Going global. You simply have to take the plunge. Make a leap of faith. Or in the words of Nike, Just Do it. Whatever the slogan, the sentiment is the same.
It’s a clear call to action to simply go for it. More often than not, this means turning your back completely on conventional wisdom. Something we talk about a lot on this blog. And that is exactly what you need to do if you want to succeed in going global, or take your startup or business into international waters.
Does this surprise you? Well, it shouldn’t.
Going global: Conventional wisdom is wrong by default
Think about it. What does conventional wisdom say? Basically, it offers you a no-brainer solution. Launch on home soil and take advantage of the familiar place and surroundings. Test the water, and once you’re ready [or think you’re ready] go for the big game. Which means going global.
Sounds so reasonable, doesn’t it?
Well, yes it may be the case. But the actual empirical observation is that things work in quite the opposite way. Those startups and fledgling businesses which from day zero focus on a large global, or international market (which in our universe of discourse can be no other than North America) manage to succeed there relatively easily.
In contrast, the majority of companies which decide to first take their chances in their home market and, once the product is [or feels] ready for the big time, try going global, unfortunately tend to experience a very hard time indeed.
The empirical evidence
I only have to look within Starttech’s past and present portfolio to demonstrate the above. Examples of the first case include AbZorba Games, TalentLMS and Yodeck, while examples of the latter case include SOLO Gateway, Pakia and Elorus.
Now, as I clearly state, this is a mere empirical observation. To be honest I have few concrete clues as to why this happens. However, the pattern is just far too consistent to be ignored.
Perhaps there’s some kind of special gravity with the first group of customers; perhaps the build-measure-learn cycles at the heart of lean methodology get unintentionally geared towards the smaller, local market and miss the multiplying effect offered by a huge market such as North America. There are numerous avenues for investigation and explanation. The best way to avoid it in my experience? Focus on your global business model first, product second.
Conclusion: aim high, aim global
While it is definitely worth doing some serious research on this topic, one thing is certain. I shall never again advise any company to focus on a ‘local’ launch first, before going for the big global market.
It’s fairly simple, really. You know that North America is your target market, so just put all of your intellectual capacity into launching and succeeding in this market from day zero. Obviously this depends heavily on the product in question – and more so the business model, but by and large, going for a smaller, different market, is actually a wasteful distortion.
And we all know, in the name of capital efficiency, there’s nothing good about waste.
