Founder Stories

The Risk-Averse 9-to-5er’s Guide to Quitting Your Day Job and Starting Up

Being ready isn’t about perfect timing or your feelings. It’s about preparation.

Amy Chan
Marker
Published in
5 min readJan 24, 2020

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An illustration of a woman character stepping outside of a briefcase, in search of a new opportunity.
Illustration: Fran Caballero

WWhen I moved to New York, I hoped no one would notice that I was an imposter in an entrepreneurial world. It was as if I was plucked out of my proverbial fishbowl and dumped into an ocean of high-achieving entrepreneurs who were all busy growth hacking, microdosing, and fundraising their way into another seed round.

Back in Vancouver, my life goals had been to simply climb the corporate ladder, get married, and become a stay-at-home mom. But after reaching my professional goal of becoming a marketing executive, a messy breakup with my partner forced me to pivot my goals for the future. Goodbye, operation housewife. Determined to find another path, I took off to the city that never sleeps.

I gave myself a six-month timeline to transition. From the moment I made that decision, I started to think and act like an entrepreneur.

To meet new people, I joined communities such as Summit Series — — an organization that hosts events for “young entrepreneurs, artists, and activists.”…

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Marker
Marker

Published in Marker

Marker was a publication from Medium about the intersection of business, economics, and culture. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Amy Chan
Amy Chan