While the network was very helpful getting these startups together and introduced to investors, it wasn’t clear how and when these startups tested their “going global” hypotheses.
No one had written the playbook.
Building a Regional Startup Playbook
What’s been missing from regions outside of Silicon Valley is a “playbook.” In American football a playbook contains a sports team’s strategies and plays. It struck me that every region needs its own industry playbook on how to compete globally. For Australian sports startups, a playbook might lay out in detail the following steps:
Build minimal viable products and test product/market fit in Australia
Identify activities/resources/partners locally and then globally
Get seed funding in Australia
Trip 1 to China to understand manufacturing landscape, potential partners and rough cost of goods
Trip 2 to the U.S. to understand distribution channel landscape, potential partners and rough cost of customer acquisition
Test product/market fit in the U.S.
Trip 3 to China, pick manufacturing partner, start low volume production
Test channel and demand creation activities in the U.S.
Trip 4 to the U.S. Establish U.S. sales office
Trip 5 to the U.S. to get Series A funding in the U.S.
Each industry in a region should develop a playbook that expands and details the strategy and tactics of how to build a scalable startup. When a playbook is shared through regional collaborations (like the Australian Sports Techn Network,) entrepreneurs can jumpstart their efforts by sharing experience instead of inventing the wheel each time a new startup is launched. Now all they need is a playbook. As markets mature, and investors and the ecosystem become collectively smarter, the playbook will change over time.
Lessons Learned
A scalable startup typically requires a local population >100 million people
If your country doesn’t have that you need to be born global
Your country/industry needs a “go global” playbook
About the Author
Steve Blank is a retired serial entrepreneur-turned-educator who changed how startups are built and how entrepreneurship is taught. He created the Customer Development methodology that launched the lean startup movement, and wrote about the process in his first book, The Four Steps to the Epiphany. His second book, The Startup Owner's Manual, is a step-by-step guide to building a successful company. Blank teaches the Customer Development methodology in his Lean LaunchPad classes at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, Columbia University and the National Science Foundation. He writes regularly about entrepreneurship at https://www.steveblank.com.