Key takeaways
- The first US hire should usually be a commercial player-coach who can personally generate pipeline, close early customers and help build the sales playbook.
- Establish a narrow beachhead before expanding. Focus on a specific customer profile, win referenceable logos and use a disciplined land-and-expand motion to build credibility.
- US expansion requires founder commitment. A remote salesperson, virtual office and occasional visits cannot replace sustained customer contact, local relationships and a direct feedback loop with the product team in Israel.
For Israeli startups, the United States is rarely just another market. It is often the market that determines whether a company becomes a global category leader.
Israel is exceptionally good at producing technical talent, solving difficult problems and building products quickly. But the skills required to develop breakthrough technology in Tel Aviv are not identical to those needed to recruit American executives, win US customers and raise capital from American investors.
The challenge is not simply “moving to America”. It is deciding when to establish a meaningful presence, where to locate it, whom to hire first and how much of the Israeli operating culture needs to change.
This matters even more in AI. Israel has more than 2,000 active AI companies, according to Israel’s AI Blueprint, but technical depth alone will not determine which of them become global leaders. Distribution, positioning, customer access and speed increasingly matter just as much.
Here are the most important parts of the US expansion playbook.
Start before you open an office
Entering the US should not begin with signing an office lease or hiring a senior executive. It should begin with evidence.
Before building a local team, founders should be able to answer:
- Who is the ideal US customer?
- Which executive owns the problem and budget?
- Is the buyer, user and internal champion the same person?
- Why is the problem urgent now?
- Does the pricing reflect the value delivered?
- Can the company identify a narrow initial beachhead?
- Is there enough demand to justify a permanent commercial presence?
The strongest signal is not general interest. It is several US customers with similar needs, repeated inbound from a particular segment or a pipeline that is already becoming difficult to manage from Israel.
That does not mean founders should wait until they have fully solved their go-to-market motion. In many cases, sustained time in the US is necessary to discover it. But there should be enough evidence to distinguish genuine market pull from polite meetings.
A week of conferences and investor meetings is useful, but it is not market entry. Founders need repeated exposure to customers, competitors and candidates, as well as the language American buyers use to describe the problem.
Founder-led sales comes first
One of the most common mistakes is hiring a US salesperson to “figure out the US market”.
A salesperson can develop and improve a commercial motion. They should not be expected to discover the company’s market, positioning, pricing and product-market fit without close founder involvement.
At least one founder should lead the initial US effort. This does not always require an immediate permanent relocation, but it usually requires much more than occasional visits. Insight Partners’ guidance on international expansion describes founder relocation as one of the biggest determinants of whether a US expansion succeeds.
Customers, employees and investors notice whether the company is genuinely committed to the market. A founder repeatedly flying in for a few days is different from a founder building relationships, recruiting a team and participating in the local ecosystem.
In the early stages, the founder should remain involved in customer discovery, important sales calls and product feedback. This is particularly important in enterprise software, where objections raised during the sales process often reveal missing integrations, security requirements, procurement barriers or weaknesses in the company’s positioning.
The US operation should not become a remote sales outpost disconnected from product development in Israel. Its first job is to create a fast feedback loop between the American customer and the Israeli product team.
Make the first US hire commercial
The first US hire will almost always be commercial rather than technical. Product and engineering can remain concentrated in Israel, but someone needs to translate the company’s technology into a proposition that American customers understand and will buy.
That person might be an account executive, business development leader or commercially minded general manager. The exact title matters less than the profile. The first hire must be comfortable creating the US commercial motion, not simply inheriting one.
Founders are often attracted to candidates from Google, Microsoft, Salesforce or another large technology company. The logo is reassuring, but experience operating inside a powerful global brand is not the same as creating demand for an unknown Israeli startup.
The better candidate is usually someone who has:
- Joined an early or growth-stage company before the sales playbook was established
- Personally generated pipeline and closed customers
- Sold to the startup’s target buyer at a comparable deal size
- Worked without extensive marketing, sales operations or brand support
- Built relationships across an industry, not only managed inbound leads
- Operated successfully with product and engineering teams in another time zone
- Enough curiosity and confidence to challenge the positioning, pricing and product
This person is often described as a player-coach. They may eventually recruit and manage a team, but during the first six months they should still be willing to prospect, run discovery calls, manage pilots and close deals themselves.
The Index Ventures guide to winning in the US recommends hiring a US sales leader who can personally secure early customers while experimenting with the go-to-market model and refining the targeting strategy. Similarly, Bessemer Venture Partners’ early-stage sales playbook argues that the best first sales hire is usually an on-the-ground seller who can close business and help build a repeatable process.
References matter, but backchannel references are even more important. Speak to former founders, colleagues, customers and direct reports. Ask what the candidate personally built, which deals they closed and what infrastructure was already in place when they arrived.
Build a beachhead, not an outpost
The purpose of the initial US operation is to establish a commercial beachhead: a focused position in one part of the market from which the company can expand.
