Interviews of Clément (Synapse), Arnaud Rosier (Implicity), Christian Allouche (Gleamer)
Entretiens avec :
- Clément Goehrs, CEO @ Synapse, spécialisée dans l'information médicamenteuse et fournisseur des plateformes de télémédecine.
- Arnaud Rosier et Thomas Habib, respectivement CEO et COO @ Implicty, plateforme simplifiant la télésurveillance cardiaque.
- Christian Allouche, CEO @ Gleamer, éditeur de logiciels d’imagerie médicale basés sur l'IA.
🛫 Préparer son lancement
💭 Penser US "Day 1"
Penser son produit de manière globale dès le début incite les équipes à créer le produit de manière à ce qu'il soit modulable et adaptable à n'importe quelle zone géographique.
Cela a permis à Synapse, quelques mois après avoir mis au point le produit français, d'être prêt à faire des démos à des prospects US. Cela faisait partie de leur roadmap dès le début.
"J'ai très tôt pu commencer à faire du BizDev aux US en pointillé afin de qualifier le marché" Clément, CEO @ Synapse
Cela a été très bénéfique puisque la situation sanitaire ayant rendu le marché US difficile d'accès, Synapse a pu, en moins de 3 mois, lancer des versions UK, Allemagne, Espagne et Italie de son produit.
🇺🇸 Instaurer une culture US au sein de ses équipes
"Il est difficile de se forcer à penser aux US dès le début" Clément, CEO @ Synapse
Quelques actions pour s'obliger à penser US :
📊 Analyse du marché
Arnaud a fait appel à Mathieu Petitjean afin de conduire une analyse médico-économique.
"Je le recommande aux startups santé désireuses d'évaluer la valeur de leur produit aux US" Arnaud Rosier, CEO @ Implicity
🔎 Générer des leads
Arnaud, Clément et Christian s'accordent tous les trois pour dire qu'il est nécessaire d'avoir généré entre 20 et 30 leads avant de se lancer aux US.
Les moyens de générer ces leads dans un contexte COVID :
- Identification des clients potentiels via LinkedIn
- Obtention à distance, "en mode Covid", grâce à du marketing digital
- Utilisation de Dropcontact pour trouver les coordonnées
"Nous avons du fournir un effort supplémentaire en marketing digital pour parvenir au résultat que nous aurions obtenu en 2 jour de salons" Thomas Habib, COO @ Implicity
🛬 S'installer aux US
📍 Choisir sa localisation
Pour des raisons évidentes de décalage horaire, Arnaud, Clément et Christian prévoient tous trois de s'installer sur la côte Est.
Selon Clément, si vous n'avez pas de raison particulière de vous installer sur la côte Ouest, il vous faut vous installer sur la côte Est en raison du plus faible décalage horaire.
Pour vous aider à faire votre choix, voici une liste d'éléments à avoir en tête
| Factors to consider | Why |
|---|---|
For example, the Boston airport is a few minutes drive from downtown, allowing you to reach Paris in 6.5 hours and is the closest to France. Miami, on the same coast, adds 2 hours of transportation. | |
Don't think that a 6 hours or 9 hours time difference is the same thing. This can make the relationship with the HQ very difficult. East Coast (Boston, New York, Miami) gives you 3 additional hours of working-day overlap versus the West Coast. | |
(Do not) believe that US culture is the same everywhere: north/south, east/west. The culture of the East Coast is closer to that of Europe than that of the West Coast, even though it is the same country. If we compare the coasts, there is more traditional business on the East coast than the West coast. | |
Ideally, you should not impose a precise city for the General Manager. People are always more important than location and they need to embody the development project. Moreover, it is this person who will live there on a daily basis (take into account family constraints too). If a CEO imposes a location, he risks losing his General Manager very quickly. | |
(although this should not be a driver) + payroll taxes (state + city) (State individual income tax rate: California: 9.3%+ / Texas: 0%; Corporate income tax rate: California: 8.84% / Texas: 0%) | |
More and more selling can be done remote. There is less need to be located in an "expensive" city. As a startup, you should not open in a city for prestige reasons especially as your prospects are spread out. | |
Tech is focused in the Bay Area, whilst Finance and Media are big in New York; Boston is known for Biotech startups. | |
Salary and rents are extremely high in New York, and even higher in the Bay Area. Using cost as a proxy for talent retention makes this even more critical. For example, NY is more expensive than Boston (+30% to 40%). | |
What is the availability of GTM hires you need – inside sales, enterprise sales, partnerships, growth? Where will you find executives with proven scaling experience for your business model and sector? NY is known for its digital talents. Boston is home to universities like Harvard and MIT attracting many digital talents. | |
You must be able to be in contact with them and even meet with them. |
Si vous souhaitez être présent sur la côte Ouest, il est possible de détacher une personne dans la Silicon Valley. Cela peut-être pertinent si vous prévoyez des partenariats avec des GAFA par exemple.
✅ L'importance d'un co-fondateur sur place
Il est très important d'avoir des relais locaux avant l'installation.
"Without the health crisis, I would probably be living 3/4 of my time in New York"Clément, CEO @ Synapse
🏢 Legal structure
Clément preferred not to create a legal structure right away, considering that it is not relevant as long as the product is not ready to be sold and that the process is fast and inexpensive
When he started selling his product in the US from France, Arnaud wanted to create a legal structure on site.
He called on Axelia Partners for:
- Creation of the legal structure
- Visa for his salesperson on site
- Payroll
So all his contracts with the US go through this subsidiary, as do all those related to his employee on site.
"At some point, you need Americans."Clément, CEO @ Synapse
The first 3 profiles Implicty is looking for in the US are:
- General Manager North America
- A Salesperson
- A Customer Success Manager
- For each country opening: hiring a Country Manager who takes on the CBO role accompanied by an Account Executive and a CSM
- A VP Partnerships is common to all countries
🆗 Obtenir un FDA Approval
Christian considers obtaining FDA Approval more "tough" than European regulations, the specifics are:
- Juniors in-house who do everything related to quality and CE marking
- Consultants for the entire FDA aspect
- A law firm in the US
Covington, a law firm
Christian recommends that the Principal Investigator conducting your study:
🌐 Leveraging your network
Ways to use your network:
- Call on your investors for business introductions, feedback, KOL...
- Locate the French and European diaspora corresponding to your sector
- Visit US funds (without specifically looking for funding) specialized in your sector to request intros within their portfolio and make yourself known for a future fundraising
- • Participate in trade shows, events. Clément recommends all health startups to participate in the JP Morgan Week