In late September, Temple’s Fox School of Business hosted Startup Global Philadelphia, which provided resources, strategies, and advice for startups that wanted to expand internationally. The panel topics included: tools and strategies to grow internationally; legal considerations for global startups; startups going global; and government partners and community resources.
One of the overarching themes of the advice given at the event was: take advantage of resources offered to startups. Both the private and public sectors can offer a multitude of resources to help start ups expand their reach.
Export.gov is a resource provided by the Department of Commerce to offer advice and tools meant to help U.S. companies effectively reach global markets. Usman Ahmed, Head of Global Public Policy at PayPal, spoke on a panel, and revealed that PayPal actually has a Global Sellers Program to create versions of company websites specific to different regions. Using cutting targeted marketing techniques, PayPal is able to hone in on exactly which color schemes and verbiage work in various locales.
It is also essential that startup companies looking to go global utilize the professionals who specialize in protecting ideas, such as advisors and lawyers.
“You have to protect [your idea] before you go anywhere. Eighty-six percent of SMEs and independent inventors did no know that their United States trademark of patent would not be protected overseas,” said attorney-advisor at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Benjamin Hardman.
Another theme of the event was: utilize your own knowledge base. Temple student Nigel Satenstein told the origin story of his startup, Pinpointer, which exists to help people without clear addresses benefit from eCommerce.
According to Satenstein, “It all started one day late last summer when I got a call from one of my best childhood friends. He started telling me about his roommate, Sam, who was born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, and to this day still down not have a home address.” This story prompted Satenstein and his friends to build a tool that would account for this gap, and because they had personal knowledge of Kathmandu, then chose to start by using the technology there.
The free annual event took place at Temple’s Alter Hall, on 1801 Liacouras Walk.
Startup Global Philadelphia is a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Global Innovation Forum.