Why most go-to-market playbooks fail internationally - and what to do instead
Briefly

Why most go-to-market playbooks fail internationally - and what to do instead
"I first worked across borders in the mid‑90s, interpreting Spanish calls for AT&T. What struck me then - and what still holds today - is how quickly things break down when people assume their way of working is universal. Fast‑forward nearly three decades, after leading international growth at HubSpot and advising companies from Google to SaaS startups, I've seen the strongest domestic strategies fall flat abroad."
"One of the first hurdles I see in global expansion is surprisingly simple. People don't speak the same language about what they're trying to do. Before teams can even talk strategy, they need a shared vocabulary. Too often, people use terms like translation, localization, and globalization interchangeably, as if they mean the same thing. They don't, and confusing them leads to wasted money and misaligned expectations. Here's how I break it down:"
Assuming domestic ways of working are universal undermines international expansion, as proximity bias and familiarity lead teams to default to home-market tactics that fail abroad. A global-first mindset requires treating international efforts as core from the start rather than as an afterthought. Teams need a shared vocabulary distinguishing translation (adapting meaning), localization (adapting the full customer experience), and internationalization (adapting code and infrastructure). Confusing these terms causes misaligned expectations and wasted spend. Infrastructure choices like hard-coding U.S. dollars create practical barriers. Effective expansion adapts product, experience, and technical foundations to each market.
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