Re: Legalities of owning a company while working for another...

I know for a fact that it ain't necessarily true to everything you say
here.
You've heard of Arizona Tea?
The guy that started that company used to work for "Schoenling
Brewery" in Cincinnati. Schoenling came up "Tradewinds Tea" and began
marketing it. Along comes this guy who has the bright idea to start up
his own company selling tea. He went to a larger scale than his former
employer. Now he's such an ass, that when he comes into YOUR store and
sees you also have "tradewinds", he demands you remove it.

How much of that did he do *WHILE HE WAS STILL WORKING FOR HIS
EMPLOYER/COMPETITOR*?

There are many examples of employees becoming their own boss and
becoming competitors of their former employer.

I still say it's a poor idea to try that until you are ready to let
the business stand on its own and quit your job at the former
employer, otherwise you may find yourself suddenly out of a job,
which you presumably still need.

If I want to start a
company and to help me, use my former employers customer base, that's
my business. As I see it, any company is fair game. If they're listed
in the phone book, have a public access site, they're fair game to
anybody.

Nondisclosure agreements typically cover customer lists. I'm not
so sure a customer list isn't a trade secret, either. Now, I'm not
saying you can't do business with any of their customers, but using
their list as a starting point is a poor idea.

Just because I used to work for one of their suppliers
doesn't necessarily exclude me from trying to get their business.
What is not kosher, as you say, is taking along trade secrets, using
or selling them. For that, you can get your *** whipped good.

Going head-to-head against your *current* employer is a bad idea.
If you still need the job, you're risking it. If you don't need
the job, quit it and work on your business.

.

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