
Client wants me to be a cofounder - captain_crabs
I work for a small software shop. One of my clients offered me a position as a cofounder after we&#x27;d worked together a bit, but I turned him down (all above the board and we just continued). I&#x27;ve even tried setting him up with another developer who he can trust, but he wasn&#x27;t interested.<p>Yesterday he let me know he was open to basically any arrangement (equity and&#x2F;or cash). He&#x27;s my favorite client, we work well together, and I love the project. Still, in my heart of hearts I know I don&#x27;t wanna leave where I&#x27;m at in the immediate future&#x2F;go anywhere else full time. So we arrived at something along the lines of I work exclusively on that project one day a week, or whatever.<p>He doesn&#x27;t want to hire anyone else at the shop I work for, and it would be easier for him to just pay me directly. That would be sweet, but its weird. Fundamentally though, direct to me or through the consulting company, I want to see the project successful. The referral came directly to me from a good friend. My company definitely doesn&#x27;t want to give up any of my time, but at the end of the day I&#x27;m responsible for me so it&#x27;s my call.<p>Not really sure what to do, on super good terms with everyone involved &amp; my policy is &amp; has been to keep everything out in the open.<p>So...take a 1&#x2F;5 paycut and go on the side? Go through the company and let them chomp away a percentage without being able to contribute? Do it on a &#x27;saturday&#x27;? Honestly I can probably start managing projects &amp; instead of doing them and hold everything down (at the expense of some personal projects).<p>I&#x27;m new at this, I like building stuff and I don&#x27;t have very much wisdom. Any advice or stories is appreciated!
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mtmail
Getting offers from clients is normal when you're good and have direct client
contact. Could be full-time jobs, part time or side-projects. Employers know
that.

Your contract probably forbids you to compete with your employer and might
even contain a clause that you need to get approval for any side project which
might compete. Since you'd work for an active client and thus harm your
employer if you take over the contract (less money for them) it's not the best
situation to be in from a legal point of view. Additionally the client has
signed some kind of contract with your employer. That might have included an
anti-poaching clause: the client is not allowed to lure you or make you work
on the side. Depends in which jurisdiction you're in.

In my opinion you'd either need approval from your shop (if the client is
still in contract with them) or you quit. Other arrangement will back-fire and
can be reason for termination (or worse reimbursement, you're acting in bad
faith or whatever that is called).

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kylex
Always be careful in these types of situations. Do you remember signing a non-
compete with your current company?

If you see value ie. through a monetary sense OR another, I would speak to a
employment Lawyer to make sure you can't get in trouble. Last thing you want
is being sued for what your company lost in revenue + all other expenses.

You must have some great talent id this other guy wants you as co-founder,
keep up the good work.

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JSeymourATL
Between your Consulting Job and the Co-Founder roles-- which one represents
the greater opportunity for intellectual challenge & professional growth?

