Ask HN: Do you want to see posts for start up gigs?

[sebandr]

Bootstrapping my third start up (Healthcare mobile s/w and IT) through offering myself as a start up consultant. Simple question, Do people want/need to see this here? I'm more than willing to share expertise with anyone, just offering great help for reasonable pay.

[jtheory]

I haven't been keeping track of it, but is there still a "looking for/selling freelance work" thread that accompanies the "who's hiring" thread at the start of each month?

If so, that's probably the most appropriate place for it. (If not, you could start such a thread at the same time.)

There have been several front-page threads of people offering free office hours and/or some kind of free service, but even that got some argument over whether it might be too self-promoting of the posters.

Generally, there are lots of companies and individuals that want to sell services to HN users, but we really aren't interested in seeing them as posts unless it's something really ground-breaking in its own right.

[Edit: side note -- if you have lots of good advice to give to startups, you might offer it in discussions here -- this can give you a sort of portfolio to share with prospective clients. And in at least one case I know of, a frequent HN commenter was basically begged by many clients to start doing consulting like you're talking about, because he so clearly had advice worth sharing. YMMV.]

[sebandr]

Thank you - that's great advice - I've been a fan of this site for some years now - posting occasionally. I'm also painfully aware of a lot of people trying to sell services ( annoying - I get these a lot on my own blog and biz email), I just thought that so many of these young start ups could use some advice to build business models, create marketing programs, or just plain have an objective third party to bounce ideas off. Too many good ideas don't get the traction they deserve, and too many bad ones drag on for too long in my opinion. My goal, is more to help and make some side income while I build my own business - so far all the investments I've had are entirely to feed my developers - I've raised money from friends and family and I refuse to spend it for anything other than building the business they invested in. Once I get some revenue then I'll justify taking a salary, but not while I'm in development.

Thanks for your thoughts - I am sensitive to the purpose and value of HN, I don't want to see it overrun with Craigslist -type offers either.