That's a lot of extrapolation from a few awkward conversations to reach the conclusion "There’s this stigma in the startup universe around being a contractor, consultant, or freelancer."
I have a hard time believing there really is an industry wide stigma against freelancers in NYC. It certainly isn't the case around here. Plenty of startups come from people, like myself, who have run consultancies for a while.
A major motivation for me to move out of consultancy is to make money while I'm sleeping. The fact you're selling time is the limiting factor on consultancy/freelancing, and one disadvantage the OP doesn't mention.
There's no shortage of socially awkward engineers, so perhaps the OP has just run into a few who don't know what to do when the conversation goes off the script they're expecting?
>A major motivation for me to move out of consultancy is to make money while I'm sleeping.
Actually quite a few consultants and freelancers do this. I've been making money while sleeping, as a freelancer, for the last 5 years. It's actually my favorite part of what I do, and I have an advisor who helps me figure it out as I go along. Perhaps a startup is just another vehicle for pursuing this dream that is better suited to you.
There really is that annoying "freelancer???" thing, but I think it's really just a matter of the other party's experience & education.
I should have said "move out of pure consultancy". I imagine I'll be doing consultancy for a while.
I think there are lots of great models between pure freelancing (paid for time) and pure product. The simplest is probably retainer or support agreements, which often net one money for no work. Info products are another popular route. What's your model, if you don't mind me asking?
Retainers, support agreements, platform hosting, template sales, and some simple SaaS stuff. And I just barely became an Amazon associate/affiliate now that one of my apps is picking up traffic, but we'll see how that goes vs. other types of advertising.
I have a hard time believing there really is an industry wide stigma against freelancers in NYC. It certainly isn't the case around here. Plenty of startups come from people, like myself, who have run consultancies for a while.
A major motivation for me to move out of consultancy is to make money while I'm sleeping. The fact you're selling time is the limiting factor on consultancy/freelancing, and one disadvantage the OP doesn't mention.
There's no shortage of socially awkward engineers, so perhaps the OP has just run into a few who don't know what to do when the conversation goes off the script they're expecting?