What We Learned

Takeaways from the discussion.

The international opportunity is immediate

Technology can enable global startups

“Look at shipping carefully. If you can get a good shipping provider at a good rate, and they’re reliable, it can make a huge difference. It’s all very well having next generation broadband, but if you’re relying on a postal service that is sometimes from a previous generation, it’s an awful lot harder. It just means you have endless customer painpoints. People constantly calling up customer service asking ‘where’s my package, why hasn’t it turned up yet?’ ” – Alasdair McGowan, Director, Government Relations UK, eBay Inc

“We generally deliver files — music and images — that’s kind of tough to send. So we use music delivery technologies like Soundcloud and Dropbox. We have partnerships in Berlin and Barcelona, so we use Google Documents, which you can edit real time. Our accounting software is Intuit Quickbooks. Wherever we are we can update our accounting and our invoicing, which is very useful as a smaller international business. We look at these technologies that have been able to deliver effectively to the industry.” – Danny Keir, Director, Artist & Label Services, Sound Diplomacy

“We do a lot of videoconferences using Zoom and Google Hangouts. It makes a real difference to be able to see people instead of talking on the phone.” – Jo Bertram, General Manager, Uber UK

“[Taking steps to protect your Intellectual Property] is something to plan for in terms of cash flow and advice.” – Katie Cannon, Retail & Export Manager, Sugru

Young companies face challenges doing business cross-border

Governments and regulations matter to startups going global

“The US and EU are negotiating [the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement]. A lot of people have the misperception that this is all about big companies. Frankly, this is really going to benefit small companies. The big companies have the wherewithal and staff to help them deal with these challenges. It’s the small businesses that are more negatively impacted by regulations and nontariff barriers.” – John Breidenstine, Minister Counselor, Commercial Service, U.S. Embassy London

“The UK government has been very tech friendly and tends to be open to free trade. But the challenge is that the UK is one of 28 member states. The challenge is how do we build alliances with other like minded nations. That’s the challenge for the UK going forward.” – Alasdair McGowan, Director, Government Relations UK, eBay Inc

“[Regarding how governments can be helpful] I think it’s introductions and community. What has been the most useful for us, has been talking to other entrepreneurs. The kinds of things that we are able to share and learn really fast is invaluable.” – Bethany Koby, Founder and CEO, Technology Will Save Us

“From the outside, an organization like UKTI can seem impenetrable. Essentially, what UKTI is looking to do in concert with Innovate UK, Tech UK, and others is to offer tiered levels of services to businesses at different stages of development. We are looking to be accessible to startups through branded trade missions. We created the great tech expedition to offer a platform to companies who are looking to access international markets for the first time.” – Keith Moses, Tech City Adviser – UK Trade & Investment

“In terms of UKTI, this word startups is used very broadly. It feels like a lot of the support is for 30-50 plus people, instead of 5-20. That’s a really different stage in growth and the challenges that business have to face. The things that we’re facing right now are faster. We know less. I haven’t felt like the government services have been about those needs.” – Bethany Koby, Founder and CEO, Technology Will Save Us

“One of the things you find with the internet is that it’s fantastic at disintermediation. The one thing you know is that the middle man will start to scream…We’ve seen this in resale, in France for example, with an auctioneers’ body insisting that we have an auctioneer’s license, which is utter madness. If you’re one of those businesses that is likely to fly in the face of established interests, I’d encourage you to join a trade association and hire some outside counsel.” – Alasdair McGowan, Director, Government Relations UK, eBay Inc

“Babelverse was founded in Greece by a Frenchman and an Englishman. We provide quick access to interpreters. Uber for language. We had this great idea and were accepted into Startup Chile. The process was streamlined by the Chilean Government. They gave us access to a grant of $40,000. Chile was a homogenous society that was importing people from around the world to create a startup culture.” – Josef Dunne, Co-Founder of Babelverse

Understanding local markets is critical

Perceptions of the U.S. visa process are poor

“A big challenge is visas. The U.S. is currently stuck in the entrepreneur visa quagmire, so the fact that there is an entrepreneur visa is great. But it’s the pace that makes it difficult for entrepreneurs. It can be a very hairy situation where people don’t know if they’re going to be kicked out.” – Tak Lo, Director, Techstars London

“We generally stay away from the U.S. we have a lot of horror stories about trying to take UK artists to America. Visas are an absolute nightmare.  There’s a weird misunderstanding about the purpose of the artists are. If you’re a young male without a family and rents in a city like London, you give [government officials] a lot of reasons to say no.  If you’re a middle aged male with a home and family, that’s different.” – Danny Keir, Director, Artist & Label Services, Sound Diplomacy

“There was a lot of scaremongering around the visa process. We haven’t faced into the issue of going across the Atlantic [yet].” – Katie Cannon, Retail & Export Manager, Sugru

Global data and privacy issues can be complicated

“We’re starting to think about [privacy] a lot more now as we scale.   Our focus is not solely on education, it’s on shops and schools, because we think that learning happens in and outside of the classroom.  As we begin to build digital and physical tools, privacy and those kinds of regulations are increasingly going to become a huge challenge, or opportunity, for us. We’re not there yet, but I can see them on the horizon.” – Bethany Koby, Founder and CEO, Technology Will Save Us

“Startups need smart data protection policies that build consumer confidence in the digital economy and create a framework in which even the smallest firms can innovate. Policy-makers should avoid failing into the trap of thinking growth needs to be traded for privacy, or vice versa.” – Lindsey Grossman, Senior Manager, Global Public Policy, Intuit

“Open data is a basic government objective in the U.K., and there is a significant drive to open up public data to entrepreneurs.  But global cultures have varying views of personal data.  On our last trip to Brazil, we discovered that Brazilians don’t attach much value to their personal data, but there is significant political pressure to impose localization requirements.  So this whole issue is replete with risks for startups, and they should seek advice as they enter into markets which may have onerous data privacy policies.” – Keith Moses, Tech City Adviser, UK Trade & Investment

“I sit on an amazing data set…all the way through to conversion rate opportunities.  There’s moments when the analytics can pull you all the way through, and to the U.S. and Canada quite simplistically, but when you look across Europe, you have to have some nuance around those markets to say “why are our German numbers so low,” because actually, Germans don’t trust web commerce.  It’s all about having a mix of the great analytics that your digital presence is driving for you, plus some good on-the-ground research.  Keeping those things in balance is really important as you’re emerging as an e-commerce platform.” – Katie Cannon, Retail & Export Manager, Sugru