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Show notes
Laura Kinser is a startup clinic consultant that has a wealth of experience with startup from the Silicon Valley.
In this episode she goes over the step by step process of what it takes to open a startup in 2021 for immigrants. She also provides an extensive amount of resources that will guide you in the process. She is highly intelligent in the startup businesses and works with plenty of entrepreneurs in their startup journeys.
Quotes by Laura
Get help with your financials.
Don’t go compete in the open market with everybody else because there are opportunities that are meant only for you.
Align yourself with a good marketing partner.
Good employees will make the difference between your startup failing or succeeding.
Be prepared to not sleep for the next 2 years.
Immigrants start firms at higher rates than natives.
Immigrant founders have founded 51% of companies worth $1B.
Where to find Laura
The Starup Clinic | Facebook | Instagram
Links mentioned
- Resources for immigrant entrepreneurs: Startup Clinic
- SBA – U.S. Small Business Administration
- Y Combinator – provides seed funding for startups
- Fundera – small business loan options
- Immigrants Rising Entrepreneurship Fund – provides grants to undocumented entrepreneurs working to create positive social change
- OneWay VCs – venture capitalists for immigrant founders
[read more] Alina Warrick (0s):
Welcome to the Immigrant Entrepreneurs Podcast Episode 39.
Laura Kinser (5s):
Immigrant founders are 35% more likely to have a patent than firms with no immigrant founders. They have founded immigrant. Founders have founded 51% of the company, startup companies worth 1 billion. So
Alina Warrick (23s):
My name is Alina Warrick, and today we have Laura Kinser on this show. Laura is a startup consultant that had a wealth of experience working in a number of startups in Silicon Valley. In this episode, she brings in her expertise as to what she offers your immigrant clients. And we talk about a whole lot of resources that will benefit all immigrants listening from where to acquire capital, where to obtain grants. And she takes us through the entire startup process. I’m super thrilled to have Laura on the show, because she brings such invaluable resources and guidance to all of us.
Alina Warrick (1m 4s):
So let’s dive right in. Alright, Laura. Thank you so much for coming on the Immigrant Entrepreneurs Podcast. I’m super excited to talk to you. And you’re a very special guest, because you’re not an immigrant, but you’re going to provide a such a huge value to all the immigrants listening, because you are a StartUp Clinic Consultant. So this fits right in to all of my listeners, and we’re going to have a blast. So welcome to the show.
Laura Kinser (1m 34s):
Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be on here. This is great.
Alina Warrick (1m 37s):
So let’s talk a little bit about your journey and how you became a startup consultant. Tell us a little bit of your background and your experience.
Laura Kinser (1m 46s):
Sure, I’d love to. And it’s interesting, my background actually dovetails very specifically into kind of what you’re doing here. So I was working, you know, take it back and rewind probably about 20 years ago, because I’m that old. I was, you know, doing administrative jobs in the Silicon Valley, living there for a while Silicon Valley, California. And then after doing a series of administrative jobs ended up kind of getting my big break, which is the Director of Operations for a manufacturing plant, then Silicon Valley, that was actually run by immigrant from Israel. And she had a very interesting and great success story. And I call it
Laura Kinser (2m 34s):
I did that for good five years. And after doing that, I did a series, you know, worked for a series of startups in the Silicon Valley. And I found that that was the space I love being in. There was so much energy and drive that you get by working in startups that you just don’t get when you’re not working in a startup and the rest of the spaces, I loved it. So I became kind of a startup addict. That was my career from there, it was only startups. And so working there in the Silicon Valley for quite a bit and then end up moving here about three years ago.
Alina Warrick (3m 1s):
Sacramento?
Laura Kinser (3m 2s):
Yeah, Sacramento area.
Alina Warrick (3m 3s):
Yeah.
Laura Kinser (3m 4s):
Moved here initially to get married. And that’s where I started my consulting business. Once I moved here, you know, I found the startup physically, the startup space wasn’t the same as a Silicon Valley.
Alina Warrick (3m 13s):
Right.
Laura Kinser (3m 13s):
I decided that consulting made a lot more sense for me. And then when I started doing that, really found out how much I had a passion for specifically consulting for startups. I mean, it gave me a lot more freedom, and it gave me the ability to do what I really wanted to do, which was work hands on and support people directly in that way in my sort of business. As that’s what I’ve been doing for the last few years and I love it. It’s amazing.
Alina Warrick (3m 34s):
Laura, did you go to college?
Laura Kinser (3m 37s):
Interestingly enough, I did not.
Alina Warrick (3m 39s):
You did not?
Laura Kinser (3m 40s):
No.
Alina Warrick (3m 40s):
Okay. So kind of out of high school, did you just land in the startup companies in Silicon Valley?
Laura Kinser (3m 47s):
Initially, I was actually raised in Modesto, California.
Alina Warrick (3m 50s):
Oh, okay.
Laura Kinser (3m 51s):
Central Valley, started working at a very young age. I started working in an office as a receptionist when I was 16. So left high school directly, graduated early, and started working in office like said full-time when I was 16 years old. And then worked, like I said, a series of administrative jobs, moved to the Silicon Valley, and that sort of took it from there. I always loved working. I did skip college. I thought about it at the time, but I felt like I found my place.
