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Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 13:37:30 +0100
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Hi Pascal,
I agree that (in particular) Switzerland is globally minded. Still, I think
it is a structural disadvantage to start out in a small market, even if you
go international as quickly as possible. The cost of setting up an
international sales force is simply much higher then setting up a national
US salesforce. (To achieve the same revenue goals.) The overhead of
operating in different countries, the extra knowledge you need, etc. make
it harder. I'm not saying it is impossible, just harder, and it will and
does show up in the statistics then. I remember at least one Swiss
high-tech startup where the CEO had to go because he failed the US market
entry. For this company, going to the US was necessary, while for an
equivalent company in the US going to other markets was not nearly as
important and could have been done with less haste and better filled coffers.
You may be right on the cultural issue. It is difficult for me to judge how
much this "building something solid" is really in the Swiss genes. (Or
German genes for that matter.) Given the resource constraints of a startup,
I'd believe you'd be highly pragmatic, and if something less solid will do,
you do it.
Integration and sharing between VCs will certainly help the local startups,
so I think that is a good idea.
One thing that nearly every other place besides SV seems to have overlooked
is the importance of lawyers. For the standard model of a startup racing
towards seed round or Series A funding, in the valley, lawyers are
frequently the gate keepers, who can make great introductions to the right
VCs. Their model is entrepreneurial: They only get paid if a startup is
getting funded. Try telling a German lawyer to postpone getting paid his
fees until the company gets funded, and none at all, if the won't get funded!
I don't know about incubators, anything I've heard is fairly mixed.
Dirk
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Received on Sat Feb 12 2005 - 23:34:24 PST
