Boots on the Ground

What startups actually need to know about moving and hiring people overseas.

Global mobility is one of the most underrated growth levers available to a fast-scaling startup. Done well, it lets you seed culture in new markets, hold onto ambitious early hires, and put the right people on the ground at the moment it matters most. Done badly, it's visa panic at midnight, payroll surprises, and compliance headaches six months later.

Our founding team has lived both sides, as decision-makers on global mobility at Crimson Education, Tracksuit, Hectre and Snowball Effect. You don't need a full-blown global mobility program at your current size. You need a handful of high-value things done well, so your international moves actually deliver what you were hoping for and don't quietly compound into problems later.

We wrote it for founders, People leads, and ops leaders at startups making their first international hire, or running a handful of moves a year and wanting to do it more deliberately.

What's inside

1. Identify the right opportunities. Six scenarios where sending someone overseas genuinely pays off, from first GTM relocation to retention plays.
2. Identify the right people. The traits that actually predict a successful international move.
3. Align on what you can afford. Visa costs, relocation support, comp adjustments, and family moves.
4. Know your timelines. Realistic processing windows by route, and how to cut them with smart planning.
5. Have the conversation well. The human side most guides skip, from expectations to partners and family.
6. Keep compliance airtight but simple. What to track, and the conditions that quietly put right-to-work at risk.
7. Assign clear ownership. Why immigration falls through the cracks without a single internal owner.

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A few things you'll learn

• Why the cost of an international move is almost always smaller than the cost of not making it.
• The difference between a two-to-four month standard sponsored move and a six-plus month complex setup.
• How Accredited Sponsorship in Australia cuts visa processing from months to days, but only if set up before you need it.
• A minimum-viable compliance tracker you can run from Notion until you outgrow it.

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Get the guide

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