01
Priority company profile
Define the company, sector, operating, and local-fit criteria that should shape a city’s international business pipeline.
- Priority-sector thesis
- Qualified-company criteria
- Initial qualification
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS & FDI
Build an international investment pipeline before location selection begins.
Startup Runway identifies international companies showing U.S. expansion intent, qualifies the opportunities that fit a city’s priorities, and connects the right conversations to the local ecosystem.
Expansion intent · Qualified pipeline · Local activation
Startup Runway ecosystem contextLOCAL GOVERNMENTS & FDI
PUBLICsource-backed context
06market pathways
01local ecosystem focus
02program pathways
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PATHWAYExpansion intent · Qualified pipeline · Local activationBuild an FDI Program Architecture Brief
THE CITY DECISION
The operating system for cross-border expansion and foreign direct investment.
A mission, webinar, or memorandum can open a relationship. A city creates greater value when it can identify expansion intent early, qualify the right companies, and connect them to a defined local path.
THE FDI LIFECYCLE
From international outreach to measurable local activity.
One six-step system gives city leaders a practical way to source, qualify, match, support, convert, and measure international-company activity.
01
Source
Focus outreach through missions, partners, chambers, consulates, referrals, webinars, and inbound delegations.
02
Qualify
Assess sector fit, market readiness, local requirements, leadership capacity, and the company’s decision horizon.
03
Match to the local ecosystem
Connect a qualified company with the location, talent, industry base, universities, partners, and customer context relevant to its decision.
04
Soft landing
Give a qualified company a practical first local experience and a clear view of how the region operates.
05
Convert
Support enterprise, City, partner, and local-ecosystem conversations when a specific next decision is ready to be explored.
06
Measure
Track company progression and the economic-development measures the local institution is permitted to monitor and report.
FOR CITIES, REGIONS & ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT LEADERS
Start with the international growth program your leadership team needs to build.
Prepare a concise, board-readable view of the local priority, target companies, program lifecycle, and practical measures needed to turn international outreach into local economic activity.
Build an FDI Program Architecture BriefINTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT PIPELINE
Build an international investment pipeline before location selection begins.
Startup Runway is the operating system for cross-border corporate expansion and foreign direct investment—connecting international company intent with a city’s investment priorities, local ecosystem, and leadership rhythm.
02
International Activation
Create a disciplined route from priority markets to executive conversations through outreach, missions, and delegations shaped around the city’s own investment thesis.
- Executive outreach
- International missions
- Delegations
03
Local Landing System
Connect qualified companies to the corporate, university, research, and local operating relationships that can help leadership evaluate a credible next step.
- Landing services
- Corporate introductions
- University ecosystem integration
04
Pipeline Governance
Give leadership a consistent view of qualified companies, decision stage, next actions, and the city-defined measures that should be reviewed over time.
- Monthly pipeline dashboard
- Economic-impact reporting
- Leadership review rhythm
Start with the company profile your city wants to understand, the local relationships that make a strong next conversation possible, and a clear review rhythm. Runway Intelligence provides a separate early-signal view when a city needs to prioritize emerging company movement.
RICHARDSON IN LOCAL CONTEXT
A public example of international business connected to a local ecosystem.
Richardson Economic Development documents a strategic partnership with Startup Runway around international business attraction. The public record provides a useful view of how outreach, local programs, and ecosystem participation can work together.
Start with the public City context.
Read the City’s partnership announcement and the stated international-business collaboration context.
Open the official partnership recordConnect outreach to local programs.
Explore City as a Lab and Corporate Innovation as two practical ways a city can link international companies with local priorities.
Explore City as a LabBuild a repeatable local model.
Use the public FDI brief to define the target company profile, local ecosystem role, and measures that matter to leadership.
Review the FDI Program Architecture BriefPublic contextOfficial partnership information and public program pathways.
Private workCompany, procurement, and program decisions are handled privately with the relevant local institution.
Explore Richardson international businessLOCATION DECISION CONTEXT
What this pathway can access in Richardson and Texas.
The location record is part of the operating path, not background information.
WHY TEXAS
A State operating environment built around workforce, infrastructure and global-market access.
The Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office describes Texas as the eighth-largest economy among nations and identifies a business environment with no corporate or personal income tax, skilled and diverse workforce, infrastructure and access to global markets.
Read the State’s Why Texas recordWHY RICHARDSON
A documented international-business environment with City-supported soft-landing resources.
Richardson Economic Development identifies more than 60 foreign-owned companies representing 22 countries and documents support spanning international business resources, soft landing, logistics, delegation visits, finance, legal assistance and networking.
Read Richardson’s international-business recordRICHARDSON PUBLIC RECORD
A public partnership record in local context.
The City of Richardson’s published partnership record provides local context for international-business work. Specific company, procurement, and program decisions are handled privately.
Read the City’s announcementPROGRAMS IN PRACTICE
Put the lifecycle to work through local programs.
Cities can adapt the sequence to prospecting, location evaluation, demand-led recruitment, municipal innovation, and leadership reporting.
01
Outbound missions
Country-specific prospecting, qualification, executive meetings and post-mission conversion plans.
02
Inbound delegations
Structured site visits that move companies from abstract interest to physical location evaluation.
03
Country days
Activate chambers, consulates, trade agencies, diaspora networks and local corporations around a priority market.
04
Reverse pitches
Let local corporate demand guide international recruitment instead of recruiting companies without a buyer thesis.
05
City as a Lab
Source technologies against defined municipal problems and create structured pilot opportunities.
06
Executive reporting
Give leadership a recurring view of what came in, what qualified, what landed and what economic impact can be attributed.
ADDITIONAL CONTEXTOpen more about this pathway+
MEASURE WHAT MOVES
Measure the path, not event activity alone.
Leadership needs a practical view of qualified company progress and the local economic-development measures it can legitimately report.
Pipeline
Track prospects, qualification, site evaluations and the source activity behind each opportunity.
Conversion
Track movement from interest to landing, customer activity, pilots and local partnerships.
Economic impact
Track jobs, payroll, leases, local spend, investment, procurement and durable operations.
Community distribution & brand value
Show how international activity reaches the community and strengthens the location’s position in priority markets.
QUESTIONS
The essentials, answered.
01Can Startup Runway work with a city or regional EDO outside Richardson?+
Yes. The model can be adapted to a city, regional EDO, state agency, or international trade organization when the local institution can define its priority markets, ecosystem role, and program capacity.
02What should an international FDI program measure?+
Track the progression from outreach to qualification, ecosystem matching, local engagement, and the economic-development measures the institution is authorized to report. The definitions and reporting period should be clear before results are published.
03What is a reverse pitch?+
In a reverse pitch, corporations or public agencies present real needs first. Qualified solution companies are then sourced against those needs, making international recruitment demand-led rather than event-led.
CONFIDENTIAL CONVERSATION
Prepare the next operating decision.
"Our team reviews every inquiry personally. If your company is a fit, you'll hear from us directly — not a coordinator."
Build an FDI Program Architecture Brief