Tips For Taking Your Startup Talents To London, Or L.A.

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It's Tech Week in Los Angeles, every day spawning dozens of events, panels, tours and much else (including the 10th anniversary of Westside Digital Mix tonight in Santa Monica). There are nuggets of wisdom to be gleaned from many of the gatherings, a chance to check out companies' offices, and an even chance to connect in person with investors, partners, entrepreneurs who can bolster your network across a notoriously vast and diffuse city.

Among the more intriguing events Tuesday was a gathering at the Santa Monica headquarters of normally secretive Snap.com, co-sponsored by London ⁘ Partners, the economic and tourism development wing of the UK's capital city. The focus: how to take your company from Los Angeles to London and beyond, or vice versa.

The panel of four women featured a venture capitalist, tech innovation executive in the world's biggest music label, and the North American head of an international events company, all moderated by a managing director of a UK-based accountancy firm.

Taking a company from Los Angeles to London, or into any new market, entails a lot more than just hiring a few people, renting an office, and signing some forms. To begin with, you better have your business and business model locked down, said Shamin Walsh, managing director of BAM Ventures.

"You don't want to build on a leaky faucet," Walsh said. "It's a sign you're not prepared if you haven't nailed your business model. Sometimes, expansion is a way to mask those problems."

Cristina Pimintel, director of new digital business ⁘ innovation at Universal Music Group, said her office is working constantly with the label's local operations in 60 countries to review would-be tech partners. When companies approach UMG with tech and innovation ideas, they need to be smart about the markets they're pursuing.

Pimentel, who also announced she's been running a startup incubator within UMG on stealth mode the past couple of years, said she routinely consults with local operations to understand how a tech idea might roll out in that market, and benefit the label and its artists.