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Small clients > one big client Especially at the beginning, you read here how often big clients can put you under at the beginning because you're not ready to

Small clients > one big client Especially at the beginning, you read here how often big clients can put you under at the beginning because you're not ready to deal with them.

ryanmarsh 10y ago
This. When small shops land their first big client they're always so excited. To me it's like having a stone tied around your neck. Big clients can often be more trouble than they're worth and become a financial risk when they send you packing and you've hired extra people just for their account.
deweller 10y ago
But... A few big jobs > many small jobs Low-paying jobs will consume more time than you expect. Be careful when quoting these. Always charge more than you think you need to cover your time.
- yeukhon 10y ago
  Big clients tend to be very slow at signing contracts because their legals would examine every word and will keep asking you to revise the contract. Furtheremore, real big clients tend to be slow at adopting the techology they just bought, so you may not get feedback quick enough to improve your product. Big clients are more likely to argue for discount as they would use "I am big name" as leverage.
  - spIrr 10y ago
    This, and sales concentration is a real risk as well. If you have few big customers and even one of them churns, the impact this will have on you is certainly going to be material.
    - yeukhon 10y ago
      Yes, the strategy for big client is to lock them in for long engagement (like a 3-YR term). Throw in some nice support package, longer trial period, whatever. Since big customers often take months to fully use a product (6-12 months is very common), I wouldn't worry about "oh now I got big name, I need more infrastructure, more money to pay my cloud vendor." It won't for 6-12 months and you probably can keep all the pennies from the big client monthly. If you get a downpayment (say 1-year for a 3-yr term), you get ammunition to grow your team and get more smaller customers.
- imhoguy 10y ago
  That is true for consulting and manual/in-person kind of service. However with SaaS the automation is crucial to service the masses.
matt4077 10y ago
Ohhh, yes! After four years in which I frequently worked in a 6h/1h work/sleep rhythm for weeks at a time, I just left town and decided to never again have any customer that I couldn't fire and forget about on the spot if I wanted. Big clients and projects were, at least for me, a complete nightmare. Worst were the lawsuits which, even when we ultimately won, would basically ruin whole years at a time. Now I'm working for a few thousand customers at maybe $50/year average. When some technology or idea seems interesting, I'll spend 48h straight trying to get it working. When the weather starts to get warm, I'll spend the day in the sun with a bottle of white wine and no appointments until November.

Small clients > one big client Especially at the beginning, you read here how often big clients can put you under at the beginning because you're not ready to deal with them.

ryanmarsh 10y ago

This. When small shops land their first big client they're always so excited. To me it's like having a stone tied around your neck. Big clients can often be more trouble than they're worth and become a financial risk when they send you packing and you've hired extra people just for their account.

deweller 10y ago

But... A few big jobs > many small jobs Low-paying jobs will consume more time than you expect. Be careful when quoting these. Always charge more than you think you need to cover your time.

yeukhon 10y ago
Big clients tend to be very slow at signing contracts because their legals would examine every word and will keep asking you to revise the contract. Furtheremore, real big clients tend to be slow at adopting the techology they just bought, so you may not get feedback quick enough to improve your product. Big clients are more likely to argue for discount as they would use "I am big name" as leverage.
- spIrr 10y ago
  This, and sales concentration is a real risk as well. If you have few big customers and even one of them churns, the impact this will have on you is certainly going to be material.
  - yeukhon 10y ago
    Yes, the strategy for big client is to lock them in for long engagement (like a 3-YR term). Throw in some nice support package, longer trial period, whatever. Since big customers often take months to fully use a product (6-12 months is very common), I wouldn't worry about "oh now I got big name, I need more infrastructure, more money to pay my cloud vendor." It won't for 6-12 months and you probably can keep all the pennies from the big client monthly. If you get a downpayment (say 1-year for a 3-yr term), you get ammunition to grow your team and get more smaller customers.
imhoguy 10y ago
That is true for consulting and manual/in-person kind of service. However with SaaS the automation is crucial to service the masses.

matt4077 10y ago

Ohhh, yes! After four years in which I frequently worked in a 6h/1h work/sleep rhythm for weeks at a time, I just left town and decided to never again have any customer that I couldn't fire and forget about on the spot if I wanted. Big clients and projects were, at least for me, a complete nightmare. Worst were the lawsuits which, even when we ultimately won, would basically ruin whole years at a time. Now I'm working for a few thousand customers at maybe $50/year average. When some technology or idea seems interesting, I'll spend 48h straight trying to get it working. When the weather starts to get warm, I'll spend the day in the sun with a bottle of white wine and no appointments until November.