from Russia to America

[Elgrow]

Hello there!
Maybe you can provide any ideas, how to open an assossiated office of a Russian web-development firm on the territory of the US. Maybe there are people who want to be partners with a successful developers team. We have our offices in Russia and Czech Republic, and now look for the opportunity to run our business in America.

We would be happy to discuss everything concerning this topic!

[vangogh]

Do you need an office in the U.S.? You can work on web development projects from anywhere. If you do want or need an office in the U.S. you'll probably need to find some people here who want to become part of your business. Another thought is to buy an existing development company that's already here. Ultimately you'll need for someone who works in your company to live and work here in the U.S. if you want an office here.

However, I'm still wondering if you need an office here. You can find U.S. customers to work with, without having an office here.

[Harold Mansfield]

I agree that you don't need an office here to attract clients from here. I get clients from all over the world and I obviously don't have offices there. You do need a well written website, optimized to attract your target market.

There's also the time difference. Can you provide services when Americans are awake and doing business? Getting customers in a completely different time zone to work according to yours is all but impossible unless they just really, really want to do business with you.

I'm sure you know that you have a huge hurdle to overcome with perception. Many Americans, especially when it comes to tech, view your area of the world with suspicion since there are a lot of phishing scams, hacks, spam, and viruses that come from there.

Tech savvy Americans traveling to Russia (and China) take burner phones and laptops with them, and toss them when they leave. You can thank the bad press about travelers and press reporting hacked and infected laptops during the Olympics for that.

Of course we have our own scams, hackers and problems..that's just how the world is. However we, just like everyone else, tend to trust people in country first. Because we know the laws, our rights, banking laws, and are reasonably sure where we are sending our money.

I would think you're first step is to come up with a plan of how you will combat that perception. This is going to be your biggest marketing hurdle.
On the flip side I wouldn't even begin to expect to get clients from Russia. There's still a virtual wall there between the 2 countries and doing business with Russian companies is just not something your average small business is comfortable with.

Service providers from China, India, West Africa, Sri Lanka and other areas of the world face the same blow back. It may not be fair, but it's the reality of the situation.

My next question is, why not target European customers first? They're the closest to you, and likely have a better perception of doing business with you.
Out of all of the markets in the world I have to imagine America to Russia, or Russia to America are the hardest to crack.

Also, Russia is a big country with a growing economy..why aren't you targeting right where you are?

I guess I have a hard time understanding why people skip their own market and want to target Americans on the other side of the world.
Maybe you can shine a light on that.

We all want to be helpful and supportive here on the forum, but this is the elephant in the room that no one ever brings up and it's a real issue that people in other countries trying to do American business need to recognize and have a plan for.