10 must-follow rules for international expansion

Rule 1: Work on your international readiness

This step is crucial and determines largely if you’ll be successful in internationalizing your business or not.

Before you start, understand and internalize that you need to prepare yourself and your company for this journey.

Companies that internationalize their business successfully, ask themselves the right questions and prioritize the right metrics when determining the roadmap for international expansion.

TO DO: Assess if your business is ready to scale abroad.

Rule 2: Don’t be afraid to seek advice

If you have never internationalized a company, a business or a product before, get help from experienced professionals.

As everything you do for the first time, there are many pitfalls and errors you can make and most of them are costly and lengthy to recover.

Work with consultants, other entrepreneurs, experienced staff or a country manager on preparing your international development plan.

TO DO: Determine what external advice you should seek!

Rule 3: Develop a vision and engage the whole company

What does “being international” mean to your company?

Where do you want to go?

International development is a great risk but also offers huge opportunities.

You’ll need 100% support and commitment from the board, founders, investors leadership team and employees as this will demand a lot of extra hours for everyone.

Use this momentum to motivate your teams and create loyalty by giving employees the chance to thrive and shape the future of the company.

TO DO: Write down your vision and validate it with trusted advisors.

Rule 4: Don’t EVER EVER EVER skip market research and assessment

Choosing the right markets and understanding the specificities of your target markets is a key phase of your international development.

Use a very pragmatic and analytic approach to market research to gain valuable market insights and first contacts quickly without over-stretching your budget.

TO DO: Define your market research and assessment plan NOW!

Rule 5: Close the gap: Assure product-market fit

Based on your findings from market research and assessment define the right product-market-fit for each target market.

Take into account regional specificities as well as competition and develop the requirement-set.

Depending on your business/product modifications may include user flow, design, communication touchpoints, etc.

TO DO: Define your market research and assessment plan NOW!

Rule 6: Get professional legal advice as early as possible

If you like it or not, getting a good lawyer is crucial for laying down the right structure for expanding abroad.

The process can be difficult and slow, with seemingly endless paperwork, so get yourself a good attorney who knows the ins and outs of the market you are expanding into.

You’ll also need good local legal representation in your new country to ensure a smooth launch, so be sure to get that lined up ahead of time.

TO DO: Find the right legal partner for each market you want to enter!

Rule 7: Get your boots on the ground and be where your business is

Yes, you can get a lot done remotely, but at some point, you also have to be there.

Meet your local lawyers and potential partners, employees and especially clients face to face.

Be there to buy furniture for the new office, and celebrate your office’s grand opening.

Share your company’s story, mission and vision with your new team in a way only you can… in person.

TO DO: Book a flight or train ticket!

Rule 8: Global presence, local relevance

The work on your international readiness and the first markets will help you build your approach to international development.

You’ll be ready to face global markets.

Remain consistent in the companies branding, but adapt to the local environment.

Be sure to localize your company and products/services.

TO DO: Define what is crucial to your business on a global and on a local level. Make a localisation plan.

Rule 9: Team is all, especially abroad

Your team is your biggest asset. Without the men and women that drive your product and company, you would be nothing.

Hiring a great team is difficult, especially in foreign markets.

Beware that other markets and cultures have specific recruitment markets, local HR laws, and rules.

Depending on the intercultural differences, job profiles and requirements need to be adapted. Get local advice to be sure you have the best recruitment plan in place.

Also, beware that roles and titles vary depending on the market.

TO DO: Draft a recruitment plan with your country manager or head of growth and get local advice.

Rule 10: Empower the team and let go!

Give yourself plenty of time to nurture and empower your new team.

Yes, you’ll want to teach and test them before handing over the reins — after all, they’re your new face in the new market — but resist the urge to be a “Helicopter CEO.”

Let them make mistakes and learn from them.

TO DO: Define how to empower your teams every day and what to do to let go!

Are you a B2B software company looking to expand globally but not sure where to start? Read on to learn about the five key ways to target specific countries and set up the right international expansion strategies, including prioritising countries with large software markets, researching cultural norms, and developing a localised marketing approach.

Internationalising a company does not end when you have made …

In the context of international expansion, one confronts the topic …

Melden Sie sich für unseren Wyngs-Newsletter an und verpassen Sie keine News mehr rund um Internationalisierung.

Did you like this post?
Sign-up for our newsletter and receive regular news, tips and tricks on the topic of internationalisation.

Share this article with your network

LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
XING
Email

Contact

Do you have any questions? Let’s discuss how we can best internationalise your business and achieve your growth objectives.

We always have time and coffee (or tea) available to answer all your questions!

*Mandatory field

Wyngs needs your contact information in order to contact you about our services. You can unsubscribe at any time if you no longer wish to receive notifications. For more information on how to unsubscribe and our data protection practices, please see our privacy policy.

Would you like to have an initial meeting without having to make a commitment or find out more about working together? Just make an appointment with Andrea right here.

Logo Collective Thinking

International Readiness Workshop

The status quo before the project

The DACH market had been identified by the Collective Thinking management as a strategic target market in Europe. First business development and sales actions have been conducted by the first German team and a GmbH had been established. 
The CT team wanted to continue to build their knowledge of the German market, the identification of key partners, key client groups in order to better evaluate business development potential and sales targets. This knowledge shall help define an appropriate strategic and operational marketing approach for CT in the DACH markets. CT is also in the process of raising a Series A funding round, a European approach can be evaluated in this project.

What we did

Wyngs wanted to support the Collective Thinking Team to create a strategic and operational roadmap for optimized business development and marketing/communication, with a special focus on developing the DACH markets – Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

We prepared a 1-day workshop, divided into 2 major parts:

  • Review of existing actions, the discovery of the key players and potential business development partners, enhancing market knowledge. 
  • Creation of a strategic and operational business development and marketing plan for 2021. 

Presentation of results of the workshop in the form of a roadmap to concretely address the mentioned challenges.

The “International Readiness” workshop with Wyngs allowed the German team of Collective Thinking to better understand and define the needs of the German market, particularly in terms of marketing strategy & business development. If you too are planning to develop internationally, Wyngs would be a very good partner to succeed in these first steps, which are essential for successful development.

CEO Vincent

Vincent Susplugas

CEO Collective Thinking

The “International Readiness” workshop with Wyngs allowed the German team of Collective Thinking to better understand and define the needs of the German market, particularly in terms of marketing strategy & business development. If you too are planning to develop internationally, Wyngs would be a very good partner to succeed in these first steps, which are essential for successful development.

CEO Vincent

Vincent Susplugas

CEO Collective Thinking

The “International Readiness” workshop with Wyngs allowed the German team of Collective Thinking to better understand and define the needs of the German market, particularly in terms of marketing strategy & business development. If you too are planning to develop internationally, Wyngs would be a very good partner to succeed in these first steps, which are essential for successful development.

CEO Vincent

Vincent Susplugas

CEO Collective Thinking