While many Asian founders are looking to expand into the US, many do not want to move their entire team to the US. Instead, many prefer to keep their engineering and product teams in Asia while establishing a presence in the US for business purposes.
In our internal proprietary data and the Asian Founder Mobility Pulse survey, 72% of founders want to keep their engineering and product teams in Asia while expanding to the US.
The findings from our survey and internal data point to a growing trend of distributed team models, allowing founders to reach US customers and build relationships while keeping their entire workforce outside of the US.
72% of Asian founders want to keep engineering teams in Asia while expanding to the US
We asked Asian founders what parts of their business they plan to keep in Asia while expanding to the US.
We conducted the Asian Founder Mobility Pulse survey to understand the preferences of founders from Asia for expanding to the US.
Here is what they said:
Respondents could select more than one option, so the percentages do not add up to 100%.
Most founders (72.0%) want to keep their engineering and product teams in Asia while establishing operations in the US. This is likely due to the existing technical team already being in place and the founders not wanting to disrupt their current product development workflow.
For many startups, keeping these teams in Asia may also help them continue product development without changing their existing work structure.
Beyond Border's Internal Data Shows How Teams Are Distributed
While the survey data describes the plans of founders, the internal proprietary data of Beyond Border lists the current locations of employees for 166 companies.
The internal company audit found:
The audit also looked at employee locations across different business functions.
The number of engineering and development employees outside of Asia is almost the same as the number of employees in Asia (20 in Asia, 18 outside of Asia). Finance and accounting employees, however, are strongly represented in Asia (11 in Asia, 3 outside of Asia).
On the other hand, the audit reveals that there are 43 executive and management employees outside of Asia and only 20 in Asia. Also, the majority of sales and business development employees (7 outside of Asia, 2 in Asia) as well as marketing and growth employees (7 outside of Asia, 4 in Asia) are located outside of Asia.
These numbers suggest that some companies are building their leadership and commercial teams outside Asia while continuing to maintain technical and financial operations in the region.
The survey results and the company audit data are two different perspectives on the same issue. The survey results are what the founders say they want to do. The company audit is the available information on what the current teams of the companies audited are. Also, the number of employees for each function is small. Therefore, the results should be treated as directional.
Access to US Customers Is the Main Reason for Expansion
Why are Asian founders looking to enter the US market?
The survey found that the biggest reason for Asian founders to enter the US market is to access customers. This is followed by fundraising or the presence of an investor network.
Other reasons included:
The reason for the large gap between customer access and fundraising is because most Asian founders view the US as a market for customer acquisition and business growth as opposed to a place to raise money.
This is why many Asian founders do not need to move their entire workforce to the US. Instead, they can set up a commercial presence in the US to manage customers and business development while their existing teams continue to work in Asia.
85% of Founders Plan to Expand Within the Next Two Years
Asian founders are interested in expanding to the US, according to the survey.
When asked about the time frame for their US expansion, 59.9% said within the next 12 months, and 25.1% said within 12 to 24 months.The remaining respondents were either unsure about the timing or had no plans to expand.
85% of the respondents expect to expand into the US within the next 2 years.
At the same time, many of the founders are in an early stage of growth of their business. 34.9% of the founders are at the seed stage, 28.3% are bootstrapped, and 19.9% are at the pre-seed stage.
This shows that interest in the US market is not limited to well-funded startups. Early-stage and self-funded companies are also considering entering the market.
Immigration Uncertainty Remains a Major Challenge
Immigration remains a major challenge for many Asian founders planning to expand to the US.
The biggest challenge facing Asian founders when expanding to the US is immigration, according to 88.9% of respondents to the Beyond Border survey.
When asked which immigration issue had the greatest impact on their plans, 55% said they were unsure which visa pathway was suitable for them.
Other concerns included:
- 22.8% identified the H-1B annual cap and selection process.
- 14.7% cited immigration costs or processing times.
- 7.5% selected other issues or did not specify an answer.
89.9% of founders surveyed said they would begin researching US immigration options only when someone was ready to relocate.
This creates several issues for startups looking to relocate founders, hire employees or establish operations in the US. Immigration requirements can affect who can relocate, when they can move and how the company plans its US operations.
For founders who want to keep their engineering teams in Asia, early planning can help them decide which employees need to move to the US and which can continue working from their existing locations.
Asian Startups Are Looking at a Distributed Team Model
The results of Beyond Border’s internal proprietary data and the Asian Founder Mobility Pulse survey indicate that most Asian founders are interested in expanding to the US without having to move the entire company.
The majority of founders plan to keep their engineering and product teams in Asia while setting up the rest of the company in the US. Leadership, sales, and marketing functions are often set up outside of Asia.
While the primary reason for these startups to expand into the US is to gain access to customers, the immigration uncertainty is still a major issue that needs to be addressed.
Asian startups entering the US market do not have to relocate their entire workforce. Rather, many founders plan to establish a presence in the US to manage customers and business development while their existing teams continue to work in Asia.
This article is based on the results of the internal proprietary data of Beyond Border, including a company-level audit of 166 founders, and the results of the Asian Founder Mobility Pulse survey of founders from Asia.
The survey captures the preferences and the plans for expansion of the founders, while the audit of the companies provides information on the location of the employees of the audited companies and on the current operations of these companies.
The results should be treated as directional only and should not be used as a representative sample of Asian founders or startups. Details on the sample size of the survey, on the dates of the survey, and on the recruitment of the respondents should be included in the article before publication.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Asian Founder Mobility Pulse survey by Beyond Border found that 72% of the surveyed founders of Asian origin want to keep their engineering and product teams in Asia while expanding their businesses into the US.
The main reason for expansion is to access customers in the US (85%). Other reasons for expanding to the US included fundraising, access to investor networks and access to talent.
Engineering and product are the functions that the majority of founders want to keep in Asia, with 72% stating they would like to retain these functions. This is followed by operations with 40.1% and sales and marketing with 30%.
Immigration and visa uncertainty was identified as the biggest challenge by 88.9% of Asian founders planning to expand to the US. Over half (55%) said they were unsure which visa pathway would be best for them.
Most founders (59.9%) are planning to expand to the US within the next 12 months, with another 25.1% considering to expand within 12 to 24 months. In total, 85% of founders are considering US expansion within the next two years.
