Wanted to emphasize the personal connections. You should reach out to Every. Single. Person. you might want to work with and say something like:

"I have a close knit team who is looking to develop software on a contract basis. We focus on <sector> and <technology>. We are based in <timezone> and could start <start time>. We built <past project>. Do you know anyone who is looking?"

I have found that the softer sell is easier than "Are you looking for <team>?" because that puts people on the spot.

Questions you want to think about:

* Will you let folks hire just one or two of the team or is it a package deal? The latter is harder to sell, but probably less friction (if only 1-2 folks are doing work, are the other folks getting paid?).

* Will you do T&M or fixed bid? Depends on your ability to control scope and bid accurately. You can lose your shirt "fixed bid" but clients love it and if you have repeatable processes you can make good money.

* What kind of non-labor offering can you sell? Maintenance? Training? Small products like WP themes? Hosting? On-call? This can really help even out revenue ups and downs that are the bane of any consulting practice.

* How are you going to split up the money? 20% to each partner? Based on who does the work (with maybe a fixed percentage going to shared expenses like marketing)? Have these conversations sooner rather than later.

Finally, five folks is a lot to support. I'd have some hard conversations about financial runways and comfort levels for everyone; I doubt the entire team is on the same page w/r/t risk or place in life. Better to have those conversations now than in the future. I like the Nolo Partnership Guide: https://store.nolo.com/products/form-a-partnership-part.html the laws might not apply in Europe, but the concepts and what to think about certainly will.

Nice tips!

> How are you going to split up the money? 20% to each partner? Based on who does the work (with maybe a fixed percentage going to shared expenses like marketing)? Have these conversations sooner rather than later.

Very good point. I've tried partnerships in the past but not really worked out. In my current setup I've got a freelancer soon to be permanent, a friend of mine that has its own consultancy and some trusted developers as freelance.

Structure is more loose but gives the advantage of keeping costs down and having good cashflow.

That makes a ton of sense. The more flexibility you have now, the easier it will be to keep things going.

I agree, specialize at all costs. Reading “Book Yourself Solid” and doing the exercises was incredibly helpful to me.

Good luck! There’s a learning curve to sales and marketing just like engineering but we all believe in you! :D

> 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?

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.

More likely to vibe with the eng staff.