Learned a ton of lessons, the first of which is starting a consulting shop for general development is fools errand. You can kind of make if worth it if you're decent at sales and offshore everything.
If I do it again I'll slice our niche down thinner than prosciutto, something like CRM integrations for real estate agents, and have contracts that allowed us to own the IP.
Is it a dreamland or such clause is really possible in the present day cookie-cutter contracts?
Large enterprise clients would never let you own the IP. But those gigs are usually pretty profitable because they're large and they can afford high rates.
Small clients mostly don't care unless they are planning on selling the software.
And mid sized clients it seems to depend on whether or not they see it as a cost savings measure or competitive advantage. If it's the latter you can usually justify higher rates.