Is a deep tech side hustle a waste of time?

Question

Some details about me:- Middle aged corporate developer in a good job that could evaporate in a few years (standard bean counter stuff).- Spent 20 years scraping, studying and fighting to get on the housing market in a country where the rents/housing is hugely expensive.- Got dependents.- Had some minor success with side-hustles including taking a blog to a national level and selling a side project for a modest five figure sum.- As a result of the above, I am probably quite risk averse and the idea of launching a startup and losing my home when it fails does not appeal.I have spent several years working on some ideas that could be turned into an aligned AI agent framework. I have done some of the coding work for this with several of the components completed. I am not sure if the whole thing will "work" with whatever definition of work seems appropriate on the day. I am doing some preliminary market research but part of me is suspicious that people talk about aligned AI but do not want to pay for it either in compute time or licensing.I really want to work on this as we seem to need it (understatement) but I don't want to sacrifice years of my life on a curators egg.So here is my question:Is a deeply technical side-hustle that seems generally desirable, but has no immediately obvious market, just a waste of time?

dustingetz · Accepted Answer

there are two ways to succeed in startups: 1) have a massive advantage, such as &ldquo;xbox president leaves to establish new game console&rdquo; 2) solve a hard problem that takes 5-10 years of grinding to develop. otherwise, it&rsquo;s very crowded out there

GianFabien · Answer

Being risk averse is a solid path in situations such as yours.
Without a crystal ball it is impossible to reliably predict the potential of an incomplete idea. Perhaps better questions to ask is "What problem does my solution address? How much are potential customers willing to pay?"
"Generally desirable" doesn't indicate a real and present demand. With "no immediately obvious market" to me it seems like your "aligned AI agent framework" is a solution in search of a problem.

jonahbenton · Answer

Waste of time yes in the sense that just doing deep tech means it is still basically just an idea. You recognize this.Not a waste of time though if you foresee your current role ending in a few years and then you have to find something else. It is more common for these side research projects to be helpful in finding a new role. And having gone deep in a domain can make you valuable in consulting.

meristohm · Answer

> I am doing some preliminary market research but part of me is suspicious that people talk about aligned AI but do not want to pay for it either in compute time or licensing.
> I really want to work on this as we seem to need it (understatement)
Who is "we" here?
What is it we seem to need so much, and why?

qp11 · Answer

Yes its a waste of time. Mostly because too many of the smartest people on the planet are already employed by a pathetic billionaire buffoon class, that will pervert whatever it is you produce. That buffoon class has had a free run for too long, and are so full of themselves, we are on the verge of some sort of King Louis moment. Until that happens, whatever you work on is not going to make any diff to anything.The better option, since you have experience, is move abroad and do the same bean counting for higher pay. In S.Korea for example you will make 4-5x doing the same work, just cause of the smaller pool of experienced people there. And that changes how you look at all your dependencies. Similarly there are lot of spots on the planet where they have cash mountains but not enough people. Target them. Work for few years. Settle all your bills and then retire and work on whatever you want too.