The late 90s brought us nonsensical (too early, too fast) flops for its times like Boo.com, Geocities, Kozmo, Pets.com, Flooz.com, and the starts of the giants of today like Google, Amazon, eBay, and Booking Holdings.  

Before I knew it, I was starting my first Internet company that provided an internal website search tool provider for large community websites called vortals (one of those old terms of the past that are hardly heard of nowadays). 

We had a great start with that company, with a few clients piloting the technology. We were gaining traction among retail investors and gaining recognition in community website circles of the time. Then, as we turned the corner around Y2K and AOL concluded their giant merger with Time Warner in Jan 2000, we felt we were at a great place. We had investors calling us, and we were picky and selective about whom we brought on board. The plan was to hold off until we increased our MRR to the next level and then go for the next fundraising round. We had a low but growing burn rate, and many of the pilots by our clients will be turning into large-paying contracts. So 9-12 month runway felt like more than enough time. 

Then things changed so quickly and drastically. First, Microsoft stock (mainly due to an antitrust ruling) dropped, starting a significant down trajectory for Nasdaq, which was followed by back-to-back days of substantial drops in stock market indexes. Investor sentiment changed so quickly that it was hard for founders to grasp what might lie ahead. Venture Capital was no longer available, and the mindsets of everyone in the technology startup ecosystem drastically changed. 

What did that mean for us, as a technology solution provider startup in the changing landscape? 

• Investors were nowhere to be found, and we quickly realized we had to have a plan B for no funding coming in anytime soon. 
• Our clients’ investors were nowhere to be found, all our paying customers stopped paying, and none of the pilots we were expecting to go to paying contracts were going to happen.
• Our 9-12 runway, despite quick adjustments in spending, decreased to 4-5 months without existing clients paying.

What were the lessons learned for me as a founder from that experience?

• Things can change faster than you expect. Even as a small team, keeping up with changing market conditions will be challenging, so you must always be alert and ready to act. As a founder, you do not have the luxury of waiting a little longer to observe and execute change. 
• Your products and services are dispensable when your startup operates in the innovative and early adopter phase of a new market. So know and observe your beachhead very well. Do not depend on the continuation of existing revenue metrics. 
• Don’t wait to pivot. If you believe you need to pivot anything like your value proposition, business model, go to market strategy, then act quickly and move forward fast. Often pivots take longer than expected, and you need to give a buffer to your team for hitting milestones.
• Get good advice often, but make your own decisions. Having intelligent, experienced, and trustworthy advisors is always a critical success factor. However, in turbulent times, it is even more so. Therefore, make sure you have diverse sources of good advice. Smart money, early investors that have entrepreneurial experience, pays the most in these turbulent times. 
• Invest in your mental health with a combination of a personal support network (family, friends), short but frequent short “me times,” doing meditation as a part of your daily routine, and proactively trying to have a good sleep schedule. The last one is probably the hardest of all, given that you have more reasons that will keep you awake at night. However, some tips can at least improve your sleeping regimen and, in return, give you more ammunition to cope with stress. 

The current economic climate reminds me a lot of the Internet bubble burst times. Yet as founders and investors, we have the experience of the past that can help us guide better this time. Plus, startup and early-stage investment ecosystems are more robust and established. So, as a former (and always in the heart) founder, I chose to be an optimist. Afterall: 

“Nothing of any importance has ever been accomplished by a pessimist.” – Jack Welch.

The post Lessons Learned as a Founder From Surviving the Internet Crash of 2000 appeared first on Cross Ocean Ventures.

There is much anecdotal evidence that living abroad is a significant factor for an artist to be successful. In fact, it’s often considered a necessity. Many aspiring artists each year leave everything they have behind to experience life in a totally new country and culture.

For example:

• Haruki Murakami, author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Murakami wrote this book while he was living in the U.S. and he credits the experience for creating the feeling of alienation in the book.

