From a Contractor to a ShopAlex Urevick-Ackelsberg

Partner | CEO@AlexU_A

About Zivtech• ~4 year-old company based out of

Philadelphia, PA (& NYC!)

• Currently ~20 people.

• CTO/Co-Founder = Jody Hamilton

• Drupal + other Open Source

• Design + training

• Complex Problems & Cool Clients

Starting Out• What "type" of Drupal/web shop are you? What are

you selling? To whom? Service(s) or product(s)?

• Mission statement: what are your values?

• Business plan.

• Skate to where the puck is!

• Making it official.

• Bootstrapped vs. loans vs. investors

• Don’t fear failure, but try to fail fast.

Partners• It’s a marriage, for better &/or

worse.

• Why bother? Team > sum of its parts.

• Complimentary Skills = success.

• Split tasks.

• Someone has to focus on the business itself. (Sales, HR, Legal, Accounting).

• Hold each other accountable.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bastique/405755376

Management

• Remote vs. Office(s).

• Culture matters.

• Motivating developers = herding cats.

• More and longer term engagements.

• Balancing contribution & business dev w/ client work.

• Outsourcing & Offshoring

Building a Team • Developing vs. Hiring Talent.

• Smart > experienced.

• Team player > raw skill.

• Chaos is ok, internal disruption is not.

• HIRE PROJECT MANAGERS!!!

• One for every 5-8 developers. http://egee09.eu-egee.org/?id=674

Cash & Accounting

• Double-entry bookkeeping.

• Accounts Receivable & Payable.

• Cash flow: if the bucket runs dry, your biz is dead.

• Taxes (ouch!).

http://dekalbschoolwatch.blogspot.com/2011/06/theres-hole-in-my-bucket-dear-liza.html

Clients

• Relationships drive your business.

• Clients as partners.

• Worth maintaining bad ones?

• Long term clients drive growth.

• How much does it cost to develop one?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amagill/362201147

Sales & Marketing• Sales cycles

• Request & proposal processes.

• “Win w/out pitching”

• MeetUps, Camps, & Cons

• Contribute!!! Open source = publish or perish!

• Develop or claim modules in desired verticals.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kdinuraj/3583955785

LAWYER UP!!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tabor-roeder/5554047867

Legal

• Contracts: better fences make better neighbors.

• Fixed bid vs. time & material.

• Protect your neck: get insured.

• Who owns your code? Work for hire?

• “Law of the land”

• Employees vs. Contractors, unemployment, taxes, etc. http://www.flickr.com/photos/brymo/1014496150

Tools

• Estimation

• Project Management

• Time tracking

• Customer / Sales Tools

• Reporting

Got help?• SCORE, SBA, Business Schools

• Collaborate with other Drupal shops as well as design, marketing, & IT consulting companies.

• Drupal.org -> Consultants list, Groups.Drupal.org, Drupal.org Marketplace.

• VC blogs.

• AVC’s “MBA mondays”http://www.flickr.com/photos/juhansonin/2410866650

THANKS! http://zivte.ch/AUA-DCNYC10