Tell your employees as soon as the idea pops into your head, and make sure they know there'll be something in it for them if they stick around until then. A la

Tell your employees as soon as the idea pops into your head, and make sure they know there'll be something in it for them if they stick around until then. A layoff in nine months gives people time to plan. Sort of a moot point though. Laying off spooled-up knowledge workers is probably the stupidest thing you could do if you're creating software and not investment opportunities.