
Ask HN: Scratch your employer's itch? - throwaway1930
Hi everyone<p>I&#x27;m working at a decent employee, on a pretty specific IT topic.<p>I also have this idea for a startup I would like to build but there is no way I can do it on my day job (I dont even have programming tools on my job PC because I don&#x27;t write software there). Even if I could, the idea would die as an internal project (they don&#x27;t sell software to other companies)<p>The thing is that I would be the first user but on my dayjob, kind of scratching my own itch but at my job.<p>I find it unethical to &quot;sell to my employer&quot; so I was planning to be on a &quot;free forever plan&quot; and then look for other customers. also keeping a clear separation from my day job and my project work.<p>What do you think about this, is a bad idea? Is there anything I&#x27;m not seen and I&#x27;m gonna shoot myself in the foot?<p>Thanks!
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darrenwestall
What does your contract say? If you’re not in a development role at your
current company, I suspect it will only talk about soliciting customers away
or staff.

You’d need to build it in your own time and on your own hardware of course.

I’d personally be up front with them that you’re working on it, get a letter
from your boss too - purely as a just in case.

If they say no and you truly believe in the idea, leave and build it anyway.
You can negotiate your building of this with a new employer upfront if needs
be.

