Joel posted a quote over on his site which I will re-quote here:

“Don’t start a business if you can’t explain what pain it solves, for whom, and why your product will eliminate this pain, and how the customer will pay to solve this pain. The other day I went to a presentation of six high tech startups and not one of them had a clear idea for what pain they were proposing to solve.”

I thought a lot about this before starting.  I mean, does the world really need another consulting company?  I think it does.  Here's why:

The Pain and The Who:

I've worked for several consulting companies throughout my career.  I found the same issue at all of them.  They were so focused on technology that they naturally looked for solutions that used as much cool tech as they could.  This was always re-enforced by the pricing structures.  The more complicated a project was, the longer it would take, the more you could charge. Unless the client really knew there stuff, they would accept the advice of the consulting company. In large companies with big pocket books this structure creates complicated systems that are never complete.  In smaller companies they just avoid technology all together or hire junior programmers to implement poor solutions.

That's the pain part of the quote. Small companies have a very hard time getting solid, economical software solutions for their business problems. 

The How:

So why is it that we can charge less than half of what large consulting firms charge?  There's a couple reasons:

• Design and develop simpler solutions.
• Start a project small and let it grow.  Don't try to think of everything at once.  Let the users help steer.
• Work with the clients development staff as a partner and mentor.
• Don't do all the work yourself.  Leverage client resources that they are already paying for.  Help those resources get up to speed if they aren't.  Let them take over the project.
• Don't re-invent the wheel. 
• Always look for open source / cheap / free alternate solutions.
• Work with a combination of moonlighters and full time employees
• Using moonlighters saves a lot of money.  Rates are cheaper.

Show Me The Money:

The last part of the quote asks how the customer will pay to solve the pain.  Companies are already trying to spend their money.  They just aren't getting what they should.  The hard part of this is that many of them don't know they aren't getting what they should.  Many companies are still naive when it comes to technology and how much effort it takes to solve business problems.  Most consultants don't want their clients to know how easy it has become to create solutions that work. 

If this situation seems familiar to you and you are looking for a fresh start on your IT software projects, give me a call.  734.604.2860