Comments on: When it comes to startups, products and services don’t mix

By: Love Mark Suster’s Blog on Crappy Little Services Companies » Process for the Enterprise

Mon, 02 May 2011 03:59:22 +0000

[...] seen that happen a few times as well. In fact, Giff Constable had a great article about it. We’ve even written a few ourselves. Mark hits on pretty much all the points I would have [...]

By: SandeepS

SandeepS — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:56:28 +0000

"Outsourcing works better in theory than reality". Giff, I'm supporting a proposal to create a Q&A site on stack exchange. would you like to be a supporter? I feel you can be a very good contributor of your expertise for the community. Please take a look at: This proposal

By: SandeepS

SandeepS — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 08:56:00 +0000

“Outsourcing works better in theory than reality”. Giff, I’m supporting a proposal to create a Q&A site on stack exchange. would you like to be a supporter? I feel you can be a very good contributor of your expertise for the community. Please take a look at: This proposal n

By: Product Man does professional services - The MurkyGrey blog

Product Man does professional services - The MurkyGrey blog — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:17:26 +0000

[...] Related Link: Giff Constable writes When it comes to startups, products and services don’t mix [...]

By: giffc

giffc — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:45:40 +0000

BINGO

By: sfrancis

sfrancis — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:37:40 +0000

I think there are more exceptions in the SaaS / ASP model than there were in the traditional enterprise or shrink-wrap software models. These subscription offerings tend to focus more on “service” which plays to a consulting team's core competencies a bit better.

By: sfrancis

sfrancis — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:34:17 +0000

BTW, Giff I think you're right -keep it “freelancing” under separate legal entity. Then it shows up clean on the books as additional investment you're putting into the company, and not as a revenue stream that investors will expect you to keep investing in, nurturing, and growing.

By: Two zinger quotes — giffconstable.com

Two zinger quotes — giffconstable.com — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:59:17 +0000

[...] have revenue don’t bother, and once you do have revenue – why bother? ” — adityac, in comments of my last post Share and [...]

By: giffc

giffc — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:57:31 +0000

Well it's not hard to *start* a company, it is hard to build it. Freelancing is probably an easier way to help pay the bills. If you really need to build a consulting shop, you should ask yourself where your passion is. If it's on the product side, find someone else to drive the new consulting shop. I know it's all easier said than done

and I LOVE that phrasing for VC. Hadn't heard it said that way before.

By: adityac

adityac — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:49:00 +0000

Agreed. However, as I noted here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1083507, it is tough to keep it on the side… do you know of any exampes of people that have done this? It's hard enough to start one company, that starting two (one consulting, one product) is going to be even tougher, no?

Right, raising VC or even early stage capital without a prototype of some sort is almost impossible – the running joke is that as a first-timer, if you don't have a prototype don't bother, then if you don't have traction, don't bother, then if you don't have revenue don't bother, and once you do have revenue – why bother?