Alina Warrick (4m 16s):
Yeah, college is not for everyone. And it’s not needed for everything.
Laura Kinser (4m 19s):
Yeah.
Alina Warrick (4m 19s):
So rock on.
Laura Kinser (4m 20s):
Wasn’t a hindrance to me, yeah.
Alina Warrick (4m 22s):
Yeah. So tell me a little bit more, what were some of the roles that you took on several of these startup companies?
Laura Kinser (4m 29s):
Yes. So they were normally I’ve administrative or operational nature. So you end up being often like a project manager, really. So I mean, I’ve come on as an administrative, officer administrative, or operations manager, that was always my kind of role. But what you do and that is you end up being like a jack of all trades. You kind of do all the stuff that’s there, that’s practical. That’s why it kind of is such a good fit for what I’m doing now because you end up doing whatever lands your lap, and you end up managing being responsible for a lot of the different components, especially in a startup, in that role. It’s usually lean and mean in a startup. There’s not a lot of people around, the people they hire are all very key.
Alina Warrick (5m 6s):
Yeah, yeah. And so you basically saw at the front end what it takes to build the startup, going through different stages, and probably did you see the capital being raised, the hiring, and the PR, the media, the marketing, all those different stages, right?
Laura Kinser (5m 25s):
Yes, that was what was great about a role like mine, because I wasn’t super specific often to department. I do —
Alina Warrick (5m 33s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (5m 33s):
— a lot my hands and a lot of these things. So I’d have my hands, and PR, capital raising, or operation stuff kind of unilaterally. So I got to experience a lot of that stuff across the board. It was really quite an education, yeah.
Alina Warrick (5m 44s):
Awesome. And so what kind of industries were you in? I’m just curious.
Laura Kinser (5m 47s):
Yes. I was in SAAS, you know, software service manufacturing, like I mentioned. I was actually in cannabis, which is very interesting. We’re pretty much my space.
Alina Warrick (5m 56s):
Great. Awesome. Okay, so let’s break it down for our listeners. What are the different steps? And what does it take to start a business in 2021?
Laura Kinser (6m 6s):
Definitely, I would say your very first step, initially, I was looking at your idea, your concept, your business model, and evaluating that to begin with. And ensuring in that strong, and that really is meeting a market need. Often people start a business with the inspiration of a personal aid, without thoroughly vetting their model or their idea to make sure there’s a market need. You know, there’s a lot of people that have would have access that wants the same thing that you want. And so it’s a thoroughly vetting, your concept, your model.
Alina Warrick (6m 35s):
And how do you do that?
Laura Kinser (6m 36s):
If you’re not somebody like me, and you don’t have experience in that background, I’d say a couple different ways you can DIY, do it yourself. And then that is a little bit of challenge. I’ll be honest with you, there’s other things that are easier to DIY, than this. But if I was to break down for someone else to do, I would be saying, again, it comes down to market research. Connecting to market research, which that is a big challenge, honestly, if you don’t have access to market research tools, if you’re not a professional. But if you are internet savvy, you can find all this information out there. So really, it is taking it and conducting market research with what you’re doing. And so that’s doing a deep dive into the stats and numbers of your target demographic. So, you know, say you’re selling an item and that item is should be marketed towards people that are middle aged and female, so you would look in the areas of that and say, run the numbers, consumer research, which that is all out there, all the consumer research to see, how much is being spent in that area?
Laura Kinser (7m 35s):
And is that increasing? Are people increasing a number buying that particular product in your target demographic? And so it’s that kind of market research to see what really holds.
Alina Warrick (7m 45s):
Got it. So we got step one down.
Laura Kinser (7m 47s):
Yeah, that your idea, make sure you’ve got a good business model and solid idea, and that is step one. And step two is then to start, develop your initial business name or identity, and story. You know, like, who your business is? Your why, this is what I always say, “Why did you start it? Why is this important? Why does the world need what you’re selling? Define your why. Why this is important? And what you’re gonna you know why, but what you’re going to tell the world as to why this is important. And your business name, something catchy, something with a marketing thing, your identity. Who your business is in the world, and how they will be marketed to everybody? That would be really, step number two.
Alina Warrick (8m 26s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (8m 27s):
Step number three, attack the legal stuff. And so that is all of the obviously, the permits, the licenses, getting your EIN. It’s a series of steps, that make your business a legal entity. And from that, that is one thing that surprisingly enough can be more DIY, than people really understand. There’s a lot of tools out there right now. For folks that can help them do that piece. And it obviously depends on what kind of business you’re in. Some businesses obviously are more legally challenging than others. I would say, if you’re treading into the legally challenged spaces, like for example, cannabis, or if there’s a lot of other spaces that are have or like say healthcare, something medical.
Alina Warrick (9m 7s):
Mm-hmm.
