Read the full script of Module 2, Episode 8 of the Global Growth Master Class below. Want to get certified on global expansion? Simply click here to access the complete course today.

BlaBlaCar, the world’s largest carpooling platform offers a great example of how to think global from early on in the life of a company. Described simply, Frédéric Mazzella, BlaBla’s founder, had the Vision of Global Class Companies, building the company for two markets. When you create a business with a single market in mind, you build bias into the foundation of the business and hard code the way things are done in the first market into the company’s DNA.

When you deliberately build with another market in mind, you consider the nuances of localization and you architect your product, procedures, and culture to resonate more universally. Not only does this help with growth in the first international market you expand to, but it helps you scale faster as you enter other new markets, since the localization process is less painful, as your business is less entrenched in a particular method of operation.

It's important to note that having a "build for two" approach doesn't necessarily mean launching in both markets simultaneously

Instead, it means considering more than one market when building the company. BlaBlaCar’s initial market was France, but the company also built the business with the Spanish market in mind. This was a core aspect of the company’s view of Talent, not just hiring strong French candidates, but looking beyond France’s borders from early on.

The company’s early team members not only came from France, but also from Spain, as the native Spanish staff moved to France to work in the company’s HQ. All team members had a strong command of the English language, mitigating any potential communication challenges. The company placed a deliberate emphasis on hiring individuals from markets they intended to enter in the future. This proactive hiring strategy allowed the team to gain a more profound understanding of the target market before the actual launch.

Then, after the company scaled in France, the team focused on the Spanish market and the Spanish employees moved back to Spain, where they used their native knowledge and the flexibility from this “build for two markets” strategy to succeed there. BlaBlaCar’s HQ adopted more of an enabler and supporter role, versus the legacy command and control mindset. This enabled the company to more rapidly localize BlaBlaCar for many more global markets as it expanded, with the company taking the hallmark Strategy of Global Class Companies, finding the Local Way of growing in new markets.

The company’s original brand name was Covoiturage, which means “carpooling” in French, to create a frame of reference for what the company did. This would have been an ideal name if Frédéric’s goal had been to build a company just for the French market. However, when Frédéric shifted his focus to building a business for two markets, he realized that the name "Covoiturage" wouldn't resonate with audiences outside of France. As a result, the company adopted the more universal name "BlaBlaCar," which transcends languages better.

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Global Class Companies like BlaBlaCar start thinking about building a diverse talent pipeline from the outset and consider what markets they could envision entering in the future. Even employee onboarding emphasizes the organization’s role in the world as a global citizen and contributor to society.

Case Study, Global Class Mindset - Canva

Canva offers a great example of how to implement and scale the Global Class Mindset across a diverse, global footprint. Let’s review the main pillars of the Global Class Mindset: vision, team-building, role of headquarters, strategy, and two-way innovation, through the lens of Canva.

Vision

Canva's mission is to empower people worldwide to design. This mission resonates in the company's design, empowering employees, customers, and other stakeholders.

The company set the bold goal of translating its product and platform (along with customized templates) into one hundred languages within one year. While it took a bit less than two years to reach this goal, the global scope of the initiative and the work the company did to support a multilingual platform paid dividends in building a global customer base and in keeping the team’s focus on running a company with a global mindset.

Team-Building

The founding team, including Melanie Perkins, who came from a diverse background; she’s the child of an Australian-born teacher and Malaysian engineer of Sri Lankan and Filipino descent prioritized the value of a diverse team. 

Canva has built a decentralized organization, with team members spread across different geographies, to encourage global interactions and cross-pollination of ideas. The company is culturally conscious and diverse, with over 70 languages spoken at its Sydney headquarters. Canva's leadership believes that hiring employees from different countries from the beginning reduces the risk of conflicts when entering new markets.

The platform was designed to be easily localized, with customized templates and imagery for each market. Canva leverages local market expertise and promotes leaders from within the local markets, which was a key factor in the company's success in building its team in the Philippines.

The Role of Headquarters

Canva redefined the traditional notion of a "headquarters" and established a unique interaction model between its central office and local market presence. The company aimed to break down barriers and foster inclusiveness by spreading pivotal functions across multiple countries and encouraging virtual interaction between globally dispersed teams. To support this, Canva removed "HQ" from its Slack channel names and introduced the concept of "hubs" to connect team members in virtual clusters. This model fosters inclusiveness, facilitates knowledge sharing, and drives innovation through multi-directional lines of communication within the organization.

Strategy

Canva has effectively balanced the need for speed and efficiency in executing its global vision by leveraging diversity and decentralization. This has resulted in a reduction of complexity while maintaining progress. The company shifted the role of its headquarters to enable distributed teams and embraced a local strategy for finding traction and scale, which has contributed to its success.
Canva has been able to execute on its focused global vision by leveraging a diverse pool of talent, shifting the role of HQ to enable distributed teams, and enacting a strategy that seeks the local way of finding traction and scale.

NOTE: Don't miss out on the next episode! If you want to continue learning about global expansion strategies and dive deeper into the course material, simply click here to access Module 2, Episode 9 of the Global Growth Master Class.