Get rewarded for creativity.

Question

I have a software idea that can make my company a large amount of money (but is otherwise worthless to me -- it relies on specific assets the company already owns).

I'm sure I could do all of the work myself, in my down time over the next year. How can I maximize my reward for the idea?

By reward, I want increased cash flow, extra benefits aren't worth it. If I'm not rewarded, I don't see the point in taking on extra work and extra personal risk.

It seems that if I share the idea, I won't get anything extra. Further, they may overestimate the amount of work required and not pursue the revenue stream. If I complete the project first, I will ruin relationships, cast doubt on any overruns, and face institutional resistance for ransoming something that would actually belong to the company?

So, how do I profit?

Answer 1

Approach the key decision maker and discuss your idea. Let them know that you feel it will take X hours to complete. Show them the business case for doing so, and suggest they get an outside estimate for completing the project. Then tell them you would be interested in completing it in your own time if they were willing to provide some type of incentive that was a fraction of what the outside group proposed.

For example, if an outside contractor estimated that the project would take 1000 hours and cost $100,000, tell them you could do it for $25K and give up your spare time to do so.

If you think it's a great idea, another option is ask to be transferred to that project full time. The company needs to see the business need (profit) before moving forward though ... and if you just complete it and try to cash in, they'll say "thanks for being such a great loyal employee, we'll take that" and maybe give you an extra 1% raise and a few hundred $ bonus.

Be careful though - you need to show you are loyal to the company, not your wallet. If they aren't interested ... then just let the idea go and move on with what you are doing.

Answer 2

depending on the terms of your work-for-hire agreement (implicit or explicit, check your local state/province/country laws), you may be obligated to inform your employer of your idea with no expectation of reward.

if you don't think this is the case, talk to a lawyer to make sure!

then if it really isn't the case, make an appointment with someone who has the authority to make a decision (that may or may not be your boss, but include him/her in the meeting if approprate/interested) and pitch your idea along with a timeline and what reward you want - for example, if you can build product X in your spare time in a year and it will bring the company $1M in revenue per year after than while incurring only $100K in support costs, a royalty of 10% for at least five years would not be an unreasonable request.

there are a lot more factors in product development and sales than just writing the software, so don't expect anyone to jump up and shout 'hallalujah!' and write you a check; these things take time ;-)

but beware - bypassing your boss for any reason may not be politically astute, showing up the marketing department by suggesting a killer app that they should have thought of may make enemies, etc. Tread lightly, and think carefully. Your great idea may get you fired if handled badly...

good luck!

Answer 3

The short answer is that you need a sponsor. Someone with enough internal political clout to vouch for/support you and your project. without that you'll be going nowhere and/or get fobbed off.

You will need to pitch the idea and get support. (as has been previously stated) Unless otherwise, it is very unlikely that your contract will say anything other than "any work produced by you remains the Intelectual Property of the company" (or words to that effect) if you're REALLY unlucky, that will include stuff you do in your own personal free time, off the company clock. even weekends. (there are threads about this elsewhere on SO)

After all that, IF you get buy in from the people with the purse strings, you will most likely get a pat on the back, or maybe a nomination for a company award (which might have some financial benefit) because you have already signed a contract which pays you an agreed salary for your service.

The only thing that might get you a bit more out of it is if you pre-negotiate, say to your management something like: if you had a idea/product/service that would contribute significantly to the bottom line of the company, what extra benefits could you expect. Be non-commital though, some management types have a nasty habit of downplaying the idea to the proposer, then passing it off as his/her idea to the higher ups. I've seen this happen many times.

This is all dependant on the size of the organization - the smaller it is, the easier it is to do things like this and reap the benefits.

Sorry to be so negative about this, but in a lot of places this is how the game is.