Lessons I Have Learned About Scaling a Business as a Startup Founder

When I set out to start my own merchantry three years ago, I never imagined unexceptionable lights and private jets to New York or Shanghai for merchantry meetings. Good thing I didn’t considering it is nothing like that at all. It was a struggle from day one and I had to embrace the grind to grow.

This is probably why today, my visitor has offices in four countries wideness Asia. We started from a unobtrusive place and are still growing. We have a long way to go, but I have learned some crucial lessons as a visitor founder headquartered in Singapore, which is Southeast Asia’s startup hub.

One of the things that benefited my merchantry and my personal journey as a founder, was honest finance from others who had taken the journey surpassing me. That’s why I will be sharing some key takeaways that can be unromantic by small businesses looking to expand their telescopic wideness countries and regions.

Pick the right time rather than the first opportunity

It reads like a textbook rule, but this is a fundamental principle that any merchantry founder needs to follow when planning their growth. Think very thoughtfully well-nigh the right time to expand internationally. Your staff, financials, and product all need to be in order, and you should ensure you have washed-up your market research thoroughly. 

One of the things I see most entrepreneurs get wrong is their budgeting. Do not underestimate the upkeep allocations required to expand in your new region and sustain growth in your home market. Your expansion should not come at the expense of the work you have once established. 

“Scaling is only difficult when you grow your organization like a tower instead of a city.” – Jurgen Appelo

Valuing partnerships

As entrepreneurs, we need to do largest at supporting our peers. Relationships between merchantry starters can be soured by various factors: jealousy of success, placing value only on the opportunities offered by leads or contacts, and lack of shared experiences once businesses have varying levels of success. 

However, it is important to understand that collaborations and partnerships can be extremely valuable in helping merchantry starters to overcome many hurdles they face, not only in terms of shared knowledge but as a therapeutic support network for a job that comes with a unique set of stresses and challenges. We need to work harder at towers each other up and rhadamanthine a valid resource of support.

Partnerships are moreover the most cost-effective way to scale and generate merchantry in my experience. My network has been instrumental in generating revenue at the whence and moreover during the pandemic, which was hair-trigger to us stuff worldly-wise to weather the storm and come out stronger.

Being an wiry business

If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that stability should not be taken for granted; the unshortened world can turn upside lanugo unsafely quickly. While businesses have continuity plans that indulge for a sense of preparedness, it is moreover vital to think flexibly and be unshut to pivoting quickly when a slipperiness strikes. Agility is the key to survival and scaling. 

Bass & Flinders Distillery in Australia is an spanking-new example of stuff agile, expressly in such trying times. This startup well-timed immediately to the circumstances of the pandemic, working first to produce hand sanitiser and then focussing on online sales and virtual tasting sessions to cater to a house-bound market. Through swift adaptations, they were worldly-wise to survive a pandemic that has been devastating for the hospitality industry. 

Understanding that each market is different

The importance of fully understanding the market where you intend to move cannot be understated. A product that works in one region will not necessarily work in another. Sometimes plush adjustments are needed. Other times you may need to diamond a completely new product to meet a similar market need. 

By their nature, businesses that are operating locally will have a deeper understanding of the local market. Expanding startups will need to grapple with this if they are to flourish in their new environment – remember success in your home market is no guarantee of success elsewhere.

Many of these challenges can be reduced by doing constructive research. Make sure you are getting information from well-judged sources and have conducted proper testing. 

Related to the previous point, it is crucial to have teams on the ground in all your operating locations wherever possible. We have teams in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and India- every single market where we have clients. These ground-based teams have proved invaluable in ensuring that we provide our clients in each market with a seamless service. I meet wontedly with each of these teams, (virtually or physically) to maintain our strong collaborative relationship.  

While there are cases of successful companies stuff worldly-wise to sell or provide services without stuff there in person, I find that in my wits and industry, having local knowledge and expertise is paramount. Trying to expand in countries without fully understand the local nuances is a rencontre and an expensive one at that.

“The gap between what’s expected and what you unhook is where the magic happens, in merchantry and in life.” – Jay Baer

Do not let irrelevant things hold you back

Sometimes it may seem that a lot of things need to be in order to get any startup running, let vacated expanding the merchantry wideness countries. This can be a stumbling woodcut of a lot of people who never unquestionably get their startup or merchantry off the ground.

To largest understand this, I spoke to a unconfined entrepreneur, Mathew Stillone, on my podcast Merchantry Over Drinks, well-nigh his protein empire that started off from a garage and now makes products for supermarket giants wideness the globe. Prioritize your focus on your product and generating sales. Learn to prioritize. Producing a solid product and making sales is far increasingly salient than realising your dream office space, for example. 

Expanding your small business into new markets can be an heady way to grow your business. Expansion to new markets can be daunting, but by ensuring you have the right product, budget, and have washed-up thorough research, you can set yourself up to prosper wideness multiple locations.