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Ask HN: Did you start a company whilst employed?

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Re: Ask HN: Did you start a company whilst employed?

#11

Post by GFuller »

brickcap wrote: post #8

I tired to create a couple of products while I was still employed. They were not successful but I learned a lot just by deciding to do it. And in the end it gave me confidence enough to leave the job and go into consulting with which fortunately I have had success. Any way, whether or not you tell your employee about your startup depends upon how well you know him/her, how comfortable are you with him/her and what yo…

Thanks, this is along the lines of what I've been thinking. Although some have said to be upfront with your employer. My current employment is in an unrelated industry. I'm sure nothing good could come from letting my employers know that I'm working on something in my spare time. Especially when I can't be sure what I start will work.

Re: Ask HN: Did you start a company whilst employed?

#12

Post by paraschopra »

solaris152000 wrote: post #7
paraschopra wrote: post #2

Yes, I started http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/ when I was employed as R&D engineer. I told them way before and the business interests wasn't competing. The company is doing quite well. My advice would be to say upfront and declare what you're doing, and if possible get in writing that this is something you'll own (and not them).

Cool, I am a paid subscriber of VMO! One of our issues is that our customers view a product page multiple times before buying, but if we run a VMO split test they see multiple versions. How do we set it so a person only see's one version of the split test?

Not sure if it is the right place to answer, but VWO does use cookies to make sure visitors on repeat visits see the same version. So what you describe ideally shouldn't happen. Can you get in touch with our support team - support@wingify.com

Re: Ask HN: Did you start a company whilst employed?

#13

Post by christudor »

I started MASSOLIT (www.massolit.co.uk) when I was still employed as a strategy consultant. MASSOLIT provide video lectures in the arts and humanities, though we are changing things slightly at the moment. Anyway, you can get a lot of market research done while still doing a job, e.g. e-mailing lots of people. The idea developed significantly while I was still working, and I only left when we had positive noises about the product we were making.

Re: Ask HN: Did you start a company whilst employed?

#14

Post by thenduks »

I wrote a bug tracker called Bugrocket and convinced the owners of my employer to switch us over to it from Bugzilla.

After a while of using it and improving it based on real-world usage, I pitched launching it as a company. Drew up all the paperwork and incorporated as co-founders. I didn't leave the company, we just all did it on the side.

That was 2009. It's still kicking, but growing really slowly (who knew, bug tracking isn't very sexy :)).

Advice... that's trickier. Every situation is different. I think starting with an MVP and dogfooding is really important. But generally just go for it and see what happens. It will take up a lot of your free time, more than you think, so be prepared for that.

I also agree with a lot of the other advice in here about bringing it up with your boss - I don't think Bugrocket would be a company today if I hadn't 'pitched it' to my employer. Then again, in 2012 I started CourseCraft (an ecourse platform) with my wife and we've been bootstrapping it on the side. It's doing even better than Bugrocket. Like I said every situation is different :)

That original employer was later acquired and I have since left, but it wasn't because-of or related to the stuff on the side.

Re: Ask HN: Did you start a company whilst employed?

#15

Post by rolfvandekrol »

GFuller wrote: post #11
brickcap wrote: post #8

I tired to create a couple of products while I was still employed. They were not successful but I learned a lot just by deciding to do it. And in the end it gave me confidence enough to leave the job and go into consulting with which fortunately I have had success. Any way, whether or not you tell your employee about your startup depends upon how well you know him/her, how comfortable are you with him/her and what yo…

Thanks, this is along the lines of what I've been thinking. Although some have said to be upfront with your employer. My current employment is in an unrelated industry. I'm sure nothing good could come from letting my employers know that I'm working on something in my spare time. Especially when I can't be sure what I start will work.

"Although some have said to be upfront with your employer."

Actually, almost all said to be upfront with your employer. And I really advice you to do so too! If you don't dare to tell him (for whatever reason), that's probably a sign of a not so very healthy relationship with your current employer.

Most employers (especially in the IT industry) are quite supportive about their employees pursuing their dreams. And they should be.

Re: Ask HN: Did you start a company whilst employed?

#16

Post by GFuller »

aymeric wrote: post #10
pud wrote: post #4

I started my first company while employed as a project manager at a web design shop. I started a (smaller) web design shop. While employed, I spent some evenings and weekends trying to find clients. I quit my job when I got my first paying client. The company I started isn't around anymore -- but here I am 18 years later still happily self-employed and doing well. So I'd say it was a success. Edit: Last month I gave…

I like the concept of telling personal stories instead of advices. Thank you! (Great talk, and nice dash of humour) And I also like the "advice" of being prolific, rather to "focus" like we hear often on Hacker News. What has worked for me in the past (here comes a story, not an advice) is trying many personal projects until I found one that worked on many aspects (financial / personal lifestyle choices / meaning / e…

Thanks, I was hoping for some personal stories.

I'm at a stage where I've worked for a significant amount of time on one project outside work that hasn't really been successful. I'm now working on a few things and trying to validate the ideas with customers before building them out properly.

Re: Ask HN: Did you start a company whilst employed?

#18

Post by GFuller »

rolfvandekrol wrote: post #15
GFuller wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, this is along the lines of what I've been thinking. Although some have said to be upfront with your employer. My current employment is in an unrelated industry. I'm sure nothing good could come from letting my employers know that I'm working on something in my spare time. Especially when I can't be sure what I start will work.

"Although some have said to be upfront with your employer." Actually, almost all said to be upfront with your employer. And I really advice you to do so too! If you don't dare to tell him (for whatever reason), that's probably a sign of a not so very healthy relationship with your current employer. Most employers (especially in the IT industry) are quite supportive about their employees pursuing their dreams. And the…

I actually agree with everyone saying to be upfront with your employer. But in my own situation I don't think it is required. I work in the oil & gas industry as an engineer but build web apps on the side. My employers simply wouldn't see any real value to them in what I'm doing. Also my contract does not make any claims to ownership of things I build in my own time.

Re: Ask HN: Did you start a company whilst employed?

#19

Post by reboog711 »

I did, sort of. I was working as "The tech guy" at a business to business consulting firm. It was good varied experience.

Through word of mouth; I took on my first consulting client in my "spare" time.

About a year later; I left the full time job and did consulting full time and I have been doing that as my primary source of income for 14 years now.

I gave a presentation about my various business mishaps at a conference called 360|Stack. I called it How to Fail Fantastically.

http://vimeopro.com/360conferences/360stack-2013/video/72773...

Re: Ask HN: Did you start a company whilst employed?

#20

Post by dblacc »

alanbyrne wrote: post #3
paraschopra wrote: post #2

Yes, I started http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/ when I was employed as R&D engineer. I told them way before and the business interests wasn't competing. The company is doing quite well. My advice would be to say upfront and declare what you're doing, and if possible get in writing that this is something you'll own (and not them).

I agree with paraschopra. Many places I have worked have included a clause in the employment contract that says something along the lines of "Anything you create whilst working for us, including in your own time, will become property of our company"

Do you know of any other way around this, other than going to your employer explicitly ?
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