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My co-founder and I met each other at our current company. However, we are intending on quitting our jobs within the next few weeks for our startup. The startup and our current employer are in two completely different industries.

When we quit is it okay to let others in our current company know that both we (my co-founder/worker and I) are collaborating together for our startup? Or is it better that we do not let people know we are working together and just quit stating various different reasons?

Ultimately, people at our current company will find out.

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Your profile is showing 0% accept rate. Please accept answers that you like – Louis Rhys Sep 13 '11 at 8:17
What does the Accept Rate mean? I have accepted an answer but I'm not sure what it means. Thanks. – Li Zhou Sep 13 '11 at 12:24
@Li Zhou: Accept Rate means the percentage of answers that you have selected to be correct for the questions that you asked. A higher acceptance rate will get you more answers to the questions as everyone wants a shot of their answer being selected as correct. – Draco Sep 13 '11 at 12:43
Thus giving them an opportunity to get points for their answers (excluding the votes that others give them ofcourse) – Draco Sep 13 '11 at 12:43
Ahh understood. Thanks! – Li Zhou Sep 13 '11 at 13:04

4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

You don't have to give any reason at all for quitting. You have a contract of employment, and if you follow the notice procedures you're within your rights.

Personally, I would always aim to stay on the best terms with former employers. I can't imagine not wanting my co-workers to know what I'll be doing next. And as you're not heading to (or starting up) a competitor, there's every reason to want to make this move totally in the open.

Your concern seems to be not the leaving, but the fact the two of you are leaving together. So what are the risks?

The most obvious one would be if you have been working at your startup on company time. Have you? If so, now is going to be the time to face the music. And if not, being transparent now saves you from whispers down the line.

Assuming you have a good relationship with your line manager, I would be inclined to talk about this face-to-face and in private. She's unlikely to make problems for you if you show how excited about and committed to your new venture you are, and if you also show how committed you are to leaving well - tying up loose ends, handing over your role and generally recognizing that until you leave, she has the first call on your time and energy.

Leave well. You never know who you may find yourself dealing with again in the future!

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up vote 6 down vote

I think you should tell everyone you know. There is absolutely nothing wrong with self-promotion, assuming it is done in a tasteful way.

You are not slaves, you have the right to leave anytime you want and two people quitting their jobs to follow their dream is a great story for people to grab hold of.

By the way, if you like an answer, you should accept it as an answer. A 0% acceptance rate is a bit bad form.

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up vote 1 down vote

There's no requirement to give a reason for resignation, just that you give the required notice.

So saying that people are going to want to know and you will have time to tell them so talk yourself up :)

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up vote 0 down vote

Before you jump you need to consider

Is your startup doing something your currently employed to do?

If it is, then your employment contract may have clauses around owning everything you have done to date that "is within their scope".

If this is the case a very quiet exit would be a better idea.

Is your startup doing something that could benefit individuals or your current employer?

If your not competing with your employer and if your not building a product they would probably sell themselves then I would be

  1. Approaching your current CEO with the "I can see this helping you out here ... would you be interested in being an early adopter (for a discount obviously)?" ... "Would you like specific features? Yes ... good let me put a price tag on those."
  2. Talking to everyone you work with to see if they would like to sign up to the free trial account
  3. At a minimum seeing if they would like to be on the mailing list.
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