Six months ago, I had never written an academic paper. I had never presented at a conference. And I had never started a company.
That last one — founding BilboConsult — set the other two in motion. When my long-time friend Stefan Holtel invited me to submit to VikingPLoP, a conference on pattern languages, I hesitated. Pattern languages come from architecture and software engineering — rigorous, structured, peer-reviewed. I come from decades of doing the work, not writing about it.
But I kept a reflection habit throughout the founding process, and the patterns kept surfacing. Problems I recognized. Solutions that worked — or didn’t. Forces pulling in opposite directions. So I started writing.
The paper
“Finding Your First Client: A Pattern Language for Early-Stage Consulting Startups” documents nine patterns across three phases — from establishing your market signal to landing that first paying engagement. At its heart is what I call the Consulting Credibility Bootstrap: the paradox of needing a track record to win clients while having no way to build one without them.
What makes it unusual is that it’s a live field report. I wrote it while living through the patterns, not looking back on them. The paper includes real missteps, real pivots, and honest gaps where the outcome was still unknown at the time of writing.
You can read the conference version here:
Gratitude
This paper would not exist without the people who shaped it.
Rebecca Wirfs-Brock shepherded the paper through multiple revisions with patience, precision, and a gift for asking the questions I was avoiding. Stefan didn’t just convince me to write it — he walked alongside the entire process, from first outline to final edits.
The sparring partners who stress-tested my thinking throughout the founding journey — Reetta, Teemu, Ville, Marko, Rob, Michael, Olli, Mathias, Mike, Nikke, Toomas, Pauliina, Edwin, and the wider Business Espoo community — will find their fingerprints throughout the patterns. Every honest conversation shaped the framework.
And to everyone who read the peer review version in March and sent feedback: thank you. You made the paper better than I could have alone.
What’s next
This week I’m in Jerisjärvi to present the paper and participate in the writers’ workshops that are central to VikingPLoP. The process doesn’t end with the conference — it’s where the next round of refinement begins.
If the patterns resonate with your own experience of starting something new, I’d love to hear from you.
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