Flexibility is the first step to productive projects with startups. Since all such clients come to you at different founding stages, the flow needs to change and adjust each time. If you begin working with the startup from scratch, start with the concept, a mind map, wireframes, and only then move to the UX. It is also better to develop branding before working on the UI. Because if branding changes after the product design is ready, it will take too much time and money to apply the changes in the interface. But back to flexibility. Sometimes startup clients have no budget for a mind map or no time before the product launch to go through the entire flow. 🤷‍♀ In such cases, you need to analyse the limited resources on hand and be flexible about how to achieve the result.

Position yourself as an expert rather than just performing all assignments. Founders usually have a lot of ideas, and every day they send you new tasks, sometimes contradicting their words from yesterday 🤦‍♀. Instead of executing everything, you need to explain why something won’t work and offer better ways to solve the problem. In this case, the client will achieve their business goals faster and consider you a true partner and specialist.

Documentation is often missing. The founders just have their idea and are looking for ways to make it work. You need to explain that documentation is vital to get started making life easier for both sides. You can start by sending a brief, asking clarifying questions, and then further developing the functionality. If a startup already has the documentation, you as a freelancer must read and use for project evaluation.

The process. To avoid endless projects that drag for months, you need to divide the work scope into milestones. Within these stages, you will apply the flexibility to manage the fluctuating process of startup work. (see item #1). But on the high level, the project will have its structure with assigned deadlines. At the end of each stage, founders often don’t know how to proceed. So your task will be to help them, for example, by saying, “now we either make edits or move on to the next step.”

Payment. The best option for working with startups is an hourly rate. Since there are always changes in the process, hourly payment saves time and nerves both for you and the client.

The last piece of advice is not to stress out after clients if they disappear. Unfortunately, this often happens with startups: the budget runs out, plans change, or another project appears… There is nothing you can do, and you have to be ready for that.