Geographic Legal Compliance Requirements

This question asks whether you must follow the laws where your customer operates, not just where your company is based. If you're serving a university in California, are you subject to California privacy laws? If you have EU customers, does GDPR apply to you? It's about understanding that selling to customers in different places means following different rules.

Ignoring geographic compliance requirements can lock you out of entire markets and expose you to international legal action. For example, violating GDPR can result in fines even if you're not based in Europe. Understanding and complying with regional laws opens up global markets and gives customers confidence you won't create legal problems for them. This geographic flexibility often determines whether you can scale beyond your home market.

The biggest mistake is assuming you only need to follow laws where your company is incorporated. Another pitfall is agreeing to comply with geographic requirements without understanding what that actually entails - some regions have complex and costly requirements.