I sold my apartment, cashed out my pension, and took on debt to build a semiconductor startup. I'd do it again.

Hans Hasselby-Andersen spent nearly a year raising his first funding after leaving Texas Instruments during the financial crisis.

Hans Hasselby-Andersen/Lotus Microsystems Hans Hasselby-Andersen quit Texas Instruments during the 2008 financial crisis with four young kids at home.

He sold his apartment, cashed out his pension, and took on debt to build a semiconductor startup.

Nine years later, his company, Merus Audio, was acquired by Infineon.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hans Hasselby-Andersen, 56, CEO of Danish semiconductor startup Lotus Microsystems and cofounder of Merus Audio, which was acquired by Infineon in 2018.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

When I quit my job at Texas Instruments in September 2008 to start a semiconductor company, I had four children between the ages of 5 and 14.

It was almost the height of the financial crisis.

You had Lehman Brothers going down in flames in the US, and the whole credit market was just freezing up.

So to jump out at that point and go into fundraising was a big, big step.

My manager was looking at me like I was crazy, basically.

Thinking back, probably I should have waited a year or so and just cooled off a little bit.

But the thing is, once you have an idea and you're really motivated, you can't really wait.

You have to go do something about it.