When is the right stage for Australian companies to scale offshore? And how can you prepare to expand to another region?
I was recently joined by Ashley Baxter (Monty Compost Co CEO and founder), Paul Mead (GeoNadir co-founder) and Dan Brown (Ashurst Global Co-Head, Energy Industry) to discuss these issues on a panel at Climate Salad’s Queensland Climate Tech Showcase, 24 July 2024.
There was a lot of common ground among the panellists’ experiences.
Grow before you go
All of the panellists agreed on the importance of building success and credibility in Australia before looking further afield. As Brown put it, you need to “grow before you go”.
So, when is a company ready to expand offshore? According to Brown, the company should have at least completed a successful commercial pilot (or equivalent milestone) in Australia first.
The same rule often applies for seeking offshore investment. Mead pointed out that the backing of significant Australian investors in early stages tends to precede a successful funding round that includes foreign investors.
Visit the markets you are targeting
The panellists also agreed there was no substitute for being on the ground in another region to build relationships and grow an understanding of market nuances.
Reflecting on his recent exploratory trip to California, USA, Mead says it was invaluable to find out what’s happening in that region, how things work, the scale companies are used to, and the language people use.
However, he noted climate tech itself is highly transferrable between regions, as everyone is facing the same problems, no matter where they are located.
Brown pointed out Government agencies such as Austrade and Trade and Investment Queensland are incredibly good at “opening doors” for Australian businesses. They often hold trade missions – trips to another region for Australian businesses wanting to meet stakeholders in a particular industry.
He explained connections made through LinkedIn can be the start of valuable research into another market, if not the beginning of an important business relationship.
Learn from your accidental success
Both Monty Compost Co. and GeoNadir have “accidentally” grown an international user base, thanks to the universal problems their tech solves (compost insights and drone data management respectively).
Baxter’s company began by offering a consumer product and, thanks to social media, several people overseas joined her mission to more effectively return organic waste to our soil. She was then contacted by commercial composting facilities in far-flung parts of the world, wondering if she had an industrial solution. This coincided with the development of her second-generation hardware intended for commercial use.
These unexpected enquiries from overseas have given Baxter the chance to work with a small number of offshore companies to “validate” those markets. She is learning a lot about how things operate in those regions before Monty Compost Co. expands more aggressively offshore.
GeoNadir has also experienced “accidental success.” Mead gave the example of a Polish user who created YouTube videos, in Polish, to promote GeoNadir’s data management platform.
Having early adopters in other regions can:
- provide your first insights and learnings from another market;
- prepare you for customer service challenges related to those markets and time zones;
- point to regions where there might be ready-made demand for your offering;
- provide you with local people who will act as your “champions” – an invaluable marketing tool.
While social media helped Monty Compost Co. be noticed overseas, Mead recalled he achieved international success with an earlier startup, She Maps, thanks to media coverage in Australia that was syndicated across a large number of outlets.
Brown concluded climate tech companies have a “once in a multi-generational opportunity” to create successful and impactful global businesses. He said this is thanks to the positive policy environment in many of the world’s largest economies that has come about since the Paris Agreement of 2015.
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