How to Pitch Freelance Services to Founders

God bless the startup founder. The vision, the guts, the late nights. So many of the amazing products we use every day came from founders who bet it all on an idea they had in their garage. Sacrificing nights, weekends, and wearing every hat–this is the currency of startup success. 

Successful founders must make the switch from doing everything themselves to delegating everything to their team. They can’t wear every hat forever. Founders must double down on the work only they can do–the ideation, the vision casting, the fundraising. 

The trouble, however, is that many founders don’t want to delegate. They either can’t give up control, or they aren’t willing to spend the money to delegate. They wonder why they would spend the money on hiring you if they can do the same work for free. At face value, there’s no reason they should hire you. But beneath the surface, there’s a cost for every action they take–a cost that fr outweighs their immediate monetary savings. 

If you’re pitching a founder directly on freelancer services, make the real cost very clear. Spell it out for them. If a founder is spending 20 hours every month writing newsletters, what is that costing them? They might be saving $1,000 every month by not paying you, but could those 20 hours turn into 10 investor meetings? Could those 20  hours turn into $50,000? 

Don’t just pitch your services. Don’t just pitch the cost. Pitch the potential. 

You have an obligation to pitch these services to take work off of a founder’s plate. If you can convince the founder to hire you, you’ll be helping them evolve from a stressed out founder into a successful one.