Key Takeaways on International Expansion From Leaders at Grab and Zoom

On March 9th, The Information hosted a Video Summit on mastering hypergrowth and global expansion with speakers from Grab and Zoom. The live virtual event was in partnership with Singapore: Passion Made Possible, a joint venture between the Singapore Economic Development Board and the Singapore Tourism Board.

As companies experience hypergrowth, such as Zoom has seen over the past year, the ability to scale particularly internationally has become exceedingly important.

“Part of how we differ against anybody is to continue to innovate,” said Abe Smith, Zoom’s Head of International.

Key takeaways for companies who are considering international expansion to accelerate growth:

• Narrow your consideration set to a few regions and countries, and spend time visiting them.
• Make understanding the region your number one priority. Everything from the region’s economy to government regulations to small cultural nuances may impact your success. 
• Engage the market and listen to your customers, understand how technology adoption varies by region and evolve your product offerings based on their feedback. 
• Build for flexibility so you can quickly adapt to specific regional needs.

“Focus on understanding trends, build the general purpose that serves those trends, stay focused on monitoring trends, and then figure out how your general purpose can apply to as many trends as possible,” recommends David Baser, Grab’s Head of Ads and Personalization Tech.