when cultural differences hit you – smile!

February 21st, 2012 § Comments Off on when cultural differences hit you – smile! § permalink

Silicon Valley Rocks 2011

Silicon Valley Rocks 2011 (Photo credit: thekenyeung)

Lots of people move to US to start their business and are surprised by the obstacles they face in the beginning. I like this advice because it’s straightforward and actionable:

Israelis Tap In to Silicon Valley – WSJ.com

A group of visiting Israeli technology entrepreneurs recently got some blunt advice on how to do business in Silicon Valley. Be positive, smile a lot and don’t bad-mouth a competitor, venture capitalist Itamar Novick told them. When meeting with potential investors, think of it as a wedding proposal, not a transaction.

online.wsj.com

I recently noticed with myself, that I started using exclamation marks in almost every email I send out. the change happened after year 2 of living in US.

it might read as a cliché, when in reality, it merely lowers various expectations. you don’t really have to do much else in the valley than play the game. you need to be determined that this is the game you want to be playing and have humility to accept that you’re a foreigner that has to go humbly trough a process of re-integration into the society.

there is nothing you can do to make this process more controlled, because it’s human nature. smile is a signal that you’re friendly, as people around you start to trust you they’ll share more opportunities with you, and in your second year you will be a different person in a different place.

if you’ll be pushy, they’ll just look away. you can try it the hard way and loose lot’s of energy in vain. smile and have fun is the first rule of this game. you might not like it, but startup entrepreneurship these days is a lifestyle business.

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