I have a sweet deal now, where I choose my own consulting hours. The company I work for puts up with it because they feel like, because of my start up, I can keep them on the edge of cool and now. If I did not have that freedom, then I would not be able to keep in tune.
On the flip side I am always telling my self that each hour I spend on consulting, is one that I am not spending on my company.
For now, we are trying to think of ways to increase our day one revenue for our company so that we can stop consulting sooner.
We have considered other options too like offering a sliding pay rate depending on the number of hours per week we are consulting. At less than 20 hours per week, we might charge 50$ per hour, where hours over 20, we might charge 150$ for those impatient customers. Hours would be pre-booked. We have yet to try it, but WE ARE STRONGLY considering it.
Something else we have thought about, is having a consulting division to manage our time, our rate, and to increase our marketability as a group. As a company we might be able to bill out of the gate at 150$ an hour, vs. as an individual we might be able to bill at 50-75$ per hour. This would also give us a way to charge for custom features.
Some thoughts on our side, now that we did not get into YC, we need to figure out how to stick around long enough to turn a profit.
We also got an offer from a local marketing company, that is interested in what we have, but we do not yet know how to productize what we have for them and licence it.
On the flip side I am always telling my self that each hour I spend on consulting, is one that I am not spending on my company.
For now, we are trying to think of ways to increase our day one revenue for our company so that we can stop consulting sooner.
We have considered other options too like offering a sliding pay rate depending on the number of hours per week we are consulting. At less than 20 hours per week, we might charge 50$ per hour, where hours over 20, we might charge 150$ for those impatient customers. Hours would be pre-booked. We have yet to try it, but WE ARE STRONGLY considering it.
Something else we have thought about, is having a consulting division to manage our time, our rate, and to increase our marketability as a group. As a company we might be able to bill out of the gate at 150$ an hour, vs. as an individual we might be able to bill at 50-75$ per hour. This would also give us a way to charge for custom features.
Some thoughts on our side, now that we did not get into YC, we need to figure out how to stick around long enough to turn a profit.
We also got an offer from a local marketing company, that is interested in what we have, but we do not yet know how to productize what we have for them and licence it.