Are you a consultant specializing in startups?

Or are you considering becoming a startup consultant?

Here are ten great reasons to become a startup specialist (with all of the redundancies intentionally left in for maximum effect):

Startups don't have any money to pay for badly needed expertise. Even when they do have money, they are rarely aware of what they don't know. This means that most prefer to just spin their wheels instead of paying someone for a quick solution. Working exclusively with startups means that you will never develop the higher-paid expertise required by larger clients. Startups don't have any money to pay for badly needed expertise. Most first-time startup entrepreneurs are absolutely convinced that they know it all--despite being stopped cold by the smallest of obstacles. Working as a startup specialist is a great way to limit your revenues to low value services such as business plan writing and Business 101 level coaching. Startups don't have any money to pay for badly needed expertise. The big money in consulting has always been and always will be in working with larger companies. Being a startup consultant means that you are always working with clients who haven't yet left the starting blocks. It gets boring very fast. Startups don't have any money to pay for badly needed expertise.

Let me explain what inspired the above.Of late I have been dropping into various business forums on a major networking site. Most of the participants are divided into two unfriendly camps. On the one side, you have startup consultants pitching their services. On the other side, you have a group of startup entrepreneurs clutching their last remaining dollars as if life itself depended on it. No one is making any money. Indeed both sides just keep posting the same messages over and over. In addition, the entrepreneurs complain that no one will assist them for free.

What's the solution to the problem? Well, I don't really have one except to advise people to productize their knowledge as a manual, book, or software package and sell that to the rookie entrepreneurs. That's what I did back in 1995. This move will then free up their time to upgrade to larger clients who are actually willing to pay someone to make problems go away.



However, the very best move you can make is to switch from a business model based on selling your time to one based on selling a product or service. If it's the latter, go with with one that can be delivered by technology rather than by hand.