Is it strictly a case of one or the other? Why couldn't you find part or full-time employment in an area that will develop your skill and dedicate the rest of your time to applying what you learn to building your startup slowly? Going full-tilt may be exciting but without savings, it can be difficult and stressful. At some point your startup's needs may surpass your ability and then you may find yourself in a position of giving away equity to get to the next level or even having to call it quits for lack of resources. A third option could be finding work in an environment (like ours) where you can both hone your relevant skills, working on diverse web projects, *and* get full no support building your personal project, which I'm assuming is web development-heavy. We get that people have bigger aspirations than their regular day job. We should talk!