7 ms·

What's the difference between 10X Management and any other consulting agency? The article seemed to fluff it up a lot, but the fundamentals seemed the same. J

by ctide 14y ago

What's the difference between 10X Management and any other consulting agency? The article seemed to fluff it up a lot, but the fundamentals seemed the same. Just that the developer is a contractor for the agency instead of on salary?

bbwharris 14y ago
Yeah this sounds no different than a consultancy.
quesera 14y ago
The dev isn't a contractor to the agency. The dev just pays the agency 15% of billings. That's really the only structural difference, but it's important. 10X takes less than a typical consulting co, provides less tangible benefits, and has a better marketing story as long as they are smart about it. Recruiters and consulting cos have always been highly variable in quality, but the current tech hiring drama has brought out some especially bad ones. In the late 90s (the last time I worked thru a consulting co), it was possible to find a rep that you respected and would shop your skills to reasonable customers and handle the annoying bits professionally.
altay 14y ago
Hey ctide, I'm one of the founders. To be honest, I'm a little nervous about the fluff, too, but I do sincerely believe we're doing something different with 10x. First and foremost, our clients are the developers. (Admittedly, this nomenclature gets a little confusing sometimes, but it's important for us to constantly remind ourselves that we work for you.) Rather than thinking of it as a consulting agency, we see our job as making freelancing suck less. In the process, we're building a network of freelancers who share best practices. They even share customers... our customer development has revealed that the #1 complaint from freelancers is that it's feast-or-famine. Since each person in the 10x network brings in his/her own dealflow, one person's feast can ease another's famine. Imagine a P2P network for gigs. Additionally, the article only briefly touched on the lifestyle design aspect, but that's really important to us. Just like managers in the music or movie industry, we're entering a long-term relationship with our clients, and strive to understand their goals and help them achieve them. For some people, that means we save them cycles that they can put towards their startups. For others, we enable them to travel more. (I started out as a client before we founded 10x, and I spent my time on music, e.g. recording albums, touring, learning the cello.) Also, my cofounders come straight from the entertainment world. They managed John Mayer from being an unknown singer/songwriter to playing sold-out stadium shows. They bring a really unique outside perspective to our industry. And finally, as the article mentioned, our cut is only 15%. My understanding is that consulting agencies often take 50%+.
- orangethirty 13y ago
  First and foremost, our clients are the developers. Do you get paid by people for whom you find good developers? Rather than thinking of it as a consulting agency, we see our job as making freelancing suck less. In the process, we're building a network of freelancers who share best practices. They even share customers... our customer development has revealed that the #1 complaint from freelancers is that it's feast-or-famine. Since each person in the 10x network brings in his/her own dealflow, one person's feast can ease another's famine. Imagine a P2P network for gigs. I have worked very hard at developing my client base. Why should I share it with strangers? It is also not P2P because you are a middleman. Additionally, the article only briefly touched on the lifestyle design aspect, but that's really important to us. Just like managers in the music or movie industry, we're entering a long-term relationship with our clients, and strive to understand their goals and help them achieve them. For some people, that means we save them cycles that they can put towards their startups. For others, we enable them to travel more. (I started out as a client before we founded 10x, and I spent my time on music, e.g. recording albums, touring, learning the cello.) What programs do you have that help people like me get their life goals? I can schedule my own traveling, deal with savings, and hire an accountant to do a lot of stuff for pennies. Also, my cofounders come straight from the entertainment world. They managed John Mayer from being an unknown singer/songwriter to playing sold-out stadium shows. They bring a really unique outside perspective to our industry. What is this unique perspective? Can they chime in and share it with us? And finally, as the article mentioned, our cut is only 15%. My understanding is that consulting agencies often take 50%+. You are competing with agencies, yet you do not know their rates? No, the rate is not 50%. It is always variable. I've never had one go so high, not even half of that. Consulting agencies do have one thing: the clients. They sell and market their services like crazy, and get a lot of work that way. Depending on how good they are, they also make sure that the place where you go to work is a good one, with good development practices. How do you make sure that any client that comes my way will not make me sit through 5 meetings a day and then demand more work from me? Do you have any experience working with development teams?
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
Swannie 14y ago
My thoughts exactly. The "agent" concept is quite common in Europe, where niche contractors work through "boutique consultancies" (agents - thats really what they are) to get a lot of their work. The agent does exactly what this article describes. The agent would typically take between 15 - 30%, depending on their greed! (And is often irreverently referred to as your pimp.)

