🚀 The Secret to Entering a New Market...

Hi there,

From strong brands to operational efficiency and strategic expansion, we’re here to add value at every stage of your innovation journey:

1. Startup Phase

2. Growth Phase

3. Scale/Sale Phase

Building a Strong Brand Identity

Marty Neumeier, who literally wrote all the best books on branding, says a brand is not your logo, your product, or the promises you make. Your brand is what sticks in the customer’s head after they engage with all or parts of your business. So building a good brand means paying attention to every single part of your business – from product to your team’s internal culture – and asking: Does this make people feel the way I want them to feel?

Get Your MVP Right

Your Minimum Viable Product is not a mini version of your final solution. It’s the simplest, fastest solution you can 1) get in front of customers to 2) get their feedback so you can 3) iterate on the product and 4) learn which final product to build. This means you’ll need to be able to edit your MVP on the fly. To speed up the process, see the benefits of low-code development.

The Single Most Important Startup Step

Customer Discovery is 1) creating a hypothesis: a certain market needs a certain solution, then 2) testing the hypothesis: checking if the market has that problem and will pay for the solution. Step 3) is interviewing some people and 4) is reviewing your hypothesis. But, as serial founder Bill Gross shows in this amazing TED Talk, timing is the No 1 biggest factor to startup success, meaning you should take extra care at Step 2 and be really honest with yourself about whether this market is truly ready for your solution.

Starting up? We’ve helped over 100+ startups build great things – hit reply and we’ll show you how…

Optimising Operations for Efficiency

Going from startup to 150 staff taught Leverage founder and CEO Nick Sonnenberg a few tricks on efficiency, including 1) fine-tuning your most efficient processes and systems and 2) documenting it all in an internal wiki, focusing on making 3) retrieval of information and processes simple and easy – it helps new hires catch up faster. Also 4) use tools like Slack, Meets, etc. but 5) differentiate clearly between communication, planning, and resource tools.

Expanding Into New Markets

Forbes Agency Council member Lion Shirdan says that appealing to new markets for your product(s) starts with 1) reviewing your current vision and mission to gauge what’s working and what isn’t before you leap. Then it’s onto 2) creating an expansion strategy, which could include 3) a strategic collaboration, and then 4) taking it one step at a time – Netflix didn’t start producing its own content, it figured out distribution first, so baby steps work.

Leveraging Analytics for Product Growth

To build more engagement the data-driven way, focus on analysing 1) your user retention rates with cohort analyses, so you can see when and where each kind of user drops off and fix it; 2) comparing the retention and engagement levels from between users from different sources, so you learn to user-match and pool resources better. Also, 4) set up tracking for usage of each of your features, so you can iterate, simplify, or remove what’s not working. See 9 ways to use analytics to boost your engagement.

Need some insights on going from startup to scale-up? We crossed that revenue threshold a while ago so hit reply if you need some insider insights into growth and momentum…

Building a Resilient Business Model

True resilience is not just weathering the storm says Simon Sinek, it’s actually coming out of dark days better and stronger. When a global air-travel ban on Victorinox’s only product put them under pressure they 1) had stored up immense cash reserves, 2) standing deals for employee safe havens and 3) they invested their own money heavily in diversified products, creating entirely new product ranges.

Strategies for Global Market Entry

Successfully entering new global markets is not just about being able to deliver your product to new regions says CEO and Forbes Business Council’s Salvador Ordorica. You have to employ a measure of cultural intelligence, like Apple and McDonalds who both employ a localised approach in new markets. Look for licensing, franchising, joint ventures, acquisition or merger opportunities and even creating subsidiaries that employ locals in the regions you want to branch out to.

Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

Most companies make the mistake of jumping too fast into “vanity partnerships” that don’t last or don’t equate to a good use of your time. Building solid partnerships starts with 1) figuring out what your own value is – what your company brings to the world – and then finding 2) a partner that can benefit from and contribute to that value before 3) signing any deals. For example, with tech advancing at its current pace, we believe that any and every company should partner with an external digital consultant to ensure it remains relevant.

Looking to expand and create a global footprint? We raised funding and officially joined a network including the likes of Meta and Spotify in 2023. Hit reply if you’d like to know how…

Have your say

What’s happening at Specno

We're kicking off our 2024 community events calendar with a hike at Kloof Corner! Meet fellow tech enthusiasts in Cape Town and grow your network while getting in a few extra steps at the start of the year.

📅 When – 18 January
⛰️ Where – Kloof Corner Trail (we'll meet at the start of the trail: second parking lot on your left after the first hairpin bend on Tafelberg Road.
⏰ Time – 17:45, starting at 18:00 sharp
👟 Easy to moderate hike
🎁 The first 30 arrivals get a special goodie bag
🔥 Totally free –  just bring yourself!

Let us know you’re joining by following this link.

See you there!

Hit reply if you think this Specno123 hit or missed the mark, tell us what you’d like to see or hear more of and, just in general, what would really add value to your journey…

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