Part 2: Coming to what worked and what didn’t
Referral to me: Jo, this company needs help. I think their tech is not bad but they are struggling to find the right candidates to join them. I gave them your name. But heads up, there are 3 changes to the core team and they have only been there 2 years. You see what you can do.
This situation is rather familiar to us. When clients lose confidence, it’s very hard to find candidates who are willing to take up an uphill task of selling against negative perception.
We looked up past candidates to find out the back story and listened to clients’ point of view. There are many reasons that can cause a disconnection between the team, the management and the market, apart from the most common one - they didn't hire the right people from the get go.
1. Setting a realistic revenue expectation
From dollar 0 to first revenue milestone in a defined time frame – the targets given were not realistic for the team. Setting a realistic revenue target is one of the hardest thing to do, even in established companies, not to mention in startups.
But not doing it right will lead to disillusionment from the sales team leading to a churn and then a need to re-establish credit. Considering both revenue and MBOs might be a better option and consistent communication how the market is adopting (or not). Being agile in decision-making and being willing to pivot products or services based on market feedback will help.
2. Working with partners
Asia is not a monolithic entity; there are so many cultures, languages, and business practices. Every country has its own quirks.
“The benefits of working with partners cannot be underestimated.
Asia works a lot on relationships.”
As a startup, you don't have an army to cover the market. Using good channel partners as a leverage, you can open many doors with their relationships and resources. However, you need to show you are willing to support the partners in getting the sales. In the Asia partner landscape, the operating system is trust. Let them down once spectacularly will guarantee cutting off a very viable channel for good.
Also, your legal advisors, your market research provider and even us, the talent business partner – these are resources you can leverage on to avoid pitfalls and get the most grounded advice.
As a talent partner, I won’t delve into the benefits in this article but at least from a landscape perspective, knowing how strong are your competition here, the benchmark salaries that are fair to you and candidates are the minimum you can get. And perhaps, our honest take on what are the risks and gaps with the talent pool you want to go after.
3. Getting lighthouse customers fast
Taking down the first 5 clients is a pretty big deal, even the first one. It might take a combination of partner influence and your sales team’s laser focus to get to it but once that is done, the rest is a lot easier. The pressure will have eased off a little and the team can use these success stories for the channels to hopefully propagate the success.
“Choosing people who will work well together is also an important piece.”
4. Team culture, camaraderie, and a bit of patience
With the right team on board, you earn trust faster, internally as well as with the clients.
Often with the hiring manager being remote, they have to trust the team in doing the right things as there is really so much you can do being away in a different time zone.
Spending some initial time to understand how your people work, the challenges they faced, what motivates them seemed a very basic ask but a total essential in remote management.
The team is asked to do something new and will face challenges. Having a manager who is behind them in their sales pursuits gives them the assurance to go over and beyond in their roles.
The teams we know that are phenomenal are usually very tight as a team. And there are team members who hardly know if the other person is working today. Choosing people who will work well together is also an important piece.
5. Listening to the market
We have seen companies telling their sales team here – that they don’t do deals below 100k, so don’t bring us (the corporate HQ) deals below this even though Asia has zero sales for now.
While this can be a completely legitimate strategy, from my memory, these are the ones with lots of churn in the core team and poor market penetration. The way the HQ wants to go to market in Asia is different from how the team plans to do it.
From the team, they want their execs to also be present to help build strong relationships with local stakeholders, that is crucial for long-term success in Asia. Demonstrating that willingness to connect, with cultural sensitivity and respect for local customs and traditions wins heart and deals, from what we see. Executives flying in for relationship-building activities like networking events, industry conferences, and community engagements, can help establish credibility and trust within the local ecosystem. Not to mention showing the team here, they do have support.
Considering the factors above and proactively addressing challenges, it is definitely possible to effectively navigate the complexities of hiring your first team in Asia and position yourself for long-term success in the region.
In conclusion, expanding into Asia offers immense opportunities for foreign tech companies to tap into new markets and accelerate growth. Doing that with careful planning, cultural intelligence, and strategic execution will ensure that success.
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