Laura Kinser (9m 7s):
Those things I would say, if you’re in that kind of space, get help, and have a consultant help you. Because those are spaces that you don’t want to DIY, your whole startup and your licenses and things like that, because obviously, it could be fraught with challenges. And there’s a series of steps to that, depending on what you’re in, you know. Things like I said, getting your EIN, and getting your business license, and getting set up with a Franchise Tax Board. And then getting whatever special permits are specific to you. Are you gonna have a storefront? Or are you not? If you’re gonna have a storefront, do you have a permit for that area? And so, you know, get yourself legally sound and set up. That’d be, yeah, next step.
Alina Warrick (9m 43s):
And Laura, is that where you would identify if you’re going to be an S-corp or in LLC, or incorporated? Or do all startups just come out with one legal entity?
Laura Kinser (9m 56s):
No, there wouldn’t be a one entity. And so this is the area, again, I’ll identify areas, I think that are important to say, “Should you do this yourself? Or should you get help?” This is an area that you should get help, because it’s very important. And there, it’s not a cookie-cutter, it’s not, you know, they’re all the same thing. It’s very important that this is done right in the front, and that it’s selected the right way. And there is no, it completely depends on what your business model is, who you are, what you’re doing, how much fun you have, and how much protection you need from liability? So for example, there’s some spaces where it’s very important that you’re identified as an LLC. You know, LLC is a limited liability corporation, and that provides some protection for you as an owner from liability.
Laura Kinser (10m 38s):
And you know, something happens with the business. So that’s why it’s so important to get probably some support or help from a professional to do that. But yeah, that’s a very important piece that should be done right up there with getting your business license, and all your permits is getting yourself set up forms, it’s called formation in yourself formed as a company.
Alina Warrick (10m 56s):
Okay, awesome. Great. So we got three steps down.
Laura Kinser (10m 60s):
And so the next step is a very key crucial one. And people probably hear this all the time, but your business plan. So your business plan is hugely important in number of ways. One of the primary ways is that no lender investor. Anybody that’s going to give you money for your business or fund it, or require a business plan. And they’ll require in that business plan projections. So financials and sales projections that reflect your show, predict what your business will produce, what will make in revenue, and what it will cost to start it, over the next three to five years. An area that I recommend getting support for this one of the things I do, but other people do, a lot of people do it, but I recommend getting support with, you can do part of that yourself, I’d say.
Laura Kinser (11m 43s):
But unless you have some kind of deep financial background, you’ve worked in the financial space, I would say definitely get help with your financials and sales projections. Because the biggest thing lenders and investors are going to look at is, what was your methodology? I mean, it’s very — you can imagine, it’s kind of difficult to predict what a business will make, or what it will cost to start?
Alina Warrick (12m 3s):
Right.
Laura Kinser (12m 3s):
Yeah, that’s a very, that’s a tricky thing.
Alina Warrick (12m 5s):
Right.
Laura Kinser (12m 6s):
Yeah.
Alina Warrick (12m 6s):
Because I mean, I can create a business plan and be super optimistic and say, “I’ll be making in the millions of revenue next year.” But who’s to say, that it will make it, right? So where do people go to create these business plans?
Laura Kinser (12m 26s):
You know, the SBA is a great resource, the Small Business Association.
Alina Warrick (12m 29s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (12m 29s):
Laura Kinser (13m 10s):
But they’re a great resource for that and they can connect you with a lot of places that do that. And especially for your listeners in that particular demographic, you get discounted services, and a special packages or plans that are meant just for people that are immigrant entrepreneurs.
Alina Warrick (13m 24s):
Awesome. Awesome. I love it. Okay, so we got number four as develop a business plan. Number five, am I hearing, get capital?
Laura Kinser (13m 33s):
Yeah, that’s right, that’s to start your business. That’s exactly it, go get your capital. Yeah, that’s a very I’m sure important points that people are concerned with, when they go to start this endeavor, is how am I ever going to pay for this? Unless, you know, you happen to be independently wealthy. You know, that can be something that you really have to think about. The great thing, and I don’t think everybody knows this, and again, I’ll share this on my other resources that I share on my website, but is that there is some really interesting and cool programs out there that are meant only for immigrant entrepreneurs.
Alina Warrick (14m 2s):
Wow.
Laura Kinser (14m 3s):
Yeah, you just have to know where to look. And that’s why I said SBA, because SBA is a great resource for that. But there is, especially now, you know, the Trump administration has been rather tough on immigration policy. And the interesting thing is, what’s cropped up is a whole lot of entities and that really aren’t feeling good about that. And then they put out their own grants funding programs initiatives, kind of in response to that, and saying, offering resources and stuff out there for things for funding.
Alina Warrick (14m 30s):
Right.
