Matthew Sawyer Of USAccelerator: Five Things I Wish People Knew Before Launching Their Startup or Business in the U.S.
An Interview With Monica Sanders
Build a strong local network
You’ll need qualified advisers and experienced partners who can help you navigate the U.S. market and ways of doing business. Certainly, it is important to retain legal and accounting experts to navigate the complex U.S. legal, immigration, and tax systems.
Taking the risk to start a company is a feat few are fully equipped for. Any business owner knows that the first few years in business are anything but glamorous. Building a successful business takes time, lessons learned, and most importantly, enormous growth as a business owner. What works and what doesn’t when one starts a new business? What are the valuable lessons learned from the “University of Adversity”? As part of this interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Matthew Sawyer.
Matthew Sawyer is a go-to-market strategist with experience helping U.S. and international companies. Through his company USAccelerator and recently debuted book “Make It in America; How International Companies and Entrepreneurs Can Successfully Enter and Scale in U.S. Markets,” he offers a comprehensive roadmap as well as support to entrepreneurs and business owners as they embark on a U.S. entry. This past month, Sawyer was invited to speak at the Investment Immigration Summit in Vietnam about why the U.S. is the best country for investments and business.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My background is mainly in Marketing and Advertising, and I was fortunate to begin at a highly creative agency with clients who believed in the power of advertising. The agency was a wonderful place to start my career. It was filled with people who cared and fought over words and phrases, headlines and images.
The agency was led by a creative genius, Bill Backer, who is most known for having written “I’d Love to Teach The World to Sing” for Coca-Cola. Bill believed that every business problem can be solved with a creative idea. The bigger the problem, the more innovative the solution needed to be. When an unknown Korean company wanted to enter the U.S. automobile market, we created advertising to prove Hyundai was a world-class manufacturing company that also made cars. Their first year U.S. sales were the highest ever recorded in the automobile industry.
Advertising also taught me to be a “quick study” and adapt to new industries and situations. This experience gave me the confidence that I could learn anything quickly and thrive in virtually any industry.
This insight eventually led me to consult and teach. I first recognized the need for helping international companies enter the U.S. market when consulting for a French company in 2016. They struggled because they didn’t understand U.S. market dynamics and business practices. By providing insights into the U.S. competitive environment and customers’ purchase behavior, we helped them win several new customers and secure over $20 million in funding.
Other projects and discussions confirmed there was both a need and a gap for a trusted source of strategic guidance and local support for international companies. After a consulting project for the European-American Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than 25,000 companies engaged in bilateral trade, several of the chambers’ leaders encouraged me to write a book that would help foreign companies be better informed and prepared for their journey. Over the next 18 months, I researched — including interviews with over 150 people in 40 countries — and wrote Make It In America.
My own business, USAccelerator, was formed shortly after the book was published in December 2022. While the book was positively received, people wanted hands-on guidance and assistance to accelerate their journey. So, I enlisted several business professionals to provide consulting, coaching, training workshops, and connecting people with resources and service providers. I want to help international people overcome their fears and be better prepared for doing business in my country.
Unlike other business accelerators, we don’t invest or take equity in the companies that we help.
What are some of the biggest challenges for international entrepreneurs looking to “make it in America”?
Many say they’re attracted to the American Dream which promotes the idea that any person — no matter their background or social status — can find a fulfilling and rewarding life here. However, most worry about the risks, as they’ve heard international companies often struggle and most startups fail after a few years.
One reason is that international businesspeople and entrepreneurs underestimate the difficulty, cost, and length of time required to enter and grow in the U.S. market. The competition can be fierce, and customers are often fickle as they face many choices. In addition, there is the challenge of living and staying in the U.S., because of the high cost of housing and living expenses.
Many foreign businesspeople also struggle with marketing, sales, funding, legal issues, and managing U.S. employees, as all of these are vast and complicated areas, which at times differ from how it’s done in their home country.
How is the market today? Is it a good investment to expand to the U.S. market?
From a macroeconomic perspective, it’s a fine time to invest in the U.S. market. The Economist predicts U.S. economic expansion well into the current decade. Ruchir Sharmir, Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, reports that the U.S. economy has held steady at 25% in the world for the past four decades.
Still, companies need to evaluate the dynamics of the specific market they want to enter. In other words, is it the right time to enter the U.S. cybersecurity or real estate market? At USAccelerator, we help international companies evaluate opportunities, recognize challenges, and determine the best time to get a foothold in U.S. markets.
What do you think makes your book stand out? Can you share a story?
What makes the book stand out is the support it offers and how it can used as a roadmap. Make It In America provides explanations, insights, and tools to develop a playbook for success. It explains how to establish a U.S. business entity, how to finance U.S. expansions, how to navigate the legal and immigration systems, and how to establish a market presence. There are several checklists for both established companies and startups. In addition, the book shares 15 case studies of companies trying to enter and scale a business in the United States.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I was fortunate to have worked with Clay Christensen who was named one of the world’s most influential business thinkers by Thinkers50. The Harvard Business School professor was a leader in the subject of disruptive innovation and authored the seminal book The Innovator’s Dilemma. At the time, I was head of marketing for a FORTUNE 500 company, and we employed Christensen as a consultant and speaker at a business conference we sponsored.
