Global Collaboration in Venture Building to Expand Business Impact

Imagine you have launched a business in China overnight, bypassing years of market research, and it captured the target market effectively.

This is the power of global business collaborations today. International partnerships provide innovative solutions to challenges in external business operations like political, social, and demographic factors.

Global collaborations promise more learning opportunities, shared resources and risks, market expansions, and access to talent. This is useful for venture capitalists and builders who are looking for innovative solutions to complex business issues.

In this blog, we will discuss the benefits of international collaborations in ventures. It will provide a sneak peek at the probable challenges and include case studies of businesses that excelled at international partnerships.

Benefits of International Partnerships

Global collaboration drives success, scalability, and innovation in the startup economy. Many new ventures, especially in India, are funded by global investors.

Suzuki Motor Corporation launched their venture investing arm, Next Bharat Ventures, with a corpus of 340 crore^[1]. On the other hand, Matter Motors, an EV startup, raised 82 crores^[2] from Japan Airlines.

1. Cross-Cultural Innovation

Startups that begin with collaborations find more innovative solutions. This is because collaborations fuse different cultural views and their unique ways of approaching an issue.

For example, you are a tech startup building smart devices, collaborating with a company like JBL or Yamaha for the best sound quality. It is an example of bringing expertise from niche corporations into a single product.

2. Global Talent

Hiring employees from various locations and ethnic backgrounds broadens the startup’s talent pool. It also brings together the most strategic and creative staff in a team, in some cases, working remotely.

There are service-based companies like GrowthJockey that manage and optimize remote operations and productivity for other brands. You can use these resources to manage employees across different locations.

3. Market Expansions

International partnership in a new market serves as a launch pad for the startups. It provides a competitive advantage over those without local collaborations in new markets. The startup owners partnered with local brands and are more aware of market needs, risks, resources, and opportunities.

For example, a Paris-based apparel startup collaborates with an e-commerce startup in India. They will be able to set a foothold in the Asian clothing market with the help of this e-commerce brand.

4. Sustainable growth

Global business collaborations are often symbiotic. This means each of the partners understands the other’s requirements, needs, and capabilities. They fulfill these requirements by operating in partnerships and creating long-term business goals.

5. Learning and adaptability

Imagine you are a Korean company making organic skincare serums. You collaborate with Indian e-commerce retail companies like Nykaa or Purple.

In this collaboration, you learn about the market demand of Korean skincare products in India. These big giants also help smaller businesses adapt to the external challenges in the new market.

Strategies to Find the Best Global Partners

As a startup, you might lack resources or talent. The best thing you can do for your business at this stage is find a successful partnership or multiple partnerships. Finding your business partner/partners must be strategic and directed towards your brand growth.

Here are some steps you can follow for choosing global partners:

• Step 1: Start with the research.

Partnering up with a local firm from an international market will give you access to their market research resources.

But you should conduct your own research on the difficult data from the external business environment. Focus on understanding the country’s political situations, fiscal policies, and regulatory needs.

Also, focus on understanding the social and cultural norms in the target market. This will help you bridge the cultural gap. While you do so, do not forget to research the availability of technology. Many regions do not have access to proper digital resources.

• Step 2: Pitch Your Needs

Based on your research, create a strategic pitch for your business. It must clearly state what you need from your partners. Also, mention what you are going to deliver and how your business relationships should look.

Remember to be as clear as possible, considering that your partners do not know anything about your intent.

Lastly, be flexible enough to include changes in your strategy. As markets change, your client’s and your partner’s needs could be changing.

• Step 3: Visit Your Potential Partners

Despite a lot of online channels, visiting your potential partners will give you an added advantage. You can understand the political and social challenges associated with your business niche.

In this process, you might come across local facilities and suppliers. Creating a bond with them can give you an edge in the partnership and global operations.

• Step 4: Plan a Reasonable Timeline

After you reach out to your potential partner/partners, they need some time away. This time is for them to go through your business competence, your performances, ideas, business plan, accounting information, and other important details.

