How do I pitch my product's idea to the company I currently work for?
Edit: there are no legal conflicts. I worked on this on my own time, using my own development tools, it's my idea, of course ZERO code sharing. Anything else would be taking advantage and be unfair to my employer. If I used company time or code I would just give it out for free because in that case they would actually OWN it.
I work as a software engineer at a company and I built a product that I can help automate a task that was assigned to one of my team members.
How do I go about getting my company to use my product, as a service provided by me?
My product is about generating and running UI tests. It automatically ensures that a web application is running correctly.
I want to keep ownership of course and sell the product to other companies as well. Any ideas how I can do this in a proper way that doesn't make me look bad?
If you want to keep ownership of it. Build it outside of work hours and don't mention it until you have a sort of MVP.
Then you can license it to them, and if other companies have the same issues, sell it to them too.
Why do I say "DON'T DO ANYTHING WHILE ON THE CLOCK"?
A company you work for might want to take ownership of whatever you create while on the clock.
So, work on it outside of those hours. And not under company wifi, if you are in an office.
If your product is not a direct competitor to the product that the company you work for offers, then you probably won't look bad. Just say, "I noticed this problem, and I worked some weekend and in my spare time on something that could help solve it, would you want to test it"
Something like this should probably sound good.
https://twitter.com/AKASpencerScott Did something like this for his first company, you could probably dm him and ask for some advice.
Hope it helps 😉
Yes: What I'm building is completely separate: different approach, different tech stack, different code base built on a different computer, different everything. Built on my own time for sure.
I had this in my original write-up actually, but left it out for some reason.
My primary motivation is to be fair to the company I work for, I can't just spend company time building my own thing. It's really separate.
Also it definitely doesn't compete, it's just a side-tool for testing our main product.
I would avoid it. There may be elements within the company that react very badly to an employee having the audacity to try to sell them something. You may end up without a job and still without any customers.
Try selling to other companies first, then to your current employer after you've given notice.
lol, that's me 😅😎
yea, worst case scenario
I need more time to polish it before I can sell it to people who don't know me. I'm an unknown person so I wanted to try to have my company be a client (even for free? at least at the start) to give me a head start
If it's free, it's not a client ;)
Maybe you should finish a first MVP and try to sell to another companies.
This won't turn out well in most cases. Imagine hiring someone who will work for you and he will get back to you in a couple weeks that he automated one repetitive task but it's actually his new SaaS you should buy.
If you want to pitch it, quit first, and then a bit later write someone like your team lead if he remembers the problem you had, that you actually built out something better for it and they want to try it out.
The way you describe it made me chuckle, but it does make sense. But are you really saying if I want to keep my job I should give it out to them for free?
No, I wouldn't necessary give it to them. You said a coworker is assigned this task so let him work it out.
I know some guys who were in your shoes and they made it. They worked for years for a big tech company, got to find some weak spots in the procedures, developed a solution who could benefit more companies beside that one, and opened their own agency.
I'm not a tech guy so I might miss something important, but I would prepare to discuss the weakness you've found, describe a solution that could fix the thing, and whenn they show interest, go like "you, " Hey, I've just build that in my free time. Let's discuss how you can be my first customer".
Good luck man! If the product is on spot, I'm sure that you'll make it
This is EXACTLY why my product is not just an internal tool. That's why I built it on my own time and resources too.
If I've already built it, do you suggest that I still discuss the idea first and then later show that I built it?
This is really good advice, I wish we could give awards to comments/posts like in Reddit (@channingallen, @csallen, can we have the ability to give awards here like Reddit, that would be fun!)
Glad to be helpful. But yeah I see it as a huge occasion. If you have a good relationship with the company's decision maker, then that's a warm, needy, close and informal customer who is ready to sign. You just need to pitch, do a friendly price and sign the contract. Soon you will also have an easy review to collect, maybe a referral, case study and marketing material...a treasure chest!
Check your contract. Some have clauses that all inventions to work related problems are automatically owned by the corp.
If you build it, don't use any company assets for it. (laptop, build systems, etc ...)
Yes, I use my own tools on my own time. It's really a separate product that my company can use.
Still check your contract. It actually doesn't matter if you do use a company computer etc, or doing on work time vs your own time, so don't focus on this. In most countries this does not matter one bit, people just say that to be extra safe or are misinformed.
