I agree with all of your concerns and those raised by the others. I would be VERY VERY careful about harvesting clients from your existing employer. You, yourself stated that the new guys "bought" the business. As such, they bought the same customers you are potentially calling yours. It sounds like you are thinking of using your position as "employees" to steal the business, but as employees you are being paid to support the business' customers. Quite simply, the customers aren't yours to take, they are your company's customers and you can find yourself in a deep legal mess that you will lose through attrition....you will find that the deeper pocket, your present employer, will win by simply outlasting you and spend you down. This doesn't even consider the non-compete agreement. Don't assume you know how your current employer would respond to such a challenge. It will probably get nasty before it is calm...especially if you are gutting their IT staff too (even if they are taking you for granted now). Only an experienced attorney can tell you what is legal and not in your state, but even if your actions are legal, they can still sue you and that's not pretty.
I'm not an attorney, but I would sure recommend that you make friends with one now before you do anything you regret.
Assuming that you can get out without getting skinned alive, the next piece of advice I have is try to stay lean. Don't go out and rent an office suite or buy new PCs, lease company cars or copymachines or enter a 2 year T-1 contract...line up your clients that ultimately will determine whether or not you can afford all of the stuff that goes with having a business. Consider new business incubator facilities where all of the infrastructure is shared by new businesses trying to get up on their feet. Think about setting aside room in your house or that of your boss. Always wait out the good deals - they will come, but if you are stuck in lease that is twice as much, the eventual deal is no deal at all.
Personally, I have been in business about 16 months. My fixed costs are still less than $400 a month. I have an office in a basement of a downtown building that keeps me close to the business center, but is nothing pretty. I rarely meet customers here anyway. I have a couple of phones, share a building phone system, share a building T-1, and pay for a couple of monthly services required for my business. That's it. I still don't have any employees because I don't have the base of customers to support them. If business goes really well where I can barely keep up with demand, I figure I can operate at peak load for about 6 months, fill the bank and then re-assess. Rather than considering employees, I would more likely align myself with independents....much less paperwork, liability and hassle.
Also, now is a good time to sketch together a business plan. Rough out the game plan. Consider not only how you will devide ownership interests, but ask yourself the questions "Why am I doing this? What are my goals? Does my partner shares the same goals? Do we see eye to eye on the service we want to offer? Do we have similar revenue targets?"
Another consideration is to ask yourself and your boss whether you foresee your relationship changing dramatically so that you are equals or peers. Generally the pecking order doesn't change if the people remain the same.
Most of all, consider talking to a business attorney. They have been there, seen that and generally have experienced advice about ventures such as yours. It will cost you a little now, but like you said, you are young and don't want to screw yourself so be smart and don't.
Jeff Adams, Ideallypc.com
