Free advice for startups

While you should be careful to not abuse the kindness of others, I've found that the top notch service providers that I work with are often happy to grab a coffee with early stage companies. Even if you've been through the process of growing a company from scratch, there are always new things to learn. Of course, all of these firms would love to have you as a paying client (assuming a fit), one way they demonstrate their value is by sharing tidbits of expertise over informal meetings. One of the reasons, we have "Alliance" in our company name is that we find great value in aligning with top notch complementary service providers that share experience and a business model that's advantageous for startups and save a bunch of money in the process.

I'm always thrilled to send business in the direction of these sorts of firms. Some examples (not comprehensive) that provide most of their services in the Pacific Northwest include the following:

• Commercial Real Estate: Broderick Group (Paul Sweeney and Jeff Watson), Washington Partners (Pat Pendergast)
• Legal experts: Beacon Law Advisors (Chris Hurley and Ian Thompson), Dorsey Whitney (Mike Brown -- despite his expression in his pic, Mike's a great guy that smiles a lot :))
• Financial and Acting CFO services: Foster & Co (Cortney Foster), Tatum Partners (Chuck Gottschalk), SmartStarters (Doug Woodward)
  
• Equipment Financing: Vencore (Chris Fenner), Sound Leasing (Brian Hill)
  
• Web Hosting: Savvis Seattle (Dan Marsh) -- learn from some of the successes mistakes from similar companies