Before making the move
According to Matt Little, Founder and CEO of Blue Ocean Insights, “If I think about the two or three companies I've personally been involved with, they had a clear vision as to what their strategy was throughout the US. Were they going to be a global company with US customers? Were they expecting that, in 2-3 years, 60% of their customers will come from the US? You really have to think that out and then resource appropriately. Your whole go-to-market efforts to need to pivot.”
At the same time, it is important to remain open to adapting your strategy as you go. Glenn Timms, an investor and plural chair of multiple venture-backed tech businesses, notes that, “I've seen quite a lot of businesses pivot off what's worked versus what hasn’t and somewhere between modify and outright change their strategy.”
Once you have determined that going to the US is right for your company, the question of how to properly balance investment in both countries arises.
In particular, one common question we hear from our founders is: “Do we need to have leadership on the ground in the US or can teams in the UK effectively lead & manage remotely?”
Understand that experts’ opinions vary on this topic:
Experienced chair, Ross Miller, suggests that leaders should take the step of relocating to the US, “You have to appreciate that America is just a world all of its own. You've got to be prepared to build a company there. You, as a CEO, have got to be prepared to go and live there. Because you've got to live and breathe it to make it successful; otherwise, it's a bit of an offshoot."
John Milad, on the other hand, has seen leaders successfully operate from the UK—if they can spend roughly 80% of their time traveling to the U.S.
Glenn Timms believes you have to be prepared to do both. “You have to send people over, and you have to recruit behind them locally. Ultimately, you've got to build local.”
Hiring a good COO or delegating to existing teams in the UK is important because the CEO/founder should be the one to go out and open the US operation via founder-led sales approach. Having the founder on the front line of the effort, will help make sure active feedback loops are in place and whatever efforts needed are invested in appropriately. The founder also can drive the US hiring this way. It’s important that there is alignment at both a management and cultural level.
Having leaders in the US means that you will need both systems and talent in the UK that can sustain operations in their absence. Hiring a good COO who can take the operational lift off the CEO is one common step.
