How to be paid as a startup consultant

21 points by ced83fra 9 years ago | 18 comments

I would like to start a business as Startup Consultancy. That would provide feedback, an external point of view, assistance and support for people in order for them to have more chance to succeed in their startup. However startups have no money to start with. So it's hard to make them pay as little as 5oo€/$500 per month for this kind of service.

What are the different way to make money for this kind of consultancy in the short or long term ?

hxta98596 9 years ago |

No offense here. But what kind of startup consultant are you that needs to come on Hacker News to ask how to start such a relatively simple business?

If you are having trouble with this question, I can tell you startups deal with similar customer acquisition and how to launch questions, but 10x harder. So I don't follow, are you a technology consultant with experience in specific hardware or software technologies or is this general business consulting you hope to sell?

jackgolding 9 years ago | |

I agree with hxta, I imagine these are the same questions your startups will be wanting you to ask i.e. "how do I sell to X?" "how do I make this venture profitable?" Startups have two things - equity and cash, if its cash you are looking for then you are either going to have to limit your sales to funded startups or write out a performance agreement which means you take on more risk.

romanhn 9 years ago |

What are your credentials? What hard-earned experience in this area do you have to offer others?

This is not intended as snark, but there's certain irony in asking others for help with a business model when that is precisely the kind of service you wish to offer.

RepressedEmu 9 years ago |

Without any authority or credentials in this space you are going to face a very rough time with sales. The kind of startup willing to hire a random "general startup consultant" without a proven track record is also the kind that will fail and leave you with an even worse reputation.

You should focus on a single area or niche that you can do very well and has direct monetary value to a startup. What that area or set of skills turns out to be is for you to decide. It is better to be loved by a handful of people than try to be "maybe helpful" to every startup.

Personally I have been getting into the business of Pre-Launches for startups and programmers who are still working on finishing their MVP's. These programmers don't want to spend dozens or hundreds of hours learning about cheaply finding their customers online, building landing pages that convert, or growing their email list of future customers. They just want to be able to launch their product and acquire their first batch of users. Taking this headache away from them gives them the validation and encouragement they need to finish their MVPs and the time they saved by not building and marketing their pre-launch landing page can be used to instead finish their core functionality.

Thats just my 2 cents.

tarr11 9 years ago |

One idea may be to bundle or "set up their systems" for free - accounting, CRM, credit cards, website, SEM, etc. This would save them probably a few hundred hours of research and configuration. Charge them a nominal monthly fee to manage it all.

Then, when you get known for doing this and have lots of clients, charge the SaaS companies an affiliate marketing fee to be included in your bundle.

ariestiyansyah 9 years ago | |

Totally agree with this idea.

PaulHoule 9 years ago |

There are plenty of startups that have $50k or $500k of funding. Most of them are going to be frugal, but it is very realistic to sell them $2000 to $20,000 worth of something.

shosko 9 years ago |

Offer strategy and design. Most people with ideas and a little bit of funding need this kind of help the most.

wayn3 9 years ago |

Its not hard at all to pay 500/month for anything, assuming its got value.

I would PERSONALLY pay you 500/month if you could prove to me that you deliver more than 500/month in value. Your problem is your value prop, not your price.

softwarefounder 9 years ago |

Get a proven track record first. Then setup a retainer with smaller companies. Then move your way up.

AznHisoka 9 years ago |

How can you offer useful advice when you dont have domain expertise in every possible field?

bsvalley 9 years ago |

Look at YC model. Ask for shares!

pryelluw 9 years ago |

Short term:

Go to twitter

Find companies you think could benefit from hiring you

Pitch them

Rinse and repeat.

Long term:

Productize whatever solutions you develop during the short term.

HeyLaughingBoy 9 years ago |

First figure out if that's what they want in the first place.

noahmbarr 9 years ago |

Seek cash.

You can't eat equity or options.

nnn1234 9 years ago |

The difficulty is not in getting them to pay but showing your credibility. There is tons of free information on the internet why should a startup pay you?

We are building a platform where people contribute time to help in the building of a company or service. Please visit www.crowdraising.co Pledge time to start

dang 9 years ago | |

Occasionally linking to your own stuff in relevant contexts is fine on HN, but you've been doing it excessively. When you do that, the HN hivemind gets upset and uses unkind words like 'spam', so please don't do that.

nnn1234 9 years ago | | |

Thanks.got it.