dmragone

I'm working on a few side projects with the intention of launching them as small businesses that will hopefully generate some cash flow. The long-term plan is to get enough of these (or as few as one doing well enough) that I can bootstrap a small operation, so that I can start my thing without having to take a serious drop in cashflow from quitting my job.

My concern is whether it's safe to work on my company's computer while at home. I work for a San Francisco start-up. Will they claim ownership over the work I've been doing outside of work just because it's on their computer? It doesn't conflict in business area in the least, but I'd rather go buy a separate computer if there's a serious concern about claims of ownership or potential for getting sued.

Sometimes I see a Show HN or product launch and think "wow, I'd love to do something like that", perhaps as simple as changing the target customer.

Is it okay, for example, to take an idea aimed at developers and build something almost identical, but selling to designers? If it's pretty obvious the author of the original idea plans to expand in that direction, am I crossing the line by jumping ahead and trying to get there first?

I've seen a number of posts here and elsewhere on recruiting top developers, but it seems one of the great challenges of building a strong dev team is keeping talent.

For anyone who is running a team (or has), what have you done to keep talent?

For everyone else, what entices you to leave and what can be done to keep you on board?