Read the full script of Module 6, Episode 1 of the Global Growth Master Class below. Want to get certified on global expansion? Simply click here to access the complete course today.

Now that you’ve validated your organization’s readiness for global expansion, and validated the market opportunity through traditional market research and Localization Discovery, it’s time to translate your learnings about the market into a concrete market entry strategy.

The key to doing this is to use the global flavor of the lean methodology, the Global Agile Methodology, to guide you through each crucial step in the Global Agile MODEL, the methodology’s step-by-step process that takes a company from global aspirations to global scale.

This methodology, as introduced in Module 4, helps companies navigate the complexities of localizing for multiple markets, and has also been endorsed by lean methodology titans, Eric Ries, Steve Blank, and Alex Osterwalder.

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The key to this step of the Market Readiness Stage of the Global Agile process, which we refer to as “LOCALIZATION HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT” is to transform your learnings learned from the market research and Localization Discovery processes into the hypotheses for how the company will successfully operate in the new global market.

As we discussed in Module 4, the Lean or Agile methodology is an important aspect of effective global expansion initiatives, and the global flavor of the methodology, the Global Agile Methodology, properly adapts the model to account for the nuances of growth in multiple diverse markets across a global footprint.

Let’s discuss the methodology in a bit more detail and how it differs from the standard lean/agile methodology.

Instead of thinking about the Customer Development Model and the Lean Methodology as a process to go through once, in the quest to find product-market fit, they accurately see it as a process the team must complete over and over again, for each country they launch in. Global Class Company leaders see this global agile methodology as a process they repeatedly go through to build expertise around expanding in new markets, building the muscles, and the internal capabilities to efficiently navigate the process.

Many of the core tenets are the same: comfort with uncertainty and ambiguity, measuring progress not just based on revenue and profit - but based on uncovering key learnings (especially localizations), hypothesis testing and iterating quickly are key – as is prioritizing iterations and pivoting based on key insights instead of strict adherence to roadmaps, while other aspects are different. So how do you need to adapt lean/agile principles to work better in a global context?

Here is a brief breakdown of how some of the major tenets of the Lean/Agile Methodology must be adapted to fit the global context.

1. Customer RE-Discovery and RE-Validation - Revisit the Customer Development Process - By the time they start looking toward global markets for growth, most companies have reached Company Building stage of the Customer Development Model (although the next generation of companies is starting to enter global markets sooner). When going global you need to go back to Customer Discovery, more like a Customer RE-Discovery, and repeat different elements of the process, but layer in all the complexities that come along with localization, an extra dimensions that requires a different mix of solutions for every single country.

2. Initial Market Product-Market Fit as an MVP for new markets - In our research, we found that many companies who have effectively expanded internationally think of their current initial market Product-Market Fit as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for a new market (either directly through using the MVP label or in mindset). Mentally doing this releases you from feeling like you have to shove a square peg in a round hole, so to speak, working tirelessly to make the current product and operating model fit exactly as is in a new market.

3. The Interpreneurial Mindset - During localization discovery, strategy development, and market entry, team members with customer development skills (a growth mindset, the base of the Interpreneurial pyramid) are important, similar to with the Lean/Agile methodology. For the global context, however, you need team members with the company mindset and the cultural mindset of the Interpreneurial mindset outlined in Module 3. Moreover, having team members with local knowledge makes utilizing the global agile methodology more effective than leveraging a team with with deep functional expertise, since many questions need to be answered about the localizations required for the market.

4. In-Market Observations - The agile mindset relies on observations over opinions. While customer survey data can be valuable, observed behaviors are much more powerful and useful. Observations are particularly important in an international context because solutions in other countries can be different than what is customary in your validated market (which is why the Localization Discovery process is so crucial and necessary to uncovering these insights)

5. Complexity Management – The biggest difference between the lean methodology and the Global Agile methodology is the scope. It’s not just about finding product-market fit in 1 market, it’s about thinking about finding traction and success in multiple markets and doing so with a model that can be scaled when building a global footprint. The key to doing this that is outside of the typical context of the standard lean/agile methodology is managing the complexity that comes with operating all these disparate models. The Global Agile Methodology and its localization frameworks that you will learn about in this and the next video will help you find Company-Market Fit in global markets and manage the complexity of operating in many countries at once

In this module, you will learn about how to take insights from you market research and localization discovery and turn them into plans for localizing in new markets.

What questions will this module answer?

This module will help you and your team answer the following questions:

• How do you need to adapt lean/agile principles to work better in a global context?

• What aspects of your business should you consider localizing?

• What do you do with the insights you uncover during market research and localization discovery?

• How do you turn these insights into an actionable plan to find traction in the market more quickly?

   

Why does what is discussed in this module matter?

Without a full picture of the extent of localization required to gain traction and succeed in new markets, companies are at risk of making the wrong market selection, and approaching the localization process wrong, leading them to waste time and money, and often fail at expanding.

Here is what we have seen with companies on their expansion journeys:

This is the step where many company’s expansion efforts begin to splinter and get disjointed. Even though teams should be waiting to make a final market selection decision until an additional step is completed (which we will discuss in the next module), many teams make their decisions after researching a market and start embarking on the process of implementing localizations for that market.

Department tends to fracture with marketing, sales, product, and all the other functions retreating to their silos to work on their respective localizations – with some departments giving more priority to international expansion than others. Instead, we have seen the effectiveness of a more centralized approach. Not only does it help uncover and consider the extent of localizations the market requires, but it also brings to light localizations that would have been overlooked or deprioritized.

What risks exist if you aren’t mindful of this aspect of global growth?

One of the main reasons international expansion initiatives fail, as outlined in Module 1, apply here.

#5. Not revisiting customer development and the agile methodology when localizing. It is during this step that the Legacy Mindset can surface. Companies start to believe, as a whole (but often more likely) in part, that the Company Way of doing things will work in other markets. If a company rushes through the process of analyzing prospective localizations it can lead companies to think that as aspect of how the company operates in the initial market can successfully function in the new market.

Another potential risk is letting localization be driven by just one function. As you will learn in this module, there are 6 different areas of localization and if one department or just a few departments take part in the Localization Hypothesis Development Process (or in Localization Discovery, for that matter), there is a risk that the company will overemphasize the localizations for that function, and overlooked required localizations for others.

If, for example, the product team leads the localization discovery and/or localization hypothesis process, then most of the focus will be on product changes – which is only natural. Product understands the product and doesn’t understand legal or sales or infrastructure and supply chain to the same level that the company does. That means when interacting with stakeholders they may not ask the right questions or identify required localizations that a more trained eye in that area would. Similarly, if the product is then determining what the model will look like in the new country, they may not get the other 5 areas localizations exactly right.

After you complete this module you will be able to take possibly insights that are uncovered during Localization Discovery and turn them into a structured list of localizations to be tested and iterated on in the market once you launch.

  
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 6, Episode 2 of the Global Growth Master Class.