Summary

When a startup goes global, there are plenty of things founders have to think about. These are the little things that don’t make it to a business checklist: where to stay, how to get Internet connections, how to make the move easier on the family, whom to ask, what to factor in, and so on. The growing community of Indian founders who have already gone through the motions are increasingly stepping in to guide the newer entrants and often going the extra mile to make them comfortable.

Going international with your business can feel like going back to square one. Reconceptualising the minimum viable product (MVP) and winning high quality customers in a mature market is a formidable task on its own. Add to that the stress of setting up a home in another country, understanding its laws, and coming to terms with cultural differences, and it is a lot like being at sea in an unfamiliar ship. You have to find and get a grip on its hull, engine room, and navigation bridge.

The best way forward for new Indian founders making the move is to stand on the shoulders of giants. The growing community of Indian founders already in the US is a great source of wisdom on understanding what the move will mean for founders.

Everyone agrees the most valuable asset a founder has is their time and bandwidth, and optimum use of both will help to build some truly robust companies. That is the motivation of this piece — to assist founders in hacking the move to the US so that they can turn their focus to company building. 

Shreesha Ramdas, former CEO of Strikedeck, investor and advisor to a host of startups and founders, Sahil Aggarwal, the CEO and co-founder of Rattle, and Mohit Garg, CEO and co-founder of Oloid AI, talk about what hacks helped them the most as they went international.

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#1 Get your documents in early

It all begins with putting paperwork in order, which can often take days or even months. Fortunately, a lot of it can be outsourced and automated. If there is one thing Sahil would have done differently about moving to the US, it would be applying for the O-1 visa sooner. It is advisable to engage an expert to work on your O-1 early on. In the meantime, you can get a visa that lets you travel frequently — such as a B-1, or a B-2 — and start getting familiar with the US market. 

“I would recommend that anyone who is planning to build for the US market should physically be here, if not permanently, then on a visitor visa when you are getting started. You should take a short-term rental for two-three months and use that time to get acquainted. On the documentation front, it might feel complicated but it’s relatively easy if you take someone’s help who has been through it before. For me, it was the other founders who told me exactly what to do,” Sahil says. 

The early days will go a lot easier if you get an ID card, according to Shreesha, because then you don’t have to show your Indian passport everywhere. To start gaining confidence on the roads there, he recommends taking a couple of lessons and a driving test to secure your driver's licence. “If you can drive in India, you can drive anywhere,” in his experience. 

"I would recommend that anyone who is planning to build for the US market should physically be here, if not permanently, then on a visitor visa when you are getting started." - Sahil

Mohit, whose first entrepreneurial outing was Mindtickle which he co-founded in 2012, had a relatively easy time moving the company to the US “I had spent enough years in the US and in fact, I had a green card before I'd moved back to India to found Mindtickle,” he remembers. But he still recommends having a thorough plan and doing research before making the US shift.

#2 Tap into communities

Stepping into any new territory can be lonely but founders do not have to go through it all alone. One of the first things Shreesha suggests doing is to connect with founders in the US, not just where you may be planning to set up a base but also in different states. Beyond founder groups, you can also benefit from meeting the larger startup community and attending special events. 

• Founder communities: Shreesha, who has had years of experience running companies and advising entrepreneurs, underlines the benefits of groups. Among his recommendations is the funda.club, which specifically supports Indian founders trying to navigate the US. “Whoever reaches out to the club and asks for any specific or general help they need, that help is given,” he says. A recent effort by the group involved connecting founders at different stages to appropriate mentors who can coach them through the challenges of each of those stages

Another valuable outcome of these communities is finding an active social circle there, which will help founders and their families make the initial adjustments in a new country. 

For Sahil, the Indian founder community in the US was helpful for the simplest to the most complex things in his early journey. “It can be something as tactical as how to find the right house or how to lease a car. Or something more strategic, such as advice on closing a funding round. I’ve also relied on the founder community to understand how to structure the board and types of strategic angel investors and advisors to bring onboard as you shift to the US,” he says. 

In Mohit’s experience, support to founders on the business side of things tends to be more forthcoming than on the personal side. “I would always ask people who have moved with families to learn from their experience, and create a network of not just the customers that you're going to meet, but create a network of friends and spouses of other founders.”