by ctide 14y ago

bbwharris 14y ago

Yeah this sounds no different than a consultancy.

quesera 14y ago

The dev isn't a contractor to the agency. The dev just pays the agency 15% of billings. That's really the only structural difference, but it's important. 10X takes less than a typical consulting co, provides less tangible benefits, and has a better marketing story as long as they are smart about it. Recruiters and consulting cos have always been highly variable in quality, but the current tech hiring drama has brought out some especially bad ones. In the late 90s (the last time I worked thru a consulting co), it was possible to find a rep that you respected and would shop your skills to reasonable customers and handle the annoying bits professionally.

altay 14y ago

Hey ctide, I'm one of the founders. To be honest, I'm a little nervous about the fluff, too, but I do sincerely believe we're doing something different with 10x. First and foremost, our clients are the developers. (Admittedly, this nomenclature gets a little confusing sometimes, but it's important for us to constantly remind ourselves that we work for you.) Rather than thinking of it as a consulting agency, we see our job as making freelancing suck less. In the process, we're building a network of freelancers who share best practices. They even share customers... our customer development has revealed that the #1 complaint from freelancers is that it's feast-or-famine. Since each person in the 10x network brings in his/her own dealflow, one person's feast can ease another's famine. Imagine a P2P network for gigs. Additionally, the article only briefly touched on the lifestyle design aspect, but that's really important to us. Just like managers in the music or movie industry, we're entering a long-term relationship with our clients, and strive to understand their goals and help them achieve them. For some people, that means we save them cycles that they can put towards their startups. For others, we enable them to travel more. (I started out as a client before we founded 10x, and I spent my time on music, e.g. recording albums, touring, learning the cello.) Also, my cofounders come straight from the entertainment world. They managed John Mayer from being an unknown singer/songwriter to playing sold-out stadium shows. They bring a really unique outside perspective to our industry. And finally, as the article mentioned, our cut is only 15%. My understanding is that consulting agencies often take 50%+.

orangethirty 13y ago
First and foremost, our clients are the developers. Do you get paid by people for whom you find good developers? Rather than thinking of it as a consulting agency, we see our job as making freelancing suck less. In the process, we're building a network of freelancers who share best practices. They even share customers... our customer development has revealed that the #1 complaint from freelancers is that it's feast-or-famine. Since each person in the 10x network brings in his/her own dealflow, one person's feast can ease another's famine. Imagine a P2P network for gigs. I have worked very hard at developing my client base. Why should I share it with strangers? It is also not P2P because you are a middleman. Additionally, the article only briefly touched on the lifestyle design aspect, but that's really important to us. Just like managers in the music or movie industry, we're entering a long-term relationship with our clients, and strive to understand their goals and help them achieve them. For some people, that means we save them cycles that they can put towards their startups. For others, we enable them to travel more. (I started out as a client before we founded 10x, and I spent my time on music, e.g. recording albums, touring, learning the cello.) What programs do you have that help people like me get their life goals? I can schedule my own traveling, deal with savings, and hire an accountant to do a lot of stuff for pennies. Also, my cofounders come straight from the entertainment world. They managed John Mayer from being an unknown singer/songwriter to playing sold-out stadium shows. They bring a really unique outside perspective to our industry. What is this unique perspective? Can they chime in and share it with us? And finally, as the article mentioned, our cut is only 15%. My understanding is that consulting agencies often take 50%+. You are competing with agencies, yet you do not know their rates? No, the rate is not 50%. It is always variable. I've never had one go so high, not even half of that. Consulting agencies do have one thing: the clients. They sell and market their services like crazy, and get a lot of work that way. Depending on how good they are, they also make sure that the place where you go to work is a good one, with good development practices. How do you make sure that any client that comes my way will not make me sit through 5 meetings a day and then demand more work from me? Do you have any experience working with development teams?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

Swannie 14y ago

My thoughts exactly. The "agent" concept is quite common in Europe, where niche contractors work through "boutique consultancies" (agents - thats really what they are) to get a lot of their work. The agent does exactly what this article describes. The agent would typically take between 15 - 30%, depending on their greed! (And is often irreverently referred to as your pimp.)