Founder Patrick Theobald took the leap across the Atlantic with his startup Peakboard: That was about a year ago Software-Company from Stuttgart expands to the USA. “We started from scratch, in a bare hotel room in Seattle,” says Theobald in an interview with Gründerszene. Today there is an American subsidiary, an office in Chicago with two permanent employees, and the first customers from North America – but the way there was anything but easy.
The USA is one of the most attractive destinations for German startups: Flixbus, Raisin or Celonis are just some of the most well-known examples with American offshoots. “The US market is the largest in the world and incredibly fast-moving. This is exactly the environment that startups need,” says Christian Jorg. As Managing Partner US at the German Accelerator, he has already accompanied dozens of young companies on their way before and during expansion.
Expansion without a profitable business
For Peakboard founder Theobald, in addition to the economic dynamics, the value system and the relative political stability were important factors when choosing the location, he says. With his first startup Theobald Software, he expanded to China a few years ago. “The clocks tick very differently there. You are extremely exposed to political will.” On the other hand, he has had good experiences with the location in the USA.
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So he decides to venture into expansion with Peakboard at an earlier stage. Founded in 2016, the company offers software solutions for production and Logistics, with which processes are to be digitized and made more efficient. “We believed in the model so much that we started internationalization in an unprofitable state – simply to save time,” explains Theobald.