You run a fixed-scope discovery sprint of 2 to 3 weeks for early-stage startups: you interview their customers and give founders a ranked list of what to build next.
Startups build features on founder hunches and on requests from the loudest customers. CB Insights looked at 385 venture-backed shutdowns since 2023 and found poor product-market fit behind 43% of them. Every month spent building the wrong thing uses up cash and engineering time.
Founders know they should talk to customers, but sales, hiring and fundraising fill their calendars. Many teams have no senior PM yet, and hiring one full time is a large bet before the product direction is clear.
You agree on the decision the sprint must inform, the customer segment and the fixed fee.
You recruit and run 6 to 10 customer interviews, then tag the patterns in what you hear.
You present a ranked list of opportunities and a 90-day plan, then offer a follow-on sprint or a monthly retainer.
They own the roadmap until a head of product arrives, and they feel cash pressure most.
A fixed fee for a defined answer is easier to approve than a full-time PM hire.
What buyers pay: One independent firm charges $7,500 for a 2-week sprint. UK agencies charge £8,000 to £35,000. Fractional PMs average $149 an hour, with a middle range of $110 to $175.
Founders in these groups share vendors and compare notes on what helped them find fit.
There are 4 places to start, in the order most people find their first buyers.
Tell founders, engineers and designers you worked with that you now run fixed-price discovery sprints, and ask who is stuck on a roadmap decision.
Offer platform teams at seed funds and accelerators a free workshop on customer interviews so they think of you when a portfolio company needs help.
Attend ProductTank, Mind the Product or local startup meetups and give talks on running customer interviews to a deadline.
Post anonymized readouts on LinkedIn that show the question, the method and what the team changed.
Every idea has weak spots. These are the ones to test before you spend money.
Write the decision question, and what evidence would change the plan, into the scope before you start.
Have the client supply a customer list and an incentive budget before kickoff, and put a pause date in the contract.
Cap the deliverables in the contract and price follow-on work as a new sprint or a monthly retainer.
Price by the sprint around a fixed outcome, and find buyers through referrals and direct outreach.
Starts from this career
Start-up cost and time to first offer are our estimates. Prices come from the sources above and change over time, so check them before you set yours.
You bring your career history. You leave with 3 candidate directions of your own and the 4 tests that cut them down to one.
Questions about the toolkits, Plan A, mentorship, or whether any of this fits where you are right now. Send it here and a real person answers, usually within a day.
