The guide for your US expansion plans
Collected wisdom
A curated collection from the people who’ve tried, failed, succeeded and thrived.
“Our trigger to go to the US was competitor related; someone else was going to take the opportunity and it was quite unusual to be in a situation as a consumer business where, in the US at the outset, there weren’t any peer models.”
Ed Boyes, US CEO Hello Fresh
“Americans will buy from domestic vendors unless you can prove you are two to three times better, or you have US marquee clients that you can showcase.”
Ian McCaig, Qubit
“Build a book of business or sufficient demand before building your base of operations in the US. Start small and test the market; you don’t need to invest heavily to assess traction.”
Paolo Wyatt, graze.com
“It’s easy to go too fast or be too early with the US launch before the company is prepared to take this challenge. It’s a differently structured and hyper-competitive market; therefore, European entrepreneurs might benefit from considering soft launching there first.”
Rytis Vitkauskas, YPlan
First ask
Should you expand abroad?
Is the timing right?
How do you know you have product-market fit?
What is your US ideal customer profile?
What is your regulatory burden in the US?
Which visa do you need?
What is your budget?
Then test
Have you built a local network?
Can the industry name your brand?
Can you sell like an American?
Then do
Who is leading your team?
Who is on your US advisory board?
How do you set up in the US?
How do you protect your IP?
Where will your office be?
Which taxes are you liable for?
How do you build a high performing team?
How do you successfully fundraise in the US?
What are important considerations in fundraising from US investors?
Start asking the right questions today
Thinking about opening a business in the US? Download the fill 150-page report here.