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Tips for launching a startup while holding a day job

entrepreneur.venturebeat.com

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Re: Tips for launching a startup while holding a day job

#31

Post by imajes »

pw0ncakes wrote: post #27
dsplittgerber wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simplified, I think it has to do with the burden of proof (may depend on jurisdiction). So your employer tells the court that he can prove (logs) that you developed some code at your workplace, then 'stole' that code, which is your employer's intellectual property, and went ahead with your own startup, doing suspiciously similar things. Now it's basically your problem of how to prove that it's not like that.

Depressing, but seems accurate. Only a corporatist society, flirting with fascism, would place burden-of-proof on the employee-- what ever happened to presumed innocence?-- but I guess that's what we've come to. Don't get me wrong. I'd never advise anyone to write side-project code at work. In addition to being unethical, it's also patently idiotic. I'm talking about the case where someone gets up at 5:00 am to write…

There's some validity in a company sueing an employee because they're not getting enough sleep to perform appropriately at work. However, this is normally cause for warnings + termination. It's unusual for a company to link this with potential unrealized income and therefore try and acquire ip.

Re: Tips for launching a startup while holding a day job

#32

Post by pw0ncakes »

vdoma wrote: post #26

On a related note, is it okay to pick up skills related to your side project at work? For example, if my side project is building a application in Clojure, is it okay to learn about Clojure at work? Of course, not at the expense of getting actual work work done, but there's always time between builds, etc. So instead of playing Foosball or surfing the internet, can one actually do something more productive, even thou…

IANAL, but I think there's pretty strong precedent that the employer can't assume ownership over any non-proprietary information you learn (languages, design patterns) at work.

Of course, we live in a proto-fascist state where legal combat is often won by those with the most money, so it'd be dangerous to assume that past sane decisions will carry into the future.

Re: Tips for launching a startup while holding a day job

#33

Post by pw0ncakes »

imajes wrote: post #31
pw0ncakes wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depressing, but seems accurate. Only a corporatist society, flirting with fascism, would place burden-of-proof on the employee-- what ever happened to presumed innocence?-- but I guess that's what we've come to. Don't get me wrong. I'd never advise anyone to write side-project code at work. In addition to being unethical, it's also patently idiotic. I'm talking about the case where someone gets up at 5:00 am to write…

There's some validity in a company sueing an employee because they're not getting enough sleep to perform appropriately at work. However, this is normally cause for warnings + termination. It's unusual for a company to link this with potential unrealized income and therefore try and acquire ip.

There's some validity in a company sueing an employee because they're not getting enough sleep to perform appropriately at work.

First, no there isn't. You can fire someone because he's incompetent because he gets too little sleep to do his job, but suing is ridiculous. What if he just has insomnia?

Second, my assumption was that getting up at 5 am implied going to bed earlier. If you're sleeping 1 to 5 and have normal sleep needs, doing this for any length of time will ruin both the side project and the day job.

Most people would be more productive on their side project and at work if they got up at 5:00 am to pursue some kind of passion.

Re: Tips for launching a startup while holding a day job

#35

Post by artlogic »

vdoma wrote: post #26

On a related note, is it okay to pick up skills related to your side project at work? For example, if my side project is building a application in Clojure, is it okay to learn about Clojure at work? Of course, not at the expense of getting actual work work done, but there's always time between builds, etc. So instead of playing Foosball or surfing the internet, can one actually do something more productive, even thou…

You have to be careful about things like this. While Foosball and learning Clojure are both not work related, one looks a lot more like work. It's a lot easier to forget where you are and program something cool in Clojure for 2 hours than it is to accidentally play Foosball for 2 hours. Other than that - your breaks are your business (in most states).

Re: Tips for launching a startup while holding a day job

#36

Post by markkoberlein »

I have found that the easiest way to keep my day job and startup separate is to have a separate laptop for both so that I'm not tempted to work on startup tasks on the company's computer while on the clock or off. Not too difficult to do during the day but it can be during the off hours when the company's laptop is better than your own.

I think the harder issue is trying to avoid answering emails that are startup related while on the clock. Even if it's webmail they still own the internet at work.

Re: Tips for launching a startup while holding a day job

#37

Post by megamark16 »

markkoberlein wrote: post #36

I have found that the easiest way to keep my day job and startup separate is to have a separate laptop for both so that I'm not tempted to work on startup tasks on the company's computer while on the clock or off. Not too difficult to do during the day but it can be during the off hours when the company's laptop is better than your own. I think the harder issue is trying to avoid answering emails that are startup rel…

Yep, I do the same thing. I just got a netbook to work on my startup, it's easy to tote around should I find myself in a lunch cafe or coffee shop setting and want to crank out some startup code, and it's cheap, which goes along with my whole bootstrapping my startup thing :-)

Re: Tips for launching a startup while holding a day job

#38

Post by wallflower »

markkoberlein wrote: post #36

I have found that the easiest way to keep my day job and startup separate is to have a separate laptop for both so that I'm not tempted to work on startup tasks on the company's computer while on the clock or off. Not too difficult to do during the day but it can be during the off hours when the company's laptop is better than your own. I think the harder issue is trying to avoid answering emails that are startup rel…

The grey area is using 3G and a smartphone for side project email.

Re: Tips for launching a startup while holding a day job

#39

Post by megamark16 »

yic wrote: post #34

What if I am a developer in the day job, but I don't code for the the startup, and the technology we use is totally different from my employer, will there be a IP concern?

As the article points out, you just can't work on your startup while at work at your day job. So if you're not answering emails, blogging, coding, testing, whatever, than you should be fine :-) Also check your non compete, some employers get a little crazy about it and may try to claim ownership of anything you do, even in your off time. Of course IANAL.

Re: Tips for launching a startup while holding a day job

#40

Post by christonog »

wallflower wrote: post #38
markkoberlein wrote: post #36

I have found that the easiest way to keep my day job and startup separate is to have a separate laptop for both so that I'm not tempted to work on startup tasks on the company's computer while on the clock or off. Not too difficult to do during the day but it can be during the off hours when the company's laptop is better than your own. I think the harder issue is trying to avoid answering emails that are startup rel…

The grey area is using 3G and a smartphone for side project email.

I don't think there's a grey area at all. You're still on the company's time whether you write support emails or are on the phone doing a deal.

I wonder if there's any grey area with regard to working during a lunch break.

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