Laura Kinser (14m 30s):
So I mean, a whole lot of cool stuff, I mean, I could list off. You know, there’s a whole lot of cool stuff out there. There’s something called Y Combinator that has some funding opportunities for immigrant entrepreneurs. There’s a few different things out there like that, that are very similar to that. Fundera, actually, the website, Fundera…
Alina Warrick (14m 45s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (14m 45s):
— is a place that has some of these like a central spot for resources for some of these funding, specifically for what they have funding opportunities for everybody on there, but they haven’t divvied out also by immigrant entrepreneurs. So they watch and look for that as well. But definitely again, making sure you have your finance — that’s the most important thing, obviously, is making sure your financial projections and sales projections are really tight. But then, we have make sure that’s all really, really good, make finding all of those really special opportunities that are just meant for you. You know, I would say, don’t go compete in an open market with everybody else. Why do that? Because there’s opportunities out there that are meant only for you. And it can be challenging. And I’ll say that some of these funding sources, we all know, can be biased.
Laura Kinser (15m 29s):
Another one that just to throw it out there, there’s a couple more that they can look up that are just really great ones. There’s something called the Immigrants Rising’s Entrepreneurship Fund.
Alina Warrick (15m 38s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (15m 38s):
Yeah. And that’s like grants. So if everybody doesn’t know what a grant is, a grant really is free money. I mean, there’s lots of amount out there people aren’t aware of our programs. They know somebody that was an entity with a lot of money sets aside funds, and it’s distributed. And it’s not money, you have to pay back some loans, it’s a grant. And so that’s of that nature. The Capital Access Lab is another one that funds these type of things. And then the Startup Act 3.0, like I mentioned to you before I sent you that information.
Alina Warrick (16m 6s):
Yeah.
Laura Kinser (16m 6s):
It’s another source that has a lot of funding.
Alina Warrick (16m 9s):
And tell us about the Startup Act. Tell us a little bit more about that.
Laura Kinser (16m 13s):
There’s a whole lot of stuff that goes into it.
Alina Warrick (16m 15s):
Yeah.
Laura Kinser (16m 15s):
Laura Kinser (16m 58s):
But that’s the intent of it, yes.
Alina Warrick (17m 0s):
Yeah, we’ll get all the links together. We’ll put it on my show notes, what. It will be listed to on your website. So all of this is going to be linked for easy access to all of our listeners. So regarding capital. Now, I know I’ve heard that sometimes the processes in order to raise capital, you got to first knock on your friends and family’s doors. Is that normally the case? Or say, if you didn’t want to connect with your old buddies, ask your mom or your dad. Can you go to Y Combinator? Can you go to venture capitalists and go directly to them and to seek for capital?
Laura Kinser (17m 41s):
You can, you can, absolutely. Just to give you a little bit of background on the why on those. When you hear that term, you know, you should be doing that knocking on our independent network? That’s born of a couple different reasons. Number one, is that the SBA, when they do funding, the SBA does a lot of funding for people, for starting businesses. And they require that you’ve exhausted your personal resources. And they require like evidence that you have, some kind of evidence that you which to your family and your resources to ask for money and return down. That’s one of the places. And then the other places that investors and lenders, and will often in the process of getting this funding put together, will ask the same thing. Have you exhausted your personal resources? But they also want to see that you have skin in the game.
Laura Kinser (18m 23s):
So they want to see that you, if you are not able to put up some of your own money, even if it’s just a gesture of like showing that you’re invested in yourself personally in it, then you know that you’ve asked your own personal network for it. So that’s really where that came from, but it’s not a requirement.
Alina Warrick (18m 39s):
Okay. And so then follow up question to the grants. Before you obtain grants, you have to be a legal company. So you have to go through all these steps first in order to ask for grant funding. Is that correct?
Laura Kinser (18m 52s):
That is going to be true for a good 80% of everything we’re talking about.
Alina Warrick (18m 57s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (18m 57s):
But I don’t want people think that’s always unilaterally true, because it’s not. There are grants out there that address exactly that.
Alina Warrick (19m 4s):
Hmm. Got it, okay.
Laura Kinser (19m 5s):
Yeah,
Alina Warrick (19m 10s):
Okay, awesome. Well, that’s good to know. Great. Okay, so number five, get capital. Is there a number six are we launching?
Laura Kinser (19m 18s):
Oh, no. Definitely not. There’s more just than that.
Alina Warrick (19m 21s):
Oh, no.
Laura Kinser (19m 23s):
I’m sure you have to imagine that starting a business that it’s a startup together. We’re trying to boil it down to like 10 steps.
Alina Warrick (19m 29s):
I’m thinking we got capital, and now we’re ready to roll.
Laura Kinser (19m 32s):
Yeah, It’s only that easy. I would be needed. And no, so the next step is really, you know, it’s, and I would say this sounds like it’s early in the game to be doing this. I would say marketing. Even before your business up and running, you should be already at this stage now that you know you’ve got your licenses. Now that you know you’ve got your funding, you’ve got your business name. Your next step just preemptively before you open your doors, be marketing. And that’s have your business name out there, a website, social obviously, we all know, social media marketing is huge right now. Spreading the word about your business and getting excitement drummed up about it, and introducing the public to it before it ever even opens, is really the best idea. And that’s how you’re going to get, you know, bang for your buck, so that when you open your door, you have customers waiting, and what’s a marketing, marketing, marketing.
