Launching a tech consultancy. Any advice?

Hi,
we prefer to ask a complete payment upfront and then offer a reimbursement!
And well... the highest mountains are:

1. find customers
2. find customers again :)
3. build trust

that's why we funded Techlend, to have a critical mass and offer guarantees.

Good luck!

Here are just a couple of tips and lessons learned form my consulting / agency past:

• Always charge (at least) a percentage of the project upfront
• Don't sell individual hours. Sell weeks / months of work
• Don't do project work (your estimates will almost always be way off)
• Don't get yourself too much into company politics
• Don't get too attached - See yourself as an exchangeable cog in the wheel
• From day 1 start with content marketing to establish your brand and show that you're worth it (publish useful and valuable content every week)
• Always raise your prices once you're done with the project until the first client says "no"
• Be proactive in projects - Don't just sit back and wait until you get work assigned to you
• Have multiple clients but don't have too many at the same time (In Germany that's a must)

You can find other, useful information at https://www.kalzumeus.com/ and http://doubleyourfreelancing.com/

Best of luck!