Hacking in Foreign Markets?
Hey Eveyrone,
Im a zero product launched, just learning developing guy but I have a question for everyone and I think this would be a cool topic to discuss!
Would you launch in a foreign market and if so how? Would you do anything different from your normal workflow?
I ask as because Im an American living in Japan. I have a product idea for the local Japanese market. Im not worried about translating (My Japanese is meh but plenty of good friends) but Im more curious of how I would look to validate an idea and reach the local market? How does that work vs a wider market?
Big question I'm struggling with too. I'm from the US based in France, and launching our products here has had a few extra layers of difficulty added, including language. I can imagine it's even harder in Japan.
In Paris, we now know that it's harder to find early adopters, sales can take much longer, and barriers to trust are higher. We now know that if we want to launch a B2B product, we need to find a hot introduction, work the relationship for months, and set up a zero-risk (for them) pilot. Consumer products need longer and more proof as well. It helped me to have access to a few people who know both markets and have done it before -- they'll tell you certain things outright that would take a lot longer to learn on your own.
Good luck with the hacking, let us know how it goes!
Thanks! Same to you hope it goes well.
Which part of Japan you in? I'm heading there in September.
I'd say every market is similar in terms of the raw mechanics, it's just the channels, watering holes and culture that are different. You only figure the challenges by going through them. I've done a big enterprise project with a large, very well known systems integrator in Japan. Man, the Japanese are a pain in the ass. Love em but they are such a pain.
I'm definitely going to experiment with the Japanese market.
Im in Tokyo so not a super unknown market. Knowing locals and expats who have been here years has helped. The one thing I always think about the market is how behind they are at times in certain areas. It feels like Japan waits 10 years in some areas
Yeah, it's funny Japan is like halfway in 1950 and halfway in 2050. They still use fax machines.
Trust me after doing a big implementation project for an enterprise piece of software in Japan I have a good understanding of why that is the case.
It's a deeply ingrained cultural habit of doing things "the way Japanese people do things" which as you can imagine makes the status quo very difficult to challenge because "that's not what Japanese people do". It's very circular logic and extremely frustrating. Also things tend to need 17 stamps of approval.