Laura Kinser (20m 18s):
And aligning yourself with a really good marketing partner, to make sure that somebody that really know, this is an area where I wouldn’t recommend. You do blend of DIY, but again, unless you have a background, specifically in marketing, like you build websites, and you have a background in that. You need somebody to guide you, because it’s such specific things like building, say, you build your website, and you need to have SEO, Search Engine Optimization, built into your site. So like how you found me, you know, you go to Google, and you plug in my name.
Alina Warrick (20m 47s):
Yeah.
Laura Kinser (20m 47s):
That’s the ideal situation, that’s why I was excited that you found me that way, and that you want Google to be able to find you and that has to be built into all of your website and your stuff is online. And I would say, you know, if anybody’s not aware of this out there, you know, the old ways of TV commercials and sending out flyers is just not the marketing now, it’s not effective. Social Media Marketing is a good, you know, 85% to 90% of the marketing efforts that are out there, but yeah. So marketing, that’s next step, marketing.
Alina Warrick (21m 17s):
We are moving along.
Laura Kinser (21m 18s):
Yeah, move along. I know, the next step is, I think the obvious one, and that’s your actual logistic operation. If you’re getting a storefront. And obviously, it depends on, entirely depends on what you’re doing, how this next step looks. Are you opening a shoe store? You’re gonna have a storefront, and physical inventory, and staff that’s gonna sell the shoes. Are you an e-commerce company that’s going to be selling pens online? Obviously, that next step depends on what it is you’re doing? But this is kind of the guts of it. The stuff that maybe isn’t so glamorous, or so fun, but is the building of the operational stuff, building your actual business.
Alina Warrick (21m 60s):
Is this where you are hiring employees?
Laura Kinser (22m 2s):
Yes, this is where you’re hiring employees. At this stage, you know, you should be — the first kind of, to break that next step, like to break that up into, like, a few different steps, is to say, “You know, you need to have your actual operation defined.” So we talked about your business model in the beginning. How you’re going to do things? And your business model essentially is, what you’re going to do? How you’re going to do it? And who you’re going to use your resources to do it? And so this is the laying out of that. And so it’s first, you obviously want to have, like, if it’s going to be a website? You’re selling stuff on your website, need to get your website built. If you’re going to have your store, you need to get your storefront leased and stocked out. But then, yes, be hiring your staff. Define really well.
Laura Kinser (22m 42s):
Who does you need and why? Definitely don’t hire from the hip. You know, you need to
Alina Warrick (23m 21s):
Is that number eight?
Laura Kinser (23m 27s):
Yeah, yeah, that would be number eight, yeah.
Alina Warrick (23m 31s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (23m 31s):
Number eight go.
Alina Warrick (23m 31s):
Yey, we made it.
Laura Kinser (23m 31s):
Yes, I mean, that would be the next step. And I would say, like a side note to number eight, be prepared to not sleep for the next two years. So you’re going to be very busy. I would say, everybody. You know, this idea that being an entrepreneur means you have to release your schedule, you get to call your own hours, you don’t have to work as hard. Not true. You get to call your own hours, but they’ll be all the hours, so, you know.
Alina Warrick (23m 54s):
Yeah.
Laura Kinser (23m 54s):
You’re working all the time. I would say I work far harder now, as an entrepreneur than I ever worked for a company. And it’ll be a lot more, because it’s yours, you know, you find, obviously, we all find ourselves a lot more invested in it, and you’re excited by it. But you’ll be very, especially in the beginning, when it requires so much work. I mean, just be prepared. Your personal life, it’s good to have it be rather uncomplicated so you can just focus on building your business, because at first couple years of starting a business, you just work a tremendous amount.
Alina Warrick (24m 21s):
Oh, yeah, absolutely, yeah. I hear that all the time. And I would assume any entrepreneur typically works like 70-80, sometimes 100 hours a week. But then you look closely 10 years later, they’re working 20-30 hours a week and traveling the world. So, yeah, there’s definitely a sacrifice in the beginning.
Laura Kinser (24m 43s):
There is.
Alina Warrick (24m 44s):
Yeah. So, Laura, I wanted to ask you, how long does this normally take? Say from step one of getting the idea; to when you can open your doors, to when you can start selling your products online, to whatever it is that they’re selling. How long does it that normally take on average?
Laura Kinser (25m 3s):
On average, that can be done at six months is a good average place to put it.
Alina Warrick (25m 8s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (25m 9s):
That’s being somewhat aggressive. I mean, it can be done in three. I Wouldn’t do it in less than three. I think you’re not doing it right, if you’re doing in less than three. And six months, and if you’re saying a year that’s appropriate too. So if you want to use a benchmark, six months to a year. And that sounds, may sound like a lot, but if you break those different pieces up, sometimes funding alone can take people, four or five months.
Alina Warrick (25m 31s):
Yeah, that’s good to know. And then what about to say if you’re like in medical industry, and you need to be creating patterns, or something that’s very specific and unique. Where would that take place in this process? Is that further down the road?
