How to Successfully Scale a Business Globally
EdTechX Panel Spotlight — Shared Experiences from EdTech Leaders
Startup teams attending the EdTechX Summit in June this year were given the opportunity to learn from senior leaders behind three global success stories in EdTech, as they shared tips and tricks on how to successfully scale a business globally. Laura Warnier, Chief Growth Officer at GoStudent, Cicy Ding, Co-Founder of WuKong Education Group and Meti Basiri, Co-Founder of ApplyBoard joined EdTech consultant, Jonathan Viner for this enlightening session.
We have pulled together some of the key takeaways below.
Hire the right people who share the same vision and value
This was the overarching message from the panellists when asked how they drive growth. Companies should look to recruit skilled problem solvers aligned to the company’s mission and values, people who are ambitious and competitive but also collaborative. Meti Basiri of ApplyBoard advocates the ‘Three Ps’ — People. Process. Persistence. “You need the right people in the right seat. You need the right processes and the persistence and passion behind what you do,” he said.
Have a culturally diverse team
When entering new markets, having a diverse team with international backgrounds is hugely beneficial. This enables a deeper understanding of target markets and cultures while diversifying perspectives and ideas that foster innovation. ‘Work hard. Play hard’, said Laura Warnier from EdTechX Scaleup Award winner, GoStudent. In her experience, innovation happens outside of the daily work environment through collaboration between colleagues of different backgrounds, competences and expertise. She added that a culturally diverse and multi-lingual team is also an advantage when recruiting localized teams across different countries.
Play to your strengths
When deciding which markets to target, one approach, initially, can be to base this on internal resources and strengths, such as language and culture knowledge — it’s easier to launch a product in a language you are confident in or a culture you are familiar with. Other considerations might also include where the highest spend on education is or where there is the strongest appetite for your product. As the company begins to expand, a more structured and sustainable growth strategy can be implemented.
Centralise all core functions to reduce costs
Centralising the core company operations enables companies to manage global market costs more effectively, explained Cicy Ding of Wukong Education. Once a successful recipe has been established for the core product, it can then be duplicated in other countries by means of localised teams without disregarding local cultures.
Listen to your employees and customers
Continuously adapt and upgrade your product according to what your customers and employees are telling you. Not only does this approach help with finding product market-fit, it creates a high renewal and referral rate and subsequently low customer acquisition costs leading to more sustainable growth.
Watch the full panel session recording here*
*To access the recorded sessions, summit ticket holders can log in using their registered email address. Non-ticket holders can purchase the 2022 OD Content Pass to access all the session recordings from the 2022 EdTechX Summit.