In our conversations, Christensen explained his views on the importance of having a clear purpose in life. A purpose, a worthy goal, that would guide important decisions and the allocation of one’s time and resources. He asked, “How do you want to measure your life?” By the money accumulated, career recognition, the family raised, or some other metric? Christensen measured his life in the number of people that he positively impacted. He was most proud of the accomplishments of his children, his students, and his consulting clients. His thinking made a big impression on me, and it led to my decision to become a teacher, consultant, and author where I could interact with many more people.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
In addition to consulting, I am an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and teach graduate courses at NYU. Over the past 10 years, I’ve been a teacher to hundreds of students giving them skills, knowledge, and confidence to achieve successful careers. Using Clay Christensen as a role model, I’ve tried to impact their lives positively.
What are your “5 things I wish people knew before launching their business in the U.S.” and why?
1 . Fully commit to U.S. expansion
Companies must invest the necessary capital, resources, and time to succeed in the United States. Board directors need to view this investment as a five or ten-year commitment, because of its exponential upside potential. Companies need to send top executives to America to demonstrate their commitment to American customers, suppliers, and partners. And these executives must have the determination and commitment to overcome the inevitable challenges and obstacles that will arise.
For early-stage companies, it means sending a founder to establish their U.S. business operation. Bruce Buchanan, founder and CEO of ROKT, transplanted his company and his family to New York from Sydney, Australia. He said, “If you take a market seriously, you have to be in it. The work requires absolute commitment.” His ten-year-old company was recently valued at nearly $2 billion.
2 . Set clear goals and measurable objectives
It’s essential to establish clear goals for your business in the United States. Goals that are both aspirational and achievable. Clear goals that will guide your company’s critical business decisions on complex issues. Goals that will attract, motivate, and inspire employees.
Bruce Buchanan’s goal for ROKT was to be the leading e-commerce optimization software in the world. He recognized that U.S. expansion was important, because of America’s size and abundance of e-commerce players.
In addition to clear goals, companies need measurable objectives with defined timelines. This is important to both guide activities and monitor and refine tactics. For example, a drop in sales leads would trigger an adjustment in marketing investment and tactics.
3 . Focus and target efforts
The United States is huge with approximately four million square miles and more than 330 million people. Each of its 50 states has different laws and regulations. The country is incredibly diverse in climates, ethnicities, and lifestyles. Customs and business practices in New York City, for example, are dramatically different than in Texas or Florida. Therefore, it’s essential to concentrate your U.S. activities on specific markets before expanding across the country. The decision of which location to enter (your beachhead market) is critical. Tesco failed largely because it chose to enter two of the most competitive, over-stored markets in Southern California and Arizona.
In addition to choosing the physical location, you’ll need to select which product category, channels of sale (i.e., online vs. in-store), and stage of the value chain to introduce to the U.S. market. Another Tesco mistake is that it introduced a limited-item grocery store format that didn’t match the needs and desires of U.S. shoppers.
4. Build a strong local network
You’ll need qualified advisers and experienced partners who can help you navigate the U.S. market and ways of doing business. Certainly, it is important to retain legal and accounting experts to navigate the complex U.S. legal, immigration, and tax systems.
Local marketing and research experts are needed to gather intelligence on the local consumer tastes and your competition. Local advisors and partners can connect you with the necessary suppliers and other needed resources.
Bruce Buchanan said, “The early days are rough. It’s hard to get traction and credibility. [If] You don’t have a network, you don’t have access to people that can help.”
5 . Expect some hurdles
Many international companies have tried to enter U.S. markets only to give up in a few years, having lost significant money, time, and reputation. Most start-ups fail after a few years, too.
One reason is that international businesspeople and entrepreneurs underestimate the difficulty, cost, and length of time required to enter and grow in the U.S. market. The competition can be fierce, and customers are often fickle as they face many choices. In addition, there is the challenge of living and staying in the U.S., because of the high cost of housing and living expenses.
Matthias Farwick, CEO of Txture, an Austrian technology company that is trying to enter the U.S. with a cloud transformation platform said, “It’s difficult to grasp the gravity of these challenges until you’ve experienced them. After I lived it, now I know.”
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I’d encourage people to be generous with their time and resources to help others. Being respected and admired for goodness is better than anything else.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Find my book Make It In America here!
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
About the Interviewer: Monica Sanders JD, LL.M, is the founder of “The Undivide Project”, an organization dedicated to creating climate resilience in underserved communities using good tech and the power of the Internet. She holds faculty roles at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. Professor Sanders also serves on several UN agency working groups. As an attorney, Monica has held senior roles in all three branches of government, private industry, and nonprofits. In her previous life, she was a journalist for seven years and the recipient of several awards, including an Emmy. Now the New Orleans native spends her time in solidarity with and championing change for those on the frontlines of climate change and digital divestment. Learn more about how to join her at: www.theundivideproject.org.