Laura Kinser (25m 47s):
No, the answers I was giving you were kind of generalized, right? But if you’re saying you’re in a medical space or something like that, you need to put a longer timeline for everything, considerably. I would say that comes in the beginning. So the patents and things like that patents can take a while. Maybe you have your temporary patent, right? So that’s good. But the patent itself, there’s a process to that, that takes a bit. But the legal permits, the filing, the formation takes considerably longer when you’re a medical entity. So you just need to plan for that in the beginning. The other pieces, it would be on par with other businesses. But when you’re talking about formation patents, licenses, that all takes considerably longer.
Alina Warrick (26m 23s):
Got it. Got it. Okay. So that’s still in the beginning stages. So, you know, the startup plan.
Laura Kinser (26m 28s):
Yes, yes, absolutely.
Alina Warrick (26m 29s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (26m 29s):
And I would say the only other spoke to that is they can get more complicated. Also, when you’re in that kind of space, when you’re getting further down. Also, when you’re looking at staffing, for instance. You know, like, obviously, your staffing and your processes. Have to be crafted with a lot with more care and detail and vetting than any other space.
Alina Warrick (26m 48s):
Hey, well, thank you so much for breaking it all down. So we got eight steps. Is that correct?
Laura Kinser (26m 53s):
Sure. Yes, eight steps.
Alina Warrick (26m 55s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (26m 55s):
Yes, eight steps.
Alina Warrick (26m 56s):
Do you have any statistics or data reciting the importance of the immigrant entrepreneur that play a big role in the US economy?
Laura Kinser (27m 8s):
Absolutely. I feel people really are aware of how incredibly important they are to our economy. So I mean, people, a lot of people are aware of this, that immigrants start firms at higher rates than native born individuals to by far. They disproportionately account for US patents and hold stem degrees, far more. Immigrant founders are 35% more likely to have a patent, than firms with no immigrant founders. They have founded, immigrant founders have founded 51% of the company startup companies worth 1 billion. So I’m —
Alina Warrick (27m 38s):
Oh, that’s great.
Laura Kinser (27m 38s):
— aware that Google and Tesla were started by immigrants.
Alina Warrick (27m 43s):
Oh, yes. So was PayPal?
Laura Kinser (27m 45s):
Paypal? Yes,
Alina Warrick (27m 48s):
Yeah.
Laura Kinser (27m 48s):
Yeah, it’s interesting, also the perspective that they compete with local workers and depress the economy. And you know, as some people say that it’s actually the opposite, they create jobs far more than they take jobs. They contribute to the economy, because I’m not only the study show is start businesses a lot more often, but they pay on average 4.1% higher than their native born counterparts.
Alina Warrick (28m 11s):
Mm-hmm.
Laura Kinser (28m 11s):
And so, you know, that’s very interesting. Yeah, it’s incredible how much things contribute to the economy. That’s one of things I was going to put on my website too, is there’s an infographic, there’s a couple of infographics that are really cool, that lay out how much they do contribute.
Alina Warrick (28m 23s):
It’s almost magical to hear those numbers. Because on a daily basis, I hear immigrants really come to dream big with huge passions, but a lot of them end up starting this businesses and these huge corporations, really out of survival.
Laura Kinser (28m 43s):
Mm-hmm.
Alina Warrick (28m 43s):
Because the visa requirements are insane. You can’t work, you can’t get a Social Security number, it takes forever. The immigration process is just horrible in the United States, right?
Laura Kinser (28m 54s):
Yes, true.
Alina Warrick (28m 55s):
So a lot of these people really come. And they have no choice but to create businesses, and they become so creative with their limited resources, with their limited options, and many of them start in their backyards, in their bedrooms, in their apartments, you know. So it’s just magical to hear these numbers. So thank you so much for sharing all that data.
Laura Kinser (29m 22s):
Of course, it’s incredible. And those challenges are, I mean, obviously, we don’t probably need to try, to speak a lot to that, because I’m sure your listeners are well aware of the challenges with visas, and things like that. I don’t know if they’re also where they’re how many programs are out there. Like I said, in response to, you know, all these initiatives that are put out there that kind of make it tougher. There’s a lot, especially currently, even 2021, a lot of stuff that started in response to that pushback on that, that are out there. And I’ll share those things as well. It’s just really encouraging to see.
Alina Warrick (29m 50s):
So what are some of the challenges that the immigrants are facing these days when starting a business?
Laura Kinser (29m 57s):
There’s some dependency in here when you say challenges is you were naturalized of you’re fully supposed to be here, and you have your immigration status a locked up. So if that is something that is a question, or you’re still dealing with that, you have a different set of challenges, and that was a lot higher to climb. So I’d say, you know, definitely looking at getting your visa and all that stuff taken care of is often one of the biggest challenges that they face. But once that her list is passed, you know, funding is obviously the next one, that becomes challenged, because a lot of these institutions out there that primarily do the lending for small businesses, or startups, just don’t give out as much lending as they should. And sometimes, appear to be bias, and people don’t get as much.
