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I just finished a district court clerkship, graduated near the top of my class at a T14, and will be starting my biglaw gig this October. All is well in the world and I am incredibly grateful for my situation in life. Recently, however, I came up with an idea for a business. There is nothing proprietary about the idea, but pragmatic minds agree that it could be lucrative. The issue is that I have about 200K+ in debt, so I feel committed to the biglaw gig, at least for so long as is required to keep my clerkship bonus. The question then becomes: what do I do in the meantime?

Through the clerkship, my judge introduced me to a few folks who I believe could provide some initial insight. But what else? I could start by refinancing my student loans with a long-term fixed interest rate (which I planned on doing anyways), pay the minimum amount possible, commute longer to keep living expenses low, and just focus on raising my own capital. But it's a tricky situation, because if I am working in biglaw, there is no possibly way I could devote enough time to building and developing a successful start up. Seems like a like-minded partner is necessary.

FWIW, I know the vast majority of lawyers are risk-averse and many of you will say I am crazy, but any comments / suggestions are appreciated!

with what monies are you planning to start the business. capital raising is hard and itself takes money (and time - how will you live in mean time). I think it makes more sense to take biglaw, live very frugally, make min payments on debt, and just save up capital for your business, then quit as a 4th year or something. unless this is some business that must be started now, or alternatively requires more capital than what you can save in 4 years at biglaw.

It's something that can stick, but it's also playing on the hipster sentiment, so timing seems important.

Anonymous User wrote:The issue is that I have about 200K+ in debt, so I feel committed to the biglaw gig, at least for so long as is required to keep my clerkship bonus. The question then becomes: what do I do in the meantime?....But it's a tricky situation, because if I am working in biglaw, there is no possibly way I could devote enough time to building and developing a successful start up. Seems like a like-minded partner is necessary.

This isn't just about risk aversion. It's a really bad financial decision. You are 200K in debt, and you will only increase that by funneling money into a startup right now. Startups are incredibly hard jobs, you work long long hours to try to make your business successful, it is not something you can just do every now and then and think it will take off.

Go to biglaw, pay off your debt, and build a nice starting capital fund. If your idea is a good enough one, chances are it will still be good in 4-5 years. Use that time to actually pound out a detailed, detailed business plan. You won't be taken seriously by any investor without one. This way, even if your idea fails within the first year or two (no offense but statistically likely), you sitll have enough biglaw experience to be able to get another great job.

Don't really on just having a partner to help run it right now. They will be doing literally all of the work and only receiving 50% of the equity. Not really fair.

Good advice. I'm just pumped about the idea and want to get it moving ASAP, but you are right that waiting makes more sense. I definitely need to do my research before I make any serious moves anyways. Thanks

A startup isn't something you can do part time. Particularly not if you're going to try and bring on external capital. Unless you're prepared to go ramen for a while, expect to spend some time in biglaw. Also, it'll likely take some time working in startups before you can get VCs to back you. Most are a bit skeptical of lolyers.

I say this as someone who sold a VC backed startup and just finished raising capital for a brand new one.

I'll spin up one more Q&A for people to ask questions about this stuff.

Listen, I'm sure it's a fabulous idea. And you're right that you probably won't have time to run a startup if you're in biglaw.

However, the bigger red flag to me is that you're trying to start a business, that, on its face, has a premise that is faddish, or capitalizing on a fad. This is not a great idea for a sustainable business, and certainly not something that I personally would give up a "stable" job to pursue. That might be risk aversion, but it's also just common sense. Your balance sheet, as others have mentioned, is really negative. You need to focus on clearing that before you try to get other capital for a business.

FWIW, I do know plenty of lawyers who have done their 3-5 in biglaw and then moved to co-found a startup with a technical founder, so it's not outside the realm of possibility. Having an entrepreneurial streak is a good trait, but you need to channel it wisely. Good luck.

I'm in venture capital. Most startups fail. Like... A vast majority.

Unless you have serious connections in the biz, focus on building out your career and nest egg before embarking on a path even more daunting and one that has a higher chance of leading to financial ruin.

Anonymous User wrote:Good advice. I'm just pumped about the idea and want to get it moving ASAP, but you are right that waiting makes more sense. I definitely need to do my research before I make any serious moves anyways. Thanks

it'll take some work. but start the big law job, work on paying down the debt. on the side, start your business. it'll take a lot of work, your sleep/social life will suffer a bit but give it a shot. work on the business case and strategy. figure out the plan and go from there. but it's possible. depends on your risk aversion. i'm doing it, it's tough but possible.

Doesn't matter much, if at all, how great your idea is. The startup will very likely fail. There's a lot of luck involved and other moving parts totally outside your control. Not saying do it or don't, because you only live once, but don't assume you can succeed just because you have a great idea. Your great idea is still probably a failure 95% of the time at best.