3
2 Comments

What's the value of an external advisor / non-exec?

I've been doing a lot of free mentoring during the pandemic, and I've received loads of great feedback and requests to provide ongoing support.

The problem I have is knowing how best to position and price this. I need it to:

a) Be enough engagement to provide real value for the founder.
b) Priced well enough for me to justify taking time away from my existing work.

Current offering would be something like this, for a monthly fee.

1 x 1 hour phonecall, 
Email support, 
Me being a cheerleader for your business
Keeping you accountable
Introductions* 

*One of my introductions for a mentee has resulted in a trial of their software with a £120m company.

Although the price and exact structure has yet to be finalised, I would hope to bring MUCH more value back into the business than I charge. Think of it as having a low-level non-exec director for the price of a big night out.

Someone has suggested that group sessions may work, too. Say 4 people, in a group session once a month, guided by me. They get the benefit of helping each other out, too.

I've been helping startups in one way or another for about a decade, but because it's often been on a voluntary basis I'm not entirely sure about how to best position this.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom and guidance!

on August 11, 2020
  1. 1

    Find out what your competitors are charging, do some market research then think about the Iron Triangle, Scope - Cost - Time and see how you want to position yourself into the market, do you want to penetrate it?

    https://smallbusiness.chron.com/growth-strategies-business-4510.html

    From there you can get an idea for what you have to charge and to what groups, see how much research and time goes into it before hand, and after care after the product has been delivered

    1. 1

      This is useful, thanks,

      I think the difficult thing for me here is that I'm not planning to make this a career move, so I'm less motivated by money than I perhaps should be. I just want to make it work for both me and those that I'm helping. So I think I'm less interested in my market position and the competition. Maybe I should be!