We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 13 cities confirmed, 675 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city

Making the leap

Quit smart: runway, timing, and family buy-in.

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Should I take a job first or start a startup right now? If you're young, undercapitalized, and thin on skills, take the job, but pick a fast-growing startup, not a comfy corporate seat, because you learn... Beginner 2 resources → How much personal savings or runway should I have before I quit? Aim for 12 to 18 months of bare-bones personal expenses in the bank before you go full-time, not months of your current lifestyle, months of your s... Beginner 2 resources → How do I convince my spouse and family to back me quitting? Don't sell them a dream, bring them a plan: the exact runway number, the timeline, the specific milestones that mean 'keep going,' and the tripwire... Beginner 2 resources → I have deep expertise but no startup skills, what do I learn first? You don't need 'startup expertise', you need expertise in your users, which you may already have. Learn just enough to talk to customers, ship a ro... Beginner 2 resources → If the startup fails, how do I explain the gap to future employers? Stop calling it a gap, it's a founder role, and you frame it exactly like any other job: what you built, what you learned, what you owned end-to-en... Beginner 2 resources → How do I keep my health insurance and financial safety net after I quit my corporate job in India? The day you resign, your employer group health cover ends, so buy a personal family floater (at least 10 lakh) two to three months BEFORE you quit,... Beginner 3 resources → How do I quit gracefully without burning bridges I will need as a founder? Serve your full notice, document a clean handover, and tell your manager the real reason (you are starting up) rather than inventing a fake offer; ... Beginner 3 resources → Everyone I know says quitting is reckless. How do I handle non-founder friends and family who think I'm making a mistake? Stop seeking permission from people who have never done this; a salaried relative genuinely cannot assess startup risk, so their fear is real but t... Beginner 3 resources →

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