

Ask HN: Conflict of interest? - captaincrunch

My company is shopping around for a software package.  They've had a hard time finding what they want, in fact they've turned down a few packages, for various reasons.<p>Would it be a conflict of interest by making what they want and trying to sell it to them?  I have a good idea of their budget.<p>if it's not a conflict, how should I approach my employer?
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brudgers
Since there is no product you can sell them, there is no conflict right now.
Particularly if you are not involved in the selection processes.

If and how you pitch it depends on the corporate culture, your relationships
to the decision makers, and the amount of money involved. Keep in mind that
they could make writing the software part of your job requirements.

As an aside, I don't recommend doing work on spec for a single client.

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noodle
conflict of interest, no.

but they might not be agreeable to it, depending on how their HR department is
and what your employee contract looks like. they may say "oh, you can build
it? well build it for us and we'll just keep paying your salary"

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gshannon
Chances are, your contract probably stipulates that any work or ideas you come
up with whilst being an employee are their property. If that's the case, ask
your friend or a family member to approach them for you.

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singer
At most companies, that doesn't count for the things you do outside of work.

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ScottWhigham
True but, as you said, that's "most companies" and not "all companies"

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singer
What's your point?

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ScottWhigham
The point would be to do your due diligence and find out what your contract
has and to not leave it to chance. I guess I could have clarified that a bit
but I expected that people would have been able to infer what I meant. I have
no need or desire to over-answer in every situation.

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singer
My comment was in reply to gshannon's thought that most companies own all
work/ideas. Your reply to my comment made no sense. Thanks for clarifying
though. I didn't think you had a point.

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eof
That's an odd arrangement but I doubt illegal. Since you have to sell it to
them anyway it seems really unlikely you are going to get in any contractual
trouble.