This is crucial, according to Mohit, because founders who are going to be joined by their family have to account for their needs in every decision. “With family, there's so much more deliberation required — right from the support network for your spouse to schooling for your kids. I think that's where the founders are probably going to struggle if they choose the Bay Area as a location, just because of the fact that it's so expensive and it's getting competitive,” he says. “The good thing is if you're a renter, you get to pick the school district you want to be in. But often people land up in an area where they have a friend, say Fremont or South Bay. You can always land at these spots, but do not sign a long term lease until you have a better understanding of your commute, the location of your spouse’s social networks, kid’s schools and your travel schedule.” 

• Investors: Founders also need to be unafraid of leaning on their investors to help build community, Sahil adds. “Our investors at Lightspeed connected us to 15 or 20 founders and local investors to build our connections in the US and that helped us a lot.” 

• Special events: Large events such as SaaStr are great places to meet other founders. There are also more focused gatherings, such as Dreamforce for martech founders and Hubspot’s events for outbound demand generation and marketers. “Make yourself available at these events. It helped me meet and understand the US market and also make a few friends,” Shreesha explains.

“A company that I admire is Rocketlane. They have done a great job with events, both online and offline, ” Sahil points out. “Their CEO, Sri, travels to the US frequently, and organises dinners and roundtables for prospects and customers.” 

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#3 Decide on your base

Where they would like to be based is a question founders moving to the US have to face even before they take off. But the obvious destinations — New York for financial services or San Francisco for SaaS — are changing. The dynamics are especially different post-pandemic and, increasingly, founders are choosing to set up bases in different US states. 

Sometimes, founders are guided by where the most suitable talent is available. An example from Shreesha is that of a founder who made several trips to the US and figured he wanted to be based in Utah, because he found a fantastic sales leader there. “Utah is less expensive and easier to hire talent in…making enough trips and figuring out where they (founders) can get talent that will work for them is important,” Shreesha adds. 

"In the new world of post-Covid video conference, the less obvious thing I would do is plant myself in a low tax state with a good airport if I did not have a very good reason to be in the Bay Area." - Mohit

Sahil reminds founders to consider geographical factors such as the time difference and weather too. New York has extreme weather, especially in the winters, and San Francisco is pretty much the same throughout the year. So a lot of people prefer a city such as Denver or Austin, which has all four seasons and is an easier transition. 

For Mohit, choosing a base is more straightforward. “In the new world of post-Covid video conference, the less obvious thing I would do is plant myself in a low tax state with a good airport if I did not have a very good reason to be in the Bay Area.” 

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#4 Figure out first impressions 

How you introduce yourself can make all the difference in a new environment. Shreesha insists that founders need to learn effective written communication first. One of his hacks is saving any emails whose writing style you like, and use those as templates to write better emails yourself. “It is something I did, it helped me start conversations,” Shreesha explains.

"Get a good branding agency on board, which will help you create a roadmap for everything that goes out of the company from that point on." - Shreesha

Perception is also paramount in the US. That means looking sharp and well-turned-out is something Indian founders have to learn when they make the move. Knowing where to shop is another hack Shreesha swears by. Whether it is Banana Republic or Half West in the Bay Area, he suggests zeroing in on places that help you look good with minimal effort. 

The first impression of a founder also depends on their business name, logo, and website. Sahil’s advice is to invest in this area. Get a good branding agency on board, which “will help you create a roadmap for everything that goes out of the company from that point on” and make your brand seem credible in the new market. 

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#5 When in America, do as the Americans do

The cultural nuances in any new country can be shocking to grapple with and easy to get wrong. But for the ones who have made the move, it's a case of “been there and done that”. What are some of their favourite hacks to speed up the learning process? 

Even if you are clued into US pop culture, getting used to the accent and slang in the US can still make you break a sweat initially. Shreesha took a while to go from saying “Understood” to “Got it”. A simple detail, but an essential one if you want to break the ice and build connections smoothly. 

“You have to run your business in the same way that the US market does business,” is Sahil’s advice. “Value relationships and value your time much more than money. You can't take shortcuts. It actually hurts your reputation, which is, in my opinion, is one of the biggest currencies here, something we are also increasingly realising in India. Be ethical to a fault.” 

With help from these tried and tested ways, founders can move and adapt to the US while making fewer mistakes. As it is often said about new beginnings, one cannot change the direction of the wind, but one can adjust the sails to reach their destination.

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