Moving to the US: Notes Before You Take Off

Summary

There are two key lessons for SaaS founders moving to the US market. One is to treat it as a fresh start. The second is to revalidate their core market and customers. Getting customers and building a brand presence in the US will involve working with investors, executive search partners, and advisory boards.

Cracking the US market has been a top priority for many SaaS founders as they think of building a substantially large company. The reason is that the total addressable market (TAM) the US offers is unmatched. Several companies have found success there. While Innovaccer, Freshworks, and Zenoti have made a lot of progress, others, such as Acceldata, Rattle, and Yellow.ai, are in the early stages of navigating the US market.

At Lightspeed, over the past decade and more recently, we’ve been decoding and studying companies that have made this transition successfully. We have managed to create a playbook that helps our portfolio founders launch and scale faster than their competitors. This has helped us draw patterns of where founders commonly get stuck or find themselves at crossroads. Making the wrong choice or decision at these stages means these founders lose time, money, and ground to their competitors. 

Founders need to plan wins by making incremental gains so the team is better equipped to take on challenges in any circumstance. It covers everything—who to hire, how to execute, and where to get talent from. And that’s why we decided to write this. For you to learn from the journeys of those who have gone down this path before. 

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Lesson 1: Are you ready for the move?

There is no one answer or a “magic moment” to when founders should consider business relocation. The journey to the US is different for different founders and businesses. It is tempting to think there are parameters such as annual recurring revenue (ARR) or a proof-of-concept (PoC) in your initial market that need to reach a certain level before moving to the US. But in our experience of working with founders, the first big understanding they need to have when deciding to move to the US market is taking things as if they were setting up an entirely new company. Whether they are at $10 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) in India or just figuring out their go-to-market motion in their existing market(s), going to the US means starting your zero-to-one journey afresh. It is the only way to approach the move. 

There are, of course, varied examples of how founders have done this differently. Pepper Content and Yellow.ai, for example, built their products in India first and moved to the US after completing their India PoC. Hubilo, on the other hand, built for India and the US simultaneously, because it was operating in a product space that was new for the global market, while Rattle built for the US market from day zero. 

Founders who have successfully made the move to the US have been able to do so because they understood the needs of the market, the customers, and the competition. They were able to answer the why now question upfront. The US is traditionally a more mature market than Asia, so you need to prepare your product to compete more effectively there. 

There is a learning curve when founders move to the US and it’s important to understand how to decode the market. 

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Lesson 2: Revalidate your core market and customers

Now that you’ve decided to go to the US, you need to figure out the next steps for business relocation. What’s next in the action plan? It has to be to understand your market and customer. 

Founders often try to figure it all out on their own. It is not an ill-founded approach because, after all, they figured out their zero-to-one journey successfully in India. But once you are in the US, you need to ask yourself all the questions you may have already answered in India. How do you revalidate your PMF? Is your use case relevant in this market? Are the workflows similar?

But before you answer any of these, you need to figure out how to get access to customers. 

“Research firms can help you answer questions such as who is your customer, and who is the decision maker in the customer ecosystem that you are targeting. They will also decode the tech being purchased in the US and help identify your potential customers based in the US.”

How do you get to the market and understand it better? It is through direct as well as extended networks.

Without having a brand or presence in the US, your investors are the first touchpoint to get you started on making connections. Building an advisory non-executive board is a good way in. There are three archetypes of advisors you could bring on board:

• GTM or network builder - These are door openers. They will also help you in hiring your GTM team 
• Product iterator - They are far more technical and will be your product & tech advisors 
• Narrative builder - One who will help you identify the gaps that exist in the market, what should your product be solving for, how to pitch it to potential customers, customer segmentation  

How do you get to these folks? We have been able to leverage the Lightspeed community in the US to help our founders get access to such folks. 

Executive search partners who specialise in board advisory practice are also helpful to find the right advisors for businesses. The challenge is choosing the wrong partner. Make sure you have done your due diligence on whether the partner understands your space and has deep rooted connections with the CXO community. Advisors can be an important part of your arsenal when it comes to approaching new customers or even understanding the US markets. 

The fastest way to learn is to look at the way others did it and understand by drawing parallels that will help you get started. Most founders are welcoming and the India community in the US is strong. The Funda Community supported by Lightspeed in India and the US is one such place where Indian founders have access to others in the community, investors and executives. Founders have also grown their network via events, conferences, cold DMs on Twitter or LinkedIn, or warm introductions through investors or advisors.

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Lesson 3: Founder moves first 

Fly out to the US. There is no other way of saying this. Founders need to be in the US in person meeting customers. Because it’s the zero to one all over again, you are the best person to talk about your product. 

We have often seen founders try to crack open the US market by hiring a vice president of sales and a couple of account executives (AEs) that she/he helps hire. They then let them do the initial selling on the back of what has already been sold in India. Unfortunately, as we’ve said before, it almost never works. The competitive landscape in the US may be very different and you need to hear it first hand from potential customers on why they are or are not selecting your product. So it is imperative for founders to make the move if they want to grow their business in the US.

“Once you are in the US, you need to ask yourself all the questions you may have already answered in India. How do you revalidate your PMF? Is your use case relevant in this market? Are the workflows similar?”

The founders of some of our portfolio companies such as Rattle, Yellow.ai, and Acceldata physically moved to the US to accelerate the journey. They had to be in the market, understand how customers think, and be available. When you move to the US, it is not just about selling; you need to believe that you are starting up all over again. This includes perfecting your PMF once again. 

Originally, the US was focussed on one city in California, but things have changed. Tech companies have migrated to other cities, be it Austin, Texas, or Boston, Massachusetts. 

You need to identify two things: 

1. Who are you selling to? 
2. Where is the largest concentration of your customers? 

The answers to both these questions will help you decide where to set up a base in the US. For instance, for a company such as devtools-based Hasura, it makes practical sense to be in San Francisco, close to their customers and the larger developer community.  

In order to figure out your launch strategy based on where your customer persona is based, you can work with research firms such as Gartner. They can help you answer questions such as who is your customer, and who is the decision maker in the customer ecosystem that you are targeting. Research firms will also decode the tech being purchased in the US and help identify your potential customers based in the US. These are invaluable insights that can double up as your product advisor.