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hinch

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This is pretty much as far off topic as I could possibly get I guess.

Basically I'm considering setting up an American division of my UK company and to do this i'd like to setup a whole new legal entity over there that would be part of my group rather than operate over the UK side.
That means I'd want office space / hiring staff both professional (software developers) and admin/customer service people.

So because I don't know the states too well any of you that own/run your own business please give me your knowledge.
What area's are good?
What states have better business taxes and/or incentives for bringing a company to those states?
How is the distribution of skilled professionals over there like over here we struggle like hell to hire devs in certain area's as they simply won't leave places like London is it as bad over there and will this dictate what states I should be considering?
I'd like where possible to avoid the stupid hot spots like Seattle/SV/Austin etc as I can't compete at google/apple/amazon prices for property and staff plus I pretty much hate big cities i'm much more of a country side boy myself and I'll be over there for at least the first 6 months setting things up and getting everything in motion?

For now I'm just wanting to make a short list of states/cities that I should be considering and why I'll then hand them to lawyers for them to deal with final selection and incentive applications etc.

Anything any of you could give me to think about is much appreciated.
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Big Boss

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As far as area's go first question I would ask is what type of business? Do you need just office space or retail space as well. Warehouse space?

Also would you have important contacts coming to the location like reps or something along those lines?
 
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hinch

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As far as area's go first question I would ask is what type of business? Do you need just office space or retail space as well. Warehouse space?

Also would you have important contacts coming to the location like reps or something along those lines?
just office space and we usually go out to suppliers and clients rather than them coming to us however locality to a decent size airport would probably be quite useful.
 

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As a software / systems dev, Phoenix has treated me well. Cost of living is moderate, year round good weather (sure it's hot but it beats shoveling a driveway) and large spread out cities. 3 Colleges in the state help with young talent if that's what you need.
 
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hinch

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As a software / systems dev, Phoenix has treated me well. Cost of living is moderate, year round good weather (sure it's hot but it beats shoveling a driveway) and large spread out cities. 3 Colleges in the state help with young talent if that's what you need.
interesting wasn't a state on my shortlist any idea what average salaries are for software devs in the area my plan is to bring the UK product across but it'll need some customisation for the American market as you guys operate slightly differently to over here and have different rules we'd have to cater for and i'd want to do that locally over there rather than over here.

Just for reference Utah and Colorado are my current short list states some nice incentives for international investment and personally from my view the best looking area's lots of open space etc.
 

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AZFord

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From a cost of living standpoint, I thought Denver was very similar to Phoenix but a quick google tells me I'm wrong. Phoenix seems to have lower overall cost which I assume salaries would reflect a reduction too. Glassdoor.com shows entry level software guys making around $70k here and approximately 90k average for devs with some experience.

Now if you need a guy with 17yrs experience and want to relocate him from Phoenix to Boulder, let me know where I can send my CV. :)

Phoenix is decent in that it's relatively close to everything. I can drive 2-3hrs to snow ski, 4 hours will get me south of the border to Rocky Point, Mexico or Las Vegas, 5-6hrs will get me to San Diego/Los Angeles.
 
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hinch

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From a cost of living standpoint, I thought Denver was very similar to Phoenix but a quick google tells me I'm wrong. Phoenix seems to have lower overall cost which I assume salaries would reflect a reduction too. Glassdoor.com shows entry level software guys making around $70k here and approximately 90k average for devs with some experience.

Now if you need a guy with 17yrs experience and want to relocate him from Phoenix to Boulder, let me know where I can send my CV. :)

Phoenix is decent in that it's relatively close to everything. I can drive 2-3hrs to snow ski, 4 hours will get me south of the border to Rocky Point, Mexico or Las Vegas, 5-6hrs will get me to San Diego/Los Angeles.
jesus christ at those salaries ! I know we calculate things a little different over here with taxes etc but the headline figure for an entry level dev here is ÂŁ25k ish 2-4 years experience would see you in 30-35k area anything above that you're looking for senior devs/architects etc.

Guess this is the price I have to pay to use local devs I'm quite against using over seas devs even my UK team as I feel products are better written by people local and familiar with the markets they operate in. I think what i'd initially do is come over with the product "ready" hire some sales people first and let them take it to market see what traction is like and see what the common alterations people are requesting and then expand the core locally so I effectively end up with the UK version of the product and the American version of the product.
The primary driver of this move is clients currently in the UK who also have presence in the states wanting us to supply the systems to their American arm's too but me not being happy handling that out of country.
 

