Additional information
by Ray Garcia (Author)
This document is to help non-US small to medium enterprises (SME) when considering doing international business in and through the United States of America (US). It is a brief overview of a sample of issues to consider and is not an exhaustive treatment of the subject. It is meant to serve as an introductory guide for discussion between the company and their Buoyant Capital peer advisor. The peer advisors may suggest how to establish a business plan for internationalization via the US market using NYC as the primary international base of operations. For this document an SME is a company that has reached break-even, is a sustainable business, with products that are suitable for the international market, but may currently be selling only to a domestic or near regional market close to its borders. The author assumes the company has an intent to conduct cross-border trade spanning North and South America, Western and Eastern Europe, Russia and Africa. (Commercial activity in Asia also applies but has special considerations that are not fully represented in this document. A peer advisor can address the specifics of each case as needed.) The suggestions offered in this document may be of interest to micro companies at an earlier stage of development, but much depends on the type of business and type of products being sold. While Buoyant Capital peer advisors have extensive experience in new venture formation, this document is not written for pre-revenue startups although they can benefit from an early understanding of the issues.
Author Biography
Ray Garcia is the managing director of Buoyant Capital, a global peer advisory think tank addressing the growth challenges of small to medium sized enterprises. The firm coordinates its team of experts to help its clients improve competitiveness through talent management, global market expansion partnership access, technology asset management, capital investment and restructuring. Buoyant Capital was founded in 2000 in New York City and has helped launch several global start-up companies and works as an advisory to company founders, CEO's, and their investors. Ray has over 20 years of experience as a global technology entrepreneur, as company CTO co-founder, for four venture-backed companies. Earlier in his career, he worked as an executive for major banks including, Citicorp, Republic National Bank (now HSBC), Bank of America, and as a technology consultant to several large US multi-national corporations. In 2008, he was elected to serve as an executive in resident at MIT Media Lab. Since 2010, he serves on the advisory board of Baruch College Field Center for Entrepreneurship. From 2011 to 2014, he taught an accelerated course in entrepreneurship at the University of Pisa, Italy, School of Economics, to PhD candidates and International MBA executives with a focus on global innovation, technology transfer and venture spin-offs. In 2015, he is serving as a business expert to EU Commission Horizon 2020 SME innovation instrument where he is evaluating commercialization grant proposals of technology ventures.
