u/Wildcard_917

I'm getting back into the startup scene and looking to do some consulting while I figure out what I want to build next. Longer term, I want to start another company and go the venture-backed route.

In the past, most of my consulting work came through relationships: former colleagues, networking, co-working spaces, and sometimes helping someone before there was any paid work.

One example, I had one of my developers help a founder build a VR prototype for free. The product let you watch NBA games like you were sitting court-side, and he eventually pitched it to Mark Cuban. The idea was that if he raised more funding, we'd build the full platform.

That never happened.

A year later, the same founder started another company and called me. That turned into paid consulting work building an early biometric identity prototype.

I'm thinking about trying a similar approach again: find startups that recently raised pre-seed or seed rounds and see where I can help them build an early prototype or solve a technical problem.

For those doing consulting alongside your own startup, what's working for you to find clients?