Why I quit a stable job at Siemens with a baby on the way

In 2021, my wife was pregnant, and I was sitting in my office staring at my resignation letter.

On paper, my life at Siemens was perfect. A great team. Solid growth. A clear career path. Quitting that with a baby on the way is not what "responsible" parents are supposed to do. Most people around me thought I was making a mistake.

What they didn't see

• The business ideas that kept me awake at 3 AM
• The gaps in the market I kept noticing and couldn't ignore
• The fear of looking back one day and regretting that I never tried

And one more thought that scared me more than failure: how could I one day tell my daughter to follow her dreams if I had stayed in my comfort zone?

The 10-10-10 rule

When I was stuck, a simple framework helped me more than any spreadsheet. Look at a decision through three lenses:

• How will I feel about it in 10 minutes?
• How will I feel about it in 10 months?
• How will I feel about it in 10 years?

In 10 minutes, quitting felt terrifying. In 10 months, it would probably still be hard. But in 10 years, I knew I would regret not trying far more than I would regret failing.

So I quit. Not because I was fearless, but because staying felt scarier than leaving.

The part I don't talk about enough

The first months of bitsCrunch overlapped with the first months of being a father. I still remember the guilt of hearing my wife, a new mother, ask for something as simple as a glass of water while I was on an investor call in the other room.

What kept us going were three words from her: "We've got this."

People sometimes ask whether a relationship should always be 50/50. In my experience, it rarely is. Sometimes one person gives 100% because the other truly needs it. I'm lucky my wife did that for me.

Was it worth it?

Building bitsCrunch was hard. There were days I was scared. But we built a global team, raised more than $12M, and learned lessons no corporate job could have taught me.

Today I'm starting again with HeyUla. And the reason is the same as it was in 2021: some ideas keep you awake at night until you give them a chance.