Proof Before You Quit: How to Transition From Employee Entrepreneur Without Gambling Everything

Proof Before You Quit challenges a common assumption of entrepreneurship: that becoming a founder begins with a resignation letter. It asks a practical question-what if that decision could be tested first?Drawing on the author's experience of leaving employment for a venture twice, building a company, returning to employment, and working on the hiring side, the book presents an evidence-first approach to entrepreneurship.Readers learn how to calculate the true cost of quitting, determine their financial runway, and use the Quit Ladder to assess readiness. They discover how to test a business while employed, use a job to build skills, customers, networks and market knowledge, and develop founder skills before taking the leap.It also tackles questions many aspiring founders overlook: What does the employment contract allow? Where is the boundary between personal work and employer intellectual property? Is exhaustion really a reason to quit? And what happens if the venture fails?With checklists, calculations, frameworks and examples-including Your Real Number, The Quit Ladder, the Contract Review Checklist, the Learning Plan, and the Exit Sequence-the book helps readers replace a dramatic leap with a deliberate transition.For anyone with a job, an idea and the desire to build something of their own, Proof Before You Quit offers a way to test the dream before betting everything on it.