

Ask HN: Where do you look to find large consulting jobs? - lzell

<p><pre><code>  1.  Company A finds out about a large consulting job
  2.  Company A puts an ad out for someone to build it
  3.  Small company B (or a couple freelancers) puts in a proposal to Company A for $x.
  4.  Company A puts in a proposal for $x + $y
</code></pre>
Now, the smaller guys are getting work and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.  But small company B would like to put in their own proposal.  Basically, how is Company A finding these jobs?  Is it all referral based?
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oldgregg
A few thoughts off the top of my head.

1) You've gotta network the shit out of it if you want the big $$$. Otherwise
get ready for assholes on craigslist who are looking for "a college student
that wants to build their portfolio"

2) Pricing balls. You need them. It's a huge signaling factor. If you are
charging $40/hr it doesn't matter how good you are because you've already
communicated you suck. My biz partner heard Obie Fernandez (I think) saying if
you develop in Rails you should be charging $175/hr minimum. Arbitrary but it
works. As a programmer you have to constantly deal with feelings of inadequacy
that will make you want to flinch. Don't worry though, it gets easier with
each project.

3) Don't take projects less than $10,000. That means no band websites, no real
estate companies, etc. They are a waste of your time. The problem with
referrals is that if you charge one person $40 you're not gonna get a referral
to drop $175. Stay hungry.

4) Partnerships. Quote projects in the $30k-$250k range. Maybe the client
doesn't have that much money, so take $20k and half the equity. Never ever do
a partnership unless they have lots of skin ($) in the game.

5) Finding new business. What is the best product or tool you've built
already? Find businesses in related industries or ways to apply the technology
in other industries. The only way to do this is to read a lot and talk to
other people about what their pain points are. Don't write any code. Spend
time thinking and talking about the problem domain and then seek people out
and pitch them. If you have actually thought through what THEIR problems are
it's usually an easy sell.

6) Get ahold of some proposals from some big design firms that you respect.
Copy their style.

7) Watch this video from Carlos Segura. He is talking to designers but it's
all the same. You have to learn how to communicate like this or biz people
will not respect you. You have to proactively define the relationship up
front.

<http://www.businesspov.com/article/315>

8) Have an opinion. If someone has a shitty idea don't you dare code it just
because they are paying you. The reason people hire consultants is because
they are clueless. If you just do what the tell you then they rightfully will
assume that you are clueless too. Fight through it with them and you both come
out ahead.

~~~
scottw
I'll endorse everything oldgregg said here PLUS one critical factor: be
competent.

You shouldn't expect to jump into the pool with the big dogs unless you can
swim. Good talk is one thing, but if you can't back it up with genuine
competency (unless you're working solo) you'll be found out _fast_ and nobody
will like you. At all. And you can forget about referrals after that.

I've worked large contract jobs for several years and love it. There are a few
of us who follow each other around in my industry and we can spot the fakes
pretty quickly. If you can really deliver on the goods--i.e., you're as
productive as 5 or 6 average programmers and can communicate effectively--
you'll be able to ask for what you want and get it most of the time.

------
jasonford1
I'm young so I must relate my experience as limited and my advice as such, but
most of the jobs we did in NYC came through networking. We had established
relationships inside big players. These relationships fed the sales pipeline
and kept us busy. Networking and, more importantly, building relationships
were what provided the 80% of leads (ie. If there was a single effort that
yielded the highest results it was networking).

------
Mankhool
I think that in the government sector, there are similar websites to BC Bid
(Where the Province of BC and BC municipal governments post their product and
service requests). Is this the same in the US?
<http://www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca/open.dll/welcome>

~~~
covertgeek
Yes. In the US, there are a couple of sites. The one that I can think of right
off-hand is <https://www.fbo.gov/>.

There is also a book called Winning Government Contracts by Malcolm Parvey &
Deborah Alston. ISBN: 978-1-56414-975-6

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jacquesm
If you're a couple of freelancers it may help if you can bill and present
yourself through a corporate identity. Corporations have less of a problem
outsourcing to other corporations than they do hiring individuals, especially
if it is more than one individual for a single job, even if they apply
together.

It makes it very hard to manage responsibilities when you subcontract with
multiple entities at once so a corporation will likely pass you over for that
reason alone.

------
lsemel
It is mostly done through networking in non-tech circles, with executives of
other types of businesses that would need the consulting projects. And
responding to lots of RFPs.

------
lzell
Many thanks to everyone for such great responses.