That requires choosing a narrow initial customer profile, geography or industry. “Selling to US enterprises” is not a strategy. Selling an AI security platform to financial institutions in New York is closer to one.
The beachhead should be large enough to matter but narrow enough for the startup to build credibility quickly. The goal is to win several customers with similar needs, develop local references and create a repeatable sales process.
A common mistake is hiring a single senior salesperson and leaving them alone to represent the company. Even an exceptional commercial hire needs founder support, technical expertise, marketing and a clear path for customer feedback to reach the product team.
A lean beachhead team might include:
- A founder spending substantial time in the US
- One local commercial lead or account executive
- A sales engineer or product specialist, initially shared with Israel
- Focused marketing and sales development support
- Clear ownership of onboarding and customer success
The precise structure depends on the product and deal size. A product selling for $10,000 annually can often support customers remotely. A six-figure enterprise contract will usually require local sales engineering, security support and customer success.
ICONIQ’s international expansion playbook recommends thinking in terms of a landing team rather than isolated sales hires. Most Israeli seed-stage startups will initially need a much leaner version of ICONIQ’s suggested team, but the principle is right: an account executive cannot simultaneously create demand, manage technical validation, close the deal and make the customer successful.
The first US employee should be viewed as the beginning of a commercial system, not a self-contained solution.
New York or Silicon Valley?
The right answer depends less on lifestyle and more on where the company’s customers, talent and ecosystem are concentrated.
Silicon Valley
The Bay Area is usually the stronger choice for AI infrastructure, developer tools, data platforms, cybersecurity, frontier technology and products sold to technical teams. Let’s face it, if the tech industry had a capital, San Francisco and Silicon Valley in general would be it.
It offers unusually dense access to founders, engineers, investors and early adopters. In fast-moving AI categories, proximity also helps founders understand how the technology, competitive landscape and market narrative are changing.
A recent CTech analysis argues that many Bay Area AI startups are allocating their earliest capital differently. Instead of assembling large engineering teams before investing in distribution, they are hiring earlier in developer relations, marketing and positioning. When technology is becoming easier and faster to build, attention and distribution become more important bottlenecks.
The disadvantages are equally real: high compensation, high cost of living, intense competition and an ecosystem that can pull founders towards whatever is fashionable that month.
New York
New York is often better for fintech, advertising, media, commerce, healthcare, insurance, real estate and enterprise software sold into East Coast industries.
It offers easier time-zone overlap with Israel and Europe, and the travel burden is considerably lower. For companies whose buyers sit in New York, Boston or Washington, choosing the Valley simply because it feels more “tech” can be counterproductive.
New York also has a large Israeli network (the Israeli mapped in NY database shows 508 Israeli startups with NY presence), but founders should avoid relying exclusively on it. The objective is not to reproduce the Tel Aviv ecosystem in Manhattan. It is to become part of the relevant American industry.
There are exceptions in both directions. A fintech infrastructure company selling primarily to developers may benefit from San Francisco. An AI platform selling to banks may be better served by New York.
As a rule, go where the customers, talent and conversations that shape your category are concentrated. If both locations are viable, choose the city where a founder is most willing to spend the next several years.
Land before you expand
The most reliable US strategy is to land narrowly and expand deliberately.
The first objective is not maximum revenue. It is establishing local credibility. That means winning referenceable customers within the beachhead segment, delivering value quickly and turning early deployments into larger relationships.
A practical land-and-expand sequence looks like this:
- Choose one tightly defined ideal customer profile.
- Win several customers with similar use cases.
- Make those customers successful and referenceable.
- Expand within their organisations through additional teams, products or use cases.
- Use those references to win similar customers.
- Enter adjacent segments only after the initial motion becomes repeatable.
This can require accepting smaller initial contracts. A narrowly scoped paid deployment that reaches production may be more valuable than a large but open-ended pilot. The objective is to create proof that travels.
Land and expand should not become “pilot and hope”. Every initial engagement needs a defined path to production, measurable success criteria, an internal champion and a credible expansion opportunity. The team should know who controls the larger budget and what must happen for the customer to broaden the deployment.
The same discipline applies geographically. A startup that has not yet established a reliable motion in New York or San Francisco should be cautious about simultaneously hiring in Boston, Austin and Miami. Each additional location increases management complexity and dilutes the company’s limited brand, attention and network.
ICONIQ recommends prioritising new and referenceable logos during the early stages of market entry rather than optimising immediately for ARR. The initial deals may be discounted or appear uneconomic, but their strategic value comes from credibility, learning and expansion potential.
Adapt the message, not the personality
Israeli directness can be an advantage. It creates urgency, reduces politics and helps companies move quickly. But what feels efficient internally can feel dismissive or abrasive to an American employee or customer.
