In today’s globalized world, it is utterly important to expand your start up to international markets. Although it poses a significant challenge to entrepreneurs, but it also offers benefits. The exposure to international markets promises greater benefits, ROI and recognition for any business. This is primarily why all business houses focus on making their place in international markets. It paves the way for efficient communication and provides greater possibilities for collaboration. However, there are certain things that need to be considered before expanding your business.
When it comes to a start-up, there is a higher risk of facing a competitive disadvantage if you delay expanding your business for too long. However, when one finally decided to expand the start-up to international markets, one must tread carefully. Expanding the business requires many important things to be done perfectly. It includes identifying those markets that hold most strategic significance to your business. It is only after targeting the right market, can one think of beginning with the procedure of expansion. Mentioned below are some of the important considerations to be kept in mind by entrepreneurs before looking to expand on a global scale.
1. A Well Defined Business Model
It may only sound too trivial for a task to accomplish, but the truth is that most of the start-ups have an exciting and popular product but what they lack is a solid plan for monetizing the product. Let us consider a scenario- you are working in an open source project. Now it must be remembered that this situation requires you to have a definite business model to drive revenue. However, this revenue should not be generated at the cost of depriving your community of its core contributors.
In such a case, companies offer enterprise-ready software that is incorporated with all the additional features, services and support. Not only this, they also provide code to the community. And the code is certainly the backbone of their technology.
It can be summed up that start-ups need to have an actionable, scalable business model with measurable metrics like downloads, customers, etc. in place before one thinks of expanding the business. Without working on this part, a start-up can not think of growing globally.
2. Relocating to the New Market
It is imperative for the CEO of a start-up to find ways to make a place for the company in a new market. For this to happen, it is important to consider relocating so as to help the new office to grow and communicate directly with the new customers. If you think that managing employees and other tasks from a remote place is fine, you might just land in trouble. It is imperative to personally supervise tasks so that they meet with the expectations of your broader vision that you have for your business.
You will also need to hire staff for your new office. Now the individuals you hire will be critical to the success of your start-up. Therefore, it is very important for you to be present and manage the staff. This will definitely pave he way for the creation of a well managed team that shares your business vision. You should also consider potential business partners for your start-up like software integrators, resellers etc. The key influences for your community like well-read bloggers and analysts should also be considered.
3. Build and Foster your Community
It is extremely important to identify and communicate with your community from the very beginning. In today’s globalized world, you can make your community to be one of the most effective methods of spreading the valuable words about your company’s value or marketing your products and services.
In order to build the community, you should start with online forums and email lists. You can also utilize the social media channels for activities like meet-ups and workshops.
4. Understanding the Investor Community
It is very important to have a clear understanding of investor tendencies and trends of the market that you are targeting. You should also make a thorough research and find out which types of investors fit your business well. Another important thing that should be kept in mind is that investors usually like to target a specific set of market segments in which they foresee high growth. It is better to close the first funding round and then plan to expand internationally.
These are some of the important considerations to be borne in mind before making a foray into the global market. After all, it is the better planning that increases the chances of the success and survival of your business in a competitive global market.
