She leads her firm’s expansion in 3 countries, shares how to launch in a new market

On May 4, Tech in Asia City Chapters (Hong Kong) organized the second founders’ meetup and discussed growth and regional expansion with our panelists from Lalamove, KKday, and Wantedly—three different startups with different philosophies, business models, and rates of market expansion.

This is the first of a series of interviews I’ll be conducting with founders and business development heads to find out their tips and tricks that help their startups cross borders.

Tech in Asia City Chapter (Hong Kong) second founders’ meetup.

First up is Joelle Pang, regional launcher at Wantedly.

Japan-based Wantedly is a platform connecting companies and talent based on passion and interests. It currently has 22,000 companies onboard and 1.5 million monthly active users.

In March 2015, the company expanded into Indonesia with a foreign language version of its service. It established its first overseas office in Singapore in March 2017 and is currently expanding into Hong Kong as well.

Regional launcher of Wantedly, Joelle Pang.

What kind of research is done before you enter a new market?

“The strength of the tech and innovation scene in the market helps us to measure how mature talent is. We also study the proportion of the millennial workforce and how quickly talent is transiting between jobs. This indicates the current level of job satisfaction amongst millennials. Another thing that is important is also some sense of how receptive clients are to trying new technologies and methods of accomplishing work outcomes.”

How do you allocate resources to each new market?

“Resources are typically allocated based on the potential of the market (growth, profitability, and contribution to brand presence or value), growth momentum, and also the stage of the market development it is at.”

What’s your first priority entering Singapore/Hong Kong?

“Building the right team that embodies the company’s culture and vision is always the first priority. You need the right team to go far. Next would be to gain initial traction with the companies (supply side), who embody great company culture and provide a wide range of jobs for our end users.”

What kind of challenges did you face with a new market?

“The biggest challenge is always in the localization process. Launching a new market is like starting a new startup. You need to be open-minded to the fact that no matter how much research you have done prior to entering the market, being on the ground will mean that you gain a lot of new insights that you need to be agile enough to adapt to.”

Do you need to change your product/internal processes for different markets?

“Definitely! While the nature of technology startups is that it offers a platform/product that allows for scalability and, hence, growth to new markets, successful expansion still relies heavily on execution. The core product doesn’t change, as it’s intrinsically tied to the mission and vision of the company.

“For example, relationships are extremely important in Hong Kong, so our sales cycle becomes a lot more customer service-driven, and a lot more resources are allocated to ensure customer success.”

How do you manage teams in different markets?

How do you hire a good country manager?

If you can’t find the right manager, can you still enter a new market?