The second part of my trip to the USA was to Denver, Colorado this was to go to the Defrag conference which was focused on business technology.
Over all it was a great conference and was really nice to connect with so many interesting people. Connect2Field had a booth there to create a bit of awareness about Connect2field in the tech space. We managed to attract a stack of attention with our promotional item.
Before the conference was on I was trying to think of a promotional item that would be relevant to our customers… after looking through Alibaba.com I came across an emergency phone chargers. Pictured below.
Everyone dropped by our booth and wanted to know what the device was and started chatting to us. It was a really easy way of engaging with people and starting a conversation.
The conversation even moved onto twitter as well..
We had the option of putting the charger into a conference bag that was handed out to everyone who came to the conference. I’m really glad we didn’t do this… it would have just been lost with all the other stuff in there and wouldn’t have given us the opportunity to engage in so many conversations.
We also put a stack of lollies (‘candy’) on the table which proved a great way of getting people to drop by our stand..
For the next conference I’m going to get a Connect2field table cloth to help with even more branding and cloth popup banner…
Going to conferences in the USA will be come a regular thing for me as Connect2field grows into a global company. The USA is going to be a huge market for Connect2Field and keeping my ear to the ground in what’s happening there is going to be important. While I was in San Fran we manage to secure I really important deal that is going see the growth of Connect2Field go at a rapid rate. We’ll be releasing a press release about this early next year… Till then it will be top secret.
It was a pity no Aussie Journo’s took up the offer for the free trip as I think they would have learnt a lot and gained some excellent contacts. Always next year I guess…..
Next year we’ll be opening an office in the USA and I’ll be looking for an Aussie to man it… If you’re interested let me know….
Hi Steve,
Your post is really informative. Thanks for sharing. Since you are looking for someone to man your office in the states, Would it be easy for an aussie to get a H1B visa?
Also, I would be interested if you found the answer to your rhetorical question “I often wonder is it possible to build a really successful startup from Australia given how small our market really is.”
Keep posting.
Hi Joshua,
At this stage i haven’t looked into to much details about getting visa’s yet…. But i know there are a number of options available. So it is very possible!
In terms of running a startup form Aus… i really think it’s very possible… but with a focus of getting customers from offshore ie USA and Europe…
Cheers,
Steve
Great post Steve. What about company structure / domicile and more specifically billing in USD? Do you think it’s necessary / important for an Aussie-based company to create a US company from day-one to handle these issues.
We’re about to bring a new SaaS platform to market (global audience) and I’m facing the issue of how to receive payments in USD to an Aussie company via a payment gateway / merchant facility right now. I’ve heard good things about Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) so any insights you might have on the business structure side would be useful.
Is this the kind of thing you can get set-up whilst on a business trip to the US?
Hi Steve,
That is very interesting. Is market size the only problem why it is difficult to run a startup in Australia? Or is there another fundamental reason? i.e Australians are less likely to get money out of their pocket to purchase software.
Can you let me know the website of your startup that you’re going to setup in the US?
Thanks Steve.