Ask HN: Finding Remote Enterprise SW Consulting Leads: Non-US Resident Edition
Been wrestling with this for a while, figured some of you might have seen similar. The Situation: * 15+ years Enterprise Software - PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) experience, including a stint at Google. * Now based in India. * Strong US network (NY, OH, OK, CA). * Targeting direct client engagements, potentially building a small remote team. * Problem: Most remote PLM roles explicitly state US/UK/EU residency.
The Question: How do you effectively find remote PLM consulting/contracting gigs in the US when you're physically outside those regions? Freelance platforms seem to be a dead end due to the residency requirements.
Initial Thoughts (and Maybe Where I'm Going Wrong): * Leveraging existing network is a given, but feels like I'm hitting a wall. * Direct outreach to companies? Feels like a long shot, especially with the location hurdle. * Is there some niche platform or strategy I'm missing? Something beyond the usual Upwork/LinkedIn grind.
Looking For: * Specific strategies that have worked for others in similar situations. * Experiences with companies that are open to remote PLM consultants outside the typical zones. * Insights on how to navigate the legal/contractual aspects of this arrangement. Anyone cracked this nut? Any and all advice appreciated.
My unfounded belief is that the environment is changing dramatically, and will continue to change. And not because of AI. The reason is that the current internet business model if depleted. Users are weary of the lack of reasonable stuff on the internet. Personally, I use my browser less and less each day. It has become, in my opinion, pretty much a wasteland.
Given that situation, what can you do? One could just change careers. Or perhaps consider why things are this way. One path would be diagnose the current situation. Beginning with the predominant internet business model - tracking users. The number of obvious problems with this is large. I once read (not sure where) that the customer of the internet is advertisers, not users.
Things will now quickly get worse in this version of the internet. The prey (users) will now be inundated with generated content.
Yeah, yeah, I know this is dark and you don't want to read it.
However, perhaps if we consider what it is possible to do with the internet if it wasn't so polluted there is quite a bright light. Fundamentally the internet provides an enhanced way for people to interact and communicate. There are indeed examples of this happening.
I sometimes think We people are in a situation similar to a prehistoric culture that finds a steel axe. So we go around hacking everything in sight. But of course the thing about the axe is the metallurgy.
Currently it appears to me that we have pretty much hacked everything to death with the internet and created a very nice waste land. Here's looking at you Google!!! So perhaps time to consider the equivalent of the metallurgy.
PLM, which OP has expertise in, is usually tied to the IT infrastructure in the digital engineering in the manufacturing industry. That's not going away anywhere soon. We are still far away from a full automation / digitalization in these areas.
Absolutely. There are many areas where SW is focused on function and does well. It is unclear to me how AI will impact those areas. Question mark for those who have thoughts?
My point was that there is massive opportunity in areas that have not and will not be explored with the "track user" business model. Or have been abandoned. Good reads, good movies, or Groups.
I run a small consulting shop in Germany, also specialising on PLM (and IoT) - I never landed a gig in the US. The problem with PLM is that more often than not you operate in high tech / defense and because of export control regulations you need residency.
For getting projects in Europe, what worked for me is cold outreach on linkedin. However not directly for the end client (that really never worked) - but there are a lot of companies in between - medium size consulting shops / service integrators. Also digital strategy consulting shops sometimes realize in the middle of a project that they should better own the implementation themselves(because some other partner has been identified as unreliable or too expensive) A big aspect is being consistent and send a few messages per day.
What also worked was applying to jobs, and after making the first contact breaking it to them that I actually run my own company but that I could solve the issue that they were trying to fix by hiring me.
At last but not least - send me your CV to daniel a teide d tech - if you have experience with PTC's Windchill PLM there is a chance that I have work for you in the future. But also if not, it's always good to extend the network. I have worked in the past with freelancers from India, usually setting up legal/contractual aspects through deel.com
Good luck!
thanks for sharing your rich insights, and the networking opportunity - I've dropped you a line on your email!
A lot of other comments have touched on things well. My experience as a corporate is that I often find the 'US local' is a thin shell of sales/leadership, someone I feel I can hold accountable when I'm not getting results during the engagement, and the hands-on tactical folks on their team are typically globally dispersed. This has never been a hard sell for me internally to get approved. It's quite silly on our part because we end up paying $200/hr for resources that probably only see $30/hr of it; but finding a whole team of SME's in some Enterprise SW that are entirely US based can be quite difficult too.
All said, you need to setup a US based sales office. Even if it's just optics, deflect and say you spend a lot of your time with the engineer's in India but come to States frequently for client meetings, then offer to fly to US for key points of the contract, etc. But, the key is making people think your operations is US based in the first-impression phase.
What you say, makes sense! But I'm not even finding myself that much further in the sales funnel yet. I'm at the top end at the moment.
Let's say you have US presence, how do you go about customer acquisition?
