Draft of the slide deck for my talk at VOKA on Friday, September 5, 2014: http://www.voka.be/oost-vlaanderen/opleidingen/2014/9/zakelijk-succes-in-de-vs/

1. Ferry Building, San Francisco
Welcome Sign, Las Vegas, Nevada

2. iText, an open source PDF library
Java
C#

3. Heat Map 2013 — Google Analytics

4. Sales 13Q1-14Q2: countries

5. First Open Source Release: 2000
Adobe Headquarters, San Jose, CA

6. First book: 2006
Digital Guru Technical Bookshop, Sunnyvale, CA

7. First IP Review: 2007
JRA Law, Pine Street, San Francisco, CA

8. First substantial revenue: 2009
Golden Gate Park Aquarium, San Francisco, CA

9. Company Structure
Shareholders:
- Ingeborg Willaert (50%)
- Bruno Lowagie (50%)
iText Group NV
°2008 Belgium
IP, TM, Development
Marketing
iText Software BVBA °2011 Belgium Sales EMEA/Asia
iText Software Corp.
°2009 USA (CA/MA)
Sales Americas/Oceania
Board of Directors:
- Peter Camps (chairman)
- Ingeborg Willaert
- Bruno Lowagie
Advisory Board:
- Andrew Binstock
- Mark de Visser
- Bernard Slede

10. First Visit to the US: 2010
Union Square, San Francisco, CA

11. Tip #1: Start a business in the US
Wall Street Bull, New York City, New York

12. LLC? C Corp? Double Tax? Transfer pricing?
Cable Car, Powel & Market, San Francisco, CA

13. iText’s first sales people
Guerneville, CA

14. Tip #2: Get a Social Security Number (SSN)
4th of July parade, Washington DC

15. You’ll need it when you buy a property
Pied-à-terre Lowagie-Willaert, Redwood City, CA

16. Tip #3: Build a Credit History
Bank of the West, Bush street, San Francisco, CA

17. Where to start?
Grand Canyon, Arizona

18. Where to find help?
Chinatown Gate, San Francisco, CA

19. Tip #4: iMinds ̶ Go Global
Plug and Play Tech Center, Sunnyvale, CA

20. Office space? You may not need it!
Plug and Play Tech Center, Sunnyvale, CA

21. Connections!
Plug and Play Tech Center, Sunnyvale, CA

22. Tip #5: BelCham
Manhattan, view from the Empire State Building, New York

23. Tip #0: Meet people!
Los Gatos, CA

24. Digital Detox Social Hike
Los Gatos, CA

25. Pitch! Pitch! Pitch!
Los Gatos, CA

26. Go to events
Community Leadership Summit- West, Santa Clara, CA

27. Tip #6: Visit meetup.com
Community Leadership Summit- West, Santa Clara, CA

28. Where to stay?
Oakwood Apartments, Mountain View, CA

29. Where to stay?
Country Inn & Suites, San Carlos, CA

30. Tip #7: Flanders Investment & Trade
Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts

31. Tip #8: Beware of Cultural Differences
Pied-à-terre Lowagie-Willaert, Redwood City, CA

32. Guns are Good; Subsidies are Evil
The Fish Market, Palo Alto, CA

33. What about politics?
The White House, Washington DC

34. Deep down, Americans love Europe
Castello Di Amorosa, Calistoga, CA

35. But when in America…
Safeway, Redwood City, CA

36. Go with the flow
Castello Di Amorosa, Calistoga, CA

37. Tip #9: Be a Member

38. Don’t be afraid of the big boys
SAP, Palo Alto, CA
Adobe HQ, San Jose, CA
Oracle HQ,
Redwood Shores, CA

39. Yosemite National Park, CA
Make “Resilience” your middle name

40. Tip #10: Hire US employees
Boston, Massachusetts

41. But beware of the time difference
San Francisco Bay, CA

42. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. (Henry David Thoreau)
Personally I’m always ready to learn,
although I do not always like being taught.
(Winston Churchill)
A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it. (Frank Herbert, Dune)
Men who are doers can also be thinkers, but the thinking is done on the move, in the midst of events. (Colleen McCullough, The October Horse)
There are people that fish, and those who just disturb the water. (Chinese proverb)
Do or do not...
There is no try
(Yoda)
Oracle HQ, Redwood Shores, CA