I left a perfectly plausible career, in a field I knew well, to learn enough programming to implement an idea of my own. (I'll recruit a real technical person when I have enough traction to do so.)

This wasn't exactly pioneering, we did have some savings. I would have been better off stripping off still more cruft and going down deeper, but I've got a family and "bottom" wasn't an option.

It's still nuts, as I've heard from many wise and loving people. Those savings could have gone to many other important uses, and I have a duty to make them back. So every day has had an urgent quality, and there have been many sleepless nights. (Come to think of it, what the hell am I doing here on hacker news?)

Not there yet, but things are starting to look up.