Hire Startup Consultants

Hire the Top 3% of Freelance Startup Consultants

Small business owners, early stage startup businesses, and venture capital firms hire startup business consultants from Toptal for deliverables such as business plans, business models, and due diligence materials.

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No-Risk Trial, Pay Only If Satisfied.

Clients rate Toptal startup consultants 4.9 / 5.0 on average based on 487 reviews.

Trusted by leading brands and startups

Hire Freelance Startup Consultants

Nuno Anjo e Silva

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Portugal
Toptal Member Since April 29, 2022

After three decades in CPG at Unilever and B2B at the Navigator Company, Nuno transitioned to independent consulting in 2020, managing transformation teams for top firms like McKinsey and taking on impactful freelance projects. To scale his expertise, he founded GTI Consulting, specializing in growth, transformation, and innovation, to empower businesses with strategies and tools to unlock potential, drive innovation, and thrive in a fast-paced world.

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Julio C. Ortiz

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Panama
Toptal Member Since February 18, 2021

Julio has diversified experience as a finance VP for multinationals based in the US and Latin America in the financing, pharmaceutical, luxury goods, and personal care sectors and distribution channels, such as retail, wholesale, and travel retail. Julio's expertise includes financial planning and modeling, investment banking, commercial real estate, fundraising, business plan development, logistics, company valuation, and strategic and visionary leadership based on innovation and creativity.

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Animesh Saxena

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
United Kingdom
Toptal Member Since December 29, 2021

Animesh has 15+ years of experience in finance and investments, including roles in startups, VC/PE, real estate, and CFO/FP&A. He excels in PowerPoint for pitch decks and Excel for financial modeling (startup, M&A, LBOs, macros, VBA, data tables, and valuations). He's an expert in creating investment memorandums, transaction decks, due diligence reports, and management dashboards. Animesh brings fractional CFO experience in establishing and directing finance functions for growing businesses.

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Zach Fine

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
United States
Toptal Member Since March 7, 2022

Zach is a go-to-market and scaling consultant with over five years of experience. He has led $160+ million fundraises, managed sales operations over $140 million, and brought clients from zero to $1+ million in revenue in under a quarter. Zach accelerates growth for clients by managing projects, optimizing sales, marketing, and back-office activities, staffing and directing fundraising activities, leading LEAN management, and implementing KPIs, OKRs, and SOPs.

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Duncan Beatty

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Peru
Toptal Member Since September 1, 2021

Duncan has a passion for startups. He has experience in business and revenue models, asset allocation, budgeting, forecasting, valuations, and pitch decks and fundraising on many projects during his time in Silicon Valley. His MBA from The Wharton School and mechanical engineering degree perfectly complement finance, technology and operational execution. For him, consulting is a rewarding challenge; he helps clients make good financial decisions and grow their companies successfully.

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Johan Bergendorff

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Singapore
Toptal Member Since June 10, 2021

Johan began his career with PwC, advising on some of the most prominent private equity transactions in the UK and the Nordics. Following a decade as an M&A advisor, he took up a position with a billionaire investor, focusing on turnaround investments, including a US publicly-traded company where he was parachuted in as CFO. Johan held the position of CFO and COO for ConnectedLife, a medical technology company, successfully raising $2.5 million over Zoom during the COVID lockdown in Spring 2020.

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Sean Kae Siang Lim

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Australia
Toptal Member Since May 7, 2019

As a skilled CFA charterholder, Sean specializes in commercial modeling and growth strategy for startups and corporate innovations. With over five years of experience working in venture capitals, accelerators, and CVC, he has helped 20+ startups to develop their growth strategies, business plans, and financial models. Currently, Sean is working with the largest insurer in Australia to create an incubation ecosystem for insurtech, which includes industry, VC, academic, and government sectors.

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Michael Ang

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Singapore
Toptal Member Since October 17, 2016

An MIT MBA graduate, Michael served large corporations at Bain and helped build new businesses at firms backed by top-tier VCs (Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Softbank). He's led pricing work at a Silicon Valley firm acquired for $185 million and joined Toptal to work on challenging business problems. His work has led to the discovery of multimillion-dollar business optimization opportunities and contributed to a client’s multi-fold revenue increase.

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Sameer Bakhru, CFA

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
United Arab Emirates
Toptal Member Since April 19, 2019

Sameer has led a $100 million franchise partnership. He is a blockchain expert, having worked with crypto startups from social media apps to NFT platforms and P2E games. His experience includes fundraising, tokenomics, whitepapers business strategy, asset sales, corporate finance, and M&A. Sameer has worked with billionaires, private equity firms, and family offices, providing unique insights into investor mindsets. Sameer joined Toptal to add value to a variety of businesses creatively.

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Kenny Jackel

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Thailand
Toptal Member Since October 5, 2022

Over the past twenty years, Kenny has been helping companies expand as a CEO, COO, and managing director. He has been instrumental in finding creative solutions to advance company objectives and has singlehandedly secured over $300 million in new business since 2015. Kenny has worked with WGC International, Ninety Plus Coffee, and InBEV Thailand on financial structure and strategy, technical consulting, retail franchising, and distribution. He enjoys freelancing for select companies.

