A lot of startups realize the benefits they can get out of being in Silicon Valley - the startup capital of the world.

Not everyone can move, especially if there’s a growing business to run in your home market.

Hiring consultants is expensive. Hiring full-time staff is premature, if you are not yet ready to expand to the U.S. operationally.

What you need is a co-founder - a person who will act like local founders do: attend events, hustle and search for those first clients and partners, break the ice of those first sales and act as evangelists for your product.

Hustling

Market research
Customer interviews, customer development
Early business development, presales
Networking, introductions and more

Marketing

Content marketing (native English copywriting)
Review or creation of marketing collateral (brochures, flyers, etc)
Representation at conferences (with pitch and booth)

Special Projects

Organize business development Silicon Valley tours for individual startups or groups
Help you prepare for important meetings and pitches
Recommend a fundraising strategy

Maria Adamian

Ground Control

Startup communities activist, angel investor, and business development professional. Maria's background includes developing businesses in energy, IT, education, real estate, and non-profit sectors, both in the US and internationally. Holds MBA in International Business from Albers School of Business and Economics.

Peter Tatischev

Startup Revisionist

Peter is an ex-director of Founder Institute in Silicon Valley, one of the biggest business accelerator programs worldwide. A tech entrepreneur in online and mobile. Producer of the European chapter of the acclaimed DEMO conference. Graduate of the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Will you help us raise VC money?

NO. After speaking to numerous VC’s and both successful and unsuccessful fundraisers we can safely assert that only the founders themselves can convince VC’s to fund them. Even if we do raise a round for you, it probably wouldn’t be on the terms you want. Besides, VC’s don’t like fundraising consultants. What we can do, however, is help you with the effective pitch and deck, as well as with introductions to VC’s when you are ready to move to Silicon Valley.

Q2. Do you take any equity?

NO. We will be happy to re-visit this question after we work with your company for 3-4 months and see if it makes sense.

Q3. Does it actually work? Who have you helped already?

YES, it does. We’ve been helping international startups land in Silicon Valley as Directors of the Founder Institute Graduate Program before, and we’ve helped a number of businesses as ecamb already. It’s a sensitive issue, and we don’t want to announce those companies on the web-site. We will be happy to tell you more about some of the cases that make us feel proud when we talk in person.

Q4. How do you charge for your services?

In the true spirit of “as a service” business we charge you a flat monthly fee. The size of the fee depends on the needs of your business and our involvement level. It will be lower than a salary of a local Silicon Valley professional.

Q5. Can you help with technology aspects of the business?

We can be pretty hands-on for a lot of technology conversations, but we won’t be able to replace your technology team. We do have partners that can fill in the role of the CTO if need be.

Q6. Can you pitch for us?

YES, with pleasure! We love pitching - we’ve produced large conferences like DEMO and TechCrunch, we’ve seen thousands of pitches and helped hundreds of entrepreneurs prepare for some of their most important presentations. If you don’t feel comfortable pitching in front of a large audience (in a foreign language) we would be glad to step in (here is an example of a recent pitch we did for one of our clients). Better yet, we can help you prepare for your own presentation.

Q7. What industries do you work with?

We are pretty broad - most of the Silicon Valley-friendly industries work for us - Internet, mobile, SaaS, IoT and more. We prefer to shy away from any form of advertising or e-commerce.

Q8. Sounds good, how do we take it from here?

Awesome! Scroll down to send us a request, and we’ll get back to you to schedule a phone call to talk your case in details!