Doing Business in USA — YTILI Alumni Board Panel

3 September 2025 | Online via Zoom | 17:00 GMT+1 (18:00 Istanbul / Tirana)

The YTILI Network Alumni Board — alumni of the U.S. Department of State’s Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative — hosted a focused online panel on entering and scaling in the United States as an international founder. Vircon Legal’s Managing Partner E. Mümtaz Hacıpaşaoğlu joined as panelist from Turkey, alongside Kjartan Thorsson from Iceland.

What we covered

The conversation cut through the headline noise and went into the operational decisions that actually move a transatlantic build forward — incorporation choices (Delaware C-Corp vs. alternatives), state-by-state compliance, banking, IP assignment, and the practical mechanics of selling into U.S. customers from outside the country.

We mapped how cross-border founders should think about U.S. flip-ups, when to bring legal counsel in, and how to time the move with fundraising milestones. Real founder stories — including the legal and financial decisions that helped or hurt — anchored the discussion.

Topics

• U.S. market entry from a non-U.S. founder’s vantage point
• Strong U.S. business relationships — what works, what doesn’t
• Incorporation strategy: Delaware vs. other states
• Compliance, banking and tax architecture
• Customer acquisition and serving U.S. clients
• Cross-border expansion legal and financial insights

For founders weighing a U.S. move, our Flip-Up Checklist walks through the structural decisions in detail. To talk through your own situation, reach out here.