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Tory Green

Freelance Startup Consultant
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
United Arab Emirates
Toptal Member Since September 13, 2017

Tory is a Stanford graduate and partner at Tiller Partners, a US-based VC with over 20 investments and $100+ million AUM. He enjoys freelancing to reinforce his nearly 20 years of experience in strategy (Disney, Fox) and finance (Oaktree, Merrill Lynch). Tory also has a deep background in entrepreneurship and operations, as the COO and CFO of a venture-backed fintech startup and co-founder of a digital publishing firm with a Top 50 iTunes ranking podcast and over 2 million downloads per month.

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Toptal in the press

... allows corporations to quickly assemble teams that have the right skills for specific projects.

Despite accelerating demand for coders, Toptal prides itself on almost Ivy League-level vetting.

Our clients
Creating an app for the game
Conor Kenney
Creating an app for the game
Leading a digital transformation
Elmar Platzer
Leading a digital transformation
Building a cross-platform app to be used worldwide
Building a cross-platform app to be used worldwide
Drilling into real-time data creates an industry game changer
Drilling into real-time data creates an industry game changer
Testimonials

How to Hire Startup Advisors Through Toptal

1

Talk to One of Our Client Advisors

A Toptal client advisor will work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics.
2

Work With Hand-selected Talent

Within days, we’ll introduce you to the right startup expert for your project. Average time to match is under 24 hours.
3

The Right Fit, Guaranteed

Work with your new startup strategist for a trial period (pay only if satisfied), ensuring they’re the right fit before starting the engagement.

EXCEPTIONAL TALENT

How We Source the Top 3% of Startup Consultants

Our name “Toptal” comes from Top Talent—meaning we constantly strive to find and work with the best from around the world. Our rigorous screening process identifies experts in their domains who have passion and drive.

Of the thousands of applications Toptal sees each month, typically fewer than 3% are accepted.

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FAQs

  • Typically, you can hire startup consultants with Toptal in about 48 hours. For larger teams of talent or full end-to-end project delivery, timelines may vary. Our talent matchers are highly skilled in the same fields they’re matching in—they’re not recruiters or HR reps. They’ll work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics, and match you with ideal candidates from our vetted global talent network.

    Once you select your startup strategist, you’ll have a no-risk trial period to ensure they’re the perfect fit. Our matching process has a 98% trial-to-hire rate, so you can rest assured that you’re getting the best fit every time.

  • To hire the right startup consultant, it’s important to evaluate a candidate’s experience, technical skills, and communication skills. You’ll also want to consider the fit with your particular industry, company, and project. Toptal’s rigorous screening process ensures that every member of our network has excellent experience and skills, and our team will match you with the perfect startup consultants for your project.

  • At Toptal, we thoroughly screen our startup advisors to ensure we only match you with the highest caliber of talent. Of the more than 200,000 people who apply to join the Toptal network each year, fewer than 3% make the cut.

    In addition to screening for industry-leading expertise, we also assess candidates’ language and interpersonal skills to ensure that you have a smooth working relationship.

    When you hire startup experts with Toptal, you’ll always work with world-class, custom-matched startup consultants ready to help you achieve your goals.

  • You can hire startup strategists on an hourly, part-time, or full-time basis. Toptal can also manage the project end-to-end based on your specific requirements as part of our Consulting and Services offerings. Whether you hire a startup consultant for a full- or part-time position, you’ll have the control and flexibility to scale your team up or down as your needs evolve. Our startup consultants can fully integrate into your existing team for a seamless working experience.

  • We make sure that each engagement between you and your startup consultant begins with a trial period of up to two weeks. This means that you have time to confirm the engagement will be successful. If you’re completely satisfied with the results, we’ll bill you for the time and continue the engagement for as long as you’d like. If you’re not completely satisfied, you won’t be billed. From there, we can either part ways, or we can provide you with another startup consultant who may be a better fit and with whom we will begin a second, no-risk trial.

Toptal Lets You Hire Fast,
With Unparalleled Success

  • Trusted Talent Only

    Trusted Talent Only

    Our talent network is composed of thoroughly vetted professionals who ramp up quickly, function as essential team members, and deliver results.

  • Precise Matching

    Precise Matching

    Our experienced talent matchers specialize in identifying talent that fits your needs. They work to understand your exact requirements and hand-select the best professionals for your project.

  • Seamless Hiring

    Seamless Hiring

    We handle all aspects of billing, payments, and NDAs, streamlining the hiring process so you can focus on innovation, not overhead.

  • No-risk Trial Period

    No-risk Trial Period

    We want to be sure your engagement is a total success, so we offer a no-risk trial period. Work with your new hire for up to two weeks and pay only if you’re satisfied.

  • Effortless Scaling

    Effortless Scaling

    We help you scale your team up or down as needed, with quick and efficient hiring in under 48 hours.

  • Flexible Engagements

    Flexible Engagements

    Our flexible engagement models allow you to choose the engagement type that suits your needs and adjust it anytime: hourly, part time, or full time.

Top Startup Consultants Are in High Demand.

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