An Escapee’s Journey: From Corporate Exec to Solo Consultant, Firm Owner—and Surprisingly, Software Developer!

Ray McKenzie, founder and managing director of Red Beach Advisors, shares his journey from corporate to entrepreneurship. He started his consulting firm in 2015, focusing on go-to-market strategy and operational efficiency for Fortune 1000 companies in cybersecurity and cloud computing. Later, he founded Starting Point, a workflow management and automation platform for professional services companies. Ray emphasizes the importance of building and maintaining relationships, leveraging your corporate network, and utilizing referrals to acquire clients.

He also discusses the need for a centralized system to manage projects and communication, which led to the creation of Starting Point. Starting Point is a workflow management platform that allows teams, clients, and administrators to log in and see everything in one place. It offers features such as lead management, AI-powered proposal development, client onboarding, engagement management, file management, performance tracking, and invoicing.

The platform was initially built for internal use by Red Beach Advisors but gained traction when shared with professionals in the consulting industry. The development of Starting Point was driven by the need to solve the challenge of scattered information and lack of visibility in managing projects and client relationships.

Links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raymondmckenzie/

Website: https://www.redbeachadvisors.com/

Website: www.startingpoint.ai

Takeaways

• Building and maintaining relationships is crucial for business success.

• Leverage your corporate network and referrals to acquire clients.

• A centralized system for project management and communication is essential.

• Starting a business while still working full-time can be a viable option, depending on individual circumstances. Starting Point is a comprehensive workflow management platform designed for professional services and shared services organizations.

• The platform allows teams, clients, and administrators to have visibility and access to all relevant information in one place.

• Starting Point offers features such as lead management, AI-powered proposal development, client onboarding, engagement management, file management, performance tracking, and invoicing.

• The platform was initially built for internal use by Red Beach Advisors but gained popularity when shared with professionals in the consulting industry.

Sound Bites

• "The people you're working with when you're 23, 25, 27, 29, fast forward 20 years, those are the people who are the VPs, the SVPs, the CEOs, the board directors of major companies."

• "These people are inherently receiving a community or a workforce bench of people and resources that they can use."

• "I just found myself not really having a great grasp as to everything that was going on."

• "It's a workflow management platform that allows your team to log in and see everything, your client able to log in and see everything."

• "I started showing it to people in professional services, consulting firms, people in my network. And as I started showing it to people in my network, they were like, hey, this is something we could use."

• "It's ideally meant to just be simple for people to be able to use."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Catching Up

02:35 Transitioning from Corporate to Consulting

06:37 Managing Clients and Starting Red Beach Advisors

09:55 Starting a Business While Working Full-Time

16:16 The Inspiration Behind Starting Point

20:00 Introduction to Starting Point

29:02 Features and Benefits of Starting Point

31:36 Addressing the Challenge of Service Delivery

35:34 Advice for Transitioning from Corporate to Solo