Overfounders are pseudonymous founders who are also full-time employees at another company. Many famous founders were overfounders at heart: Brian Armstrong started Coinbase as a solo side project in the after-hours of his Airbnb job in the era of office work. Recent cultural shifts in the tech industry make it possible to do “full-time remote” in as little as 5-15 hours of focused work, making the plunge to becoming an overfounder easier than ever. The overfounder lifestyle means avoiding unproductive distractions to maximize personal time - avoid unnecessary commuting, frivolous meetings, and line waiting. Order delivery for everything (items, groceries, pharmacy, food) so you can focus on building instead of chores. Execute your roles with precision, you could even get promoted while being an overfounder if you avoid unproductive side quests and focus on impact.

Ruthlessly avoiding meetings is critical to being an overfounder - if someone schedules something on your calendar, resolve it async, do the meeting right away, or cut the meeting short. Overfounders make strong founders in the long run, as they learn critical time management skills that many traditional founders don’t have in the early days.

Places such as California have strong protections for overfounders: California Labor Code Section 98.6 and California Labor Code 2870-2872 protect moonlighting and intellectual property, as long as employers equipment is not used - much easier to accomplish in a remote environment then at the office. Tech moonlighting is common nowadays, with many employees having multiple remote tech jobs. Check your local laws and confirm you are protected as a moonlighter.

I highly recommend taking the plunge by becoming an overfounder.

~ jcdenton.eth
Building beb.xyz