Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 193 posts

Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

#101

Post by jchallis »

lawnchair wrote: post #51
m12k wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that OP writes that they are from a third world country. That means we don't know which jurisdiction applies, but it's not US or anywhere in Europe. So IP and labor laws may be very different from what we would consider normal or fair.

Ireland, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Yugoslavia are all third-world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

I am willing to bet the OP meant a poor , developing country with a colonial past version of Third-World than member of the Non-Aligned Movement . Most countries in the latter satisfied the former with the exceptions you provided.

Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

#102

Post by archevel »

SteveNuts wrote: post #97
archevel wrote: post #96

Would creating a GPL or BSD licensed project and then contribute to that work (in case the employer allows work on FOSS)? Then one would presumably be free to start a business using that software after quitting. Also if it's BSD licensed there's nothing preventing one from close sourcing the stuff after quitting. Of course the code would potentially already be out in the world and used if it's in a public repo...

Be careful, some employers consider any work done on any project during work hours (or on company equipment) their property.

Wouldn't the fact that if they are ok with you working on FOSS protect you? If you have the source you are free to modify it to you hearts content, right?

Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

#103

Post by teekert »

ilaksh wrote: post #72

The clauses I have seen attempt to claim all intellectual work regardless of when it was done or whether it was related to the job. To me, this is an indication that we truly have not progressed beyond wage slavery. I believe such clauses should be illegal. I think one thing we might be able to do is to create a list of companies that have blanket clauses like this and then some people (not most) will have the luxury…

Meh, if your job is to regularly create IP, it becomes difficult to prove what you came up with at home vs at work. And really it doesn't matter because you are usually paid a handsome sum for your inventiveness. I can understand such clauses as I change my risky situation of not coming up with anything of value and not having money for a steady wage but no chance at extreme richness. I am always free to stop working at my employer and try to score golden patents on my own...

Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

#104

Post by cube00 »

lisperforlife wrote: post #11

Here is what I'd do. * Pick a tech stack and get really good at it. You can do it at your company's time and equipment as it is gaining knowledge. * Give yourself 6 months to blog and contribute to open source on your own laptop. Get something decent to get started. If you feel buying a Macbook Pro or a similar Dev laptop is a huge expense, look for options to rent it in the short term. Consistency is key, ensure tha…

Do not use your company's time or equipment, period. "Gaining knowledge" needs to be justified, if you start learning tech stacks not endorsed by your company on company equipment and time, you'll have a problem.

Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

#105

Post by na85 »

Kaotique wrote: post #91
sonnyblarney wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What country are you from where it is normal that a company is logging and spying on its employers? " This is everywhere. "I have a company laptop but there is no logging whatsoever." I suggest they very well could be logging your web requests. This is very common. It's not like your manager is necessarily even going to have access to this. They're not interested in what you are doing, generally. But if there is a s…

I don't know if you mean logging of traffic on the company network or all network traffic on the laptop itself. The latter is definitely not happening here.

How do you know it's not happening?

Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

#106

Post by z3t4 »

Hire someone. Then you have a company. Just make sure that you are not competing with your current employer! Ask your employer just in case if you are allowed to run a side business. Its probably illegal to deny having a side business if its not a competitor. Make sure your own company becomes its own entity eg. it owns all IP not you, you are "only" the owner. Ask your employer if its ok to work for another company too. It might be illegal to deny that. Just make sure you are not competing. The all IP clause is to protect them from rouge employee stealing IP. And might even be illegal in the exact wording. When you start a company you want to get help with the paperwork then ask the lawyer if there's any issues with you current employee contract.

Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

#107

Post by MaxfordAndSons »

a-saleh wrote: post #26

A.f.a.i.k. while I am not a lawyer, rule of thumb is anything you do * on your own equipment * on your own time can be considered yours. If you want to be extra sure, maybe consider first switching from employment to consulting? A friend of mine was primarily a consultant in pc-game-marketing space and then he founded a company, slowly building out a product. On the other hand, I get that going for consulting gigs ca…

Also not a lawyer, but I would urge more caution - this is overly optimistic advice. A lot of employment contracts in the US claim ownership of all your IP produced on or off the clock, regardless of the equipment used. Whether or not that contractual language is "really legal" is another issue, but practically speaking it may not matter, if determining that means a costly legal battle against your employer.

Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

#108

Post by staticassertion »

teekert wrote: post #103
ilaksh wrote: post #72

The clauses I have seen attempt to claim all intellectual work regardless of when it was done or whether it was related to the job. To me, this is an indication that we truly have not progressed beyond wage slavery. I believe such clauses should be illegal. I think one thing we might be able to do is to create a list of companies that have blanket clauses like this and then some people (not most) will have the luxury…

Meh, if your job is to regularly create IP, it becomes difficult to prove what you came up with at home vs at work. And really it doesn't matter because you are usually paid a handsome sum for your inventiveness. I can understand such clauses as I change my risky situation of not coming up with anything of value and not having money for a steady wage but no chance at extreme richness. I am always free to stop working…

I don't think the vast majority of programmers are paid to generate tons of IP.

More importantly, we're almost always only paid to generate IP in a single domain. So if I go home and generate IP for a totally different domain, there's no reason why my employer should have any claim to it.

But many companies will have it in your contract that they own it, regardless of relevance to the company.

Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

#109

Post by vicnov »

Kaotique wrote: post #22
WestCoastJustin wrote: post #7

Do not do anything non-work related on company equipment! Ever, for any reason, seriously don't do it! Do not even research the idea! Assume the company is logging everything. They likely are. Honestly, I'd just focus on work and learn if you are just starting out. Learn as much as you can while employed by other folks (they are basically paying you to learn). Learn as much about the business your company is in too.…

I find that first advice a bit paranoid. What country are you from where it is normal that a company is logging and spying on its employers? I have a company laptop but there is no logging whatsoever. Outside office hours I use this laptop to do personal stuff all the time.

My company literally says "assume 0 privacy". Not joking.

Re: Ask HN: How can I work towards building a company while employed?

#110

Post by lostmymind66 »

If you contract remotely, you are less likely to have clause in your contract that requires all of your IP outside of work to be owned.

Most small companies won't even have anything like this in their contract. Larger companies, especially in California, will definitely include this in their contract.

You said you are in a third-world country. Are you getting remote work in a different country? If so, the likelihood that a company will spend the resources to fight you in court in another country is almost 0.

Post reply on HN