I often read on HN that it can be challenging for technical founders to not only learn how to scale their business operation from >10 clients, but to it do effectively enough to secure a funding round from a VC. Those of you have started your own B2B start-up or are currently running one, what are your thoughts on a consulting business that is strictly focused on business strategy for early stage start-ups? Is it a service you would consider using?
I've been thinking about creating a consulting business addressing this niche and to solve some of the scenarios I've personally witnessed founders run into:
-Spending a few months creating a product that isn't compelling enough to close more than a handful of contracts
-Miscalculating how big the total addressable market is for their product. I've actually worked with larger pre-IPO companies that have run into this issue many times. It leads to a waste of time, resources, and lowers morale.
-Unaware of how to present their product to investors and their first few clients (pitch, purpose, and value proposition)
-After securing a series A round from a VC company, the investors prefer to be passive and do not take an active role in advising the founder on how to properly scale their business. I've also seen many investors who lack sales experience or strategy consulting experience, so they'll recommend the founder to hire a sales representative to handle this portion of the business.
-Hiring the first sales rep who has experience selling either as an SDR or an AE, but lacks business strategy experience and cannot build a CRM, marketing campaigns, etc
Running into any of the scenarios I've listed can have a significant negative impact on the growth of the business and eventually be one of the factors as for why it failed.
I'd appreciate your feedback and thoughts on this (even from those who do not have experience as a founder).
Thank you!