Starting up in the USA: How Kiwi companies can fly, Part 2 đłđż đ
US Market Readiness, Part 2 of 3
Honestly, Iâve had âproduct/market fitâ and its importance lectured at me about a billion times. I promise this isnât that standard lecture but there are a few things I learned from our American customers on this that were super valuable.
The US is our biggest market, so we made changes to give ourselves closer likeness to them. For example, terminology: any foreign words or spelling could take them out of the smooth user experience youâre trying to create. I even changed all the words on our product and website to American-English, as reluctant as I was.
But if we wanted to fit into the US market, we had to be adaptable, we had to be chameleons.
How to achieve great product/market fit in the USA
1. Remember: the customerâs experience is the product
Most software developers, especially technical founders, will tell you that the software is the product.
It is but itâs so much more than code.
Lines of code are certainly helpful to build the platform which supports their work and lifestyle but thatâs not what people want from you.
Thereâs a saying that âpeople donât buy products, they buy a better version of themselvesâ and that is absolutely true no matter what it is that youâre trying to sell to the masses.
When we buy a car, what weâre actually buying is social status or the efficiency of âgetting from A to Bâ easily. When we buy a toothpaste, what weâre really buying is confidence with the sold promise of a whiter, brighter smile. Regardless of what you have built, you need to be sure what the experience is that people are buying from you, and you can find that by looking into deeply into what your own customers are experiencing.
The very thing that makes us human is our capacity to think and feel. Our every day decisions are driven and measured by how much we feel about something, from âI feel hungryâ to âThis doesnât feel rightâ. A customerâs experience is emotional and they will support you or leave you based on how you make them feel.
Having a customer experience strategy (CX) will improve the experience youâre designing. When I ran marketing for a SaaS platform, I was relentless in making sure we knew all of our customers expectations and underserved needs so we could meet them better than anyone else and earn their loyalty â and it worked: we lost zero subscriptions for our for first two-years of business. And the one subscription we lost, we eventually gained back.
Collect proof of that experience with testimonials, case studies and reviews, because using evidence to support your marketing claims will de-risk their decision to take a chance on you, which will help build your presence in market a lot faster.
People donât buy products, they buy a better version of themselves â remember that.
2. Listen to your customers and take action
People praise Steve Jobs for his innovation and the way he didnât listen to his customers. He said,
âItâs really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people donât know what they want until you show it to them.â
Henry Ford was the same. He said,
âIf I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.â
I believe thereâs a measure of truth in what theyâre saying. However, remember that you are not Steve Jobs or Apple and that your company and your customers needs are unique.
If you donât pay attention to what your customers are saying, then you will be completely out of alignment with your market and no longer relevant to their needs, so they will go elsewhere (and you will be v. v. sad).
Some feedback might not actually be practical for your softwareâs purpose. So itâs up to you to take what is being said, analyse it and make it fit for purpose.
The great thing about customers in the US is that they are very communicative and you can always rely on them to tell you the truth about the service theyâre getting. For that reason they also make great advocates, leading you to new customers. But also, in the age of the internet, bad feedback about your product can damage your reputation, which can be very hard to claw your way back from.
In the early days of Syngency, we had a product that was aesthetically pleasing but the experience was a bit clunky. It definitely worked but not as well as it could have been. Our early customers were vocal about the experience we were delivering and it wasnât to their standard, which was completely fair.
We needed to be more in sync with our customers, I decided to integrate our platform with Intercom, a customer intelligence tool, which was life changing for our customers who were used to having their support tickets and emails ignored by our competitors. Now our customer conversations are instant.
I took this as an opportunity as a marketer to listen and learn. What was it they were feeling, finding out where were their needs not being met and prioritising that so we did deliver on our promise. And from doing that, we had a lot of customers tell us how much they appreciated being listened to, which was validated by our actions.
Using your customer feedback, focus on what their visible needs are, what their underlying needs are and what their ambitions are. Get that data, put it into analysis and funnel it into your product development and roadmap early.
3. Keep building and nurturing your network
At its heart, networking is about our need for human connection and how we develop relationships with other people and support them.
Humans are still very tribal and we would not make it far on our own and thatâs a fact, so you need to be willing to extend yourself to help others and in turn, know when to ask for help.
The beauty of real networking is that itâs about giving and building a community, not hounding someone for what theyâre good for.
Donât be that person who only ever comes to you when they want something. Make an effort to check in, go for coffee and take genuine interest in that personâs wellbeing. When they need your help, be prepared to offer it and theyâll do the same.
When we pitched at BNZ Startup Alley 2015 and won free flights to San Francisco, we landed there knowing hardly anyone. Having the Kiwi Landing Pad as a place to call home and building relationships with the team at NZTE was essential to our entry in North America. If it wasnât for building strong relationships, we wouldnât have been able to get our brand on a building in Times Square without any ad spend (thank you, Jon Davies!).
Even if you donât have any customers, think of a strategic, grounded way to introduce yourself to the customers you do want and start building your relationship with them.
To build a solid network means investing time and energy into your relationships. You need a strong network of supporters who will help you on your mission to grow.
Build your network but also nurture it.
4. Get to the USA
Americans are very personable. They love to be able to pick up the phone and call you if they need you. They also love being able to meet you for a coffee whether itâs for business or to shoot the breeze (thatâs North American for having a âcasual conversationâ).
Itâs very hard to build relationships when youâre all the way in New Zealand. It is possible to maintain those relationships from afar but you do need to be able to give them face time in the US, at least 3 times a year, if possible.
There are temporary visas you can apply for that will help your entry into the USA as a visitor.
Thereâs the Visa Waiver Program which allows you to travel to the USA for 90 days or less.
Thereâs also the B-1/B-2 visitor visa for people traveling to the United States temporarily for business (B-1) or for pleasure or medical treatment (B-2) for up to 6 months per year. You have to prove your business has significant market interest in the US.
For the B-1 visitor visa, the details on supporting documents that you have to provide in your interview is vague as they leave that completely up to you. You just need to prove what makes you unique to do business there. I definitely recommend doing your own research into what visas you are eligible for.
Once you get to the US itâs time to hit the ground running and your next steps will be crucial. In the next piece Iâll share with you how to do that and make the most of your time there.
