

Ask HN: Negotiating your employment contract with a corporation - beingacquired

I've been running various boot-strapped small business/start-ups for over 10 years now and I'll be moving to work with a Big Company in California. Having never worked for a corporation before, what kinds of things can I ask for in my contract? For example: clause to work remotely rather than relocate, or relocation subsidy, housing subsidy, fixed-term employment contract (I think I could only handle a year or two being an employee), employment as a contractor rather than employee (I have no need for medical insurance/social security etc), performance bonus based on milestones (do these work?), and because they are subsuming my IP can I get them to agree that any patents that come directly from my work will be attributable to me in some way? I have a lot of questions about how to protect myself, especially in regards to giving this company all my knowledge that I've spent years dedicating my life too and have yet to fully express it in a business form - I'd hate to find myself in a position where I give everything away and have nothing left at the end of the day but I'm also excited for the opportunity to see Big Company taking steps in my field and to be part of the development team.
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gharbad
Here are the short version of the rules: A) You can ask for anything B) They
reserve the right not to give it to you

If working from home on Thursdays is a sticking point, ask to work from home
on Thursdays and get that in your contract. It doesn't really matter if it's
because you want to spend time with your family/cats or because you don't like
going outside on days with a 'ur'.

If you REALLY want a pony, ask for a pony.

(you're not likely to get a pony)

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beingacquired
Ha, thanks. Yeah, there are just a lot of things I could ask for, and I have a
great attorney to help make sure my contract is solid, I'm just not sure if
I'm going to know how to ask for exactly what I need but from writing this
post I think I covered it (worried about my knowledge being stuck in some NDA
loop and losing ownership).

