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In the US look for small consulting companies with fast changing staffing needs. At my last job, we had a pool of trusted contractors we pulled in for gigs. Cl

In the US look for small consulting companies with fast changing staffing needs. At my last job, we had a pool of trusted contractors we pulled in for gigs. Clients found our firm through our marketing efforts. We had employed consultants, but staffing needs shrink and grow all the time. When a new client wants 3-4 people parachuted in, we would want to help. So it was great to build relationships with trusted contractors. Much of the time these contractors had little interest in marketing and sales, but liked being contractors, so it essentially worked out like we were their agent. Almost always we kept them in steady risk and also took on much of the payment risk. (We always paid contractors on time even if the client was slow to pay us). I think this is a pretty common pattern especially on the smaller and niche ends of the consulting space. The huge consulting firms can just afford to have a huge bench all the time. But for small firms, that’s not a luxury the company can afford.

georgeecollins 5y ago
I have often hired a trusted / skilled person to do software contracting and they in turn subcontracted some or all of the work out to someone they worked with. That situation seems t arise naturally, where lots of people want to hire person X, and so person X starts to say, "I don't have the time myself but I know someone I can work with I trust." The skilled contractor can then handle excess demand when it exists. If I were looking for someone to be my "agent" the first place I would look would be successful individual contractors who are doing similar work. Many may need subcontractors. Also, star cintractors already have a lot of the qualities of agents, and more importantly qualities that would be hard to find in agents if they existed: domain expertise, connections, reputation, communication skills, understanding of the work.
- biztos 5y ago
  Did your contract say anything about that? If I start a consulting company and want it to grow, then sooner or later I have to play the same game as the big players: Principals come and close the deal, Juniors do the actual work, billing reflects this. What I'm curious about for the agent model is someone who actually proposes to do the work, and does it. In that case, popularity raises the rate instead of dividing the time. Having Brad Pitt act in your movie costs more. If you really are an independent "IC" and are a "star" then you will have offers you want to turn down, right? And dealing with that will be a drag too, right? Hollywood Stars still use agents last I checked.
biztos 5y ago
Yeah I agree that this is the closest thing to an agent model that I've seen reliably work in the software world, but in a way it's also close to the "packaging" thing/problem in the film world. I worked for someone doing it about 20 years ago, in the end he wasn't very good at it but it seemed like a viable business model, it got me into a lovely gig that lasted a couple years. The thing is, how does the talent find you? Or are you small enough that your existing network is enough? And are you pocketing a percentage of their rate, or negotiating their rate and the client rate independently? Meaning, is it in your direct financial interest for the parachutists to make more money, or only in the sense that you want them to work with you again in the future? Good advice about watching turnover in job offers, thanks.

georgeecollins 5y ago

I have often hired a trusted / skilled person to do software contracting and they in turn subcontracted some or all of the work out to someone they worked with. That situation seems t arise naturally, where lots of people want to hire person X, and so person X starts to say, "I don't have the time myself but I know someone I can work with I trust." The skilled contractor can then handle excess demand when it exists. If I were looking for someone to be my "agent" the first place I would look would be successful individual contractors who are doing similar work. Many may need subcontractors. Also, star cintractors already have a lot of the qualities of agents, and more importantly qualities that would be hard to find in agents if they existed: domain expertise, connections, reputation, communication skills, understanding of the work.

biztos 5y ago
Did your contract say anything about that? If I start a consulting company and want it to grow, then sooner or later I have to play the same game as the big players: Principals come and close the deal, Juniors do the actual work, billing reflects this. What I'm curious about for the agent model is someone who actually proposes to do the work, and does it. In that case, popularity raises the rate instead of dividing the time. Having Brad Pitt act in your movie costs more. If you really are an independent "IC" and are a "star" then you will have offers you want to turn down, right? And dealing with that will be a drag too, right? Hollywood Stars still use agents last I checked.

biztos 5y ago

Yeah I agree that this is the closest thing to an agent model that I've seen reliably work in the software world, but in a way it's also close to the "packaging" thing/problem in the film world. I worked for someone doing it about 20 years ago, in the end he wasn't very good at it but it seemed like a viable business model, it got me into a lovely gig that lasted a couple years. The thing is, how does the talent find you? Or are you small enough that your existing network is enough? And are you pocketing a percentage of their rate, or negotiating their rate and the client rate independently? Meaning, is it in your direct financial interest for the parachutists to make more money, or only in the sense that you want them to work with you again in the future? Good advice about watching turnover in job offers, thanks.