

Ask HN: Quasi-Legal Startup Idea. Thoughts? - dgunn

Right now several states allow the sale of food out of ones home with very few restrictions. This is even allowed at the federal level within certain limits (sales volume, typically). We've been throwing around a new startup idea that would likely cause the selling of food out of a person's home to be quite easy and probably pretty lucrative. While I'm not against this personally, this IS illegal in some states (to include California). We could try to free ourselves of the liability through a Terms of Service agreement, but we're afraid it will appear that we're encouraging people to break the law.<p>Am I thinking too far into this? Should I, as a small startup, be concerned with such legal issues when just starting out?<p>Point to consider: Supper-clubs continue to gain popularity (even in California where it's almost certainly illegal) and despite how easily the activity could be stopped, they seem to enjoy a worry-free existence.
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mchusma
dgunn - We came across similar issues developing the first online notary
service notarynow.com. In some states its fine, other states have a problem
with it. I would pursue the states where it is legal, make sure your terms and
conditions are locked down, and go for it. If users from other states pick it
up, its a good problem to have. Paypal, Uber, AirBnB and my company have all
been able to get regulators on board after the fact.

Its scary to have to think about getting shut down by the government for an
idea that everyone will love, but I think in the end you can succeed. You will
also have a hard time getting a lawyer to say yes (and probably won't get a
legal opinion). If it takes off, dealing with regulators and supermarkets (who
will want to shut you down in the name of consumer protection) will be a good
problem to have.

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dgunn
Thanks a lot for the comment mchusma. It's definitely scary to start something
that may be shut down. We wouldn't worry so much if the state we expect to be
in (CA) wasn't one of the states with the problem. We're still considering
moving forward after wrapping up our current project. Hopefully some more
research will clear things up futher. Thanks again.

