u/Adilrauf

My niche is development (AI dev, full stack and mobile dev). I have a good amount of portfolio in all of these fields. I'm TR plus with 100% JSS and nearing $100k earned. I have a team of 10 developers and a designer.

My team has a diverse skillset like specialising in different langauges or domain but all under the development field. Now as a company, we have changed our vision. Stopped focusing on getting small scale projects (like personal projects) and trying to get enterprise clients or big softwares because we have the team and the experience to execute large scale projects. Plus, we're aiming for retainers who are established companies so atleast we have some security that the client won't run out of funds tomorrow.

Since this change of vision, we're stuggling to get the type of clients we now need. My question is: should I switch to an agency model (according to your experience)? My main logic is that any company with a large scale project won't look for a freelancer but rather a full fledge team/agency. However, I've done my research and agency is a hit or miss with all sorts of reviews. So I really need the opinion of someone who has tried the agency model specifically in the dev domain. Any sort of help would be really appreciated as this is a big step for us. Thanks!

I'll keep this as brief as possible. I'm struggling with sales channels or funnels in my startup (providing enterprise AI services/solutions).

So we're a team of 15 and the company is standing on two pillars which are the two retainers we have. We're really struggling to get in more clients. Our sales department is currently being handled by one guy. Here is a list of our current revenue streams:

1. Upwork (freelancer profile): Sending proposals mainly but burning connects. One order locked which recovered our 2026 cost but no profit. Market is now saturated and enterprise clients are hard to find. Should I switch to an agency account considering that I have a team of devs with various expertise?
2. Clutch: Verified ($500 per year) profile but without reviews. Thinking of starting sponsorship on the platform for the keyword "Top AI dev companies" which will give me a top 30 ranking. Issue about the sponsorship is that you have to agree to run ads for a year by paying a monthly amount ($385/month=$4,625 for the year). Should we invest in Clutch for sponsorship?
3. LinkedIn outreach: Specifically reaching out to executive positions in the legal industry since we have legal tech experience. Have started it recently but isn't really yielding any results. Should we keep going? If yes, then any advice would be great.

Potential channels:

1. Cold emailing: Main issue we were facing was the deliveribility rate which means that most of are emails were landing in spam. Should we persue that?
2. Cold calling: In my niche, we're afraid that it is risky in terms of the legalities. Anyone with experience here will be of great help

So yeah, we're stuck. We have limited investment and want to be fully prepared before we invest in one of them. I've researched reddit, done so much thinking but my mind is all over the place. I'm not asking anyone to drop their exact strategies or smth. Just need advice from owners, founders, freelancers, anyone with relevant problems and experience. Any other channel that worked for you can be considered. Thank you for reading this and really would appreciate any sort of help.

I'll keep this as brief as possible. I'm struggling with sales channels or funnels in my startup (providing enterprise AI services/solutions).

So we're a team of 15 and the company is standing on two pillars which are the two retainers we have. We're really struggling to get in more clients. Our sales department is currently being handled by one guy. Here is a list of our current revenue streams:

1. Upwork (freelancer profile): Sending proposals mainly but burning connects. One order locked which recovered our 2026 cost but no profit. Market is now saturated and enterprise clients are hard to find. Should I switch to an agency account considering that I have a team of devs with various expertise?
2. Clutch: Verified ($500 per year) profile but without reviews. Thinking of starting sponsorship on the platform for the keyword "Top AI dev companies" which will give me a top 30 ranking. Issue about the sponsorship is that you have to agree to run ads for a year by paying a monthly amount ($385/month=$4,625 for the year). Should we invest in Clutch for sponsorship?
3. LinkedIn outreach: Specifically reaching out to executive positions in the legal industry since we have legal tech experience. Have started it recently but isn't really yielding any results. Should we keep going? If yes, then any advice would be great.

Potential channels:

1. Cold emailing: Main issue we were facing was the deliveribility rate which means that most of are emails were landing in spam. Should we persue that?
2. Cold calling: In my niche, we're afraid that it is risky in terms of the legalities. Anyone with experience here will be of great help

So yeah, we're stuck. We have limited investment and want to be fully prepared before we invest in one of them. I've researched reddit, done so much thinking but my mind is all over the place. I'm not asking anyone to drop their exact strategies or smth. Just need advice from owners, founders, freelancers, anyone with relevant problems and experience. Any other channel that worked for you can be considered. Thank you for reading this and really would appreciate any sort of help.

I'll keep this as brief as possible. I'm struggling with sales channels or funnels in my startup (providing enterprise AI services/solutions).

So we're a team of 15 and the company is standing on two pillars which are the two retainers we have. We're really struggling to get in more clients. Our sales department is currently being handled by one guy. Here is a list of our current revenue streams:

1. Upwork (freelancer profile): Sending proposals mainly but burning connects. One order locked which recovered our 2026 cost but no profit. Market is now saturated and enterprise clients are hard to find. Should I switch to an agency account considering that I have a team of devs with various expertise?
2. Clutch: Verified ($500 per year) profile but without reviews. Thinking of starting sponsorship on the platform for the keyword "Top AI dev companies" which will give me a top 30 ranking. Issue about the sponsorship is that you have to agree to run ads for a year by paying a monthly amount ($385/month=$4,625 for the year). Should we invest in Clutch for sponsorship?
3. LinkedIn outreach: Specifically reaching out to executive positions in the legal industry since we have legal tech experience. Have started it recently but isn't really yielding any results. Should we keep going? If yes, then any advice would be great.

Potential channels:

1. Cold emailing: Main issue we were facing was the deliveribility rate which means that most of are emails were landing in spam. Should we persue that?
2. Cold calling: In my niche, we're afraid that it is risky in terms of the legalities. Anyone with experience here will be of great help

So yeah, we're stuck. We have limited investment and want to be fully prepared before we invest in one of them. I've researched reddit, done so much thinking but my mind is all over the place. I'm not asking anyone to drop their exact strategies or smth. Just need advice from owners, founders, freelancers, anyone with relevant problems and experience. Any other channel that worked for you can be considered. Thank you for reading this and really would appreciate any sort of help.