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<\/a><\/p>\nHere’s what I see happen over and over again: Teams think they\u2019re being global, but they\u2019re still defaulting to the comfort of their home market. Proximity bias and familiarity creep in quietly, and the playbook that worked so well at home suddenly stops delivering.<\/p>\n
At HubSpot, I introduced the idea of going \u201cglobal-first,\u201d a mantra we repeated often. The idea was straightforward: stop treating international as an afterthought, because the tactics that work in your home market rarely carry you into the next one. The mindset has to evolve from the start.<\/p>\n
So, where do teams go wrong with international expansion, and what should they be doing instead? Let\u2019s break it down.<\/p>\n
Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n One of the first hurdles I see in global expansion is surprisingly simple. People don\u2019t speak the same language about what they\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n Before teams can even talk strategy, they need a shared vocabulary. Too often, people use terms like translation, localization, and globalization interchangeably, as if they mean the same thing. They don\u2019t, and confusing them leads to wasted money and misaligned expectations.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how I break it down:<\/p>\n These distinctions matter because what appears to be a simple \u201clocalization problem\u201d is often something much deeper. I’ve watched teams waste months trying to fix translation issues. Meanwhile, the real problem was a missing market strategy. Once everyone understands what these terms actually mean, you stop throwing money at the wrong things.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Companies continue to make the same mistakes when they expand internationally. Once you understand the framework above, these become obvious.<\/p>\n Most leaders understand product-market fit, but few think about go-to-market fit. Just because you see website traffic from another country doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s a business opportunity there.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen multiple companies assume it was time to invest in India after seeing traffic spikes from the country. But when we looked closer, those visitors weren\u2019t willing to pay U.S. prices, we didn\u2019t accept rupees, and we had no local payment processing. Traffic didn\u2019t equal opportunity. Without adjusting pricing and infrastructure, there was no go-to-market fit.<\/p>\n At HubSpot, we ran into the same issue when launching our CRM<\/a> in Latin America. The product resonated, but HubSpot hadn\u2019t adjusted pricing for local economies, so only enterprise buyers could afford it. Product-market fit existed, but go-to-market fit was limited to the wealthiest segment.<\/p>\n When HubSpot rolled out changes to our partner program, someone asked me to localize an announcement email into Japanese. It seemed simple at first, but upon reviewing the email, we noticed it included several links pointing to dependent assets, including a video, 10 blog posts, seven web pages, and more.<\/p>\n What appeared to be a straightforward job turned out to be a localization project that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n So, I asked the obvious question: How many partners do we have in Japan? Turns out, fewer than 10, and they were all in Tokyo. Instead of this big, elaborate campaign, we just invited them to our Tokyo office to walk them through the changes in person. It was less work for everyone and a better fit for a culture that values face-to-face relationships.<\/p>\n I ran into a similar challenge with our website.<\/p>\n When we were expanding to Japan, people wanted to translate our entire U.S. website. But our U.S. site was built for a market where we\u2018re already established. We\u2019re a public company that people know. In Japan? Nobody had heard of us. Why would we need this complex site with all our partner integrations and advanced features when people didn’t even know who we were yet?<\/p>\n I found the playbook that works for a market leader doesn\u2019t make sense when you\u2019re just planting roots in a new region.<\/p>\n Another mistake is assuming that teams have to localize every asset for every market. This mindset often leads to sprawling projects that drain time and money without making much difference to local buyers. In reality, a handful of high-value assets usually cover most customer needs.<\/p>\n I always encourage teams to ask what\u2019s essential at this stage in the market. Initially, it may be just a clear landing page, pricing guidance, or localized onboarding materials. You don\u2019t need to mirror your entire U.S. website or replicate every blog post to build credibility in a new region.<\/p>\n Translation isn\u2019t just about words. What matters is whether the message lands with people in another culture.<\/p>\n When HubSpot entered the Japanese market, we realized our CRM lacked a crucial feature for the region: business card scanning. In Japan, business cards are central to professional relationships, and every local CRM offers business card scanning. To succeed, we partnered with Sansan to integrate this capability into HubSpot.<\/p>\n I still have a box of Japanese business cards from that time. I never had cards for the U.S. market, but I absolutely needed them for Japan because proper presentation matters so much there. That small but telling detail illustrates how adaptation goes beyond language.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Knowing what not to do is just the beginning. The real challenge is building something that actually works.