You can also respond to job listings looking for contractors, and tell the recruiter that you've got a team that could work together. Sometimes that works.
I did agency consulting for 13 years, it is a constant hustle but can be a lot of fun.
Remember to always be looking for the next contract while working on the last one: make friends at the company, connect on LinkedIn. Don't be afraid to sell yourself, in fact nobody else is going to do it for you. You need an extravert on staff, or an introvert who can fake it (that can be even better).
Unsolicited advice: specialize at all costs. The more you can say things like (just an example here) "we are the experts at building typescript applications for SMB retail SaaS companies", the more likely you are to get hired, compared to the company who says "yeah we'll do anything for money". You want the person in charge to be able to look at your track record and say "these guys are a safe bet, because they've done this exact thing before."
Nice, why is that? Because the faker has more control over his behaviour than the genuine, impulsive extrovert?
"I have a close knit team who is looking to develop software on a contract basis. We focus on <sector> and <technology>. We are based in <timezone> and could start <start time>. We built <past project>. Do you know anyone who is looking?"
I have found that the softer sell is easier than "Are you looking for <team>?" because that puts people on the spot.
Questions you want to think about:
* Will you let folks hire just one or two of the team or is it a package deal? The latter is harder to sell, but probably less friction (if only 1-2 folks are doing work, are the other folks getting paid?).
* Will you do T&M or fixed bid? Depends on your ability to control scope and bid accurately. You can lose your shirt "fixed bid" but clients love it and if you have repeatable processes you can make good money.
* What kind of non-labor offering can you sell? Maintenance? Training? Small products like WP themes? Hosting? On-call? This can really help even out revenue ups and downs that are the bane of any consulting practice.
* How are you going to split up the money? 20% to each partner? Based on who does the work (with maybe a fixed percentage going to shared expenses like marketing)? Have these conversations sooner rather than later.
Finally, five folks is a lot to support. I'd have some hard conversations about financial runways and comfort levels for everyone; I doubt the entire team is on the same page w/r/t risk or place in life. Better to have those conversations now than in the future. I like the Nolo Partnership Guide: https://store.nolo.com/products/form-a-partnership-part.html the laws might not apply in Europe, but the concepts and what to think about certainly will.
> How are you going to split up the money? 20% to each partner? Based on who does the work (with maybe a fixed percentage going to shared expenses like marketing)? Have these conversations sooner rather than later.
Very good point. I've tried partnerships in the past but not really worked out. In my current setup I've got a freelancer soon to be permanent, a friend of mine that has its own consultancy and some trusted developers as freelance.
Structure is more loose but gives the advantage of keeping costs down and having good cashflow.
Good luck! There’s a learning curve to sales and marketing just like engineering but we all believe in you! :D
If it may help, I'm based in the UK and mainly in the contractor market. I've got a very good team across the stack and we specialize in cross-platform mobile apps (mainly React-Native).
In my experience having a strong tech rep with actual development background goes a long way. I find most of my clients through Linkedin and handle the sales myself, then organize the work with my team that I've built over the years.
Happy to share more detail and get to know fellow hackers' experiences.
P.s. been lurking for a long time and this is my first comment! Amazing community
Welcome to the community!
I've been thinking about how to leverage LinkedIn for my own little agency. Thinking but not doing anything, because as soon as I actually visit LinkedIn, I get turned off by all the humblebrag posts and have to fight an urge to close the tab immediately :)
Are you mostly doing cold outreach, using LinkedIn ads, or anything else?
I have a very good personal curriculum and I specialize in a niche (mobile cross platform apps) so I believe the algorithm picked and start driving traffic to recruiters, which in turn message me about opportunities on the market.
My wife takes care of the sales pipeline so I get lead calls on my calendar after she vets and schedules a call with them.
So far it's been working quite well.
Has anyone else got any similar companies? I am aware of TopTal but seems more related to single freelancer than classic consultancies. UpWork as well but the market tends to be noisier.
I would also suggest to frequent coworking spaces and coffee shops in geeky areas; I've started my consulting career by pretty much chatting with everyone in the coworking space I was a member of.