Great to see a whole forum dedicated to this stuff. So, I'll be SHORT about this and just give you guys the gist, then you can make fun of me and tell me why it's dumb or what you think is cool - or who you know who's doing something similar - or just comment for fun :)Here goes:- I'm aiming to consult with Tech Startups... initially in the Boston area, and PARTICULARLY in Emerging Technologies- I'm aiming to build up two sites (primarily TechEmergence.com... which just got hacked which sucks...) in order to get my demographic on their (entrepreneurs in emerging technology), and I plan to write and have writers on MANY other MAJOR tech blogs / publications- I plan to be a go-to source for emerging tech startup news... and a go-to NEWS hub for startups who want to get their names out there- I plan to build a list of subscribers, parse them out (Fanboys, Entrepreneurs, etc...)- I plan to sell a monthly membership to a forum (Novel, right?) and access to a great community and other resources- Parse out startup owners and give them essential startup materials about marketing automation / legal / whatever else... all of which come with a Survey and a strategy call. Call these guys and sell consulting^ I'm doing this right now and selling $500.00 Skill Development consulting to martial artists / martial arts teachers. I'm not joking. And 847/month internet marketing consulting / coaching... all off of lower end courses with free strategy calls^ In order to build a consulting FIRM... what would I need to do to really get this model going? What other elements should I think about to get leadflow and initial sales / testimonials?Thanks so much! If you know someone high up in consulting, let me know I'd love to learn a lot!Best,-Daniel

Frankly I'd skip the plans to write your own version of the New York Times online and just get out there and do some networking

Plenty of forums and events already exist for tech startups, e.g. TechCrunch, Under the Radar,.....So, as BEP said, the best thing to do would be to drop what you are planning to do, pick up the phone and visit people.

Just curious - who are your customers - Startups? Do they really have the time and money to be paying for consulting if they're just getting their MVP started? My hunch is no to both. And if they do have money, it probably came from a VC firm, which therefore means they already have (excellent) advisors.I could be wrong, and would be happy to hear it if so, but it seems like consulting to startups has significant barriers to entry. But since you are essentially a startup yourself, I agree with the others here that your best bet is to get out there, make real connections, do some pro bono work to get experience, and then scale up the most successful aspects of it.

AWHELAN#:Thanks, and I appreciate the feedback from everyone.The gameplan is to focus on only what we REALLY know which is marketing automation and website / phone conversion. Web leads, web sales, and phone sales systems / services for companies in Emerging Tech.We're doing smaller-scale consulting but more in the small-business domain now, not with Startups.The thought is that with NEW startups, we can get onboard with them early and provide SERIOUS sales services to get them off the ground, and get a piece of the biz. MOST of our business will be targeting companies that already have bucks in the bank - but the plan is to build a consistent system to get truly IN with the companies we want to be IN with.Anyone know of good examples of companies who sell Marketing Automation and Sales consulting? Do consultancies ever have their own sales people go work on the phones and in the field with a company to actually DO sales for them? I'm heavily considering this.Thanks guys