Companies that have business in foreign markets are worth much more than companies that only have customers domestically. Even just small export ratios can increase the value of a technology company more than ten times. Software companies typically commence international expansion before they are firmly settled in their domestic markets, before they have a professional management infrastructure in place and at a time where they can allocate only tiny budgets to the endeavour. Going Global on a Shoestring is a handbook for the executives and business developers in small and medium sized software-companies (20-200 employees) that lay out the strategies for global expansion as well as perform the actual field work with winning the first customers abroad. It is a book about how to get the first customers outside your domestic market. We could call it establishing the bridgehead or building the foundation for further growth. Getting the foundation in place and then scaling it to market leadership are two very different tasks. This book is mainly about the first task and not so much about the other. The book is based on Everett M. Rodger’s principles around Diffusion of Innovations, Alexander Osterwalder’s business model framework, thirty case software industry stories and the author’s personal experience with growing companies from incubation to global market leadership. It provides a practical approach to international expansion, when you cannot afford making big mistakes.
