1. "Runway" is the wrong unit. Measure runway in decisions, not months. I had 14 months of cash and made maybe 6 real decisions in the first 8. Burning money slowly while learning nothing is just an expensive way to feel safe. Spend faster on the questions that kill you.

2. The job you quit was also a structure you didn't know you needed. A boss is, among other things, a person who decides when something is good enough. Remove them and you'll either ship garbage to feel productive, or polish one thing for 3 months out of fear. Build the structure on purpose, or it'll build you.

3. "Talk to users" is advice everyone repeats and almost nobody does correctly. I did 40 friendly calls where people told me they loved it. Zero of them bought. Encouragement is not a signal — a credit card is. Stop asking "would you use this." Ask "what did you do last time you had this problem, and what did it cost you."

4. The identity hit is the real cost, and no one prices it in. For ~15 years "where do you work" had a clean answer that made strangers nod. Now I'd say my company name and watch their eyes glaze over. That stung more than the pay cut. You're not just trading salary for equity. You're trading borrowed status for the uncertainty of building your own. Make peace with that before you give notice, not after.

5. None of this is a reason not to do it. Quitting was still the best decision I've made — but because I'd be a worse, smaller person if I'd kept wondering, not because the math worked out. It might not. Don't do it to escape a job. Do it because there's a question only you can answer by building. Then go find out. That's the thread. If it saved you one expensive mistake, that's the whole point.