PM AdamSchwabe - Google has more lawyers than you do, so cover your ass.
3:08 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Expected more people in the audience to be wearing disguises.
3:08 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: Been spending last 4-5 months doing reference checks for Twitter. Using LinkedIn to find people you used to work with/for.
3:09 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: In consulting, you can feel like you’ve been doing your best work. Rather than continue and keep doing stuff you might be sort of happy with, you need to find a way out.
3:09 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Handle it as professionally as possible to maintain relationships. Don’t burn bridges (or take joy in burning them.. hah)
3:09 PM AdamSchwabe - Stuart Butterfield: Best resignation letter ever (was going to go into metal working)
3:10 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: When I left AP, it was hard. Wanted to make certain everyone understood that he was going through it and it doesn’t have to suck.
3:10 PM Greeblemonkey - How do you quit gracefully? Resignation letter, finishing strong – the last things you do is what people remember. #quitter #sxsw
3:10 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Do a lot of good business with former employers still as a result of leaving on good terms.
3:11 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Was to get fired, but they didn’t think he knew, so he prepared a speech. The woman that came to fire him then cried.
3:11 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: It’s really hard to fire people. He hires people because he likes them, so showing empathy to people you have to fire you is nice. (whatever.. lol)
3:13 PM AdamSchwabe - Why leave Google? Sacca: Tried to leave in Spring 07. Everyone told him he had the greatest job in the world. Let others set the expectations for him. Wasn’t what he wanted though. Finally in November realized it wasn’t making him happy.
3:13 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Like having a really good looking girlfriend, but being totally unhappy with her.
3:14 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: What if you’re dating two people that you really like? (lots of laughs from crowd)
3:14 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: For the very first time thanks to mentors (**key), he started going on offense and doing things that make him happy.
3:15 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Personal story – left a shit ton of story in Spring 2000 (millions.. holy crap)
3:15 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Took multiple ventures until Spring 2005 to get back to zero.
3:15 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: When you’re in school, etc. you’re in reactive mode and take everything people give to you and just do it. Was first time he finally just pulled the trigger.
3:16 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: Any financial interests? Or did you just go do it?
3:16 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Didn’t do any analysis, just thought ‘what do I want to do this time?’ Really good at doing nothing, but that isn’t sustainable.
3:17 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: When people are giving a lot of advice to you, it’s sometimes about your passion, sometimes about a fallback position – having a plan for yourself.
3:17 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: If you’re like me, you have backups upon backups.
3:17 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: You can continue to learn Excel, or you can pursue what you’re passionate about. (eff yes)
3:18 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Was laid off. Could go to Munich or go to hell. So he took the sev. package.
3:18 PM ruralocity - Have a plan in place–savings, backup plans, etc. #sxsw #quitter
3:18 PM niche - just walked to the Quitter session. packed. #quitsxsw
3:18 PM MeJayne - “Quitter” panel rocks
3:19 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Was working at Aqua, restaurant in SFO.
3:19 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Spend 3 years hiding from economy. Got to do something he was passionate about but put himself in debt every day working there ($7/hr, 16 hrs a day)
3:20 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: If I go through another economic collapse, I’m going to open a fish taco stand (hah)
3:20 PM sxswguide - RT @ruralocity: Don’t let outsiders set your expectations for “success” when deciding whether/when to leave. sxsw #quitter (@sandrasays)
3:20 PM AdamSchwabe - How to get ready…
3:20 PM AdamSchwabe - Do I own my ideas/code/design? How much money should I have in the bank to start something? Do I need a full business plan or do I just jump in?
3:21 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Keep your shit separate, don’t take your software home, work on your own equipment/software at home.
3:21 PM ruralocity - you can’t use anything that belongs to your employer when doing your own thing–e-mail, computer, etc. #sxsw #quitter
3:21 PM Greeblemonkey - Do you own you stuff, code, design, even stuff on the side? Keep a list of what you do own on the back of your agreements. #quitter #sxsw
3:22 PM AdamSchwabe - [Related: There are mint.com flyers all over every chair in this room. Classy. –A]
3:23 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: Should Mayes quit her job?
3:23 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: I think beers help this discussion (Mason just handed beers out all panelists.. haha classic)
3:24 PM ruralocity - Define success–money? control? what? #sxsw #quitter
3:25 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: I’m not confused about this. When people think about Kirtsy they don’t get why she doesn’t quit her day job.
3:26 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: I just don’t want to, I like my job. Lots of full-time volunteers that work for the site. Wonderful organic thing that everyone is working on something they’re passionate about.
3:26 PM sxswguide - “It has to come from within. It’s not something you can rush.” @sacca #quitter sxsw (@Greeblemonkey)
3:27 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: You know when you’re ready. Everyone has to deal with in their own way.
3:27 PM ruralocity - It’s OK to like your job! #sxsw #quitter
3:28 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: What advice would you give, what have you done in the past at startups?
3:28 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: A lot of up front work done goes out the window. 9 times out of 10 have to walk them back through process of understanding why they are where they are.
3:29 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Getting people aligned philosophically to be where they want to be is essential.
3:29 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: People spend too much time on vision and not enough time on tactics.
3:30 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Vision statement that’s very specific helps. Big-ass plans don’t allow for any flexibility or fluidity.
3:30 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Didn’t make any appointments for SXSW. (You really can’t. This place is effed.)
3:31 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: People talk talk talk but never do. You can mock-prototype something over a weekend. Can talk about something now and have a URL on Monday. Move fast.
3:31 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Get a nice prototype up.
3:32 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: Can go on and on and on about thinking about quitting job forever. (Like breaking up with someone)
3:32 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: Nebulous thinking is exhausting and makes everything you do shit.
3:33 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Lower your personal burden as much as possible. Moving from house to loft forced him to reflect on all the shit he has (no closets) and helped him cleanse.
