Yes, all good points. As I think we both seem to be aware of, it really depends on the type of business you're doing. It could be high growth, or slow growth day 1 revenue generating machine, or something in between. It could be primarily virtual, or an older business model with a tech twist.
So, depending on your business model and your background, whether you're based in the U.S. or outside of it, both come with their own sets of challenges. I just think more business models have a higher probability of success if the company is based in the U.S. than they would if they were based in SE Asia.
From what I've heard by talking to other tech startups in the area, if you're looking to do a high growth type of startup, that can be difficult in this region and the reason is primarily due to funding. There's a cultural difference in the investors here that boils down to risk aversion. Asian cultures are typically risk averse and this no doubt applies to Asian investors as well. They expect you to already be making money or if you're not making money, then they'll want a sizable stake of equity - sizable enough to make the founders feel like employees rather than owners. One could get investment from firms in the U.S., but I've not heard of many who have gone that route, and I suspect many investment firms unfamiliarity with Asia could make that a little difficult.
Now if you want to talk about bootstrapping, then anything is possible within the limits of your abilities and tolerance.
If you're based in Asia but targeting the U.S. market, that's again not an insurmountable obstacle, but you'll need to be able to talk to your customers, and when your customers are based in the U.S., the time difference, distance, and being culturally disconnected can make this difficult at times. Possible yes, but at an extra cost.
So again, it really depends on what your business is doing. I think being in the U.S. gives you more options though.
So, depending on your business model and your background, whether you're based in the U.S. or outside of it, both come with their own sets of challenges. I just think more business models have a higher probability of success if the company is based in the U.S. than they would if they were based in SE Asia.
From what I've heard by talking to other tech startups in the area, if you're looking to do a high growth type of startup, that can be difficult in this region and the reason is primarily due to funding. There's a cultural difference in the investors here that boils down to risk aversion. Asian cultures are typically risk averse and this no doubt applies to Asian investors as well. They expect you to already be making money or if you're not making money, then they'll want a sizable stake of equity - sizable enough to make the founders feel like employees rather than owners. One could get investment from firms in the U.S., but I've not heard of many who have gone that route, and I suspect many investment firms unfamiliarity with Asia could make that a little difficult.
Now if you want to talk about bootstrapping, then anything is possible within the limits of your abilities and tolerance.
If you're based in Asia but targeting the U.S. market, that's again not an insurmountable obstacle, but you'll need to be able to talk to your customers, and when your customers are based in the U.S., the time difference, distance, and being culturally disconnected can make this difficult at times. Possible yes, but at an extra cost.
So again, it really depends on what your business is doing. I think being in the U.S. gives you more options though.