Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Going global isn't a checklist item you hand off, it's a decision that has to sit with the founder. At the Nasdaq Center’s Milestone Summit in Seattle, leaders in international expansion and venture innovation talked through what it really takes to grow past your home market: picking the right timing, putting decision-makers on the ground instead of delegating to a hire, and building for scale from day one now that AI has compressed what used to take months into days.

Capital, cybersecurity, and cross-border enterprise partnerships all came up on stage, but the throughline was the same: global growth starts with knowing exactly who you're building for.

Victor Nilsson
Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Rumi Marincic
Co-Founder & COO, CS2

Jelena Joffe Weil
Founder & Worldwide Leader, Venture Innovation, AWS

Brian Westbrook
Host, GeekWire Studios

Learn more at nasdaqcenter.org