

Ask HN: Quitting my job tomorrow, advice? - throwaway4239

Tomorrow I am going to tell my boss that I'm planning to leave in order to start a company in the same industry, but as a complementary product to their main product.<p>I believe they will be receptive to this idea, what things should I try to negotiate?<p>I have not signed any non-competes or non-disclosures and haven't discussed the idea with anyone or started writing business specific code yet, to be safe; so I don't <i>need</i> to ask permission.<p>However, I'd like to try to convert them into a paying client for a product that we'd discussed nearly 2 years ago but haven't implemented (it's been effectively killed).<p>If anyone had any advice or has successfully done this, I'd love to hear your advice.<p>-- disclaimer: I understand most people here aren't lawyers, I am not soliciting legal advice. I am just looking for personal advice from a group of peers in order to better form an opinion. I promise I'll treat all of this as advice. Thanks
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brudgers
> _"However, I'd like to try to convert them into a paying client for a
> product that we'd discussed nearly 2 years ago but haven't implemented (it's
> been effectively killed)."_

Cross that bridge when you have a working version 1.0. A heads up might just
cause the project to revive. And if you pivot after telling them your plans,
you may leave them hanging.

Most importantly, don't make your business model dependent on having your
former company as a customer. The most sincere intentions to funnel business
towards you may go unfulfilled, even when the benefits of working with you
appear obvious. Don't kid yourself, you are a potential competitor.

My advice is to leave on the best terms possible and consider your former
employers as part of your business network. Call and go to lunch once a month
or so. It's the social relationship that will have the largest payoff in the
long haul.

Good luck.

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kunley
Don't tell them what are you going to do. They will most probably hate the
idea of becoming your customer, at least at start.

So just don't do it for the sake of good relationship with this employer.

Also a lesson of being independent which you know already: you don't have to
excuse yourself. Do your stuff and move on.

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edderly
Just say that you're going to work for yourself, feel free to hint that it
might be in the same domain.

The point at which you are leaving isn't probably the best time to look for
business. Just try to leave without burning bridges, which usually means
saying very little.

~~~
throwaway4239
This is the best job I've ever had and I think everyone there is awesome. This
should be a mutually beneficial move for everyone so I don't think burning
bridges will be an issue.

~~~
mapster
I quit the best job I ever had. Honestly, I regret it still.

~~~
arn
really? any more details on this? We always hear stories about people being
happy about quitting their job and how they should have done it earlier.

What did you quit for?

~~~
mapster
I quit because I moved to Italy for 2 years. That was 4 years ago. I miss the
job and the people. I would recommend taking a 'leave of absence' before
quitting.

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imkevingao
I've never done what you did, but props to you because you're doing something
very entrepreneurial and I love it.

I don't think you should sell your idea before you build it. Tell your boss
about your ambitions to do a startup, and how you saw an opportunity that you
believe is very promising, which is the reason you are quitting.

Tell your boss that you always looked up to him, and ask if you two can stay
in touch and ask him for some advices for later. If he replies affirmatively,
stay in touch, and exchange Emails from time to time, and then when your
product is available, ask him to dinner and pitch it to him.

If he replies no, then he's probably not too pleased with your leaving, thus
it wouldn't be a good idea to pitch anything. Save it for later.

Best of luck man!

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bjplink
When I left my last full-time job to return to freelancing I walked in on a
Monday morning and gave my two weeks notice to the boss man. I went in with
the goal of trying not to piss them off and in the process turn them into a
client/customer. Similar to what you're angling for from what I can tell by
your comments.

So two tips:

\- Make sure you're ready. I knew going in, just like you feel you do, that
they would be open to my plan. A lot of the time leading up to giving my
notice was spent making sure I was right. I quite literally spent three months
getting the balls to jump ship and making sure I was pretty confident I would
come out with a client.

\- For the love of God, play it cool when you tell them. Try and remember that
you're quitting a job and not making a sales call. I wouldn't lead with your
plans until they ask. During our conversation about the transition, the chit-
chat slowly worked towards what they should do when I was gone. That's when I
threw out that they could hire someone else full-time or take me on as a
contractor for the technically heavy work and dish out the rest to existing
employees.

The only thing I find worrisome about your scenario is that you're apparently
counting on them buying a product that doesn't appear to exist yet. They can
say "Sure, great idea!" on the day you leave and then, months down the line
when it's time to play ball they can act dumb and say "No thanks, baby. That
was just pillow talk."

I feel like you might be putting the cart before the horse a bit here but I
wish you the best of luck.

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ericgs
If you're a valued part of their team your boss(es) are unlikely to be as
excited about your new adventure as you are.

Fine to say you're leaving to pursue your own thing, but it's not the time to
be offering anything other than help in finding or training a replacement and
making the transition easy on them so they look back at you in the most
favorable light when you do approach them down the road.

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gexla
Personally, I wouldn't try to negotiate anything. Build your product and let
the strength of that product do all the talking.

Actually, if I were to negotiate something, it would be the possibility to do
consulting work if I needed more money while building the other business.

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mindcrime
I've never done this, so take my advice with a huge grain of salt. But some
ideas that come to mind:

1\. ask them to invest in your startup and take an equity stake.

2\. ask them to partner with your startup and do some joint marketing stuff
(if your product is truly a complement to their product.)

3\. If any engineering effort (on their behalf) is needed to make your product
and theirs interoperate, try to negotiate something where they agree to
implement that, so you can fully leverage the "complement" position when you
market your product. Not sure what you'd have to give up (if anything) to get
this, but it might be worth pursuing.

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entrepreneurial
Why quit? Why not try to do the 4 hour work week approach, by working a couple
of days a week at home. Then, begin building your product. Once you have a
sellable product, then let them know.

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atgm
Don't burn any bridges, try to be as friendly as possible and maintain
connections. You never know when they'll help in some way. Best of luck!

------
entrepreneurial
Don't burn a bridge.

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kabir_h
Get a bunch of credit cards, preferrably ones with no/low balance transfer
fees. Unless they bite and buy your product, you have no idea how long you're
going to be without income and getting more credit while building your startup
is hard.