“If I wrote it in Japan, it might have become a very different book. My strangeness while living in the U.S. differed from the strangeness I feel while in Japan. It was more obvious and direct in the U.S., and that gave me a much clearer recognition of myself.”

• Isabel Allende, author of The House of the Spirits. Allende wrote this book while in exile in Venezuela and she says in an interview this book (her first) started as a letter for her dying grandfather who she could not visit because of her exile.
• C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia. This book was written when Lewis became a devout Christian after he moved from his native Ireland to England.

The examples are too many to list, not just for authors like Ernest Hemingway and his book The Sun Also Rises; or Vladimir Nabokov with Lolita, but even more so for painters like Gaugin, Kandinsky, Picasso, or composers like Handel and Stravinsky.

Many multicultural metropolitan cities like New York or Paris throughout their history have become magnets and hubs for artists to live and express themselves.

The science behind cultural diversity

To study the inherent assumption that living abroad increases creative insight, William Maddux and Adam Galinsky did a study that showed it was not that creative people spend more time traveling and living in different cultures, but indeed it was the diverse experience of living abroad that enhanced the creative process.

The study included 205 full-time MBA students and found a robust relationship between living in or moving to foreign countries and creativity. The results showed the longer students had spent living abroad, the more likely they were to come up with creative solutions to problems (specifically, the Duncker Candle problem). They found the more students adapted themselves to the foreign cultures when they lived abroad, the more likely they were to solve the creative problem they were given.

“This shows us that there is some sort of psychological transformation that needs to occur when people are living in a foreign country in order to enhance creativity. This may happen when people work to adapt themselves to a new culture,” Galinsky wrote in his report.

In a follow-up study, the students that were subject to ‘priming’ by remembering their foreign living experience and writing about their experience versus writing about generic experiences like going to the supermarket, were found to be more creative at the end of their writing assignments.

Not just for artists

I believe this goes beyond the arts and applies to entrepreneurs, as well. Consider that more immigrant entrepreneurs in the US are starting businesses than ever. According to statistics released by the US Small Business Administration, 30% of the 1.8 million small businesses started in the US in the past 20 years were founded by immigrants.

And that is true not just for small businesses, but many of the larger and well-known brands. In 2010, more than 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants (90 companies) or children of immigrants (114 companies) despite the fact that they often lack financing and resources. Some of the top companies started by either immigrants or children of immigrants are: eBay, Google, Yahoo, Intel, P&G and DuPont. And since 2006, one-third of all IPOs in the United States were for companies that were founded by entrepreneurs that were born in a foreign country.

To me, that’s a clear indication that cultural diversity is an advantage in entrepreneurship and that’s why I recommend any aspiring entrepreneurs out there to try and spend some time living abroad. Obviously, this is easiest for younger people who haven’t settled down and started a family or settled into a career yet, but it would do aspiring entrepreneurs of any age good.

Young people can get this multicultural experience in high school through an exchange program, like a Rotary Exchange, or they can save up some money and take a gap year between high school and college or between college and stepping into the job market.

Although I strongly recommend they try living in a completely different culture than what they grew up in, they can still learn some valuable skills if they opt to try a culture that is only slightly different (an American living in Australia, for example), particularly if they can get a working travel visa.

If you’re a parent and you want to give your child an entrepreneurial edge in the world, there’s nothing better you can do than help them spend some time in a different country. It will help them become more creative problem solvers and build their confidence and leadership skills.

The post Why Living Abroad Is the Best Thing Aspiring Entrepreneurs Can Do appeared first on Cross Ocean Ventures.

My husband, Serhat, and I came to America 16 years ago from Turkey with nothing but two suitcases, a love for each other, and our shared passion for entrepreneurship. I can proudly say I am now an American citizen. It’s been a challenging but incredibly rewarding journey, and I feel truly blessed and honored.

As an entrepreneur, the opportunities available in the U.S. are incredible, and I’d like to share my journey and the lessons I learned along the way.

