Mike Monteiro discusses the need to be picky with your partners. Sure, everyone needs to keep the lights on, but finding the right clients will make everyone happier. I found this bit most interesting.
I’m wary of working with startups in general. At least on their initial work. Even when they’re good, smart people, they’re people with dreams. People who probably walked away from their comfortable full-time jobs to follow a dream they’ve been designing in their heads for months or years. What they need is someone to flesh that out for them. They’re not usually in a mindset to have their dream messed with, nor should they be.
It’s true, people who have been scheming for years are going to have a tough time letting go, but this seems like some of the most exciting work to me. Still, Mike is right that this is not the right realm for contract work. In the case of a startup, they should either hire a designer full-time or put the design shop on retainer. That work requires commitment to see it through, which is expensive.