Wait for them to accept the results with clear communication. Even if they reject your proposal, they might introduce you to other companies for partnerships.

Step 5: Maintain Communications with Potential Partners

Once you have successfully negotiated with your partner, stay in contact with them. Associate and talk to them frequently over business decisions. A lack of communication in partnerships creates uncertainty. This is bad for the business as it may impact the trust between partners.

You can choose very simple communication channels. Send them monthly emails updating on monthly progress. Arrange quarterly meetups to evaluate the company’s progress and so on.

Even if planned strategically, a global collaboration is bound to have cross-cultural challenges. Let us discuss some of them.

Cross-Cultural Challenges

Some common challenges in global business collaborations are

• Time zone challenges: Time zone differences can make scheduling meetings a real headache for teams spread across the globe.
• Cultural preferences: People with different cultural backgrounds expect business operations their way. For example, in some countries, people prefer in-person team communications, while in others, they prefer online communications.
• Misaligned interests: Due to initial confusions in conveying the needs, there might be differences in vision. Partners may fall out due to unfulfilled agendas.

Overcoming Cross-Cultural Challenges

Knowing what challenges global collaborations bring in startups is necessary to understand the ways to overcome the issues. Here are some steps:

• Hold clear communication about the expectations and decide on agreed communication channels.
• Research about the local preferences in terms of business operations. Consider them when assigning roles to people.
• Clearly convey business objectives to your business partners and be flexible to change the agenda as needed.

Global Business Collaboration: Case Study

According to Harvard Business Review, 94% of tech executives^[3] believe that innovation partnerships are an important part of their strategy. Strategic partnerships have been the key to success for many brands.

Stanley + Starbucks

Stanley, a luxury American food and beverage container brand, made a strategic move to enter the Indian market.

They recently collaborated with the premium cafe chain Starbucks, which has spread across 54 locations in India. Stanley's business experts understood that economic buyers in India will not be interested in a high-priced cup like Stanley.

They are focusing on Starbucks’s consumer market because these buyers do not consider price points before a purchase. Instead, they focus on brand value and the luxury factor associated with it.

Wrapping up

Collaborations are your doorway to ideating, creating, and conducting projects. It opens your brand to an uncharted resource pool, new markets, and more.

Moreover, you need to know the resources, capabilities, and needs of your brand before you can pitch for a collab. We know that as a startup owner, you have a lot to look after in the partnerships. Managing the data automations is an added task on it.

At GrowthJockey, we strive to transform your brand into a systematic business model. Book a call with us to learn more about how we can organize, automate, and monitor your business’s performance before collaborations.

FAQs

1. How to contact startup founders?

Several websites can help you contact partners or cofounders, like AngelList and CoFounders Lab.

• AngelList

It is a software company established for fundraising in 2010 and operating out of America. They connect with limited partners, startups, and angel investors. Startups can raise money for their ventures without any charge on this platform.

• CoFounder Lab

It assists individuals interested in and dedicated to entrepreneurship. By registering, you can access a broader network of resources and top technological applications to transform an idea into a business. It is a community of advisors and founders who share their expertise and experience with the beginners.

2. What are some startup partnership models?

There are many types of startup partnership models. Here are a few of them:

• Sponsorships: Startups are funded and guided by another established brand.
• Startup incubators: Established companies and successful unicorns share their knowledge with the new startup partner. This is aimed to nurture the idea and boost business growth.

3. What is a buyable startup?

Buyable startup owners create a market value that is profitable enough to pitch it to prospective buyers. These organizations do not start with a long-term goal of running independent operations.

For example, the American home security device and smart device manufacturing company, Ring, was taken over by Amazon in 2018, after 5 years of Ring’s independent operations.

1. 340 crore - Link ↑
2. raised 82 crores - Link ↑
3. 94% of tech executives - Link ↑