Why Choose the USA Over Turkey?

Growing up in Turkey, I spent a lot of time reading about the American way of life and the Land of Opportunity. I knew America was full of people who came here with nothing (kind of like us) and created something great. It was a place where you could make a living through simple, honest hard work.

To us, the USA was a beacon of innovation and entrepreneurship. This country provides many great opportunities for small businesses, such as government grants, contracts for women-owned businesses, and less bureaucracy. In Turkey, small businesses aren’t afforded the legal protection we take for granted in the United States, and it’s much harder to run a business as a woman.

The smaller things also drew us to the U.S. In my college dorm in Turkey, we only had hot water three days a week for four hours each day. As you can imagine, the race for showers was chaos! The living conditions are so different in America, with electricity and hot water available at all hours, lower levels of pollution, and much faster roads. Business is easier and more efficient, and life is more comfortable.

The Challenges We Faced

As much as we wanted to live in America, our relocation was not wonderful at times. We faced plenty of obstacles that made it difficult in the beginning, and if you’re thinking about relocating to another country, it’s best to prepare yourself for the challenges you will inevitably face.

Finances: In the beginning, we worked two jobs while going to school and were always running low on sleep. Luckily, our grades were good enough to qualify for tuition support, which helped a lot. I got a full-time job at a consulting company, so we were able to save and get settled before starting our business.

Language: As expected, the language barrier was a big challenge at first. I remember going to McDonald’s and not understanding what to order at all. But we knew some English, and we tried really hard to read and practice as much as we could. Soon, we were speaking fluently.

Loneliness: My husband and I were lucky that we had each other during this transition, but both of us are very close with our families, so we missed them intensely at first.

The Immigration Process: It took us about seven years to receive our green cards, but after that, the path to citizenship was pretty smooth. I have to admit: The interview was stressful and I studied hard (our 10-year-old helped me a lot!), but in the end, we did well, and the stress was worth it.

What We’ve Learned

Now that we’ve emerged on the other side, I realize that our journey to a new life in America taught us some very important lessons that any entrepreneur or person considering a major life change can learn from.

1. Greet your transition with patience. The process of moving to a new country is full of challenges. My advice is to greet the process with patience as you learn a new language, learn about business, and meet new people. Most importantly, be patient with yourself. Adjusting takes time.

2. Be open to learning the system. When moving to a new country or starting a business, there are so many rules that you won’t be aware of when you arrive that are probably very different from what you expected. The unwritten rules (and subtle cultural nuances) are the most difficult to grasp. Just be open to change.

3. Be prepared to have down days. It’s OK to feel depressed sometimes. It’s not easy to start from scratch, and there are days when everything will be coming at you at the same time or missing your family will be too hard to bear. This is completely normal. Just remember that your down days will pass, and list the great reasons why you came.

4. Remember to be grateful. As well as absorbing what America has to offer, it feels great to give back to a place and community that has welcomed you and given you opportunities for a new life. Never forget how good you have it.

5. Work your absolute hardest. America is one country where hard work can really change your life. This is what makes being an entrepreneur here so rewarding. Take advantage of this opportunity, and work your absolute hardest.

Last year, on the day my husband and I became citizens, nearly 500 immigrants from 72 countries were sworn in as citizens of the United States. After listening to “America the Beautiful,” I stood, raised my right hand, and swore an oath to the United States. When I took my seat, I was moved to tears.

When I consider my life, three defining moments stand out: the day I got married to the love of my life, the days our two wonderful boys were born, and the day I became an American citizen. I think that says it all.

Originally from Turkey, Zeynep Ilgaz and her husband co-founded Confirm
BioSciences and TestCountry, for which Ilgaz serves as president. Confirm BioSciences is committed to being on the cutting edge of offering new, service-oriented drug testing technologies.

The post My Journey to Entrepreneurship in America appeared first on Cross Ocean Ventures.