Take a good idea with you when you leave a company
Even if you finish conceiving of or developing your idea after quitting your job, your employer could still own the rights to your idea. You should have an employment attorney review your current employment contract to determine any rights your employer may have in your idea.
Considerations that are often relevant in determining whether your employer could own rights to your idea include: whether you conceived of your idea at work or on your own time; whether you used any of your employer’s resources, such as your employer’s laptop, lab or other property; whether your idea is within your scope of employment or similar to what your company is doing; and whether you used any information owned by the company, obtained through company resources, or obtained as a result of your employment in order to conceive of your idea.
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- The right time to incorporate
- Determining the right type of entity to create
- Where to incorporate
- Defining “qualified to do business” and where to be qualified
- Who makes decisions for the company?
- How startups compensate employees
- Foreign employees and their need for a visa
- Who owns your IP
- Licensing IP from a university or hospital
- Retaining a license to your IP
- Non-competes with former employers
- Reserving shares under the company’s option plan
- Accelerating vesting on a sale or termination
- Vesting terms that make sense
- Tax implications related to shares that vest
- Difference between consultants and employees
- How startups compensate employees
- Foreign employees and their need for a visa
- Unpaid interns
- Non-competes with former employers
- Reserving shares under the company’s option plan
- Agreements with employees
- Hiring a team before securing funding
- Vesting restrictions on shares held by the founders
- Accelerating vesting on a sale or termination
- Vesting terms that make sense
- Tax implications related to shares that vest
- Difference between options and restricted stock
- Tax differences between ISOs and NSOs
- Granting options vs. issuing restricted stock
- Advisory board setup and compensation
- Reserving shares under the company's option plan