3:33 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: More choices allows you to be more fluid.
3:33 PM AdamSchwabe - (Sacca and Mayes, then Freitas all take a drink)
3:35 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: Probably fail doing things at Kirtsy more than doing her day job. Works complimentary for her.
3:35 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Can be value in taking on two totally different industries. He smokes his own bacon.
3:35 PM AdamSchwabe - [Thinking about my ventures with blogTO, Dear Toronto, etc. on top of my day job –A]
3:36 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Likes having one foot in one world, another in consulting. That kind of stuff keeps me whole (amen to that!)
3:36 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: If you don’t know whether to stick with your main gig or start a new one, way too easy to fall into that never-ending pattern of thinking about work.
3:37 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: So panicked all the time. Changes his clothes at the end of the day to make work/life separation (audience member shouts out, “like Mr. Rogers?”)
3:37 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Drop quest about thinking about work and have some fun. (agree totally)
3:38 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Go to the gym for a couple hours in the morning.
3:38 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Your inbox is a to-do list that anyone else can add an action-item to.
3:38 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Stopped living in my inbox, start living off my to-do list.
3:40 PM AdamSchwabe - (Re: VC funding) Mayes: Lots of benefits to taking other peoples’ money.
3:41 PM AdamSchwabe - [Sorry having connection issues here. Back now.]
3:42 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: Have goals for about a year out. Who knows if it’ll stick though? If things get screwed in April, have to re-evaluate.
3:43 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: Cool to be non-traditional, but it’s hard to not be in the same room with someone to work.
3:44 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: What level of detail do you give when describing success/failure to people you’re advising?
3:44 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Sold 3 companies last year, one was a 23-year old kid that made $700k. That’s success. What kind of world do you live in where that’s not successful?
3:44 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: My parents would murder someone for that much money.
3:45 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Set goal by asking question “where do we want to end up?” big houses? nice cars?
3:45 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: Kirtsy made 2000x what she made in her first year of teaching. Goal for success was different at the time though.
3:47 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Google/MS works on things different ways. Microsoft: Will this please a partner? Google: Will this fix a problem? Will this piss off AOL?
3:48 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: When you clear your mind of these considerations, really cool things happen. It’s a distraction to think about who your lawyer is. It’s so cheap to build your own thing. If it’s successful, cool.
3:48 PM ruralocity - don’t worry about legal, CPA, etc. stuff up-front when starting on an idea. Don’t worry about who you’re going to make mad. #sxsw #quitter
3:48 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: Q&A time.
3:49 PM AdamSchwabe - Q: Just left a job. Many people expect me to be an over-achiever in my family. 1) How do you manage expectations in your life? How do you convey the meaning/value of what you’re doing? 2) How do you talk to people in your networks who are used to you being in a different role that you don’t want a job, just have conversations with really smart people.
3:50 PM AdamSchwabe - A: (Freitas) Hit your network really hard. Hit up the ones you don’t even think will respond. Describe what you’re doing, what you want to do.
3:50 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Tell them you’re going to run out of money in a year.
3:51 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Worst thing to disappoint people that care about you. But tell them this is the only thing that is going to make me happy. I’ll be no use to you if I’m not happy and doing my best work.
3:51 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: We have tools that make it really easy to show us what we’re like over a long period of time (Twitter a great example) – What’s on my mind, what I’m doing.
3:52 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Hopefully you’re doing this time to figure out what you really want to do right now. As you document these things on blog, Twitter, people realize that you’re serious and will actually get jealous of you pursuing happiness and passion in your life.
3:52 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: If you have a community online, look to what they’re looking to do as well. Something they say will help you move in that direction.
3:53 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Important to point to something real you’re trying to do.
3:54 PM AdamSchwabe - [This is the best panel I've seen at SXSW btw. –A]
3:54 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Felt I was being less judged on my resume. Sometimes creating an entity around yourself (legal or whatever). Throw a site up around that and use that as your identity.
3:55 PM AdamSchwabe - Mayes: If you’re doing this with more than one person, you *need* a legal entity.
3:55 PM AdamSchwabe - “Nolo” (?) – Great legal books by lawyers that are very easy to understand.
3:56 PM AdamSchwabe - Q: First job out of college a non-profit. When’s the right time to tell others that you’re leaving? 3 weeks?
3:56 PM AdamSchwabe - A: (Sacca) You just started that process (haha)
3:57 PM AdamSchwabe - Mason: Offer to help find a replacement?
3:57 PM AdamSchwabe - Freitas: Had to leave immediately in order to stop people from giving him new work. Sometimes it’s better to leave right away.
3:58 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: But be preapared to be shown the door on that day. Carry out your emails and other crap early, don’t carry out the two boxes since that’s just embarassing.
3:58 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Some of my best stuff I left in my Google inbox. (ouch)
3:58 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: HR industry attracts a lot of freaks.
3:58 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: A lot of times they’re just going to freak out and show you the door.
3:59 PM AdamSchwabe - (Unintelligible low-talker asking a question)
4:00 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Dispute at Facebook re:Zuckerberg wasn’t about who owns tech, it was about who was banging out the code. That’s great.
4:01 PM AdamSchwabe - Q: Started a company, recently left but with a severance package asking them not to take employees with them, but the employees want to leave.
4:01 PM AdamSchwabe - A: (Sacca) Those are called non-solicitation agreements. Really comes down to soliciting act.
4:02 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Used to be a bunch of old, rich white guys at the urinals saying “are we gonna screw these guys?” “yeah fuck em” “ok meeting adjourned.” (laughs)
4:03 PM AdamSchwabe - Sacca: Surely they’re going to ask for your email if there’s litigation in a non-solicitation case. Talk to a lawyer.

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