It’s over six months since I went fully independent for work, and it’s certainly been both entertaining and probably the most challenging thing I have ever done.
One of the biggest hurdles when dealing with large companies, as I do, is bidding for larger projects against the established large consultancies. Partly because of this, but also because it offers some great opportunities to work with some very smart people, several of us in the UK have grouped together to set up the London Developer Co-operative.
Basically we have some really great people such as Ben Poole, Rob Wills and Mark Myers, each with well over ten years experience with various different technologies (although with an obvious bias towards Lotus) who are able to win business in their own right and then use the rest of the group to back them up with extra resource, consulting help or holiday / sickness cover.
The hope is that over the next few years we’ll be able to establish ourselves as a serious alternative to the huge “big 6” by offering better service, deeper technical skills, quicker responsiveness and cheaper consultants. Time will tell.
Congrats! Much the same as what I helped start more than a dozen years ago with Penumbra Group. I’ve moved on, but they’re still going strong.
Well done guys.
Will you franchise? I could easily see a Lisbon Co-op coming up.
Hmmm…great minds! I’ve had a conversation or two with some guys about this same idea. Will anxiously be watching. Best of luck to you guys. I have no doubt you will exceed your goals!!!