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just office space and we usually go out to suppliers and clients rather than them coming to us however locality to a decent size airport would probably be quite useful.
Then I would say you definitely would want to be somewhat close to an airport. If you just need office space I would look into the suburbs of a major city, but wouldn't venture to far to the suburbs. Once you get to far away from the city you might end up paying more for space because the areas might be a little nicer.

Might I ask what type of customers you are trying to reach? That might help determine what cities/states you want to look at.
 
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hinch

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Then I would say you definitely would want to be somewhat close to an airport. If you just need office space I would look into the suburbs of a major city, but wouldn't venture to far to the suburbs. Once you get to far away from the city you might end up paying more for space because the areas might be a little nicer.

Might I ask what type of customers you are trying to reach? That might help determine what cities/states you want to look at.
Yeah the size of the states always throws me you can drive end to end here in a day not really practical over there :)

At the moment the customers are anyone mostly big multinationals etc its basically BI/ERP style systems 2 of our main users want us to roll out our software to their US arm's which is great for me but because the software is tailored around how the UK operates (and our taxes etc) I basically need to make a new version of the software for the American half's but that will also communicate with the UK half's so the company can have an entire organisation overview.

I don't mind paying a little extra for somewhere a little nicer / more rural as I'm not a big city person myself so I wouldn't be happy having to drag my ass in from the suburbs/out of town to the city every day while we're setting up shop over there. I am however looking forward to the stupidly low prices of your cars and fuel it will compensate me from being away from my cats and cars for a year while setting up over there :)
 

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Just for reference Utah and Colorado are my current short list states some nice incentives for international investment and personally from my view the best looking area's lots of open space etc.
Utah has consistently been rated one of the best places to do business, especially in software dev and IT. It has a young, tech-savvy workforce.
 

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hinch

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Utah has consistently been rated one of the best places to do business, especially in software dev and IT. It has a young, tech-savvy workforce.
Most of my research so far supports that too and it seems to be one of the cheaper area's for offices etc
 

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Most of my research so far supports that too and it seems to be one of the cheaper area's for offices etc
But it's so hard to get a good beer there! Liquor laws are restrictive in Utah.
 
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But it's so hard to get a good beer there! Liquor laws are restrictive in Utah.

hah I unfortunately am a non-drinker so doesn't bother me but obviously i need to think of staff moral :)

One of my other directors over here mentioned Boston think he's thinking of having easy access to MIT grads but its a bit cold up there for me personally
 

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Yeah the size of the states always throws me you can drive end to end here in a day not really practical over there :)

At the moment the customers are anyone mostly big multinationals etc its basically BI/ERP style systems 2 of our main users want us to roll out our software to their US arm's which is great for me but because the software is tailored around how the UK operates (and our taxes etc) I basically need to make a new version of the software for the American half's but that will also communicate with the UK half's so the company can have an entire organisation overview.

I don't mind paying a little extra for somewhere a little nicer / more rural as I'm not a big city person myself so I wouldn't be happy having to drag my ass in from the suburbs/out of town to the city every day while we're setting up shop over there. I am however looking forward to the stupidly low prices of your cars and fuel it will compensate me from being away from my cats and cars for a year while setting up over there :)
Utah has consistently been rated one of the best places to do business, especially in software dev and IT. It has a young, tech-savvy workforce.
This ^ our main plant is located in Utah and it is a fantastic state. I went out there on a business trip and it was a great trip. Airport is not to far from the major cities but you can easily get just about anywhere, suburbs rural and you're in the mountains.
 

Big Boss

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Yeah the size of the states always throws me you can drive end to end here in a day not really practical over there :)

At the moment the customers are anyone mostly big multinationals etc its basically BI/ERP style systems 2 of our main users want us to roll out our software to their US arm's which is great for me but because the software is tailored around how the UK operates (and our taxes etc) I basically need to make a new version of the software for the American half's but that will also communicate with the UK half's so the company can have an entire organisation overview.

I don't mind paying a little extra for somewhere a little nicer / more rural as I'm not a big city person myself so I wouldn't be happy having to drag my ass in from the suburbs/out of town to the city every day while we're setting up shop over there. I am however looking forward to the stupidly low prices of your cars and fuel it will compensate me from being away from my cats and cars for a year while setting up over there :)
Utah has consistently been rated one of the best places to do business, especially in software dev and IT. It has a young, tech-savvy workforce.
This ^ our main plant is located in Utah and it is a fantastic state. I went out there on a business trip and it was a great trip. Airport is not to far from the major cities but you can easily get just about anywhere, suburbs rural and you're in the mountains.

Also from what I understand the state college is also really focused on getting young people into the workforce which is a big plus as well
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