The most important part is checking if discovering solutions to work-related problems is owned by the company in your contract, which often it is.
The legalities are not an issue, but that you for the advice!
Establishing ownership of your work is indeed crucial, as mentioned by @ItsKev. Before approaching your employer with any ideas or proposals, it's important to clarify the ownership rights related to your work. This step is particularly significant to protect your intellectual property and avoid potential conflicts down the line.
The response you receive from your employer can vary depending on their policies surrounding your situation. Depending on your employer their response could range from your first sale to asking you to sign a non-compete agreement.
I realize now I should have included what I had in my original write-up:
"[...], this new framework that the company wants to use and what I'm building are completely separate: different approach, different tech stack, different code base built on different computers, different everything. Built on my own time for sure. They both do UI tests but mine has some interesting automated features (and it is still an early alpha)."
I think I left it out because I incorrectly thought my question is only about sales/marketing, but turns out the legal aspect is a big focus point.
It's not a big deal, if the company wants it I'll just give it to them for free. My relationship with them is a good one, we both would not want to cause issues for each other.
Hey, cool topic.
It all depends what is your role in the company - you said that you are software engineer but you are one of the 200 software engineers or one of 3? Your company has 10, 100 or 1000 employee? Do you have direct connection with CEO or somebody who can decided on implementing new tool in the organization?
It really different if you work on fast Startup environment or corporation where every decision need accept budget and bunch of meeting :D
Find right person to talk to in your organization is the first step.
Good luck!
Finally, someone who addresses the main point of the question and not the legalities. Thank you.
One of 10 developers and yes I have a direct working relationship with the decision maker. They're not the CEO, but the director of software engineering.
I guess the way then is to just start talking about it
I know someone who did this and was threatened by company alawyers immediately. If you have a product go and sell it to another company. You have very little to gain and huge amount to lose selling internally. It could be an easy sale but so what , it's like selling to your friends and family - meaningless.
You are right, a single sale is not meaningful if I want a product to become a business. Good advice here. I'll chase every sale though.
Your warning is making me think that I should not just mention it as people say, I need to also make it clear that it is mine.
My relationship with the company is excellent and neither of us would stand in the way of the other, especially when I really did everything on my own here. That notwithstanding, I believe I need to take your advice/warning.
Never trust a company to do the right thing
😿
Simply put: Just DON´t do it!
They will never believe you did this in your free time and will want to claim it was done under your employment for them, so they own it.
I worked for several international market leaders, and as an optimization freak, I always put MANY ideas on the table, and not a single one was ever realized (at least in my time at the company). More often than not, I was fired for no reason, only to find out later that they renovated 3.000 stores worldwide after my suggested modifications.
Another company hired a full in-house team to create the 12-funnels viral marketing strategy I proposed that they basically stole from me. They lost 350k per year to 2 external agencies until I came up and saved them 60K for the next 12 months in 2 hours of research and excluding non-performing keywords from their Google Ads. But who got paid... the in-house team doing exactly what I had mapped out in full detail. Three months later, they were cashflow positive using this exact strategy.
But the best is yet to come: One company rebuilt a newly constructed 16 Million Euro retail store after I said the counter needs to be beside the doors and not at the very back of the store as people want to leave as soon as possible after they made the purchase. Of course, this was after they fired 80 retail staff that they had hired only three months ago, and not a single one had any floor or sales experience at all. I suggested that I could train the whole team in sales and product theory for at least one day, but it was rejected because that would cost them SERIOUS money!?! And we were supposed to run "active retail sales" not only point at a station. The requirement was 1.2 Million in monthly sales on all 3 floors. I was only responsible for one of the floors and made 660k out of 880k overall in the opening month. So we were 320K short, but my team and I made the most revenue. And they fired everyone (all 80 people, including me) because they could not afford to keep the team under a loss, BUT the 3 old Sales Directors could not be fired because of old company contracts.
This is real life, and that is what you get from big companies for trying to think for them!
Guess what: I am a freelancer for 15 years now and will never ever work for any big company again! Now I am getting paid 120 USD per hour for consulting!
As I said before: Just Don´t do it! Develop it further as a side gig, and do your own thing!