<\/p>\n When I joined HubSpot, one of the first things I realized was that global thinking needed to be part of daily decision-making. To make it stick, I started calling it \u201cglobal-first\u201d and brought it up constantly \u2014 in meetings, on our company wiki, and whenever I talked to executives.<\/p>\n I invited colleagues who cared about international growth to act as ambassadors and help spread the word. We even set up a Slack channel for our \u201cglobal-first\u201d community, so people across offices could connect and share ideas.<\/p>\n Eventually, people started using the phrase without me having to push it. New employees would hear it from their teammates and start saying it too. That’s when I knew it was becoming an integral part of how we worked.<\/p>\n What you call it doesn’t really matter. What matters is making global thinking a fundamental part of how your company operates. At HubSpot, we used \u201cglobal-first,\u201d but I\u2019ve also seen other companies adopt phrases like \u201cglobal-ready\u201d or \u201cthink global.\u201d<\/p>\n Even small companies can benefit by doing this early. The sooner you set global thinking as a norm, the more naturally it grows with the business.<\/p>\n Each new market is like starting a small business inside your company. You don\u2019t have brand recognition, customer stories, or established partners yet. Success depends on staying close to customers. That means talking with them often, listening carefully, and letting their feedback guide your next steps.<\/p>\n Start simple, move quickly, build relationships, and grow from the ground up.<\/p>\n If I could give only one piece of advice, it would be to hire people who bring an international perspective. They might have lived abroad, speak several languages, or grown up in a multicultural household. Equally important is curiosity about other cultures.<\/p>\n Build this into your job descriptions and hiring practices. Make it a requirement, not just a nice-to-have. We don\u2019t talk about international diversity nearly enough, but it has a tangible impact on growth. People with global mindsets naturally make decisions that strengthen global strategy.<\/p>\n Local teams are closest to the customer, yet their voices often get drowned out by headquarters. You have to be intentional about amplifying them.<\/p>\n At HubSpot, we created two programs to address this:<\/p>\n These informal connections are crucial. When people have personal relationships across markets, they’re more likely to consider global implications in their daily decisions.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t let aspiration cloud reality. I always advise teams to be honest about their current market position. Are people even aware you exist? Are they considering you but haven’t made a purchase yet? Or are you already established and just trying to optimize your operations?<\/p>\n Your tactics need to match that reality, not where you wish you were.<\/p>\n You can only do so much with marketing changes. Sometimes, you actually need to change your product to fit how people work in different countries. This could involve accepting local payment methods, integrating with widely used software, or adjusting your workflows to align with local business practices.<\/p>\n In a lot of Asian markets, who you know matters more than what your product does. You need government approval and the right introductions. Beyond that, people have to believe you\u2018re in it for the long haul. American companies often miss this because we\u2019re used to more transactional relationships. Getting the right partnerships can make or break your entry into these markets.<\/p>\n There are shortcuts to going global, especially for small businesses. Instead of building presence in each country from scratch, you can use platforms where customers already are. Launch on Amazon or Etsy for instant reach across multiple countries, or tap into partner ecosystems like the HubSpot App Marketplace<\/a>.<\/p>\n One company I advised, Lottie Dolls<\/a> in Ireland, used this approach to reach customers worldwide and get distribution they would have struggled to establish on their own.<\/p>\n\n
The Shared Language Problem That\u2019s Sabotaging Your Global Strategy<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nWhere Teams Go Wrong with International Expansion<\/h2>\n
Forgetting About Go-to-market Fit<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Assuming One Strategy Fits All Markets<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Trying to Localize Everything<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Focusing on Translation Instead of Adaptation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Building a Global-first Approach That Actually Works<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nMake global-first a mantra.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Think of each new market like a startup.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Hire people with international experience and curiosity.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Give local voices power.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Understand your maturity stage in each market.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Adapt the product, not just the messaging.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Build partnerships and trust, especially in relationship-driven markets.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Use ecosystem shortcuts strategically.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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