January 20, 2021

Hans Peter Bech: How to Go Global on a Shoestring

47 minutes

When is the right time to introduce your B2B software solution into international markets? How do you attract your first customers in foreign countries when you have a great product but only a small budget? International channel expert, Hans Peter Bech, author and founder of TBK Consult, shares his B2B software channel expertise and lessons from his new book, Going Global on a Shoestring.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Here are five tips I learned from Hans Peter on going global on a shoestring:

No matter where you launch your company, have the international opportunity in mind from day 1. Otherwise, you will have to re-engineer your business considerably down the road to make it ready for international business.

Going global on a shoestring is normally done by leveraging partners and building a channel, but not always. Some products don’t have a channel or benefit from the channel model.

Before building a channel in a foreign company, get in and land a few deals so you can attract the first partner. Hire or contract a business developer to find the first set of early adopters who want to try out your product.

You may have to provide exclusivity for a short term to help the first partner recoup their investment. But you have to convince the partner that having more partners to build the market is actually good for them.

When selecting which countries to expand into first, look for countries that speak your language. Next, look for countries that aren’t already dominated by your competition.