Butbuilding a world-leading business is exactly what Latvias Printful did.
To reach the local landmark, Printful took an international route.
But rather than focus on its home continent of Europe, the company set its sights on the US.
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Its a move that Hussein Kanji wants more European entrepreneurs to make.
His firm selects these businesses because it believes they can become category-defining companies.
To reach this level, Kanji wants more founders to look stateside.
He also has the data to substantiate his views.
For European startups, the US market has numerous attractions.
Its got more customers, more capital, and more talent.
Theres also the powerful data pipe effects that fizzle across Silicon Valley.
The allure was irresistible forPrintful.
In classic startup style, the companys founders built their early business from a garage in California.
The move soon paid off.
After four years of focusing on the US, Printful reached $46mn in revenue.
Still, not everyone is willing to migrate.
Many European founders prefer to stay closer to home for familial, social, or patriotic reasons.
Others are concerned about the risks of relocating.
And we dont care so much about the failure side we care about the winning side.
Startups from smaller countries, meanwhile, may prefer to target another European nation for its early European expansion.
Geographical proximity, cultural connections, and personal relationships can make the local moves more alluring.
To his chagrin, they dont always agree.
But our view is we can help plug in some of the relationships.
He also reassures the doubters that Silicon Valley is very accommodating towards expats and new faces.
Its also a place thats accustomed to power players suddenly emerging from out of nowhere.
Such developments are hard to predict, which has encouraged the Valley to welcome new people and ideas.
Nine years later, he was the youngest self-made billionaire in the world.
Taking the first steps
Kanji doesnt advise leaving Europe as soon as an idea emerges.
Startups first need to establish their initial product market fit, determine its worth, and get feedback.
Once the value has been established, the founder can move to the US.
The rest of the team, however, is often better built at home.
One drawback of the US is the high salaries of tech workers.
There are also always bigger companies who want to poach the top talent.
In Europe, these costs and risks are lower.
At Printful, the best balance was dividing roles across regions.
A Printful founder, however, remained in the US.
Its an approach that has often yielded impressive results.
Yet he acknowledges that startups targeting the US still need a leader on the ground.
Youve got to understand the product market fit, because it might be slightly different.
You cant just rock up with a bunch of salespeople and keep selling more products.
At the same time, Robinson insists that moving to the US isnt the only option.
He notes that access to capital is improving and that startups are now scaling more quickly.
A recent report from Dealroom made similar observations.
The continents flock of unicorns, meanwhile, has grown by 88% since 2014.
In the US, theyve only increased by 56%.
Overall, however, the biggest opportunities to scale remain in the US.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
