Transparent Side-Hustle Runway
Use a conflict-free job to fund, stabilize, and mentor an early venture
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 96%
Transparent Side-Hustle Runway uses employment as a stabilizing asset during the uncertain formation stage of a company. The founder first checks for competitive and intellectual-property conflicts. If the current role overlaps, the founder moves to a different category or otherwise removes the conflict before building. They then tell the employer what they intend to do, promise strong job performance, and prove that promise through their work. The salary covers living costs and can finance early inventory, while the job provides structure, mentorship, and exposure to business decisions. Waiting periods in product development become useful work or learning time rather than financial panic. Bodnar followed this pattern for two years, leaving the beauty category for nutrition so she could build Thrive transparently while preserving income and mental security.
Origin
Bodnar funded Thrive inventory from a $70,000 salary. She left a beauty-industry role to avoid a conflict, disclosed the venture to a nutrition entrepreneur, and kept working while building for two years.
Core principles
- 01A salary can provide both financial and psychological runway
- 02The side venture must not conflict with the employer
- 03Transparency earns trust when performance remains strong
- 04Employment can supply mentorship and business exposure
How to run it
- 1
Audit the conflict
Compare the venture with the employer's products, customers, information, and intellectual property. Do not build through an unresolved overlap.
Pro tip Treat a category change as a way to preserve both trust and runway.
Watch out Relevant employment agreements may require professional legal review.
- 2
Create separation
Move to a conflict-free role or change the venture setup so the two activities are genuinely distinct.
- 3
Disclose the venture
Tell the employer what you are building and make the boundaries explicit. Pair the disclosure with a clear commitment to the job.
Pro tip Explain what you will do to remain one of the employer's best performers.
Watch out Secrecy can destroy trust even when the venture itself is allowed.
- 4
Protect job performance
Deliver excellent work rather than mentally checking out. Strong performance can turn the employer into a mentor and advocate.
Watch out Quiet quitting undermines the reciprocal trust the model depends on.
- 5
Allocate the runway
Use salary to cover essential living costs and deliberately finance bounded venture expenses such as initial inventory.
Pro tip Keep personal survival separate from optimistic sales forecasts.
- 6
Exploit waiting time
Use laboratory, supplier, or approval delays to learn the business and advance work that does not depend on the pending item.
In the wild
Bodnar could not ethically build a cosmetics company while working for L'Oreal. She moved into nutrition, told the entrepreneur she worked for about Thrive, continued giving the job her full effort, and used her salary to fund inventory.
→ She gained two years of financial security, mentorship, and development time before relying on the company.
Common mistakes
Building against your employer
A side venture in the same category can create a direct conflict of interest even when developed outside office hours.
Checking out of the day job
The model relies on the founder continuing to earn trust and salary through excellent performance.
Is it for you?
Best for
Pre-revenue founders who can build outside work without competing with their employer.
Not ideal for
Ventures that violate employment agreements or cannot be developed safely outside full-time hours.
From the transcript
“working a full-time job was a huge thing for my mental health not only because it gave me security”
“I highly recommend working a full-time job and being transparent with your employer about that”
“don't quiet quit on your employer show them respect”
From the episode
Karissa Bodnar, Thrive Causemetics Founder: Entrepreneurship Gave Me The Freedom To Donate $150M in Value to Over 500 Charities
Karissa Bodnar