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Ask HN: How to validate a startup idea whilst employed?

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Re: Ask HN: How to validate a startup idea whilst employed?

#71

Post by herbst »

> and let's face it, its found in the majority of employment contracts within the tech industry?

In my experience that is something you just tell your place of deployment beforehand. I never had such a contract, and many of my colleagues run small businesses next to work as well. That is Switzerland tho.

I communicated that I need maybe 1 hour per week for random issues from work time and that was ok.

I think what I am trying to say is that you can always talk to your employer. Reduce working hours to 80%, take less money and give it a try (if they allow it)

> Moreover, I'm considering leaving a very well paid software developer job to free myself of this obligation

I would also think about what we'll paid means for you. You can always get paid more if you agree to less free time and freedom. If youre pretty and young you could make bank with OF, but at what price? Is it actually a good job if it doesn't allow you what you want to do in your free time?

Re: Ask HN: How to validate a startup idea whilst employed?

#72

Post by epirogov »

A bottleneck of startups is approbation in the community. The idea is to spend time only in case other people like it as you like. But other people are also employed and have a lack of time. When I test something, I reserve some limited budget in the time I am planning the idea. Then I am calling my friends, asked if they wished to help me to do some parts of work for a small budget and told them about my goal. Some ideas are rejected before start and I not pay in this case. Some ideas cost something bigger when I think before. But for some ideas all agree to run for 4 months for example. At the end of the probe period you can estimate, you can return money you've already spent or you should forget it as passed.

Re: Ask HN: How to validate a startup idea whilst employed?

#73

Post by remyp »

Kiro wrote: post #62
fastball wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Merchant of Record services mean that when someone "buys" something from you (e.g. subscription or other product) they're actually legally interacting in all ways that matter with the MoR. Effectively you can think of it as a mostly transparent re-seller. The MoR (e.g. Paddle) is buying the subscription from me and selling it to you. Because I'm never actually interacting with the customers for payments I don't need…

Don't you still need a company to sell it to Paddle?

Yes, and Paddle will ask you to prove it.

Re: Ask HN: How to validate a startup idea whilst employed?

#75

Post by gcatalfamo »

vfc1 wrote: post #61

Don't overthink it. You can validate the idea using SEO tools, check if the competitors have traffic and do some detective work to see if they are viable companies. Check the SEO space, and see how many people are running ads on the main search terms, how hard is it to rank for the the main keywords. Check if forums exists, and discount coupons for similar products in marketplaces, check for similar products on produ…

Not a bad place to start, but this hardly works in B2B where high touch selling is required on a normal basis

Re: Ask HN: How to validate a startup idea whilst employed?

#76

Post by [deleted] »

onion2k wrote: post #69
steve_taylor wrote: post #41

Don't tell your employer. Don't incorporate until after you've quit your job. If you want to launch before quitting your job, consider using a merchant of record (e.g. Paddle) so you don't even need to incorporate. I'm assuming you're not competing with your employer, nor are you building your startup on your employer's time or with your employer's resources, in which case there's nothing wrong with this approach eth…

Don't tell your employer. This may make it less likely that your employer will take you to court, but if you do this and your employer does choose to pursue a case against you after you leave the court will see it as intentionally deceptive and it definitely won't help your argument.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How to validate a startup idea whilst employed?

#77

Post by laserlight »

chrisbuc wrote: post #32
jensneuse wrote: post #30

I've built WunderGraph ( https://wundergraph.com ) as a side project until it was ready for real "startup mode". I've asked my employer to give me an IP exclusion for the project in writing. Then I dedicated 1-2 hours in the morning and maybe at night as well on the weekend, depending on my energy level. I've developed the product until it had a certain maturity. I've then onboarded two co-founders who also helped pa…

I've managed to get specific exclusions for IP I've worked on as a side project, and more recently got my employer to include the majority of the github "balanced employee ip agreement" [1] in our employment contracts, which states quite clearly " If you create IP outside the scope of your employment or contract or before or after your employment or contract ("Your IP"), the Company doesn't own it " [2] (UK based com…

> “If you create IP outside the scope of your employment or contract or before or after your employment or contract ("Your IP"), the Company doesn't own it”

Forgive my ignorance, but is this statement required in any of the jurisdictions in the world? In a post-slavery world, an employer cannot own what I choose to do with my own resources outside the scope of my employment.

Re: Ask HN: How to validate a startup idea whilst employed?

#78

Post by laserlight »

jensneuse wrote: post #33
chrisbuc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've managed to get specific exclusions for IP I've worked on as a side project, and more recently got my employer to include the majority of the github "balanced employee ip agreement" [1] in our employment contracts, which states quite clearly " If you create IP outside the scope of your employment or contract or before or after your employment or contract ("Your IP"), the Company doesn't own it " [2] (UK based com…

Sounds good! One thing I'd like to add is that some people might be afraid to ask for an IP exclusion. Think about it from an employer perspective. Should they let you go just because you have a side project you'd like to work on? Probably not. If you'd like to sell it, your side project will teach you need skills.

> Should they let you go just because you have a side project you'd like to work on? Probably not.

I'm thinking out loud from an employer's perspective: Will this employee leave for his side project, if we not let him work on it? Probably not. Will they leave if this side project succeeds? Probably yes. Will they be less interested and more distracted in our job? Probably yes. So, why risk it.

Re: Ask HN: How to validate a startup idea whilst employed?

#79

Post by vruiz »

Kiro wrote: post #62
fastball wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Merchant of Record services mean that when someone "buys" something from you (e.g. subscription or other product) they're actually legally interacting in all ways that matter with the MoR. Effectively you can think of it as a mostly transparent re-seller. The MoR (e.g. Paddle) is buying the subscription from me and selling it to you. Because I'm never actually interacting with the customers for payments I don't need…

Don't you still need a company to sell it to Paddle?

In many countries you can issue invoices without having a company or being a freelancer up to a certain amount. That should be everything Paddle needs.

Also, once upon a time, I checked with FastSpring (another alternative) if they could just withhold payouts until incorporation and they told me they can do that.

Re: Ask HN: How to validate a startup idea whilst employed?

#80

Post by magicalhippo »

> I see no consideration for those whom are employed under employement contract to assign both moral rights and intellectual property to their employer.

When I got hired the contract was apparently not up to standards (but very nice). After a few years they got some lawyers to write up a new one, and it included such a "we own everything" clause.

I refused to sign it. The boss explained the intention was only on company time or with company assets. So I got them to change it to include that wording.

I'd never sign a contract with an all-encompassing "we own everything" clause, my spare time is mine. I know it probably wouldn't have held up in court where I live, but I feel it's about respect more than anything.

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