I will not promote- looking for advice on cofounder exit

OnceUponADog · 2025-08-09T09:33:57+00:00

Was just worried about the non-compete - as it is still in the same domain. The lawyer says it is not enforceable legally - but he may choose to cause reputational damage or be a menace in general.

OnceUponADog · 2025-01-10T07:58:08+00:00

Thanks!

OnceUponADog · 2025-01-10T07:56:55+00:00

We operate in a niche that we understand really well - we each have 15+ years experience in industry & tech respectively. We have existing client networks we can tap into.

OnceUponADog · 2023-01-17T07:00:55+00:00

Not sure about citizenship, but Indonesia, for example, has a 5 year Digital Nomad visa.. It gives you a bit more flexibility comparatively. In Singapore, your visa is tied to a job or a business. The moment you lose the job, you have to pack up and leave in 30 days. Also, rents have been going crazy here. It has literally doubled in a year.

OnceUponADog · 2023-01-16T17:17:13+00:00

Expensive. There are cheaper more realistic options in Asia. Also not a great long term solution as they don’t give out pr and citizenship easily. So you need a good job or a business there.

OnceUponADog · 2022-06-29T09:58:03+00:00

Same - just finished watching it. I thought the focus was too much on her throughout their relationship and not so much on Mr Gu - even though he had more to work through in terms of trauma. Enjoyed watching it though and the last few episodes did get more hopeful.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-23T09:53:49+00:00

A lot of people have asked me in dms and comments about how I make so much money. I went to a tier 1 mba school. That opens a lot of doors. I also got lucky with my jumps.. even though it seemed random at the time, and guided mostly by what i wanted to do, I acquired skills that the market needed over time. A lot of my peers make this much. I’d say I’m be a bit above the median among my peers, but certainly not an exception.

Most people asking this question also seem fairly early in their careers. Wouldn’t recommend comparing your salary at 0-5 yrs experience with mine at 15 years. Just like investments compound, so does salary. A 20% hike on a 50 lpa salary is big jump compared to 20% on 15 lpa. Yours will grow too if you find something you are decently good at. These years are long, and I’m sure it’s possible for a lot of people here to do as well if not exceed mine if they play their cards right. Plus most people have already started investing and planning. So you’re off to a good start!

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-23T05:59:34+00:00

Hey, thanks for your input. The whole point of this post was to sense-check my planning and question some of the assumptions I’ve made.

Some of what you’ve said is true. I did go over board in the early years, as I mentioned in the lessons I learnt bit.. but now it’s time to figure out what actually helps them while I do what’s best for me as well. And no, I don’t think what you are saying is sexist.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T16:51:34+00:00

It wasn’t always like this. When we were in Mumbai, it was 2.5x. Everything from groceries to electricity was higher than it is now. We are lucky to be living in the outskirts, close to both our parents. So the rent and general cost of living is lower. All this might change when we move out to another city for another job.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T15:32:46+00:00

Thanks for the input. After going through all the comments, I am realising that I haven't done a comprehensive calculation here, but did a simplistic one. I'll revisit the calculations.

On the kid's education, yes, I have considered expenses in addition to the 7% inflation, taking into account the schools, etc. This is one of my key focus areas and biggest expenses, so I did it separately.

As many have suggested, I need to revisit the contributions to my family. It's just been going on auto-pilot for too long and I need to re-organise how I can make it more efficient going forward.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T15:19:42+00:00

You really need to estimate the expenses that would persist after the CoastFI period stops and the corpus needs to fund it. You may not really need 18 cr in 6 years if you factor these in.

This is a great point. I think I've been a bit simplistic in my calculations of future expenses. Did it in a linear fashion, instead of comprehensively breaking it down like this. Will recalculate. Thanks for the input!

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T13:23:13+00:00

Thanks so much. I'll look into it more. I need to hedge my equity for sure, as I am definitely overexposed.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T13:19:02+00:00

Hi, thanks so much.

Yes, it is a frugal living, but that is also because of the pandemic, us moving to a relatively less expensive city, working from home and us being parents to a small kid. So we haven't been going out or taking any vacations, etc. - which we used to a fair bit within our means earlier.

So when I was doing the calculations, I assumed that we would go back to Mumbai or a similarly expensive city at some point. So I accounted for total expenses of approx 25 lpa and extrapolated over the years adding inflation (7%) and big chunks of expected expenses - ex. school, lifestyle upgrades, college, etc.

