Localization at Startups

By popular request, this SF Globalization (https://www.meetup.com/sf-globalization/) panel discussion will be repeated in the South Bay! Many thanks to Eva Gross (http://www.linkedin.com/in/evagross) of LiveCareer for organizing and moderating both panels, and to Katell Jentreau (http://www.linkedin.com/in/katelljentreau/en) of Box for hosting. The panel will not be webcast, but our hosts will attempt to record it.

When startups think about going global, they might be faced with different challenges than larger, more established companies: Do they have an international strategy? Internationalization or localization expertise in-house? What is the budget? At what stage in their development as a business should they go global? Who drives and supports the decision to go global?

A panel of localization managers from Bay Area startups will share their thoughts and recommendations on building a successful localization strategy for startups. Topics include:

• The role of Localization Manager within a startup

• Effective global content strategies for startups

• Localization tools and processes

• Placement/support of localization within a startup

• International Product Management

Panelists:

Mark Bulmer has worked in consumer internet for the past 10 years in the USA and Europe. This has been with a strong focus on Localization and International Product Management for Communities and Search products. It has involved bringing large-scale products to global audiences at a number of leading brands – Freeserve.com, Wanadoo, Yahoo!, Flickr, and Ask.com.

Catherine Porter has worked in international market development, business development, and consumer growth for more than 15 years in a variety of Internet companies. She is currently responsible for international optimization of current ex-US markets and international expansion at OpenTable. Catherine has lived in Japan three times during her career and speaks Japanese fluently.

Katell Jentreau started her career as an English-to-French translator, and has been working in localization for 15+ years, both on the vendor and client sides. She is currently responsible for all globalization work at Box, one of the leaders in enterprise cloud-based collaboration platforms, based in Los Altos, CA. In 2013, Katell also joined the board of the Women in Localization, an organization dedicated to promote professional development, networking and continuous education among its rapidly-growing membership.

Eva Gross (also moderator and organizer of this panel) leads localization at LiveCareer, helping launch LiveCareer's core products into global markets. Prior to joining LiveCareer in September 2013, she worked at Apple and Language Automation, Inc. Born and raised in Germany, Eva is fully bilingual in English and German, and earned her Master Degree in Translation and Localization Management from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in 2010.

Topics and ideas raised by participants from Pinterest and Eventbrite at the last panel in San Francisco may also be reintroduced to the discussion.

Admission is free for IMUG members and Box employees, and $5 for all others. IMUG membership is only $20 for the first year, $15 for annual renewal, or $100 for lifetime membership. Click here to join, renew or pay a single non-member event fee via PayPal. Cash and checks also accepted at our events. http://www.imug.org/imug-membership-and-event-fees.htm

Please RSVP via Meetup by 5 PM the Monday before the event to help IMUG and our hosts prepare badges for you in advance. After that time it's still OK to RSVP right up to the last minute, as that will help us ensure enough seats for everyone! http://events.imug.org/

There will be no live webcast, but our hosts will try to record this panel. If this recording is successful and approved, we will post a link here. Everyone who has RSVPed and subscribed to Notifications will receive an email with that information.

Many thanks to Katell Jentreau and Box for hosting this talk in Los Altos! Please note that parking is on the street. There should be many spaces along El Camino Real and adjacent side streets.

The Twitter hashtag for IMUG events is #IMUG408, honoring Silicon Valley's main area code. Yes, we'll be in 650 this month, which used to be 415. It's still 408! :-) Follow @i18n_mug: http://twitter.com/i18n_mug