So being a freelancer consultant is working much better for you than being an employee. It seems that the companies you worked for easily let go of employees even when employees are doing their job right...
Thanks for sharing!
I actually just did this last week.
I'm a teacher at a pretty well known international school. The head of school and I met - it was great just to chat. I mentioned my product idea, and the Head quickly said no - I realized how tough it would be to sell tech to non-tech people - they just don't know/realize the benefits of software.
No harm taken on my side either, just saved me a bunch of time and energy from making something that wouldn't have gotten validated.
That experience taught me to just have an open conversation about what you're thinking with your boss - if they're open to give you some time.
Great story, yes validation and keeping people in the loop from the start is a good thing.
My validation is from seeing the struggles we face as a company, I wanted to do some experiments on my own and see how it goes, and now I find it working so I think I'll check and see what they think.
I already mentioned to my manager that I'm working on a project on my own time that I think we might use or benefit from. Let's see!
Just don't tell them it's yours and say you found a product that will benefit them
Actually, this is a very good idea. I was just thinking and it did come up as a solution. I can't get over the fact that it is a bit deceptive though. It's not my style, and also risky.
I just imagined this for fun, but I would never do this because I don't lie. Out of the question...
Hey,
It's impressive that you've taken on a personal project while working full-time. As an agency owner, I would suggest considering the following points before pitching your product to your employer, while ensuring a positive impression:
Your role: whether you hold a junior or senior developer position and understand the significance of your role within the company.
Identify your reporting structure: Know who you report to within the company to ensure effective communication when presenting your product.
Evaluate the significance of your contributions: Reflect on the impact of your role. Have you made substantial contributions that go beyond your assigned tasks? Assess whether your contributions hold significant value for the company.
Reflect on your performance: Evaluate your performance based on task completion, time management, and productivity. Have you consistently delivered on assigned tasks and made efficient use of your time? Consider any valuable outcomes you have produced for the company.
If your position holds significance and you consistently go above and beyond your assigned tasks, pitching the product should not raise concerns. In such a case, you can justify that you developed the product outside of office hours. However, if you have a less favorable reputation within the company, it could potentially cause significant trouble.
I need to be brutally honest. Some times I am indeed distracted from work...
I could have spent all this time I spend building my product, doing things for the company, but I shouldn't, right?
It's tough.
Yes must be tough, if you believe you were not justifying the time then I would recommend not to pitch the product.
🤔 decisions... decisions...
I've had this very thought so many times. My 9 - 5 is in logistics and day to day I see things that can easily be optimized, but I don't know how I'd even bring the ideas forward. in your case I think it all comes down to who you talk to and how you pitch the idea.
Yes, that's my question!
Anyways, glad to hear I'm not totally alone in this situation. Thanks for sharing.
Remember, there is always #Intrapreneurship as an option. Even if you don't want to build your own thing, you can take initiative and build something for the company, inside the company, as an employee of the company.
This comment was deleted 10 months ago.
I don't have any customers and the product is in an early alpha version.
As a real entrepreneur I should look for many customers and not linger on just a single 'risky' customer but two factors control how I will address this: 1- I'm curious how it will go, 2- I want my first customer who I know needs it, 3- I'm a risk taker, otherwise I wouldn't really be venturing much into my own product.
I haven't considered things the way you did, or they occurred to me and I quickly dismissed them, especially the point about performance. I already mentioned to my team lead and our software development manager (yes both) that I'm working on something that might be useful for us on my own time. Their reaction was curiosity, but did not seem upset or concerned. But maybe I will notice changes in their behavior later on? It's a possibility, especially when I try to assert that I own this.
The best-case scenario is not very likely, but a very good scenario is likely not only because I'm optimistic, but my relationship with the company has been a good one. I think my SW dev manager will like to see me being creative and inventive. But they are indeed careful about spending money so maybe they won't subscribe. In which case they'll be a special free customer. But then they are not completely cheap and won't take for free something that actually costs me money to run.
Yes, muddy, but I can't be afraid of the unknown. I'm lucky to have you comment on my post @SaltyWaffle, I appreciate you!
@csallen @channingallen Check out this super comment/POST. I love it, and all I can do is give it a single small like. Looks like I'm going to keep on nagging for more than a mere 'like' button. I'd definitely award this if I could.