Laura Kinser (30m 38s):
So it’s finding, it’s really connecting with those funding resources. Like I just said, it’s a incredible hurdle. But the resources are there for funding and things, like I mentioned before, for folks. You just have to be finding those right resources. But once you find them, that particular huge challenge, it’s out there. But I would say this, those are two of the biggest things is really looking at immigration status. And the funding, I think what we’ve seen is that’s one of the biggest, you know, those are the biggest things. You know, the third biggest thing is if depending on if you came over here, as a teen, or small child, or as a young adult, your perspective on the community, that can be a challenge too. So it’s really thoroughly vetting and doing a lot of market research out there on your business model, ideas or marketing, that can also be a challenge.
Laura Kinser (31m 23s):
That’s why I think having partners or associates that are both the immigrant but also native can help, if you have a team of the two. And you have those two different perspectives that helps with that challenge for sure.
Alina Warrick (31m 35s):
Awesome. And so do you help immigrants out with the visa requirements at all? Or do you direct them to another agency or an attorney to help them out?
Laura Kinser (31m 45s):
Yeah, so I mean, you really don’t need an attorney to do that, specifically. Again, totally depend on your situation. I don’t specifically do visa stuff. That’s not something I usually deal with. But I definitely do as part of one of my packages, connects you with all the right resources to do that. A lot of what I do as a consultant, if I’m not practically hands on doing it, providing very clear instructions and resources on how to do it. And that’s one of this basis that I would be providing very clear resources and steps on how to do it
Alina Warrick (32m 15s):
Got it. Awesome. So I know you’ve mentioned some resources and some programs, but are there any other programs or resources that you can share with our immigrant entrepreneurs are listening that will help them in this process and make it a little bit easier for them?
Laura Kinser (32m 32s):
There is a lot of them. I would say, again, looking at the SBA central resources out there is a great resource.
Alina Warrick (32m 39s):
Okay.
Laura Kinser (32m 39s):
There is a few different entities that are also out there meant specifically for and it’s like the US, there’s the one of them, The Women’s Opportunities Resource Center, and there’s a couple of them just like this. There’s one called the Unshackled Ventures. I thought these names out there and just consolidate names, but One Way Ventures. And these are like a lot of these just independent entities that are backed with people with significant resources that are out there for that. If you’re here in California, there’s one called the Mission Asset Fund that provides funding, smaller funding for, I mean, entrepreneurs. I go on and you kind of list these entities. I will share them I guess on my site, because there’s a long list actually, if I was going to rattle these all off there is people
Laura Kinser (33m 20s):
But usually a good place to look. And if you’re just thinking like to think of it in the minority business development agencies of any state, we’re in California, so we’re talking about California, but if your listeners are in different states, any respective state you’re in, has a minority business development agency or department that’s connected. And they’re often the central resource that you’re gonna look at. Like we often look as business owners to state commerce. This is right
Alina Warrick (33m 48s):
Awesome. And I have heard of One Way Ventures. One Way Ventures for those of the listeners that don’t know, they provide funding only to immigrants.
Laura Kinser (33m 58s):
Mm-hmm.
Alina Warrick (33m 59s):
So they are a venture capitalist?
Laura Kinser (34m 1s):
Yeah.
Alina Warrick (34m 2s):
Yeah. So if you go on there, I believe it’s like one way VCs or something like that. I will link everything in the show notes. But yeah, there is — like Laura said, there’s so many different resources and programs, and nonprofit organizations that are there established to help immigrants with this entrepreneurship journey. So the one thing we just wanted to relay here is that don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared to ask for help, and we cannot do this alone. So awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much, Laura. So what are some ways you can step in and help the immigrants that are listening to get them assisted with this process?
Laura Kinser (34m 51s):
So I mean, me personally, and my company. My company is called a StartUp Clinic if we didn’t say that before. And what I do here, you know, I do a lot of the practical project management hands on stuff to help you get launched and going. And I love your particular demographic is one of the specific areas, I’m aimed as people that don’t have a ton of experience or background, but really have that ambition and drive and want to do it. That’s my favorite people to work with. And so I do coaching, I do one hour virtual one to two hour virtual coaching sessions. I lay out, I have one package called the 10 steps to launch your business. It’s actually interesting that you went through eight, but that it’s actually a package where I give you, you know, where I go through the 10 logistical steps. You individually, we take that customer write them for each person, it’s not like a template or anything like that.
Laura Kinser (35m 34s):
Like 10 step plan, logistically how to start your specific space? And I’ll go through it. And then we do an online virtual consultation where I walk through that step. It’s very practical clear steps on how to start your business? And you can really take that and do it. I mean, what I give is, you can take it in a good 80% if you could do it yourself, depending on again, the space you’re in. But I do those type of things; number one, for people that are looking for more comprehensive help. I also do the project management piece where I have a couple different businesses right now, where I do, I’m the project manager, and they hire me to do like the whole thing from beginning to end, where I go. And so I do a lot of stuff I do anywhere from, you know, doing these one hour consultations and giving some direction, and guidance, and resources to the full project management.
