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

[Stevie Graham]

+1 to keeping this ON the list. interesting topic. 

s

On 16 Feb 2012, at 12:42, Sidu Ponnappa <ckponnappa at gmail.com> wrote:

>> 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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