The cultural adjustments are practical:
- Provide context before challenging someone’s work
- Make roles, reporting lines and decision rights explicit
- Give structured feedback instead of relying on spontaneous criticism
- Document decisions that would previously have been settled in a conversation
- Avoid overpromising product capabilities to secure a meeting or pilot
- Recognise that enthusiasm is not the same as commitment
A positive meeting is not necessarily a successful meeting. American executives may respond enthusiastically while having no budget, urgency or intention to progress. Founders need to qualify opportunities directly, agree on next steps and establish whether there is a real decision process.
The Index Ventures research identifies several models for US expansion, ranging from founder relocation to more gradual structures. The appropriate model varies, but cultural transfer cannot be left to chance. Companies need to decide which parts of the founding culture are essential and which are simply habits formed in Israel.
Maintaining one company culture also requires deliberate contact between the teams. Rotate employees between offices, bring US hires to Israel early and ensure that American customer feedback reaches product leaders directly.
Adjust to American investor expectations
US investors are not simply Israeli investors with larger funds. They may evaluate the company against a different set of competitors, growth rates and possible outcomes.
Israeli founders frequently lead with the technology. American investors are more likely to want the problem, market and category first. The pitch must explain why this can become a very large company, why the startup can own an important category and what evidence shows that the market is moving now.
The technology still matters, but it should support the commercial argument rather than replace it.
US investors will also look for proof that America is a real operating priority. This does not always require relocating the entire management team, but a virtual address and occasional meetings are unlikely to demonstrate commitment. Eyal Harrison’s mapping of Israeli startups in the US found that New York and California dominate among companies with a verified US presence, while many later-stage Israeli startups still have no identifiable office in the country.
Founders should be prepared to discuss:
- US pipeline and customer references
- The initial beachhead and ideal customer profile
- The location and composition of the leadership team
- Whether the positioning works in the American market
- The plan for recruiting senior US talent
- How quickly US revenue can become meaningful
- The company’s land-and-expand motion
- Whether the ambition and budget match the opportunity
Pressure-test the story before beginning a formal fundraising process. First impressions are difficult to reset, particularly within tightly connected venture networks.
The operational complexity is real
Opening a US operation introduces legal, tax and people issues that should be addressed before making offers.
These include corporate structure, state registration, payroll, benefits, employment agreements, insurance, data privacy, immigration and the tax implications of employees conducting business in a particular state.
A company may initially use an employer of record, but that is not always the right long-term solution. Once there are meaningful revenues, several employees or executives who regularly negotiate contracts, the company needs proper US legal and tax advice.
Compensation is another common source of friction. American candidates may expect higher salaries, meaningful equity, health insurance, retirement benefits and clearly defined commission plans. Founders should benchmark the entire package, not compare base salary with Israeli compensation.
Sales compensation requires particular care. Define quotas, commission rates, accelerators, territories, credit for expansions and the treatment of multiyear contracts before the employee starts. Ambiguity that might be resolved informally inside a small Israeli team can quickly create conflict in a US sales organisation.
The complexities are manageable, but improvising employment, immigration or tax arrangements can create expensive problems during fundraising or acquisition diligence.
Measure learning before scale
The first phase of US expansion should be judged by the quality and repeatability of the learning, not only by headline revenue.
Useful early indicators include:
- Qualified pipeline within the beachhead segment
- Sales-cycle length and stage-by-stage conversion
- Number of referenceable US customers
- Pilot-to-production conversion
- Product usage and customer retention
- Expansion revenue from existing accounts
- Reasons for lost deals
- Time required to deploy or onboard customers
- How often the founder is still needed to close a deal
Initially, landing several credible logos may be more valuable than chasing one enormous contract. The company needs enough deals to recognise patterns. One large customer can provide revenue, but it can also pull the product in an unrepeatable direction.
The team should review lost opportunities as carefully as wins. If customers understand the proposition but do not progress, the problem may be pricing, procurement, missing functionality or a lack of urgency. If the startup struggles to generate qualified meetings at all, the problem may be the beachhead, positioning or route to market.
The goal is to create a repeatable US commercial playbook. Once it works, the company can hire ahead of demand. Before then, adding more salespeople may simply multiply an unresolved problem.
Win somewhere specific
US expansion is not a relocation exercise. It is a commercial company-building decision.
The strongest Israeli startups retain their technical intensity while becoming much better at positioning, distribution and local execution. They send a founder early, establish a focused beachhead and make their first US hire a commercial builder. They land referenceable customers, learn what makes those customers successful and expand from a position of credibility.
Resources such as Battery Ventures’ Hop the Pond: AI Edition reflect how quickly this playbook is changing. AI is reducing some of the friction involved in operating across borders, but it is also increasing competition. Building is becoming faster. Winning trust, attention and distribution remains stubbornly human.
The US is too large and competitive to attack as a single market. The objective is to win somewhere specific, turn that foothold into a repeatable commercial motion and expand from there.
He is a former General Partner at Google Ventures (GV) in Europe, former head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe, and founding head of Campus London, Google's first startup hub. Eze writes on Israeli tech, venture capital, artificial intelligence, and founder strategy.
He is also the founder of Techbikers, a nonprofit that brings together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read.
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