My hypothesis of success for a consulting start-up

After all, it seems one of my life ambitions of being able to pursue a Phd in finance will go unfulfilled. My colleague would like me to believe that my current vocation, ie, running a consultancy and building a business, is at least as good, if not better, an intellectual pursuit. In fact, if my colleague is to be believed, it involves hypothesis testing on a multiple basis. So, here is an attempt to articulate a hypothesis regarding the success of a consultancy business which (again to borrow my colleague’s idea) is capital un-intensive but highly intellect intensive. I have not attempted to define success here, but would simply allude to the intuitive meaning this word has.

The hierarchy of success prerequisites for a consulting start-up is:

1. Superior technical skill sets during the proof of concept phase. The critical challenges are marketing as well as service delivery.
2. Standardized offerings and the ability to train the larger team during the growth phase. The main challenge at this stage is to build a team that is capable enough to work on projects that are generated.
3. Establishing the brand equity simultaneously and to provide a platform in the form of a “brand” to the larger team so that it can also generate business on its own.
4. Building a strong research team that allows continuous and effective innovations.
5. Attracting capital to test new ideas to diversify business! Hiring people who are skilled in areas which may be unrelated.