
Ask HN: Would you outsource the business development portion of your startup? - gotoHN
Hi,<p>I often read on HN that it can be challenging for technical founders to not only learn how to scale their business operation from &gt;10 clients, but to it do effectively enough to secure a funding round from a VC. Those of you have started your own B2B start-up or are currently running one, what are your thoughts on a consulting business that is strictly focused on business strategy for early stage start-ups? Is it a service you would consider using?<p>I&#x27;ve been thinking about creating a consulting business addressing this niche and to solve some of the scenarios I&#x27;ve personally witnessed founders run into:<p>-Spending a few months creating a product that isn&#x27;t compelling enough to close more than a handful of contracts<p>-Miscalculating how big the total addressable market is for their product. I&#x27;ve actually worked with larger pre-IPO companies that have run into this issue many times. It leads to a waste of time, resources, and lowers morale.<p>-Unaware of how to present their product to investors and their first few clients (pitch, purpose, and value proposition)<p>-After securing a series A round from a VC company, the investors prefer to be passive and  do not take an active role in advising the founder on how to properly scale their business. I&#x27;ve also seen many investors who lack sales experience or strategy consulting experience, so they&#x27;ll recommend the founder to hire a sales representative to handle this portion of the business.<p>-Hiring the first sales rep who has experience selling either as an SDR or an AE, but lacks business strategy experience and cannot build a CRM, marketing campaigns, etc<p>Running into any of the scenarios I&#x27;ve listed can have a significant negative impact on the growth of the business and eventually be one of the factors as for why it failed.<p>I&#x27;d appreciate your feedback and thoughts on this (even from those who do not have experience as a founder).<p>Thank you!
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mimixco
Mark Cuban says that you can't outsource your critical business acumen nor
your critical tech. If a company founder needed a consultant to start and run
the business initially, that would signal that the person is not really a good
entrepreneur or founder. They won't just pick up those abilities later. Some
of the key components of an individual or a business's success are inherent.

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gotoHN
Would you mind providing a source of Mark saying this? I somewhat agree with
this, but I also know it wouldn't be difficult to find examples of founders
who are not "good entrepreneurs" that were able to have successful start-ups
by leveraging the expertise of their peers.

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mimixco
You know, I'm not sure there are any successful companies where the founder
didn't have those key skills. Sure, some small companies make it on luck, but
every household company we can name was started by someone who grok'd both the
business and tech sides of his industry.

I also think its a mistake to see consultants as "peers." A peer is someone
who works at your same level. The word means "equal." A consultant is not an
equal. They're hired help and they can't have the same goals or motivation as
a founder, which is another reason that companies that rely on consultants for
critical stuff usually lose a lot of money doing so.

