Services Overview

When it comes to Information Technology* (IT) and most likely a new website every startup business has some special needs and therefore questions.

When I look back at my 13+ year career in IT I can see one pattern or primary focus in what I do and do well. It's scalability and it is a crucial part for startups, too.

When your IT strategy does not scale well your infant business may face some nasty consequences. That probably happens right at the moment when you think you've made it. The moment you like to scale your business you have to scale your IT infrastructure. Changing your IT strategy is usually not only expensive but time consuming neither of which a young business is able to afford. This is not to say that I will be able to avoid it but I will certainly be able to prepare you for it when the time comes and show you the possibilities for your business.

With my special IT & web consulting services for startups I will not only address your special business needs but take a look into the future. This will help you get started on the right track and scale your IT strategy on a tight budget to success.

Running lean

One thing basically every new business has in common is a tight budget. Within the startup community this is also known as running lean. Therefore my consulting services for startups are lean, to the point and ultimately affordable. I don't focus on a particular product or application and the only agenda I have is your requirements.

I usually offer an hour of consulting for free to get to know your business. You should take advantage of that no matter what because you will learn a lot already.

Based on that initial hour I will usually suggest consulting sessions of 2 hours tailoring your IT strategy. Within each following session we will iterate through your business and adjust the strategy. With about not more than three of these session you should have a pretty good understanding and nailed your IT strategy, i.e. know where your business should be heading in terms of applications and IT. At only $130 for these 2 hour chunks and maybe three of them you will be all set with the IT strategy for your startup business for just under $400.

Do you have a CTO

As a side note. A startup business will benefit from a team and sometimes just a name on a slide show will do just fine. Having a technology person like a developer on your roswter early on could open many doors for you. You don't have to label it as a full time Chief Technology Officer [Wikipedia], aka a CTO, but it tends to be a good thing to have an IT(-ish) person somewhere and somehow in the mix.

Evolve, pivot, grow

Technology is not only changing very quickly but many applications or system setups are build for one specific purpose. They perform and work extremely well for what they have been designed for but fall short when there are other requirements or new ones evolve. In other words, many scale well within their intended purpose but not with additional requirements. Yes, I'm looking at you WordPress and Joomla.

This is tricky for a new business because they don't grow well when a startup finds and needs to add new requirements. Many startups even change directions, they pivot their business.

That's the crux of startups: startups don't just grow they evolve and sometimes they pivot which means changing the requirements for an application. How do you know if your chosen application can turn on a dime. Can you spot the mule amongst the purebreds? Mules are excellent for many purposes but maybe not so much on a race track and vice versa.

* = fancy term for everything with computers