3 Lessons I Learned From Czech Startups In Bay Area

If you’re building a global startup, subconsciously you desire to succeed in the US. And the one who says no, he’s lying. That’s why I went to Bay Area to meet Czech guys who succeed with their startups in the US. And what’s the main message that I brought from my trip? Stop being afraid.

Don’t be afraid of speaking english

I always thought that without a perfect english I have no chance. I didn’t dare to host Costlocker webinars for english speaking clients or just pick up the phone and call to our client in Dallas to ask him how Costlocker helps to his agency. I love my comfort zone where I feel safe. But the point is that opportunities often lie behind this line.

In San Francisco I realized that my english is not bad at all. And that fear is only inside my head. There’s a lot of foreigners who build their startups and nobody cares where are they from. The concentration of foreigners creates a unique environment where people got used to listen to you patiently, even if it climbs out of you as a furry blanket.

What did I take out of it? To have the English in a good shape is really important. But to be a native speaker is not a condition of success. When I came back to the Czech Republic, I arranged a few Skype calls with our international clients and I enrolled Costlocker to a big startup event (StartupBattlefield), where selected startups will have a chance to present their projects in front of thousands of attendees at the main stage.

Update from StartupBattlefield (8/2/2016): Unfortunately, we weren't selected. Nevermind, we'll never give up!

Don’t be afraid of accelerator programs

It’s said that if you are chosen to 500 Startups, you’re on the good track. It’s not any coincidence to be there — only 40 out of 1 500 registered startups are selected. One of them is a Czech startup Avocode. I was excited when Vu and Matous invited us to meet them. I always thought that it doesn’t matter in which prestigious startup accelerator you want to be. But the guys from Avocode opened my eyes and simply described the major differences between Y Combinator and 500 Startups, for example.

If you need to help with a product distribution — how your potential customers can get to know about you — sign up for 500 Startups accelerate program. But if you need to better understand who’s your customer or what job your customers hire your product for, you should go to Y Combinator.

Why am I writing this? I’ve always wanted to try it, but I have a wife with 2 kids. And the idea that I won’t see them for 4 months, dissuade me from it. But the reality is different. Nobody wants you to be there 4 months day by day. It’s up to you how long, and often there during those 4 months you want to be. We heard some rumors that there are people who were there just at the beginning and then came back at the end for a Demo Day.

Perhaps it’s also linked with the fact that a life in San Francisco is pretty expensive, so not everyone can afford it. Although 500 Startups gives you 125 000 USD for 5% of you company, not everyone is able to sign this contract on time. So then you must wait for another “time window” that is opened in a few months later. In addition, 500 Startups takes back 25.000 USD for the fact that you can participate the program.

But the great thing about it is that you have access to people from top technology companies. You get a paper with the list of mentors with whom you can meet. It’s up to you whom you choose. Do you want to better understand the power of email marketing? Invite a founder of MailChimp to help you out with that.

Don’t be afraid of failure

I was fascinated by one thing in the US. Their desire to succeed. The fact that success depends only on your efforts is pretty strong motive. There’s roughly 28 000 startups in Bay Area. Everyday you hear about startups that received seed investments or they prepare their startup for an IPO. You feel that success will happen to you as well.

When we talked about it with Dusan Vitek, who recently sold his startup Portadi to OneLogin, he told me that finally are successful only 2% of all those startups. Just imagine — 560 succeed / 27 440 end up in fiasco, debts. What fascinate me is a fact that for most of those people it’s not the end of their startup life. On the contrary, in their nature it’s firmly ingrained not to give up and to seek for new opportunities over and over again. But because they need money for a living, so they usually leave the employ in tech companies for 2–3 years to they try it again then.

I even heard that for some investors it’s an important signal that affects their decisions to invest into startup. It’s actually logical — the chances of a failure should be logically smaller since you’ve already know what to avoid of.