[HN Gopher] Ask HN: How to get clients for a new, small software...
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       Ask HN: How to get clients for a new, small software agency?
        
       I have a good team (two backends, one frontend, one devops, one PO
       / PM) that have been working together for 5 years. Due to changes
       in the company, we lose our jobs and we want to jointly develop
       projects for others. How to start without experience in acquiring
       customers? I don't know if it matters, but we work in Europe.
        
       Author : gofer777
       Score  : 16 points
       Date   : 2022-03-15 20:36 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | lagrange77 wrote:
       | Maybe attend some startup/tech conferences. Oftentimes, even
       | launched startups are still looking for someone to implement
       | their ideas.
        
       | karaterobot wrote:
       | The most typical way to get started is to use personal
       | connections you have: someone's cousin's brother-in-law is VP at
       | some company, they put in a good word for you, that kind of
       | thing. Or, leverage some connection you have to the previous
       | companies you've worked in, or to former coworkers who've left to
       | go somewhere else, and are in a position to hire contractors.
       | 
       | 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."
        
         | lagrange77 wrote:
         | > You need an extravert on staff, or an introvert who can fake
         | it (that can be even better).
         | 
         | Nice, why is that? Because the faker has more control over his
         | behaviour than the genuine, impulsive extrovert?
        
           | exolymph wrote:
           | More likely to vibe with the eng staff.
        
           | karaterobot wrote:
           | I just didn't want to imply that introverts can't do the job.
           | I'm very introverted, and when called upon to network and
           | maintain client relationships, I could do it just fine, but
           | saw it as a burden rather than a pleasure. One advantage I
           | guess I had was that I saw it as work, and prepared for with
           | the same level of effort I would have for an important
           | presentation. But I couldn't sustain that for very long
           | without going crazy, so I'm glad we had people who liked
           | doing it as much as I liked programming and design.
        
       | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-15 23:02 UTC)