Freelancing while creating your startup

I’ve been working as a freelance on a part-time basis for the last 5 years, and I still do while growing Superdocu.

People might think this is defocus, but I see many advantages in keeping a freelance activity, especially when you’re not VC-backed.

💡 The idea of Superdocu was heavily inspired by our freelance customers.

The idea of Superdocu came from my cofounder Loïc's experience, and my own: for him, as a developer for one of the French government’s APIs that delivers legal documents. For me, as a former agency employee who needed to collect client briefs.

But the decision to launch was influenced by my freelance gigs: a transportation company and a real estate agency shared the pain they had around collecting documents and information.

💸 It helps pay the rent

That one is a bit more obvious: when you do freelance gigs, you get precious money for your living expenses. This allows you - especially if you’re not VC-backed, to keep your company funds to finance your growth or products. In the case of Superdocu, we kept the funds to work with freelancers and subscribe to external tools. I think this point makes more sense when you’re bootstrapped and cautious with your treasury than if you raised money.

📚 An opportunity to learn

In the past few years, I’ve mostly freelanced as a “full-stack” marketer: working on strategy, content, product, promotion, and back-end/front-end development for projects.

This has been a huge opportunity to improve my skills in various domains and to test stuff that is useful in my experience as a founder.

But I think I’ve learnt way more than just those hard skills: freelancing for companies that are at a later stage gives you insights on how to organize your company, how to create growth systems, how to work with other people, etc.

Besides this, it gives you an opportunity to get familiar with new tools or perspectives and implement those at your company when relevant.

The gold nugget is when you freelance for a company that is in your target market.

You'll dive into the inner workings of your ideal customers and their daily pains. And this is not something you’ll likely get in a customer discovery call.

📣 A network (and a few contracts!)

Working with other people also brings you a network of ambassadors. Some of my freelance clients became Superdocu customers. Some others introduced me to current customers as well! Working closely with other entrepreneurs also helps you find external advice for your own company.

Now, make sure your freelancing activity doesn’t cannibalize your main project and set yourself limits: only inbound, part-time gigs, that don’t disturb your company schedule.

📙 Lesson: freelancing while you grow your company can bring you insights, startup customers, money, and a network.