Many of the commenters have validly pointed out that you need to take care of the legal aspects. I’ve a few questions from the other side of things:
Have you identified a customer segment and target group? Ideally these ppl have a problem you’re trying to solve. Please validate that they indeed have a problem. How? Talk to a few , research online etc. remember that entrepreneurship involves multiple hats. Learn a bit of finance- it’s the language of the business. Finally , Build , validate , learn repeat :-). Good luck!
Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?
61–70 of 193 posts
Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?
#62Regarding "I am from a third world country, so I won't be able alter the contract clauses", I dunno in what country you are working, but most of the western world isn't like that. Perhaps you think like that because you are from a third world country and you are used to being abused by your employers. (And it's not that I am western supremacist, actually I happen to like middle east and asia better) Look at some insp…
Given that OP says that he can't alter the contract because he's from a third world country, I assume that he'll be working in his home country. There's nothing in the post to suggest that he is an immigrant or working abroad.
Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?
#63The book Initiative is for this type of situation. https://www.amazon.com/Initiative-Proven-Method-Bring-Passio...
http://joshuaspodek.com/initiative
Disclosure: I wrote it.
Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?
#64> a bunch of contract clauses that basically lets the company own all IP while employed. Probably the most practical solution here is to simply disregard this clause in the contract. Breaching such a clause would be a civil, not a criminal offense, and it is unlikely that a civil complaint would be even considered unless there was a lot of money at stake, and it was easy/cheap to prove/uphold. In order for it to be u…
this is very dangerous advice. If it is in your clause,then it's easy to come after you for it.
Just don't do it on company dime and company time. This is what weekends are for, and it'd be up to the company to prove otherwise.
Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?
#65A few people have written about modifying their work contracts. Can you share the contract template you used instead? Can you explain how you negotiated the change?
Edit: maybe engineers can team up on this so things start to change?
Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?
#66> a bunch of contract clauses that basically lets the company own all IP while employed. Probably the most practical solution here is to simply disregard this clause in the contract. Breaching such a clause would be a civil, not a criminal offense, and it is unlikely that a civil complaint would be even considered unless there was a lot of money at stake, and it was easy/cheap to prove/uphold. In order for it to be u…
this is very dangerous advice. If it is in your clause,then it's easy to come after you for it. Just don't do it on company dime and company time. This is what weekends are for, and it'd be up to the company to prove otherwise.
> This is what weekends are for
What I get from the OP's question is that the company owns anything he creates, independently of it being done on work time.
Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?
#67You don’t need to own IP to start. Given how many companies fail, to get to protecting IP is a long way.
Most initial steps don’t have anything to do with your contract - coming up with ideas, learning, building MVPs, finding real needs in a market.
Once you find an unmet need and you prove that out, then you can think about quitting your job to do it, or doing it while at the job (which i advise against).
Also, you agreed to those terms so I don’t think it’s fair to abuse their(company you are currently working for) trust.
Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?
#68> a bunch of contract clauses that basically lets the company own all IP while employed. Probably the most practical solution here is to simply disregard this clause in the contract. Breaching such a clause would be a civil, not a criminal offense, and it is unlikely that a civil complaint would be even considered unless there was a lot of money at stake, and it was easy/cheap to prove/uphold. In order for it to be u…
this is very dangerous advice. If it is in your clause,then it's easy to come after you for it. Just don't do it on company dime and company time. This is what weekends are for, and it'd be up to the company to prove otherwise.
But if it says "while employed", I don't think working on it on weekends makes a difference. Employment lasts until it ends, not only while on working hours.
Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?
#69I’d say negotiate away that clause or find another job. Company owning all IP outside work for the duration of employment is in my opinion a red flag. I’d not be surprised to learn they mistreat employees in other ways as well.
Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?
#701. Be fair to your company. They are paying you to make their product succeed. Imagine a future situation where you are running a succesful company. Would you want your employees taking your money while working on their own pet projects? 2. An hour or two every day and code marathons on weekends can get your a basic version of product out in a few months. 3. Never give in to temptation to steal office hours to work o…
Re 1: put yourself first when it comes to careers. As long as you are putting in the required number of hours (physically and mentally) at your employer, there's nothing wrong with spending your free time on your own projects.
That’s not mutually exclusive. Do spend your free time on your own stuff and advancing your career, don’t spend company time on it.