nemo.foo

I’m walking away from 200k in unvested stock to get my life back.

Last week, I handed in my notice and walked away from my golden handcuffs. I’m leaving $200k in unvested stock left on the table.

Is that wise? Depends on what you value.

I wasn’t seeing my wife or toddler, I wasn’t building anything for myself anymore, and I was watching my goals evaporate in a cloud of Slack pings and badge swipes.

So I made the call. I’m going back to a remote job, and setting a five year goal to earn $200k from side projects instead.

What Happened

I was hired as a hybrid 2 days a week in office role. Then the stock price shot up. Then came the RTO (return to office), the reorgs, the demands, the culture. You know the story.

At first, I thought I could power through. I’d just keep stacking cash, ride the vesting curve, buy time later. And I did hit the vesting cliff. I’ve got some equity in my pocket. But the rest? The real upside? That’s more time, more sacrifice, more office.

Meanwhile…

Side projects? Dead.

Weeknights? Gone.

Weekends? Recovery mode.

Family time? Maybe two hours a day, and I wasn’t even present for half of it.

At some point, I realized I was working for a version of me that doesn’t exist anymore.

The Tradeoff

$200k is a lot of money. It’s painful to walk away from. But stock isn’t just money. It’s a bet. And in my case, it was a bet that required me to burn out slowly over the next few years.

Meanwhile, my kid is growing up now. My wife and I are trying to build a life with margin, not just money. I’ve spent 15 years learning how to build. It’s time to apply it to something that’s mine.

So here’s the new goal:

Make $200k from side projects by 2030.

Not overnight. Not with a viral launch or SaaS rocketship.

Slow. Intentional. Profitable from the start. Built to last.

Side Contracts

In addition to building product, I’m also leaning on my freelance brand, Ligma Digital, to bring in revenue from consulting and dev work. I’ve already built a lead gen bot. So far, I’ve got a few warm leads and potential contracts in the $10k+ range.

And now that I’m going remote again, I get back about three hours a day on weekdays that used to vanish into commuting and office overhead. That’s over 750 hours a year.

Even if I bill just a portion of that time, I should exceed the $200k target by a wide margin. And the rest of the hours? I get to spend them with my family or invest in building something real.

First Project: Andon Lamp

You know how you’re constantly alt-tabbing to check if your AI tool is done thinking?

Andon Lamp fixes that. It’s a desk device that glows based on your AI assistant’s status. You can stay in flow, keep your hands on the keyboard, and stop babysitting the process.