I do think you can get freelancing gigs if that's all you want without the need to team up with someone else if you don't want to. You will just have to look a

I do think you can get freelancing gigs if that's all you want without the need to team up with someone else if you don't want to. You will just have to look a little harder and network a little more, but honestly even if you team up you'll still be doing those things. Only difference would be how many opportunities you can attack. I didn't mention one key fact that might help you. I targeted companies during my consulting time that mostly were outside of the SV bubble, although I did a fair amount of startup work too. But my bread and butter companies, the ones that paid most my bills were the 5-50 million/year revenue companies with generally < 250 people. I found that demographic to need the most expertise, have the least amount of bullshit to deal with and actually have the money to pay to solve problems. But a very large percentage of these were not what you'd find here on HN or most tech sites/boards. Many of my clients were the forgotten markets (as far as tech is concerned), such as large electricians, plumbers, construction, retail etc. I also did a lot of work for national specialty marketing companies and large supply chain management software just cause again people would pay for it. My biggest clients were 4 very large public corporations where when they blinked they lost more than my fees and so I never had fee conversations with them really, plus once you get in well with them you can do really good if you deliver. One other point. Networking is critical, I saw in another reply you said you typically only see other engineers at networking events. So two things here. First, don't dismiss other engineers as your network, they can help you get your foot in the door at a company they are at. This is a critical way I got into ~60% of my clients was through non decision making employees. The others were because I started networking at different types of events, I started going to small business meetings, chamber of commerce gatherings, entrepreneur gatherings, startup days which are everywhere now etc. Those other events were where I met more decision makers and people looking for solution providers. Also, take every opportunity to do speaking engagements on whatever topic you can, this gives you credibility and people will seek you out. I have done a bunch around the South East and that helped me immensely, I also teamed up with a company where I was traveling the US every few months doing speeches for entrepreneurs about tech but mostly marketing. The talks are something I miss doing since I've been at the startup I am at now, something I am working to rectify. Good luck!!