[LRUG] Switching from solo contractor to being a development company

[Sidu Ponnappa]

> Has anyone made the jump from solo contractor to development company?
I didn't start as a contractor, but I *have* made a transition from
being an employed consultant (I used to be at ThoughtWorks) to running
C42 Engineering which is a small Ruby/Agile consultancy and product
firm based out of Bangalore, India.

> At some point I would quite like to run a development company, which
> might handle several projects at a time, employ other developers etc.
I think my very first question would be "Why do you want to run a
company instead of doing contract work?"

What you wish to achieve through running a company will shape the kind
of company it is, which in turn affects your other questions around
lead generation etc.

On a side note, if anybody here finds this thread OT for the list,
please let me know, and I will correspond directly with Luke.

Best,
Sidu.
http://c42.in
http://rubymonk.com



On 16 February 2012 17:59, luke saunders <luke.saunders at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> For several years now I've been a contract developer, usually working
> for a single client at any one time and often for a couple of years at
> a time. Sometimes I get projects which are short term to fill some
> specific requirement, like now I'm redeveloping a site, which will be
> done by May. I think I'm a pretty typical contract developer.
>
> At some point I would quite like to run a development company, which
> might handle several projects at a time, employ other developers etc.
> But it's not clear how to best approach making the leap, when I am
> employed by clients they usually want to employ me and only me, if
> they need other developers or a designer they'll find them themselves.
> So probably the companies I have relations with now would not be my
> target market then.
>
> Has anyone made the jump from solo contractor to development company?
> And if so do you have any advice on how to achieve this? How do
> clients find you and do you have a lead gen / sales process?
>
> Thanks,
> Luke.
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