If you see a couple of guys riding around on a motorcycle with a weird contraption over their heads, don’t worry, it’s not the latest fraternity hazing ritual. You might have caught a glimpse of a local startup testing out what could be a very global product. Especially if it’s raining.

Boston-based Roof For Two is developing a collapsible, detachable roof that can be pulled over a motorcycle in a few seconds to protect the rider(s) from heavy rain. Yes, it’s kind of a quirky idea. But it just might work. The seven-person startup, which is a finalist in the MassChallenge incubator program, came out of Tufts University, where it won first place in the Tufts $100K business plan competition this spring.

The idea came from founder and CEO Karan Randhawa, a native of New Delhi, India, and a recent Tufts grad. He was working in New Delhi and noticed that his colleagues were coming in sopping wet during monsoon season. Many people there rely on motor bikes to commute, yet there isn’t much they can do to shield themselves from the incessant rain except to use a poncho, umbrella, or other improvised method (see photo above). So Roof For Two is targeting Indian consumers exclusively for now.

The company’s bike roof is designed to protect up to two riders from the top, sides, and back, says co-founder Max Pinto, who serves as chief marketing officer. Pinto says the material is “very lightweight,” and the system is designed to be safe for speeds of up to about 100 kilometers per hour (and maybe faster in the future).

Roof For Two has just filed a provisional patent on the technology. Until now, it has been pretty cagey about the details. The startup is in the process of finishing its third prototype and has been testing and tweaking various models—hence the bike rides around the Boston area. (The team bought a motorcycle that resembles the most popular bike in India to do its tests here.)

Pinto might not have the best last name to represent a transportation-related company (as those of us alive in the ‘70s will attest), but he makes up for it with his drive, enthusiasm, and general worldliness. He’s a native of France and has lived in the U.S. and Argentina. And he says the Tufts competition, entrepreneurship classes, and all-night work sessions helped the team learn how to craft its business plan and better understand the market it is going after.

The dynamics of the Indian market make it “drastically different from how you would market to Americans,” Pinto says. “They think differently,” he says, pointing out that the Indian middle class is broken up into many tiers, and each has a distinct mentality. (He didn’t get into specifics yet about how the company will sell its hardware to the different tiers, but I presume that as usual, it’s about understanding the problems of each customer and solving them in a reliable and affordable way.) About his current incubator experience, he says MassChallenge is “fantastic” and has opened a lot of doors for the startup.

By late August or early September, Roof For Two plans to build about 25 prototypes and ship them off to Delhi, where Randhawa is based, for consumer testing. If all goes well, the company will then look for a first round of outside investment to help it produce 100 to 200 prototypes for further testing.

For now, the startup has a simple goal, which is reflected in its tag line: “making monsoons manageable.”

By the way, it looks like rain is expected in Boston on Sunday and Monday. So keep your eyes peeled.

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While traveling the world over the past dozen years on behalf of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, I have spoken with hundreds of entrepreneurs in virtually all major business centers of the world, both developed and developing. I would like to see more of our regional entrepreneurs take a big leap by establishing early international relationships and recruiting operations with foreign companies.

While the lack of VC funding and investment capital in general is on every entrepreneur’s mind, being globally competitive with effective sales and sales management is “mission critical.” The importance of sales — one of the most important life lessons — usually comes late in the career of most entrepreneurs.

I’ve seen the benefits of going global. I was a founding member of 3Com Corporation, actually employee No. 8. As the first head of sales, marketing, and planning, I helped 3Com raise its initial venture funding and bring its first three products to market. After a successful launch, I returned to the Boston area where I co-founded several MIT-related startups. These opportunities came after my five years in Beijing under the aegis of Chase Manhattan Bank. I formed a trading advisory company there to assist IBM, General Motors, Gillette, Hughes Aircraft and other pioneering companies enter the China market.

While these large companies knew they needed to grow globally, they also realized they needed outside assistance to build new markets in foreign countries. Many start-up companies may see international markets in their future, but they don’t always hire their initial management team with international sales in mind. Instead, they hire at levels below their growth objectives and then get frustrated when they cannot succeed. Start-ups that aren’t thinking internationally need to think again.

San Diego startups may be at a disadvantage when it comes to having the necessary passion and tenacity for executing a successful global sales strategy. That’s because today’s bright young entrepreneurs may not have been raised to think about the importance of global sales. Have they ever been forced to compete for funding? Where did their sales mentors come from? Most importantly, how does entrepreneurial training in San Diego differ from that offered by our most successful global competitors?

