Ask HN: Fear of First Employee
3 comments
As a neurodivergent person
You can just say "stupid." We don't judge.
In the words of comedian David So, "if I stole your identity, I'd kill myself," which encapsulates the general idea that the prior probability for entrepreneurial success is sufficiently small that nothing outside your hard assets is worth stealing.
You can just say "stupid." We don't judge.
In the words of comedian David So, "if I stole your identity, I'd kill myself," which encapsulates the general idea that the prior probability for entrepreneurial success is sufficiently small that nothing outside your hard assets is worth stealing.
Setup a confidential information & inventions assignment (CIIA) agreement to protect the IP created for the company, alongside the rest of the employment agreement.
Also, if your concern is judging their character, consider adding another person that you trust into the interview process. Either as a technical or behavioral round.
Also, if your concern is judging their character, consider adding another person that you trust into the interview process. Either as a technical or behavioral round.
Have a lawyer draft up an NDA, require any hire sign one as a condition of employment.
Make sure the lawyer would be willing to work on a contingency fee basis if you had to go after someone who broke the NDA.
Make sure the lawyer would be willing to work on a contingency fee basis if you had to go after someone who broke the NDA.
Let's say I have a niche product that I have developed to a MVP stage. The product is bootstrapped and I have enough funds to start a small run and I am banking on the fact that the initial batch will sell, so I could start thinking about expansion and possibly hiring a first employee to help with the development and to free up my time so I can focus on some parts of the business I neglected.
As a neurodivergent person I am struggling to tell apart someone having good intentions from a scammer and I have been a victim many times and many times I have been wrong - accusing someone of trying to scam when in reality they had good intentions and genuinely struggled to deliver something.
What worries me the most is the scenario where I hire someone and that person would take my company IP and publish it. Technically then anyone could make a product using the source files and given that I have limited funds I wouldn't be able to take any legal action. Law enforcement in my country (UK) is non-existent so I wouldn't have support there. So that my business would be over and years of my hard work would probably be gone.
What are the strategies to prevent that from happening? Is there an insurance that could protect the business? (It's probably another can of worms - how do I know the insurance will not pull some small print that I misunderstood and won't help?) Should I amass a lot of capital so I can afford legal assistance first?
Are there any good resources offering guidance on how to run a business for neurodivergent people (e.g. on autistic spectrum)?
Thank you for any insight!