Recreating Silicon Valley

amayyasi · Joined: 05 Apr 2011 Posts: 2

Here is my list of barriers to overcome while working on our project:

1) Defining how to contribute
Our partners have a solid product, business plan, and idea of where they are going. As such, we will need to be creative about how we can contribute to the project. We can do so by utilizing access to Stanford’s resources, such as the Human-Computer Interaction Lab, and the high-tech consumers surrounding us in Stanford and Silicon Valley. Providing another perspective, as sharp minds that have not been part of the project, should also be valuable for reviewing their business plan and various plans and strategies.

2) Ability to (constructively) criticize
This barrier is relevant to any situation that mirrors consulting, in which outsiders give their opinion on a project. Our partners have spent lots of time and energy developing their product and business, while we are committing only a small part of our time for several months. We need to be sure that we can criticize and suggest improvements for our Russian partner’s plans and product without it being taken personally. I do not expect this to be a problem as both sides have been open to new ideas. But it will be best avoided through careful language and communication, in which we justify the ideas we are offering and recognize the hard work that has gone into decisions.

3) Discussing and trying to explain a different culture
As our partners are looking to launch a product in the US that will need to seem hip and cool (or in other situations professional), we could play a valuable role in explaining what will seem natural and fit with Bay Area, Californian or American culture. But trying to explain another culture, fads, and colloquial phrases and styles is difficult. We should clarify how much familiarity our partner and his colleagues have with American culture, and be sure to illustrate our points with lots of examples.

*Understanding the Russian business climate and entrepreneurial environment will be less relevant to our project as it looks to launch in the US