In a startup’s strategic planning phase, it is critical to think globally about the “go to market” strategy, and to identify exactly which markets to enter. If there is an international market for a startup’s product or service, it makes sense to plan an early entry—not only to differentiate their revenue streams, but also to capture market share before their competitors do.

Improving the effectiveness of the sales force in globally ambitious companies, large and small, is consistently cited by business experts as one of the highest priorities. In the current economic climate, every purchase by any prospective customer must be triple-justified at all levels of management. Thus, having the best ROI-based sales approach is essential to shortening the sales cycle across borders and, therefore, to the survival of San Diego’s young companies.

So what are global tech entrepreneurs saying?

—In today’s tough environment, high tech companies must be excellent at sales and customer acquisition or else they will not survive.

—Sincere commitment to solving customer problems is key. If the CEO is not passionately committed to delivering significant value to customers, then either he/she should leave the company, or the employees should find another place to work, because the company will not succeed.

—Loyal long-term customer relationships can provide a key, dependable source of sustainable competitive advantage for growing companies.

Good selling is not an art; it is a science. Effective sales and customer relationship management can be both learned and promulgated throughout the organization. San Diego’s successful regional companies can realize the benefits of global funding, sales, and economic significance by going global. The best way to learn how to do it is from the teachers who have been entrepreneurs themselves. Programs such as the MIT Entrepreneurship Center and Connect’s Springboard program are international and regional assets that excel at teaching sales skills and how to turn concepts related to innovation into profitable business realities.

Editors Note: Ken Morse is scheduled to speak today at the San Diego MIT Enterprise Forum. Details are here.

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‘Tis the season for grand tours of Asia. Last week, we covered life on the road with Intellectual Ventures, as the Bellevue, WA-based invention firm launched offices in five Asian countries, including China. This week, it’s the Washington Technology Industry Association’s turn. Together with the Washington State Community, Trade and Economic Development office, the WTIA is coordinating a three-city visit to China for five Seattle-area tech companies: RealNetworks, Formotus, Mobile Semiconductor, Zoodango, and McObject.

It’s the third WTIA-organized trip to China in the past year, and the first dedicated to a specific tech industry—mobile telecommunications. The trip’s focus “is on understanding the opportunity and dynamics of the China mobile market and setting up one-on-one business matchmaking meetings with the participants,” says Ken Myer, CEO of the WTIA (and an Xconomist). “Our goal with this mission is to open up business opportunities for our members who are seeking to enter or expand their presence in China.”

The business opportunity is a no-brainer, given the size and growth of China’s mobile market (600 million subscribers and counting). This week’s agenda includes stops in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, and meetings with more than 20 prominent companies, including Microsoft, Huawei, China Mobile, Hurray!, Sina.com, and Tencent. Myer says his team will also visit the WTIA’s office in the Longgang district of Shenzhen and its local host, Pacific Prestige, along with Chinese government officials there, including the Shenzhen vice mayor, Xu Qin.

All in all, it sounds like a fun and productive tour—one designed to build long-term relationships in the area. I had a chance to talk with a couple of the Seattle-area companies about their expectations for the trip. Joe Verschueren, co-founder and CEO of Formotus, a Bellevue-based maker of mobile software for businesses, says his goal is “to meet with potential strategic investors and go-to-market partners. Our partner candidates include carriers, device manufacturers, device distributors, industrial handheld computer manufacturers, distribution partners, potential joint venture partners and other companies involved in the cellular mobile industry.” Verschueren adds that he sees “tremendous opportunity for Formotus in China. We believe Formotus is favorably positioned to become an important partner to IT and Telco companies in China.”

Cameron Fisher, co-founder and CEO of Mobile Semiconductor, a Seattle-based maker of memory technologies for mobile handsets, emphasized the importance of really connecting with the local companies he’s meeting. “We hope to first understand the market and what these companies see as important differentiators,” Fisher says. “Our memory technology can enable new applications, especially data-intensive applications such as video sharing, mobile database access, or simply large file system access. As we understand their needs, we can help them to design better cell phones, mobile gaming devices, etc. Next we would like to partner on a next-gen handset design, and license our technology,” he says. “I expect to spend one or two years developing a few key partnerships. That would most likely include our retaining some local representation.”

There’s also a local celebrity among the WTIA contingent. James Sun, founder and CEO of Seattle-based Zoodango, a business-networking site, was the runner-up on ABC’s “The Apprentice 6″ last year. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Sun’s experience with the Donald buys him in China.

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