hm. and after that would it be considered evil or rude to go out and compete with my old company? (on the other hand, nobody wants my target market; anyone who bought me would jack up my prices, if not directly, then by not continuing to lower prices as hardware becomes cheaper.)

How long is standard for a non-compete? I'd expect anyone who bought me would want to hire me for a certain period of time afterwards, if nothing else to integrate my stuff with their stuff, train staff, etc...

A non-compete is typically for around two years I believe. If they get too broad in length or scope courts tend to limit them or nullify them altogether.

Yes, two years is very common. Most of the ones I've been aware of have been about that long -- three years at the most.

wow, that's a lot more reasonable than I thought. I'd actually consider a deal like that.

If you sell and start a new company I'd like to be informed, because there's little chance I'd enjoy staying with the company who bought you as much as I enjoy staying with your company

Same here. Not that it should be a decisive consideration by any means, but I got a prgmr account precisely because it was a small operation run by a real person I'd interacted with, who seemed to make decisions based on what he thought was a good idea / fair / etc., not a corporation purely out to maximize profit, or a startup looking to scale towards an exit.

you don't think being fair is an important part of maximizing profit through a word-of-mouth campaign?

Oh I think it is, I'm not convinced most executives do...

Eh, I think hiring someone else to run your company /without any supervision/ then expecting them to act in your (the shareholders) interest rather than their own is irrational.

Really, setting any employee in a zero accountability situation and expecting them to act in your interest is irrational... but when the worst an employee can do is hang out on facebook all day rather than working, it's not as big of a deal as the executives who can line their own pockets with much more of your money than most employees take home. Executives can and do take home all kinds of rebates, vacations, and other goodies from vendors.

so yeah, I think the behavior of your typical executive has very little to do with what he or she believes is the best interest of the company.