Laura Kinser (36m 20s):
And if you want help from A to Z, and that’s something that I do too. It’s a different kind of endeavor. It’s a consulting engagement. But yeah, I do that as well. So I’ve got a couple different folks that I do that for right now. And that would be all the practical stuff from getting the formation, connecting and getting the formation done, to getting the permits, to finding your storefront, to hiring your staff. I have actually have a marketing partner as well, that does the marketing piece. That so she does all of the website, the online marketing, the social media stuff. And so all those things are things that I can do, and either I’m doing them in house, or I have my partner do them.
Alina Warrick (36m 56s):
So the hands on items that you can tackle are developing the business name, getting the legal stuff together, is that what I’m hearing?
Laura Kinser (37m 5s):
Yes, all of those things, and as well as business plan writing, that’s my specialty. You know, I’d say when you’re planning to your business plan, and you’re thinking that you’re going to write this out in a couple nights, I’d say your mark out a good month to draft a business plan. It takes me three weeks to four weeks. And I’m somebody who’s done hundreds. So yeah, as I do a lot of business plans. And so I’ve got a couple different ways I do them. I do full business plan writing myself, where I do the whole shebang.
Alina Warrick (37m 29s):
Yeah.
Laura Kinser (37m 30s):
Or I also have a package where I help people and I give them direction guidance, and coach them through writing their own plan. Obviously, it’s less expensive to do the second one. But I think that’s everything too. So yeah, business plans too. But yeah, I do the whole — yeah, I could do formation, the permits, putting your business name together, putting your marketing strategy together from a marketing partner. And then practical operation stuff that we just mentioned, yeah.
Alina Warrick (37m 53s):
Yeah. Wow. That’s awesome. And especially the fact that you’ve already been in several different startup industries in Silicon Valley like that is hands on experience right there. So that’s amazing that you were able to take that, and just branch out, and did on your own and be successful on that. So good job, Laura.
Laura Kinser (38m 12s):
Thank you. Thanks, yeah.
Alina Warrick (38m 15s):
Yeah, yeah. So do you serve the entrepreneurs nationwide? Or are you just California based?
Laura Kinser (38m 22s):
Oh, no, nationwide. Nationwide. I mean, that’s the great thing about things being virtual, right?
Alina Warrick (38m 28s):
Yeah.
Laura Kinser (38m 28s):
I’m currently working with people. Currently, now, all over the United States. I’m working with NFR parts unit. Like it’s actually really cool. What I’ve even seen quite an uptick with COVID and everything. A lot more people are moving to online. I’m hearing from people and I work with people all over the United States. I don’t do outside the United States. But —
Alina Warrick (38m 45s):
Yeah.
Laura Kinser (38m 46s):
Alina Warrick (38m 46s):
So then how do you keep track of like, the tax requirements? Cuz you cross the border to Oregon, there’s no income tax. You cross over to Texas, and they got different taxes. So how do you keep a tally of all the different you know, you got to register here and to the state board here? How do you keep track of all that?
Laura Kinser (39m 5s):
Yeah. What’s it — you know, when I was working hands on with the startup companies in the Silicon Valley, I often worked for startups. In the startups often have their arms and across borders. And so I worked first national startups that had entities in, you know, Colorado and Oregon. And I added in those, you know, my experience from there, helping them form in a very large level, and other entities that gave me some great experience. And it’s as long as you know how to do it, and again, that was just really great experience and it taught me how to reach across borders. You know, and everything we need, all those resources are there and available. If you know how to get them and you know what you need to get, it’s not a problem is just knowing that information.
Alina Warrick (39m 46s):
Yeah. Wow, that’s awesome. You’re a superwoman.
Laura Kinser (39m 50s):
Thank you.
Alina Warrick (39m 52s):
Alright, and so Laura, where can our listeners find you?
Laura Kinser (39m 55s):
Oh, sure. They can find me at www.thestartup, just like it sounds, .clinic. It’s not.com. It’s .clinic, C-L-I-N-I-C.
Alina Warrick (40m 6s):
Then are you on Facebook, Instagram, anywhere else?
Laura Kinser (40m 9s):
Mm-hmm. I’m on Facebook, and Instagram, and LinkedIn. You might find a couple of other startup clinics, but you should find me first because my SEO is pretty good.
Alina Warrick (40m 16s):
Oh, got it, nice. Well, Laura, thank you so, so much for coming on the show. And all of my listeners are gonna benefit tremendously from the wealth of information that you’ve provided, and all of the resources that we’re gonna link on the show notes. So, thank you so much. I truly appreciate it. And I wish you all the best. So, thank you again.
Laura Kinser (40m 40s):
Yes. Thank you so much for having me. This was so much fun. I really, really had fun. Thank you.
Alina Warrick (40m 44s):
Alrighty guys, thank you so much for tuning in. If there are any links that were mentioned in this episode, make sure to check them out on my website under this episode to find all the link is conveniently located in the show notes. I just wanted to ask for a quick favor. If you could please leave a review wherever you’re at listening to this podcast. Also, if you’re an Immigrant Entrepreneur and would love to be on my podcast, please email me and we’ll get connected. I’ll see you guys all next time for another exciting and impactful episode. Take care.
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