Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Re: owning a business

Here's a typical "lawyer" answer; that depends.

Do you have a non-compete agreement with your current employer?

Do you plan to use your current employer's trade secrets to start your business? (This could be either a special secret process your employer uses, your employer's customer list, anything that you wouldn't have been able to find out if you hadn't worked there, and that has economic value because it is secret. This does not include general skills that you learned there but could have learned somewhere else.)

If your answers are, no, I have no non-compete agreement and, no, I do not plan to use my employer's trade secrets, then you may start your own business in competition with your employer.

However, use caution. You should not start work on your new business while you are still employed by your soon-to-be competitor.