TennisandSales

Head Of Sales

Acclaimed Answer

non competes might become illegal?

idk if anyone else saw the news that there is movement to make non competes a thing of the past.

this is GREAT news for sales people since we would have more freedom and less fear about doing whats best for us.

Story Time:

my first AE role in Saas was a rollercoaster. When I left I had to sign a non compete that lasted like 3 years or something. (insane, but i didnt know what else todo) It pretty much said I couldnt work for a competitor or they could sue me.

fast forward 2 years and a competitor wanted to higher me. (my big break into ENT sales)

I was pretty nervous since the CEO of that other job REALLY didnt like me.

The company I wanted to join is a publicly traded company and told me that they think competes are unethical and would protect me. So i took their word for it.

The first company ended up sending them "official" written notice that i was in violation and would take legal action.

Thankfully my company kept their word and stood up for me and pretty much told that CEO to suck it.

Has anyone gotten F'ed over by a non compete before?

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antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

5

Bravado's Resident Asshole

Not F'd personally by it, but I saw someone else get wrecked. I think that non-competes are a joke in most cases. NDAs are totally different though and still need to be in place.

TennisandSales

Politicker

3

Head Of Sales

great point!! idk why that isnt the go-to. at least for sales ppl.

like id happily sign an NDA saying that I wont give competitors info about your product or shit like that. but dont limit where i can work!

coletrain

Politicker

2

Account Executive

@TennisandSalesputs it perfectly IMO. Let me do my thing, you do yours.

One thing that may work is employee retention bonuses. However, knowing a lot of college friends on Wall Street, pre-bonus season is looking season.

Justatitle

Big Shot

2

Account Executive

This is going to be very interesting if it gets passed.

- It may end up hurting employees as companies may not hire worrying that you will flee in 6 months for a competitor that used them as training ground.

- In states such as NY being a right to work state non-competes are basically useless pieces of paper.

Never have been threatened by a non-compete but have heard some horror stories, usually it isn't worth the legal time anyway.

TennisandSales

Politicker

2

Head Of Sales

yeah ive also seen ppl express concern about how it can effect intellectual property rights. ( I guess there is some fine print that would effect that).

But your point is interesting.....idk if I share the same concern. How would a company know if that would be a risk for one person over another person?

Justatitle

Big Shot

2

Account Executive

For me as a candidate it's great, as a company you may worry that your employees get poached. There's no one specific person they would know would 100% leave but they also don't have anything protecting that anymore.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Sales reps are really only a risk in that they can take the knowledge of the solution with them and exploit the weaknesses when selling the new stuff. There are also concerns about collateral (you're not supposed to take any with you) and the contents of the CRM. But it's mostly about ethics - don't download the contents of the CRM, leave the company, and expect there not to be repercussions.

Where companies tend to get nervous is with key developers. My former employer had specific contracting requirements around that, including patents (who owns what) and most of that applied to the brilliant minds working on the innovations and driving the product development. Totally didn't apply to me as an IC, but was intriguing.

Justatitle

Big Shot

2

Account Executive

It's interesting across many many roles.

- CSMs could know a list of angry customers where they can take them to a competitor and get them to the new company

- Sales could take the clients that have been in pipeline and tank a deal at a competitor

- Developers you nailed

- Recruiting can take candidates and move them to the new org/agency

I am sure I am missing a ton as well.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

I'd like to see non competes go away.

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

In many states non-competes are unenforceable by state law. Not every state though. The more liberal your state, the more likely there's a state law preventing NC's.

GTMLeader

Good Citizen

2

GTM Leader

Yes, it depends on the state and case law in the state. My wife is an attorney and does some employment law. Where I live, case law states that a non-compete cannot keep me from working for any employer. I just cannot share any information about the company or contact/share data about customers with that I have intimate data from my former employer for 12 months.

Lambda

Tycoon

1

Sales Consultant

Non competes are predicated on how much your employer has to lose
and how willing youe new employer is to "help" you
In the medical device field this was easy to get around
you could go work for the competitor but for a different "territory" for 12 months which was fine because it took you 3-6 months to learn the product anyway and by that point if the DR had left they would have done so by then anyway and you can scope back in in 6 months to regain that business with your new company

not sure how it works in the saas world though

Vidgill

1

SDR Manager - APJ

Where I am non-competes aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. So people usually just take a months gardening leave and do whatever they want

Sunbunny31

Politicker

0

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Non-competes are non-enforceable in my state, so we don't have the issue. It's great.

You are expected to behave professionally and ethically when you leave one company to join another, but you are free to go where ever you want.

GDO

Politicker

0

BDM

moest cases non competes here in Belgium are very hard to enforce. I heard that in scandinavia thye need to pay you for the blackout period :D

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