CONNECTING OVER 100,000 cities from Brazil to India and everywhere in between, BlaBlaCar endeavours to be the world’s largest people-powered travel network. As you may have discovered in the previous story, Nicolas Brusson was adamant from the beginning that BlaBlaCar should expand internationally first and focus on profitability later.
Why?
Because in today’s world, being a national champion of a single market is not enough. People expect global solutions, and if you don’t provide it, somebody else will. This is especially true in Europe, which is fragmented across multiple local markets. Instead, Nicolas benchmarked the success stories of Skype, Spotify and SoundCloud, all of which projected themselves into international expansion from an early age.
Eliminating false assumptions is key to success
Launching your business in a country is never easy. That’s why one of BlaBlaCar’s core values “Never Assume. Always Check” is in place. It helps create the right mindset when expanding into new geographies. It also encourages everyone inside BlaBlaCar to always check everything they do to avoid hundreds of false assumptions being made on a daily basis. With the majority of assumptions tending to be based on beliefs, imaginations or past experiences, it’s often the case that these assumptions don’t lead to the truth. Instead, teams are advised to cross-check information, actively ask questions and clarify any doubts. By stopping and taking a few more steps before deciding on something means the trap of false assumptions will be avoided and decisions will be based on the right information.
When Brazil first popped up on the map as a possible new market to enter, the team discovered that there was no central train network in place. This could have easily lead to the assumption that with no trains available, it would be easy to launch BlaBlaCar. Instead, the team continued its investigative work and soon discovered that planes were the go-to mode of transport between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo with over 90 flights each day, and that there were also several different levels of bus services in place, ranging from basic comfort to luxurious coaches.
Rolling out into a new country takes passion and perseverance
Over the years, BlaBlaCar has built a playbook of recipes for success from previous country launches. Noting everything from failures to new methods, it’s not just a step-by-step guide but living knowledge between teammates. Although no rollout is ever the same, half of the methods can often be replicated from one country to the next.
One thing’s for sure, it takes hard work and diligence to do the necessary fieldwork, to weed out any false assumptions and to build a degree of confidence that the country in question is the right move for BlaBlaCar. Demographics and macroeconomics such as population size, number of cars in existence, and online behaviour play a huge role and act as relevant indicators. Then comes figuring out how attractive BlaBlaCar would be for drivers, taking into account their purchasing power and how expensive driving is. At the same time, the attractiveness for passengers are realised. Will BlaBlaCar be easy for them to use? Give them a means to travel affordably? Will they actually use it?
How did the team answer these tough questions? Read here.
