Xjyuk

You are not the owner. You get paid a salary, and you work for that salary. If the owner wants you to work more, he needs to pay overtime.

You can tell him that it will take longer. Then you come to work and work 40 hours a week, not more. 40 hours is most healthy for you, and it is most effective. You don’t do more useful work in more hours, you just get more exhausted.

Every month or so ask yourself “do I want to continue doing this job for this money”. If the answer is no, you look for a better job. If you feel bad about leaving your employer hanging: He will not hesitate one second to lay you off if you are not needed.

Be realistic about what you think you are capable of doing. Do not ever promise or agree to something that you don't believe that you can do.

Do not overwork yourself and sacrifice your family and sanity to try to do something that you don't believe is possible. If your boss thinks that the work you're doing is much easier than it actually is, there is basically zero chance he will appreciate or reward your sacrifice.

he already told me that we will have to work harder and faster if that is the case

That sentence is a appear to me as a red line. What does he expect ? more work hours from you or just to put pressure into you ? In any case it's a bad situation, but before putting all your energy inside it please have a talk with him and let him know that your time isnt free, that it's not because you are new into the market doesnt mean he can abuse your times.

From some of your comments, your boss has legitimate business concerns about having a product which can generate revenue. Your analysis of work necessary has established that the work wouldn't be done for six months, that's a long time to go without revenue. You need to find a solution somewhere in the middle that is an acceptable compromise for both sides.

I think you should consider the idea of a Minimal Viable Product. Is there subset of features you could build in two months that could be used to start generating revenue? You could then incrementally add other features over the next four months to make the system more complete and eventually get to the finished product. Work with your owner/boss to identify what features could generate that initial revenue and you now have the beginnings of a plan to build the system and build the revenue stream.

It seems like you know allready what work has to be done. Make a plan of all the steps and estimate generously.
You can then give him an estimate for the core product and different features and ask him to prioritize.

If you just say to him "this will take 6 months" and he doesn't know why he will think the 2 months will work if he just squeezes hard enough.

You could also think about outsourcing something you defined in the plans you made. Try to make him responsible for hiring and communicating with the contractor. He will probably hire cheap and it will take 3 times longer than estimated. Now it's him that's responsible for a delay and your estimates will sound a lot more reasonable.

Whatever you do, don't let it kill yourself. If you estimated correctly and you cram that work into 2 months, this would mean 24 hour workdays.

So, your employer:

1. Has only 1 person (you) on an important project


2. That one and only person is someone who's fresh out of university.

This shows that either the project is not as important to him as he says it is, or that he's completely irrational.

If the project was really that important, he would hire someone with a serious experience to lead it... or at least with some reasonable experience.

Giving it to someone with zero experience and expecting results far in excess of normal, IF your employer really believes what he says, is a sign that he's so far gone from common sense that he cannot be reasoned with.

And even if he's just trying to squeeze more performance out of you, that kind of treatment is not something that can develop into a good working relationship.

Find another job.

Perhaps in a nicer way, you need to tell your employer, "Fast, good or robust. Pick two." This is the Iron Triangle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_triangle, and no amount of wishing, ranting, wanting or needing changes the fact that limits exist. If his argument is the company will fold without it in two months, I would suggest you either leave immediately, or if you're not worried about the reference work diligently for 40 hours while looking for your next job.

If he's reasonable, you might consider putting in extra hours and working hard to shorten the delivery date, but do so with open eyes knowing that your sacrifice may be rewarded or it may not. Startups usually fail, but if you're in a gambling mood and the stars align, I won't tell you to absolutely walk away either.