midwest_tech
Junior Member
Hey all,
I have a question and I am not sure if it falls into the business ethics or legal category.
I have been in my field of work for over 12 years and am at the point now that I am taking it on alone as a start up business. In fact, I have had a lot of very positive feed back from clients who wish to use my service now that I am up and going.
My question is this...
Being in the industry for this long, and working for my past employer, I have a fair amount of inside knowledge. I would be going into business in direct competition with my old employer and this is where it gets a little tricky for me.
I know the target market fairly well because I have worked with many of them personally while employed with my previous job. Knowing these clients are out there, and wanting to take a share of the market and be competitive, I can't see not perusing these clients. On the other hand, a lot of them are still clients of my past employer and while I am fairly certain I can win them over (mostly based on my inside knowledge of his operation and their current contract situations) I'm worried about any legal recourse that could result from such a targeted market grab.
Obviously, I would not use their current contract numbers as a know thing when pitching to these clients, but knowing these things, I'm certain that I could not objectively bid for these clients without doing so to my advantage.
any advice is welcome.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
I have a question and I am not sure if it falls into the business ethics or legal category.
I have been in my field of work for over 12 years and am at the point now that I am taking it on alone as a start up business. In fact, I have had a lot of very positive feed back from clients who wish to use my service now that I am up and going.
My question is this...
Being in the industry for this long, and working for my past employer, I have a fair amount of inside knowledge. I would be going into business in direct competition with my old employer and this is where it gets a little tricky for me.
I know the target market fairly well because I have worked with many of them personally while employed with my previous job. Knowing these clients are out there, and wanting to take a share of the market and be competitive, I can't see not perusing these clients. On the other hand, a lot of them are still clients of my past employer and while I am fairly certain I can win them over (mostly based on my inside knowledge of his operation and their current contract situations) I'm worried about any legal recourse that could result from such a targeted market grab.
Obviously, I would not use their current contract numbers as a know thing when pitching to these clients, but knowing these things, I'm certain that I could not objectively bid for these clients without doing so to my advantage.
any advice is welcome.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?