This should cover most of the basics for you: http://blog.asmartbear.com/working-startup.html http://blog.asmartbear.com/working-startup.html I think patio11 a

This should cover most of the basics for you: http://blog.asmartbear.com/working-startup.html http://blog.asmartbear.com/working-startup.html I think patio11 also has a blog post on that, but I'm too lazy to look it up now. FWIW, I've done it twice and neither time did I write up a formal contract. I just emailed my supervisor describing what I was doing and asked if they had any objections. No problems either time. Since it sounds like there is some intermingling of your side project and your day job, I would definitely get something signed. Probably nothing formal, just something like the asmartbear post describes.