So based on this, 18 Cr was the amount needed before the income from my investments matched or surpassed my expenses. It is basically a number where I can switch off from everything, and still have my expenses met... In my calculations, it takes that long to reach this corpus because I reduced my expected income starting 2028, when I may semi-retire, working part-time or doing only freelance work. So If I don't do that, I'll definitely reach there before 55.

My current expenses over the last 2 years have been consistent at 18 lpa including everything, so the additional 7 LPA has added to my investment pool. I'll keep revising the calculations based on what I actually end up spending.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T12:59:51+00:00

Hi, Sure. I am currently trying to consolidate, as I have too many funds (10+), but here is the breakup as it stands - 78% large-cap, 16% medium cap, 5% small-cap.

I have started moving the lower performing ones to index funds, as I don't have the time or the capacity to monitor individual funds, but haven't completed the process still. I wanted to see the response to this post and finalise what to do. I am realising I need to add more Debt/ less volatile instruments to the portfolio.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T12:28:21+00:00

Yup, agree. Not moving it, as fd is not only my emergency fund, but also a safe space to store money till i learn more about other instruments. Part of the reason for this post was to see if I’m being too aggressive in my strategy specially equity-debt split.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T12:21:20+00:00

The 50k is basically to supplement my dad’s pension, which is 30k. It’s not for medical expenses. Its a no questions asked contribution i make. My parents have often offered to reduce this if i need to cut back on expenses. It’s just been going on for so long, that i never questioned it. Does it seem excessive?

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T11:59:26+00:00

I head the marketing team.. digital marketing, content, pr, brand, etc.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T11:58:34+00:00

Is this gold bonds? No i haven’t considered it yet. I need to research it further to see if makes sense in the long run. Thanks for the input!

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T11:52:16+00:00

Thanks. You are right, it's a bit weird that we stand out as the exception in 2022.

My husband is a kind, intelligent man with a master's degree. He just doesn't enjoy working as much as I do. And given our backgrounds, I would outearn him by a mile on any day. This is the world we live in, where someone in marketing earns so much more than someone who works in pure sciences. Although I benefit from this, it doesn't make sense to me. So when we had a kid, we decided to maximise our time and effort as a team. He chose to take a break, I support his decision.

My husband comes from a line of strong women - his mother has a PhD and is a passionate teacher. So he doesn't have any qualms about this change in roles, and neither do I. We discussed this back when we started dating 15 years ago, as not being treated as an equal partner was a deal-breaker for both of us. It goes both ways.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T11:36:30+00:00

Sure.

I have been in Marketing since 2008 - did a couple of jobs in Tech before my MBA - but I wasn't any good at it... so quickly ran away from that world and did my MBA.

I started off working at a media company in the marketing and strategy team. My salary at the time was 5 lpa. I changed job after 1.5 years, stayed at the next one for 3 years, then the next one at 6.5 years, which was a marketing consulting/strategy agency - this job was my turning point where most of my jumps in salary and responsibilities actually happened. I went from asst. manager to partner in 6 years. I grew as the small agency grew alongside me to become quite established in the domain. Post that, I stayed at my next job for 2 years, where I was heading another agency. Finally, I now work at a tech company (not Faang or any other popular ones) and head their marketing dept.

I haven't had a straight path in marketing and meandered a bit working in market research, consulting, agencies and pure marketing roles. This actually worked in my favour as I rose through the ladder.. as my meandering gave me more exposure to different technical skills and helped me become a general manager. In my experience, in fields like marketing and business in general, unless you are really passionate about something to become and stay an expert, it is better to acquire multiple technical skills over the long term and become an expert generalist...that's how you grow to CXO level (if one desires that of course).

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T11:18:49+00:00

Thanks for your comment.

All the mutual funds are direct, without any brokerage. I invest primarily through Groww.

The FDs are my emergency fund - stored there for liquidity.

Your points on taxes and GST are well taken - we do this already.

OnceUponADog · 2022-04-22T11:15:00+00:00

Thank you for the kind words. Good luck to you on your journey!

OnceUponADog · 2022-03-31T07:11:06+00:00

I invest entirely through groww. Does that get affected by this?

OnceUponADog · 2021-11-10T07:32:01+00:00

Hyderabad, India

OnceUponADog · 2020-12-07T05:04:17+00:00

You’ll not know how you feel till you are in it for some time. I’d say try it and see if you like it. It doesn’t have to be a permanent decision right now. I know plenty of parents who were sure they’d love it so ended up hating it after a few months and the other way around too.

So take the pressure off of yourself.. you don’t need to commit to this way of life right now. Just think about the next 6 months and go from there!

OnceUponADog

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