Moonlighting.

In the very early stages, when all you have is an idea, it clearly makes sense to keep your current job. After all, you need to vet the idea to make sure it is viable (does the world really need a on-demand joke explainer?). So, you continue to work, spend a month or so researching, maybe even draw up some numbers and it's all looking good. What next?

If you're already at the enviable stage of not having to work for a living, there's a blog on yacht-buying that you should be reading. But if you're like most others, you've got to make money to cover pesky essentials like food and clothing and car insurance, and of course, gas, and you can't just up and quit. You need an exit-and-launch strategy.

I've seen a couple of entrepreneurs who'd set a goal of how much they'd have stashed in the bank before they quit, and they stuck it out in their jobs until they got there. Their discipline is very commendable - it would be wrenching to be spending long hours working on something else when your startup is so tantalizingly close.

There's the approach of continuing to draw the paycheck until you've lined up alternate funds, i.e. investors. Sounds great in theory, but there are many requirements to be met before investors commit funds, unless you're a proven entrepreneur with past successes. For example, it really helps to have a customers lined up - which is challenging to achieve without funding or product (but not impossible). It could take a long while before the startup is ready for funding. And of course, in all these cases you have to worry about intellectual property rights for anything you may develop while in someone else's employ.

Plan C, or the hedging-your-bets approach is to keep working until the startup reaches some milestons leading to revenue or funding, but maybe in a reduced capacity. This way you have more time to spend on your dream, but there's some spare change in your pockets too ,as well as light at the end of the tunnel. Consulting seems to be an attractive choice for providing some income while moonlighting on building a startup. It has a lot going for it - flexibility, no long-term commitments, decent compensation. But the downside is that there's no guarantees, and what you thought was a cushy three-month gig may turn out to be a three-day budget vaporization and you may have to spend your 'free' time seeking new engagements instead of nurturing your startup.

Lacking other financial cushions, working on another job while laying the foundation for your startup is a sensible approach, but it does have its costs. It takes time and distracts you from your idea. And there could be the very real danger of slipping into a 'comfort zone coma' - you're making money, so you slow down. You have to work hard to keep the fire in the belly burning (lay off the antacids!) so you can devote yourself to your dream sooner instead of later. If you don't, it may never be anything but a dream.