Dear Liftango Leadership

It’s very exciting to hear that Liftango is looking to move into the US market! The move presents a
great opportunity if done well and with good planning. I have had a fair amount of experience with
other start-ups in a similar position that have decided to expand to an international market, and I
will distil some of the key lesson and factors for consideration below.

Check your success

One of the most important factors that I have seen play a role in increasing the success of an
expansion into a new market is to check your success regularly. You obviously know how your
business works in Australia and you might even have a few global customers, but the way you work
in your existing market might be very different to the way you will need to work in the US. This
includes, but is not limited to, the way you win new business, how easy it is to hire new talent as
well as the expectations of certain customers.

Try to set up milestones based on real success measurements (things like number of clients,
revenue, number of leads) that will allow you to make sure that you’re achieving traction in your
new market.

Check the legal requirements

It may seem obvious but having a good understanding of the legal framework that governs running
a business is critical to your success. This will help in making the correct decisions on how to
structure the business and whether that will allow you to do things you want to do, like take
investment in the (hopefully) near future. It will also help to understand the different costs
associated with having employees and how that differs from Australia.

Find partners

No one builds anything on their own, the more help you can get, the easier it will be. Thinking
locally, the Australian government has some great programs that might help you a lot, both
financially and logistically, expand into the US. It would be worth looking into those.

In the US, it would be worth looking at delivery partners that you might be able to work with to
make the whole process easier. If you were planning on gaining investment early, then try to find
an investor that may have resources (contacts, personnel and locations) that you might be able to
capitalise on in addition to money.

There’s obviously a lot more to it than what I have just mentioned but these points are three that
form a good starting point to start putting your plan together.

Regards
Lance Tote
International Growth Consultant