3 ms·

Moving a small-scale startup to Bay Area

2 points by rstankov 16y ago

Hello All, We are a small 2-person startup based in Eastern Europe. For many reason we'd like to move the startup to Bay Area - almost all of our clients are based there, living is better, the atmosphere, etc. We have started 1 year ago and are currently on target to make approx $100K for the year, and our revenue is rising relatively fast at 10% per month. We operate in the "developer tools" market, selling building blocks for development shops (and corporations) in the ASP.NET Webforms, PHP, ASP.NET MVC areas. We also have plans for Java/GWT version and a new idea for a SaaS service. How do we proceed? Do we need Y Combinator money (or any other venture/investor there). I'm not sure we need that much money anymore, just the logistics and legal issues related to that. Any advice is welcome. Cheers, Rumen

adrianscott 16y ago
Seriously think about whether it makes sense, and think about all of the options. Your costs are going to be DRAMATICALLY higher. So you might not need outside capital to expand if you stay where you are, whereas you might if you take on a bay area-sized expense basis. You could instead take a 2-month vacation/visit to the bay area twice a year, for example. You don't necessarily need to move to get the benefits you want. My $0.02, hope this helps.
- rstankov 16y ago
  Yes, this is correct and I actually have been there several times, including last month for almost 3 weeks (stayed @ Mountain View). I'm generally willing to move the whole thing there and pay the extra price to get closer to customers first and I generally like the area. I'm prepared for the extra costs, legal issues, taxes etc and am willing to go this way, just not sure where to start. I have a 10-year multiple-entry visa, but this will not allow me to move the business, register US entity, pay taxes, etc there.
  - adrianscott 16y ago
    ok, if you're really sure ;), i guess next step would be to look at the immigration side of things. creating a biz or moving the biz should be straightforward, consult a corp. lawyer, etc. immigration would be the most challenging piece of the move i expect.

2 points by rstankov 16y ago

adrianscott 16y ago

Seriously think about whether it makes sense, and think about all of the options. Your costs are going to be DRAMATICALLY higher. So you might not need outside capital to expand if you stay where you are, whereas you might if you take on a bay area-sized expense basis. You could instead take a 2-month vacation/visit to the bay area twice a year, for example. You don't necessarily need to move to get the benefits you want. My $0.02, hope this helps.

rstankov 16y ago
Yes, this is correct and I actually have been there several times, including last month for almost 3 weeks (stayed @ Mountain View). I'm generally willing to move the whole thing there and pay the extra price to get closer to customers first and I generally like the area. I'm prepared for the extra costs, legal issues, taxes etc and am willing to go this way, just not sure where to start. I have a 10-year multiple-entry visa, but this will not allow me to move the business, register US entity, pay taxes, etc there.
- adrianscott 16y ago
  ok, if you're really sure ;), i guess next step would be to look at the immigration side of things. creating a biz or moving the biz should be straightforward, consult a corp. lawyer, etc. immigration would be the most challenging piece of the move i expect.