At what point does 'it' become a startup? Is it when you incorporate, get funding, or some other milestone? When you drop everything else and work on it exclusively? When you get your first users?
There are so many goals and tasks of a startup that I've always wondered what others define as the 'beginning' of a startup. What're your thoughts?
When to drop everything and work on it exclusively is a different question. I still haven't done that, and me and my co-founder both still work dayjobs and hack on this by night and weekend and other "miscellaneous" time (lunch breaks, plane flights, etc.) For us, I think I'll quit my dayjob and focus on this when A. we have a paying customer definitely on the hook, ready to sign a PO, and/or B. I have enough cash reserve to give me a minimum of 6 months of runway (assuming my current $DAYJOB employer says they would want me back if it doesn't fly, which I think they would) and/or C. crowd-funding becomes a reality and we raise a reasonable but small amount of money that way.
Less likely options for us are: D. raising money from more traditional angels or VCs, or E. winning the lottery.
What I've been thinking about lately is how passion plays into it - like you said, while you have a day job, your startup is what you're dedicated to hacking on whenever you can. Good luck with Fogbeam Labs, and I think we'd all love option E ;)