I've been running a web development and design agency for the past year and it's been great. Revenues have been climbing and the experiences and learnings I've made during this time have been invaluable. After dealing with a series of small to medium-sized clients, and dabbling as a sub-contractor for larger agencies on limited aspects of larger-enterprise projects, I want to transition into doing web design and development solely for large enterprise companies, full-time.
Does anyone here have experience crossing over to that world? Any tips and insights you can share about how to land those bigger projects? Who are the best points of contact to reach out to within these firms? What are some dos/dont's to keep in mind?
Any and all help would be much appreciated. I like to have all my bases covered when it comes to planning these things and this is a great forum with lots of valuable talent circulating, so I'd love to hear what you think.
Thanks,
Tina
Contacts is everything i'm afraid.
The amount of hands you shake & the amount of people you know on your LinkedIn is gonna be strongly correlated to the amount of projects you get.
Thanks Emil- I agree with you.
I second what Emil is saying.
Additionally, I want to add that the ability to do multi-year handholding and nurturing, plus a 'perceived outside value' of being a 'firm that can handle enterprise clients' (whatever this might actually mean) will be a big factor in your potential success. Are you willing to keep a medium-big staff, preferably in a fancy office?
Good points Theo. Not only am I willing, but that's a natural progression of the area I want to evolve into as an agency, so taking on those responsibilities naturally comes with the territory I'm gravitating towards.
I just listened to the IndieHackers podcast interview of Patrick McKenzie (ep13 I think) and the section where he talks about his consulting engagements blew my mind. I don't know if it will help but give it a listen!
Awesome- thanks for the intel James.