Post by Catherine Robinson.
This is my final post as Director at the Kiwi Landing Pad in San Francisco. Over the past two years, I have had the privilege of working with many great NZ tech companies and entrepreneurs. Their strategic focus on expansion is accelerating their success.
Successful NZ technology companies focus on expansion not exporting. Export-focused thinking cripples NZ technology companies.
Export-focused thinking was required for delicately negotiating NZ butter for Russian Ladas in the 80’s because there were overwhelming barriers to selling. Trade negotiators closed the deal and the producers were nowhere near the negotiation table and nowhere near their customers.
Successful companies are reversing this approach and focussing on “how do we expand?” and not “how do we export?” They don’t need trade delegations or someone to act on their behalf to expand into offshore markets. They don’t construct barriers to building relationships with their customers and building teams in market.
For software companies this is especially true - there is no reason to put anyone or anything between you and the opportunity to talk to a customer. Find customer prospects, jump on skype or NZ8 and fly to San Francisco to close the deal.
Expanding your business from NZ means addressing 3 key areas:
Is my product ready for the US market?
- Expansion-ready companies are market-focused. They began by defining their target market and segmenting the market to be narrow and deep. Get in front of your target customers and identify what features are required to sell to them. If you can’t sell your product or idea, then no one else can sell it for you.
- Don’t be a mile wide but an inch deep. You’re not ready if you are simply trying to peddle what you built for NZ customers to the bigger US market. Different markets have different requirements and you need to understand them.
Do we have the right capabilities?
- Injecting specialist capabilities and experience is critical. Places like the San Francisco Bay Area are an ideal place to find mentors, investors and employees to scale your operations. Key areas often missing from NZ tech companies are product managers, operations managers and specialist-marketing teams that include roles focused solely on growth.
- Make sure that you have a board that has experience in offshore markets. This is especially relevant for investment. As Xero expanded into new markets, they appointed board members with relevant experience. Spark recently appointed Ido Leffler to their board of directors. He brings his experience as a successful entrepreneur, sits on the United Nations Foundation Global Entrepreneur Council and he brings experience and thinking we need to see more of in NZ businesses from start ups through to corporates.
How do I build a network and ecosystem for expansion?
- New Zealand has an incredible global network of expats. KEA makes it easy to begin building an in-market network. They have even built an app for that - you can download it here.
- Build partnerships and strategic relationships that benefit both your company and your partners.
KLP was established to give New Zealand entrepreneurs the opportunity to test and develop products in the U.S. market. If you are ready to execute on your expansion plan, then prepare to land and expand.