Interview of Arthur Saint Père, Dolead's CEO (XAnge Family)
Interview with Arthur Saint Père, CEO of Dolead (XAnge Family), also, previous talk on Déploiement International : retours d'expériences et questions à se poser.
Dolead had 10 employees in the US in October 2020, now they are .
- Step 1 : Identify the market and talk to your future clients
- Analysis of the US opportunity
- Step 2 : Prepare to leave
- With the right "legal" stack:
- With the right marketing stack :
- Step 3 : Settle in the US 🇺🇸
- Which city should you choose in the US ?
- Recruiting in the US 🤝
- Feedback of Myriam, Head of HR at Dolead, on recruitment in the US
- Bonus :
Step 1 : Identify the market and talk to your future clients
Analysis of the US opportunity
It is important to look at :
"The US are twice as expensive to open as the UK but the ROI is 50 times higher.”
When contacting potential US customers, the objective is not necessarily to start selling from France but to at least validate an interest for the product.
"Go to US trade shows to identify the atmosphere, the best practices. If you don't have time to go to several shows, at least visit the ones you plan to attend once you get there"
Step 2 : Prepare to leave
With the right "legal" stack:
According to Arthur, here is the right minimum to sell in the US:
"At Dolead we called on François Laugier of https://www.ropers.com/ to create the legal structure, our terms and conditions and a standard employment contract for $5K."
With the right marketing stack :
You have to think about your marketing in a US-centric way at all costs. It's really hard to do good marketing from Paris.
Arthur has chosen to use Eleius to "Americanize" its media:
- Position document
- Website
- Brand platform
- Sales deck
- 3 case studies (finally little used)
"We had made zero sale with translated materials. Americanizing our marketing is one of the best investments we've made. It helped us sign 47 clients in nine months.”
Step 3 : Settle in the US 🇺🇸
Which city should you choose in the US ?
Important things to consider:
Arthur chose Boston because of the following factors:
- Less pressure on recruitment
- Lower salaries
- Lower turnover
- Close to Harvard and MIT
- The airport is close to the city and it is "only" a 6-hour flight from Paris
"Our sales team is in the US and our operations in Paris. So we chose the East Coast because there is only a 6-hour time difference.”
Beyond the difference between the East and West coasts, differences between the cities are to be expected. Example:
- Miami: Interesting place for retail but 2 additional hours by plane from Paris.
- New York: Too expensive, on average salaries are 40% higher than in Boston
Recruiting in the US 🤝
The cultural gap makes recruitment even more complex than in France. A thorough recruitment process should minimize the risk of mistakes.
In particular the Sales functions with experienced profiles. Arthur preferred to train young people.
"I recruited five Americans of which only one is still with us. They are very good at selling themselves but not so good at executing.”
Hubspot on which you can get a 50% discount thanks to XAnge.Arthur's recruitment process for its sales functions:
- Publication of the offer on Indeed
- 10 min screening call : Help to judge punctuality, to explain the company in 2 sentences, to understand the current situation of the candidate. At the end of this phase, 5 to 10 candidates are selected.
- 30min call
- 45min call with Arthur : He proposes to the candidates a mathematical exercise around the calculation of the CAC
- Use case on Excel with a PowerPoint presentation
Hiring Support by XAnge Tips for attracting talent to the US:
Dolead uses JustWorks to manage employee benefits and comply with local regulations.
JustWorks"The aura of a French startup in the US is the same as an Estonian startup in France."
Feedback of Myriam, Head of HR at Dolead, on recruitment in the US
Dolead does not match French and American pay scales because the markets, work environments and cost of living are too different.
"We fumbled quite a bit in the first year regarding compensation. We realized that our remuneration system was really too high compared to local salaries in the 6 months following these first recruitments. The profiles of this first wave of recruitments were not the right ones, so we got rid of them and recruited new profiles, more junior and less expensive.”
Bonus :
To manage his accounting and tax transition, Arthur called Jade FIDUCIAL
💲 How much ? 3-4000€
Arthur also called upon Amy Coombs, Relocation Consultant to help him with his personal installation: Social Security Number, bank account, apartment, nursery, schools, car...
💲 How much ? $750