Brian Nichols is the co-founder of Angel Squad, a community where you’ll learn how to angel invest and get a chance to invest as little as $1k into Hustle Fund's top performing early-stage startups

What does it mean to be a US company anymore?

Many startup accelerators now see that 40% of their batches are international companies. But they're all incorporated in the US with US legal counsel. They serve global customers. Their teams are distributed across continents. Their founders might be anywhere.

The traditional geographic boundaries that defined startup ecosystems don't hold. You can't look at a company and say "this is a US company" or "this is a Southeast Asian company" based on where the team sits. Incorporation matters for legal and tax purposes, but operations are global.

This creates both opportunity and complexity for angel investors. The opportunity: you can access deals in high-growth markets without the traditional friction. The complexity: evaluating and managing companies across different geographies requires understanding dynamics that don't exist in single-market investing.

Why Companies Go Global From Day One

Five years ago, trying to build a global company from inception was considered unfocused and risky. You were supposed to nail one market, then expand.

Today, the best companies are global from day one, and it's not even a choice. It's structural.

Talent is distributed. The best engineers might be in Vietnam or Argentina where costs are 70% lower than San Francisco. Customer acquisition teams are in the US where most revenue comes from. Product leadership is wherever the technical co-founder happens to be.

Companies like Front, Talkdesk, and Intercom have roots outside the US but are headquartered in San Francisco. They didn't expand internationally, they started that way and formalized it over time.

The economics are compelling. Elizabeth Yin at Hustle Fund recently caught up with two portfolio companies that hit $5M ARR with minimal seed funding. How? All their developers were in Vietnam and Argentina respectively. Sales and customer acquisition were in the US. They captured US market pricing with emerging market cost structure.

Canada offers another arbitrage. Government grants reduce tech talent costs by 3-5x compared to San Francisco. Smart companies incorporate entities in Canada purely to access these subsidies while keeping their primary operations in the US.

The Market Dynamics Are Completely Different

The strategic story you tell as a founder differs completely between established and emerging markets, which means the deals you should back differ by geography too.

In established markets like the US, you want to see extreme differentiation in a specific niche. The market is crowded. Companies win by being the obvious best choice for a narrow segment, then expanding from that wedge.

In emerging markets, being too niche is dangerous. The market hasn't been established yet. You need to become something closer to a super app from day one, cross-selling and upselling aggressively to customers you acquire. The opportunity is market creation, not market share.

This affects customer acquisition costs and lifetime value in ways that completely change deal economics. One company Hustle Fund backed in Lagos uses street sales teams going door-to-door. Labor costs are low, sales cycles are immediate, CAC is minimal. The same business model in California would have CAC 10x higher.

Timing matters enormously. A business that's too early in one market might be perfectly timed in another. Understanding when markets are ready for specific solutions is as important as evaluating the product or team.

Currency and Exit Risks Are Real

International investing introduces risks that don't exist in domestic portfolios.

Currency fluctuations can destroy returns. A company might grow 100% in local currency, but if that currency depreciates 50% against the dollar, your return is zero. Most early-stage companies don't hedge currency risk, which means you're exposed.

Exit options vary wildly by geography. The US has a robust M&A market and clear IPO paths. Emerging markets have fewer acquirers and less developed public markets. Companies that would fetch $100M+ exits in the US might struggle to exit for $20M in other markets.

Legal frameworks differ in ways that affect everything from fundraising to shutdowns. Some countries restrict foreign ownership in certain sectors. Others have complex regulations around moving money in and out of the country. You need legal counsel that understands both US structures and local requirements.

Due Diligence Gets More Complex

Evaluating international deals requires understanding local market dynamics you probably don't have intuition for.

Is this pricing reasonable for this market? Is this team strong relative to other teams in this geography? Are there regulatory risks I'm not seeing? What does the competitive landscape actually look like locally?

You can't answer these questions from San Francisco. You need relationships with people on the ground, other investors, operators, founders who know the local ecosystem.

The best approach is partnering with local angels who understand the market. Co-investing with someone who knows the geography gives you crucial context and helps avoid obvious mistakes. It also helps with ongoing portfolio support when companies need intros or advice specific to that market.

Operational Complexity Compounds

Managing an international portfolio is operationally harder than a domestic one.

Time zones make board meetings and updates complicated. You're trying to help companies with intros and resources across different geographies. Your network in San Francisco doesn't help a company trying to hire engineers in Bangalore or close customers in Singapore.

You need to build international networks or partner with investors who have them. This takes time and intentional relationship building. The shortcuts available in domestic investing, leaning on your existing network, don't work internationally.

Financial management is messier. You're tracking investments in multiple currencies, dealing with different wire procedures, navigating tax implications that vary by country. None of this is impossible, but it's friction that domestic investors don't face.

The Opportunity Is Massive

Most US-based angels don't invest internationally. Fear of complexity, lack of deal flow, unfamiliarity with markets, whatever the reason, they stick to domestic deals.

This creates massive opportunity for angels willing to learn how international investing works.

Competition for deals is lower. Customer acquisition costs are often dramatically cheaper. Talent costs less. You can get meaningful ownership in companies at reasonable valuations. And the best companies from these markets will eventually serve global customers at US pricing with emerging market cost structures.

Fast-moving US investors are already filling capital gaps in international markets. Hustle Fund sees this in their Toronto portfolio companies, where rounds are increasingly filled with American investors while local capital catches up.

The key for angels is picking one or two geographies to focus on rather than spreading too thin. Don't try to invest in every emerging market. Pick markets where you have some connection or understanding, maybe you've lived there, maybe you have friends in the ecosystem, maybe you're genuinely curious about the region.

Practical Portfolio Construction

If you're building an international angel portfolio, think about diversification differently than you would for domestic-only investing.

Geographic diversification helps, but don't just spread investments evenly across regions. Concentrate in geographies where you have understanding and relationships. It's better to do 10 deals in Southeast Asia where you know the ecosystem than to do two deals each in five markets where you're shooting blind.

Consider stage and maturity. International deals often work best when companies have already achieved some traction in their local markets. Pure idea-stage companies in markets you don't know well are lottery tickets. Companies with revenue and product-market fit in their geography are more predictable.

Think about where exits will come from. Companies that incorporate in the US or serve US customers have clearer exit paths than companies serving only local markets in emerging economies. That doesn't mean you should only back the former, but be honest about what success looks like and whether exit opportunities exist.

Build Relationships on the Ground

The best way to succeed with international investing is building relationships with people who know the local ecosystems.

Mentor founders in local accelerators. Attend events in the geographies you're targeting. Co-invest with local angels who can provide context you're missing. The time investment pays off in deal flow and better decision-making.

The Future Is Already Here

The next wave of unicorns will be global from day one. They'll have distributed teams, global customer bases, and cost structures that leverage talent and opportunities wherever they exist.

Managing an international angel portfolio isn't a nice-to-have skill anymore. It's becoming essential for angels who want to see the best deals and generate the best returns.

The question isn't whether to invest internationally. It's whether you're willing to put in the work to do it well. For angels who are, the opportunity is bigger than it's ever been.

If you're building an international angel portfolio and want to see how experienced investors evaluate global deals, Angel Squad gives you access to deal flow from companies around the world and insights from Hustle Fund's team, which invests across the US, Canada, and Southeast Asia. You'll learn how to spot opportunities in emerging markets and avoid the common pitfalls that trip up most cross-border investors.