(I do have a couple of friends in US, whom I can hire - these people are not core-tech, more of analyst profiles, but I will help with boots on ground, if needed.)
Oh well, That’s a different problem and I’d guess one that general marketing could help you start with. Such a broad topic. Since you’re remote you probably want to try to get leads on your website, but there’s a billion ways to approach that of course
Do you have pointers to any good resources on the top few ways for lead generation? I’m a noob in marketing, coming from tech, so I can use qualified recommendations!
It's a terrible time for US consulting IMO. Unless you're a VAR or somehow attached/aligned with a software vendor, you're fighting for dollars that companies don't have at the moment. Folks are fighting for headcount and keeping only their trusted/embedded consultants, no one seems interested in trying something new, especially with all of the "let me LLM that for you" consultancies that have sprung up. No one with money seems to care about getting better results by switching to a different integrator, they just want to keep their jobs and not rock the boat.
I am not a lawyer, so this is just personal experience, not advice.
Networking is everything, most of my gigs have come from trusted contacts I worked with as an employee in a subsidiary (opened by a US company) in my own country.
Startups help here because people tend to move around with a trusted group of people. Every gig expands your network and builds more trust, so cracking those first few opportunities are important.
Navigating legal/contractual: I can't read minds but you're probably overthinking this before you've secured a gig. Contractually, things are similar to working with a company at home. A lot of the complexity will be on the US company's side for how they deal with the expense of dealing with the expense of you for their reporting requirements to state authorities like the IRS. This is why your network is so important, you have to be valuable enough so they're willing to pay for the friction.
Most of your friction and hassle will come from dealing with foreign income within your own country's tax authority. Get help from professionals but it's not insurmountable.
how do you approach your network - if you don't mind me asking, what language do you use when reaching out to your network. I'm seeing my network mostly turn cold shoulder.
When I say "network" think less LinkedIn and more people you've built up enough trust with to swap phone numbers and keep each other informed of opportunities, provide references etc.
yeah, so the people who would make time to grab a beer with me when I was visiting their town, would not respond to my texts. And that's why I asked for the specific language you'd use. I'm using something like:
"Hi XYZ... I've started consulting, and I'm looking for new business opportunities. I'd love to talk to you about this... could we catch up over a call sometime next week"
may be there is a better way to do that. I've limited 1st degree network, and I don't want to burn it all, so I stopped sending these messages after all the first 4-5 didn't seem to go as planned!
Only way for someone like you is to tap into your network. If you have done 15+ years along with stints at Google etc, you must have worked with various people over these years and many of them may be in positions of authority. If you are looking to compete otherwise, there are 100 others like you who want the same thing. Just trying to give you an honest opinion.
Leveraging existing network is a given, but feels like I'm hitting a wall."
Why is that ? Think about where the roadblock is with your network and work on that. It is going to be very difficult to get huge consulting rates being in a far away timezone unless the clients already know you.
I partly agree with your opinion. But here is how it looks like at my end so far:
with existing network: people have gotten cold - when I honestly put across my situation. People who would gladly go out on beer with me when, and have good conversations, have gone drop dead silent when I reach out: "Hi XYZ... I've started consulting, and I'm looking for new business opportunities. I'd love to talk to you about this... could we catch up over a call sometime next week" How'd you reach out?
huge consulting rates: I'm not sure what you'd consider huge rates, but I'm not expecting US rates here.
Well, one approach is to team up with a consultant/contractor in the US. Preferably someone you know personally that will not skim off too much. This reduces the risk for the clients, as they have a US party as the legal contractor, don't have to do international payments, etc.
Of course, usually that kind of business is started by the guy in the place with the clients. It doesn't have to be huge body shop, in fact the smaller, the better they have to treat you. My previous company used such a contractor (notionext.com). I don't know how easy it is to leverage yourself into having direct clients; probably quite hard.
thanks! but it has been even harder to engage such consultant/contractor/company - precisely, zero. Any ideas on how to find these?
Sorry, other than the one I mentioned, I don't know - I was on the client side.
Maybe there's a way for you to set up a US company?
yes, setting up a US company is pretty doable. But how does that impact the bane of customer acquisition is not obvious to me.
Look at US companies that have physical locations near you. (You didn't say where you live in India.)
For example, when I was at EMC, we had a very prominent office in Bangalore, and "hired" people from that office instead of hiring contractors.
These physical locations are known as captive centers/global-capability-center...! And these companies are least likely to give me contracts/employment in my situation - I live away from metros in Central India (MP).
I'm looking for remote, but am open to partly visiting the client side at their expense - this was something very common with the consultants that my US employers hired in the US.
@deng: Title should be prefixed with Ask HN:
thank you! edited the title!
im following since im starting my consultancy company too outside the US
Call me crazy, but it would appear that the United States of America doesn't have a large appetite for high-paying critical roles held by foreigners
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