How to quit your job to start something new, according to real people who left Facebook, Google, and Apple

Facebook NYC 4938

Quitting your job and moving onto something new is always a nerve-racking process.

But just think about how people who've left the biggest companies out there must feel.

Business Insider has spoken to numerous alumni of some of the most talked about companies.

Many of them described leaving to tackle new ventures and chart their own course in the business world.

Here's some advice from people who've quit jobs at companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook on how to seize control of your career:

Be upfront

WayUp CEO and cofounder Liz Wessel got straight to the point in her interview with Google during her senior year in college.

She wasn't planning on sticking around forever.

"I said, 'I am really interested in taking this, but if I take it, I want to leave in two years and start a company. How do you guys feel about that?'" she previously told Business Insider.

Wessel knew from the get go that she wanted to found her own business early on in her career. The Google recruiters were extremely supportive of her plan. And sure enough, after two years at the tech giant, she left.

For Wessel, having a plan and finding an encouraging and educational environment like Google was a crucial step in her professional development.

"I was very adamant about starting a company while I was still young and could take big risks — not that you can't when you're older, but I just was really excited about the concept of it," Wessel said.

Listen to the market

Joe Meyer was CEO of startup HopStop when Apple acquired the business for $1 billion in 2013, according to Fortune.

He stuck around at Apple for two years, before leaving to found careers site ExecThread.

In the end, he said it was hard to leave.

"Apple was treating me very well and they made it very difficult for me to leave," he told Business Insider.

He said he has his positive experience at Apple to thank for some of the success of his new business, which now has around 20,000 users and has raised $6.5 million in funding.

Because he was in no hurry to leave, he worked on ExecThread as a side project until he was sure it was good enough to roll out.

"Apple really taught me to to do things well before you introduce them or market them," he said. "I wanted to make sure there was really something here."

Once his side hustle began receiving attention from other players in the recruiting industry, however, he knew it was time to leave.

"That was when I was like I need to focus on this full time," he said.

Find something to run to

Chris Gomersall was Facebook and Instagram's first creative strategist. He loved his job. Still, he left it in 2015 to start cloud-based marketing software company Atomized.

He had started Atomized as a side project, but said it had never felt like extra work.

"I think in general when you find a job you love, it just doesn't feel like work," he previously told Business Insider. "It never felt like anything more than doing what I love."

Gomersall said that was how he knew it was time to move on and start something new. He recommends most people leave their job only when they're certain a better, more fulfilling opportunity awaits them.

"It was really more of a calling," he said. "I was running to something rather than away from something."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider