Ask HN: Opened a LLC in USA, where should I look for clients?

i don't know. c2c contracts are hard to find these days, there's dice.com but from my expierence its mostly spam these days.

Why would other contractors tell you where to get their business?

Stripe takes a hefty cut. Use USDC. Costs a fraction of a penny and settles in less than a second.

You might be able to find some here, or on LinkedIn.

What are some projects u have done in the past? Where r u located? What US time zones will u overlap with? What do you charge?

Maybe start with your current employer? Then expand out via LinkedIn. You could also try fiverr but that will generally be pretty cut-rate "doing it for the exposure" type deal - but might be useful if you want to get your feet wet, and get some genuine client recommendations. Disclaimer: I've only been a fiverr client, not a provider, and not for devops.

I would also note that anyone looking to hire you will want you to be an expert on AWS, not a generalist on "Cloud". Similar to how they will want you to know Oracle, not "relational databases". Of course, milage varies as consultancies like Anderson and Deloitte charge big money to hire out generalists.

Sorry to tell you this, but you picked a terrible time to start contracting. I'd start on Upwork and see if you can get any bites on there.

Also, I personally wouldn't use the US LLC if you don't live in the US--that would be a huge red flag for me as a potential client. Contracting is all about trust, and you want your business to appear as solid as possible.

You should find out who the biggest cloud integrators are in your area and get in touch with whoever runs their frontline, e.g. who makes the deals. Typically this is a "managing director" or similar young executive who is responsible for the P&L of their own region, vertical, or segment.

One of the thing these guys will spend a lot of time on is staffing, e.g. if/when they win a deal, will they be able to service it. Freelancers who can be relied upon are extremely valuable for this individual because they can trust you to do you job well but they don't have to carry your full expenses, just your billable rate.

I never understand (ok I understand but take issue with) these types of questions. Sure nice to read ideas people give on HN but really isn't this a classic case of RTFM. Where that means 'do some reading spend some time do some research and FIGURE IT OUT ON YOUR OWN'. What changed (old timer here btw) in culture where everyone wants the answer from someone else. There is a wealth of free information on the internet that can be had. Do some work yourself then come back with specific questions (on another forum probably) and tie up the loose ends.

Part of being an entrepreneur is figuring things out on your own with nominal help from others. In the old day btw when you 'started a business' (was not called a 'startup') you not only didn't have money to buy expensive help you were lucky to even get any help. You wore most if not all hats.

From your network of friends, former colleagues and family.

Go to places where your potential customers are looking for help.

People you know is the only worthwhile client pipeline.

So start with people you already know.

And work on getting to know more people.

To a first approximation, every potential client who wants a contractor has one. There are only two likely categories of potential clients who will cold call you:

1. Potential clients with no track record.

2. Potential clients with a track record of bad relationships with previous contractors.

Potential clients with no track record might become good clients. Or they might become clients with a bad track record.

Potential clients with bad track records are best avoided.

Potential clients with good track records are highly unlikely to work with a new contractor because ongoing relationships with contractors are part of what makes them good clients.

Experienced contractors move heaven and earth to hold on to good clients.

Basically modulo people who know you, the potential clients for new contractors is a lemons market. Good clients are already in long term relationships...again, long term relationships are what makes clients good clients.

The LLC, Stripe, etc. are pretend work. Without clients your liability is zero, and there is no need for a payments mechanism.

Finding clients is all that matters. It matters more than doing the work well.

Good luck.

An old joke about new product development at Apple went “First design the icon, then make the t-shirts.”

Setting up an LLC and the other superficial trappings of a real business amounts to making the t-shirts. You have no customers, no idea how to get customers, no insight into the market from a contracting perspective.

You can find plenty of freelancing & contracting advice online, useful and not so useful, if you do the work. Mostly it distills down to contacts and reputation. Posting the equivalent of “I’ve set the table, how do I cook the meal?” seems like a big ask.

I'm 2/2 on getting hired as general labor in small/medium biz and then approaching the owner to help them "automate that repetitive stuff that they know how to do by heart". Now I have a contract with them.

The reason this works in contrast to the owner going out and hiring a "software contractor" is because now I know their entire business and they don't need to explain to me what they need, I already know and can then just build it. That's a huge barrier for any owner/founder - they don't even know where to start with trying to explain to someone what kind of software they need and are weary of getting taken advantage of. But if you've been inside their business, then this is eliminated.

I jokingly call my consultancy "HAI" (hesitation automation information, also "yes" in Japanese).

Find a small business you actually like the product or service of personally, get in at the bottom, perform all of the different roles, and quickly evaluate the owner to see if there's potential. Work your way out of the initial responsibilities if you get a contract.