i have a one hour free for (early stage) startups. and it's great. i give them all the input (i'm a consultant, so basically i talk smart) i can in one hour. h

i have a one hour free for (early stage) startups. and it's great. i give them all the input (i'm a consultant, so basically i talk smart) i can in one hour. hold nothing back. sometimes it's all they need. a push in the right direction. i don't want to sell them anything (yet). sometimes i don't hear back from them for months, years. sometimes never. why do i do it: reason 1) data - (in my case access to their google search console and google analytics). this helps me to adjust my benchmark of how i see the different verticals / businesses. reason 2) leads over time 2a) most startups fail. the people move on. this is how i got a "foot in the door" to germanys biggest media-houses. 2b) some startups succeed. if they do, the usually come back to me. quite often for very different topics than the one we actually talked about. reason 3) ideas it's great to talk to people with a fresh perspective. it's a give and get. they learn something from me, most of the time i learn something from them. all of this together is worth something. in my case: 1h of my time, 1h of their time. so is it really "1h free" well, more like "1h non monetary" but that doesn't sound as catchy! is there a second-hour free? no is there a one hour free for big companies? no, because it costs already lots of time to sell big companies anything. is there a one hour free for assholes? no