I am currently working for a huge company and 2 years ago I saw a problem in the company that I believe many other organizations face. I built a product that will fix that problem and I am thinking about letting my company use it for free. Does anyone have any reason why that may be a bad call? Intellectual property concerns or them asking me to turn it over to them later down that road?
Questions
Any reason to think this is a bad idea?
6 answers from the community
A· Dec 4, 2014
Its a bad idea if the huge company is in the same space as your product or if you want to keep working there since they'll question your loyalty.
Basically it all depends on your rapport with the high ups. Wozniak showed the Apple computer to his managers at HP and they told him he could keep it.
A· Dec 5, 2014
Think: 3M post it notes. You may get crapped on, or may be put up
in the ivory tower with the BIG boys. Your choice.Your gamble..
Or you could secretly launch it in secret. Could be your little secret .
If it's that good. Could be your ticket to an early retirement.
A· Dec 5, 2014
What is your company policy on patents?
A· Dec 5, 2014
Check policy. Some places say they own anything you do while working.
A· Dec 5, 2014
DId you build it during working hours? If so, the product isn't yours (as far as they will be concerned).
A· Dec 10, 2014
Personally I'd invest what could be considered a small amount of money now on hiring a business lawyer and getting them to go over it. Invest in a good one and get the peace of mind now. I think it is a good idea to let your company use it but perhaps you could do it in stages - for example - "use it for 3 months free if you hate it don't use it anymore but if you choose to use it or build something similar you need to pay me"