One of the key things we took away from the trip to Atlanta was how important your brand is in the US and the need to have a clear focus and compelling proposal when launching a product.
I found the behind-the-scenes look into the world of Brad Paulsen, from home improvement retailer Home Depot, to be a real eye-opener. Not only is it about knowing the customer, but also maintaining that interaction – the idea of “omnipresence”.
I’m one of four co-founders at technology company Bare Conductive: two of us are British and two are American, which has helped us nurture a fairly transatlantic business culture.
Today about half our customers are based in the US and we provide customer service and distribution from the UK. Our first step would be to move some of our distribution and customer services across the Atlantic and offer more US-facing web pages.
As a tech startup, San Francisco and New York seemed obvious choices as a base for an expansion into the US. However, I was impressed by Atlanta’s pro-SME attitude, evident in its tax rates, manufacturing capability and proximity to the rest of the US.
Atlanta would certainly be high up there when it comes to moving part of our operations, such as distribution. However, we would keep our R&D team in east London or in an area similarly at the cutting edge of creativity and innovation.
Another essential piece of advice we received was to be aware of the geographical differences between the UK and US, and the pitfalls that have stymied previous companies’ attempts to achieve market success nationwide. A better strategy, we were told, is to start in one state and grow out from there.
The Trade Mission gave us the confidence to accelerate our plans to expand into the US and the inside knowledge of how to avoid making possible mistakes.
Sign up to become a member of the Guardian Small Business Network here for more advice, insight and best practice direct to your inbox.
