At the start of the year, my Co-Founder Stevan and I had a casual beer in Old Street, London. This beer proved a pivotal moment in the evolution of our startup. We took the wild decision of relocating our staff from London to Tel Aviv for three months. From team bonding to hiring fresh local talent, it was a remarkable experience and one our whole team will cherish for the rest of their lives. In today’s article, I’ll go through the top 8 reasons to travel abroad with your startup.
Find New Local Talent
People from different countries go through different life experiences and build different skillsets. When you take your company abroad, you have the ability to tap into the local talent pool, which can help give fresh perspective & texture to your work processes.
Explore local startup scene
Across the world, there are so many vibrant tech startup scenes. Most, if not all, welcome newbies and local entrepreneurs love the opportunity to network with people from across the world. Serendipity is rife. Every night, you’ll come across a variety of different meetups and events that will help you to increase your contact base & help you make introductions that can tangibly help whatever it is you are working on.
Great PR
Journalists and bloggers love weird, wonderful and whacky stories. Travelling abroad with your startup gives you an edge and a fantastic story to tell. Whether you are pitching the business, team bonding or cultural benefits, you have something valuable to offer and will no doubt act as an inspiration for the next wave of entrepreneurs thinking of relocating abroad.
Team Bonding
Bringing the team to a new environment, experiencing new things together builds bonds and forces people to interact outside of their normal comfort zone. When you put yourself in situations of vulnerability, that’s when you get to know your peers on a deeper level and build solid foundations. The weekend trips to the desert or beach have a deep-rooted business value & show your staff the value of caring and fun. I truly believe that thinking different to the standard 9-5pm in a boring, staid office will have a direct correlation to the next wave of successful entrepreneurs.
New partnership opportunities
If you strategically pick the right location, it can be a wonderful way to pick out some game changing partnership opportunities. Whether the purpose is to build biz dev deals or outsourced development talent, research is key. We chose Tel Aviv, as it houses one of the most vibrant tech capitals of the world. Doing your research will go a long way to ensuring you get the most commercial value out of traveling abroad with your startup.
Different cultures expand the mind
There’s always a plan B. At home, it’s very easy to become entirely fixated on one way of working. Whether that is how the office is set up, working hours or how to get the most out of your staff. Experiencing different startup ecosystems and cities expands the mind. People from different countries go through different life experiences and build different skillsets. When you take your company abroad, you have the ability to tap into the local talent pool, which can help give fresh perspective & texture to your work processes.
Attract investors
There are opportunities for investment all over the world. When you go out of your home environment you expose yourself to a wider pool of investors. This will help get you more feedback on your product and if you are very lucky, an investment into your business. Finally, consider bringing on some global advisors and an advisory board.
Dan Abrahams recently took his entire startup abroad, relocating from London to Tel Aviv. Daniel is the Co-Founder of MyCurrencyTransfer.com. an award winning money transfer comparison site matching individuals and businesses with the best money transfer deals. Connect with Dan on twitter and google +.
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