Banning non-compete agreements is a hot button issue — that much was clear in Twitter land on Tuesday morning.
As business groups and labor councils gather in Olympia to testify in favor of and against a bill that would eliminate non-compete agreements in Washington, a local venture capitalist and the leader of the Washington Technology Industry Association debated the issue on Twitter.
The bills would bring Washington state more in line with California law, preventing companies from keeping departing employees from taking similar jobs at competing companies for specified periods of time after they leave. It’s a controversial issue in the technology industry and in Washington state, where companies like Microsoft and Amazon have repeatedly used non-compete clauses in employment agreements to keep former executives and engineers from working for rivals.
Chris DeVore, managing director at Techstars Seattle and general partner at Founders Co-op, has long believed that non-competes inhibit innovation and force entrepreneurs to move elsewhere. He jumped on Twitter today to again prove his point.
https://twitter.com/crashdev/status/694563223136112642
https://twitter.com/crashdev/status/694563643887779841
Michael Schutzler, president of the Washington Technology Industry Association, thinks that there is a legitimate concern about the effects of engineers leaving companies with specialized knowledge and then competing head-to-head with their former employers. He responded to Devore:
https://twitter.com/CEOsherpa/status/694573135836741632
The two battled back and forth from there. Here’s what happened:
https://twitter.com/crashdev/status/694573453681143808
https://twitter.com/CEOsherpa/status/694573505329823744
https://twitter.com/crashdev/status/694573713283424256
https://twitter.com/CEOsherpa/status/694573995262259200
https://twitter.com/crashdev/status/694574251102203905
https://twitter.com/CEOsherpa/status/694574416756211712
https://twitter.com/CEOsherpa/status/694574708465885184
https://twitter.com/CEOsherpa/status/694575181860200448
https://twitter.com/crashdev/status/694575546471096321
https://twitter.com/CEOsherpa/status/694575862834790400
https://twitter.com/CEOsherpa/status/694575652951846912
https://twitter.com/crashdev/status/694576245422444544
https://twitter.com/CEOsherpa/status/694576742757892096
https://twitter.com/crashdev/status/694577798992646144
https://twitter.com/CEOsherpa/status/694580459024420865
https://twitter.com/crashdev/status/694581917094547460
We reached out to both parties for follow-up comment. Here’s what Schutzler had to say:
“I’ve surveyed more than 100 companies on this topic since DeVore started making noise about it this summer — most of the companies are small, some larger, and yes I’ve heard out Microsoft and Amazon as well,” he said. “There is nearly perfect alignment on the need to protect IP with non-competes and WA state has reasonable and rational rules.”
Update: Giri Sreenivas, a Seattle entrepreneur who founded a mobile security startup called Mobilisafe that was bankrolled by Madrona Venture Group and Trilogy and later acquired by Rapid7 in 2012, shared some insights on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694570489650376704
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694601667849785345
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694601800427528192
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694602000189648896
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694602209355390976
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694602372086038528
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694602702160949248
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694602846612824065
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694603063177261056
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694603363124523008
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694604108435619840
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694604333195751424
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694604722020360192
https://twitter.com/giri_sreenivas/status/694606540729249792