Eric Liaw, General Partner at IVP: European founders should enter US earlier

Every company IVP backs in Europe competes directly with Silicon Valley. There is one global bar, and that is the level founders are measured against.At Slush in Helsinki I spoke with Eric Liaw, General Partner at IVP, about what that actually means when you are building from Europe and how the timeline for moving to the US has shifted.A few years ago many companies would only think about the US once they were around 50m in ARR. Today that conversation often starts much earlier, closer to 10 to 15m.The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here:https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjkSponsors:SurrealDB: The multi-model database for AI agents. Check them out here: https://surrealdb.com/Omni: The AI analytics platform trusted by fast-growing companies like Perplexity, Synthesia, and dbt Labs. Check them out here: https://omni.co/Venture Comet: The platform that gives startups and scale-ups real-time equity tracking, daily business insights and automated management information. Check them out here: https://venturecomet.com/Timestamps:0:00 - Introduction to Scaling Europe show1:11 - Eric discusses objectives at Slush2:10 - Importance of face-to-face interactions4:01 - Regional talent development in Europe6:03 - Importance of market opportunities6:34 - Excitement about European tech ecosystem8:12 - Global mindset for European founders9:50 - Role in helping companies access US market11:43 - Advice for European founders expanding to US12:18 - Importance of having a founder on the ground14:01 - Role of sales leaders in US market15:04 - Eric's three proudest investment deals