The document provides advice for European startups looking to establish an office in Silicon Valley. It discusses that the founder visited the Bay Area multiple times to familiarize himself with the culture and geography before relocating. It recommends San Francisco as a location for its buzz and cluster of startups. It also outlines considerations for setting up a US entity, hiring a local team including healthcare costs, obtaining a visa to work in the US, and finding office space.

1. Setting up an office in the Valley
Andy McLoughlin, EVP Strategy, Huddle
So – you’ve got your European start-up
running nicely; revenues are growing,
you’re hiring like mad, you’re being
courted by VCs and the local tech
press think you’re the best thing since
SpinVox. Well, SpinVox circa 2008, anyway. Ahem. However, like all big-thinking entrepreneurs you
realise that there’s more to life than London / Paris / Berlin / Amsterdam. You’re thinking big.
You’re thinking the home of the multi-billion dollar exit and IPO. You’re thinking of a place where
the cash flows like wine, where you can’t sit on the train without bumping into a highly regarded
angel investor, where khaki is an acceptable form of evening attire. You’re thinking of Silicon Valley
and how you can establish your company as a major player out there. The only problem is that you
don’t have the faintest idea how to go about doing it.
This was the exact situation that Alastair and I found ourselves in towards the end of last year. And,
having never done it before and not having ready access to anyone who had, we had to learn
everything the hard way. Here are some of the things we picked up. Enjoy!
Don’t go in blind
By the time I finally moved out here I’d been visiting the West Coast five or six times a year for the
last couple of years. I’d stayed out for several weeks at a time and really tried to immerse myself in
the Bay Area’s start-up culture, get to know people and familiarise myself with the geography –
work out which kind of companies live where, how to best go about getting between them and
(important) areas to avoid. And, of course, have a chuckle every time someone mentions the area
called the ‘Tendernob’ (the area between Nob Hill and the Tenderloin, fact fans). Hilarious.
Location, location, location
The Bay Area, encompassing everything from San Francisco and the East Bay down to Silicon Valley
(Palo Alto, Mountain View etc) and San Jose, is a huge geographical space with oodles of variety. San
Francisco is a big(ish) city and affords everything that a big(ish) city provides – great bars and
restaurants, parks, culture, architecture, homelessness and crime. Mountain View and Palo Alto are
the heart of Silicon Valley proper and home to companies like Oracle, Facebook, Apple and HP.
These towns remind me of Reading, UK, with palm trees, though (this isn’t a good thing) and I feel
they lack soul, non-generic shops and decent places for the all-important post-work pint. However,
if you’re looking at moving a several-thousand person company out here they’re probably the only
way to go.
For us, it was always going to be San Francisco. The buzz of the city is palpable (especially compared
to identikit business parks found further south) and the city’s SOMA district – with its vast
warehouses and loft apartments – is home to hundreds of start-ups, creative companies and social
media consultants. Throw a stone from anywhere in the district and you’ll hit at least one person
creating “x for twitter”. There are also great spaces available downtown, around South Beach and in
the Mission district.

2. We’ve started by renting a small room from our good friends at UserVoice (see the previous point
about building the network – you never know who’ll be able to help you out with cheap deskspace!)
but are looking for a space we can grow into. Regus and other serviced offices provide flexible
options and there are a plenty of hungry real estate brokers who can help you find something more
permanent.
Setting up shop
If you want to trade or hire in the US you’re going to need a US entity. The vast, vast majority of US
companies incorporate in Delaware (regardless of where they are actually based) thanks to the
state’s generous tax benefits and well-defined body of case law. Once you have your Delaware Corp
you’ll need to get it ready to trade in the State of California. It’s probably best to get a lawyer to
help with all of this as the paperwork will make your eyes bleed.
Hiring a US team
Once your US company is in place and
ready to trade you’ll probably want to
think about hiring. Hiring in the US is
broadly the same as hiring anywhere else
– don’t hire people you might hate, make
sure they can do the job, use your
network, avoid recruiters as far as
possible etc etc etc.
However, once you’ve found that dream candidate it’s not as simple as asking them to come in one
day one and start coding / selling / whatever. There’s a US employment contract, payroll and
healthcare to consider. Your lawyers (the ones that helped with the nasty company law) can provide
you with the first, we used High Street Partners for the second and then had to figure out what the
heck to do about healthcare.
Yep – healthcare. Back in the UK it’s all too easy to forget that some nations don’t provide free
national healthcare to residents. But healthcare in the US is a big deal and even if Obama gets his
way it’s going to be a long time before you can forget about factoring this cost into your budget. US
employees will expect healthcare (with vision and dental cover) and you should expect this to cost
around $500 per month. That’s at least $500 per employee per month (plus more if you’re covering
spouse and kids) on top of the above-average salary you’re likely to be paying in the Bay Area. That
Silicon Valley office ain’t looking quite so cheap now, huh?
Working over there
Fact: it’s very naughty to come to the US and work without a visa. You are allowed to stay for up to
90 days, do business for your foreign company (partner meetings, client meetings, board meetings,
conferences) and perhaps take a holiday. But you absolutely can’t work for a US company.
If you want to work for your newly formed US company you’ll need a visa. And, like setting up the
aforementioned company, this is a paperwork-intensive process where one slight error will void your
application so you’re best off finding a specialist immigration lawyer. There are several options for
your visa but (in our opinion) the best in terms of the time-to-apply / time-you’ll-be-allowed-to-stay
ratio is the L-1 intercompany transfer visa. Expect to wait at least a month and a half from when you
first submit to your interview at the US embassy (unless you pay $1,500 for some kind of Easyjet-

3. style speedy boarding pass, in which case you’re looking at 15 working days) and bear in mind you
have to be outside the US to apply and receive your visa. Entering the US during your visa
application is technically allowed but frowned upon so if you are travelling make sure you have proof
that you’ll be leaving the country again shortly, a copy of your application and something proving
that you are indeed employed by a non-US company and are just visiting for meetings. Not to work.
Oh no.