📶 Micro-Consulting: Why Venture Consultants are Becoming More Common

Why we're seeing more funds outsource work without hiring full-time employees

January 19, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

You need expert advice to fix problems fast. You’re left with three choices:

Try to fix it yourself. The price is the time it costs you to solve it. This can become the most expensive option depending on how valuable your time is.
Hire a full-time employee to fix it. Employees are expensive, and depending on the scope of your problem, it’s hard to find employees that are able to fix it.
Hire an expert contract employee to fix it. Hiring contracted experts can turn years of experience into a few short calls. This is the right move for busy leaders that want problems solved for a fraction of the time and cost.

We’ve seen funds try to solve problems using options 1 and 2.

Here are the opportunities, predictions, platforms, and risks we are seeing with the rise in micro-consulting.

Building communities for clients. Consultants solve the same problems for clients. Creating a space for clients to connect with each other and ask questions can lead to outsourced client support and a better value prop for working with you. Use the Community Builder Playbook to build your first online community.
Using existing communities to find your first clients. Your ideal clients are probably already gathering online somewhere. Use Hive Index to find them.
Using free lead magnets as a customer acquisition strategy. People buy from people, and buying from strangers requires trust first. Build trust with your ideal customers by offering them something for free first. See 19 examples of lead magnets you can copy.
Building micro-consulting opportunities around existing ecosystems. Zapier has an expert network. So does Notion, Airtable, Webflow and others.
Building marketplaces for vetted consultants. Gated communities are a perfect place for this type of marketplace. The more exclusive the community, the more valuable the network. Use tools like Softr to create a no-code marketplace.
Getting certifications. Certifications for specific skills improve your marketability, and they help consultants justify higher prices.

Emerging managers will rely on micro-consulting + automation to compete with more established funds.Management fees force smaller funds to be more resourceful. Micro-consultants can act as low-cost analysts.
More professionals will become consultants. More people are preferring to diversify their streams of income. Marketplaces like Codementor, Clarity and Superpeer make it easier for these professionals to get started.
More communities will launch micro-consulting networks. Communities have done the hard work of getting likeminded people in the same room. Their ability to launch a micro-consulting network will depend on the quality and skillsets of the community members.
More software companies will offer complementary micro-consulting services. Providing on-demand support for their products. TurboTax offers services to handle your taxes. Salesforce offers implementation services. Grammarly offers writing services.

Scalability. Micro-consulting is hard to scale as an individual.
Reputation Risk. A lack of knowledge will lead to loss of trust and clients.
Key-Person Risk. Micro-consulting is based on access to you as the consultant. Your business won’t grow if you’re unavailable for any reason.
Low Lifetime Value. Micro-consulting is non-recurring. You must be great at acquiring new customers.

MentorCruise: On-demand design, tech, business and career mentorship
Clarity: Get startup advice from industry leaders
GrowthMentor: Get 1-on-1 conversations with startup mentors about growth, marketing, product and more
Growth Collective: Hire marketing and growth specialists
Kintell: Connect with teachers, consultants and mentors over a video
Mentoring Club: Get business advice from senior leaders and experts
Mentorly: Connect with career mentors via video call, chat and screen share
Wizly: Get micro-sessions on marketing, career development and product management
FutureLab: Get skill building, career planning and job search mentorship
Seekwise: Access mentors in design, tech, career coaching and more
Relationship Hero: Find professional, certified relationship coaches
Interviews.Tech: Get job interview coaching with 1-hour mock interviews
SEEK: Get product, engineering and marketing mentorship
Just Answer: Get answers from industry-leading experts in law, finance, ecommerce, manufacturing, medicine and more
Evisors: Get career, resume and job interview mentorship
Contra: Hire verified, high quality micro-consultants
Intro: Find career, business and lifestyle experts
Office Hours: Book world-class professionals to solve business challenges