Klaus Wehage is the CEO of 10X Innovation Lab, author of Global Class, and Silicon Valley ambassador who serves as a conduit, connecting the world to the startup community elite.  He previously served as the Head of International Relations at Silicon Valley Forum, where he started dedicating his career to building and cultivating high-value, sustainable partnerships with international organizations. 

Klaus has a track record of mentoring over 2000+ founders and corporate executives, working with 50+ countries, and advising governments on ecosystem building. He is known as the secret weapon for companies seeking to implement innovative programs and strengthen their ties to the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Klaus has an MBA from Hult University and a Bachelor's in Business and Culture from Copenhagen Business School and has lived and worked on four continents.

Are you ready to take your business global? In this episode, we have Klaus Wehage sitting with us in a lengthy exchange about his expert insights on international business. From assessing your company's readiness to go global to key factors to consider when transitioning from local to international markets. Klaus offers concrete examples and valuable advice on the challenges and costs of international expansion that you have to anticipate and address. Lastly, Klaus highlights the advantages of international expansion beyond the monetary gains. 

Don't miss Klaus' wisdom on these critical topics, plus his frameworks, tools and strategies you can utilize in your business toward global acceleration and growth.

Why you have to check out today’s episode

Discover battle-tested strategies to establishing your business for global success and cultivate its competencies from the very start Find out both the advantages and challenges of expanding globally and the ways to anticipate and address them. Learn how to assess your business's global readiness based on factors such as business operations, mindset, and the characteristics you need to have that qualify for international expansion

“You need to have eyes and ears into the world. Being able to see patterns and trends that can feed into how you build your products well.” —Klaus Wehagu

Topics Covered: 00:30  Why thinking globally on Day 1 determines success in the international arena 02:40  Klaus explains concrete examples to assess your company's readiness to go global 04:00  The process of hiring the perfect candidate for an international market 08:42  Certain traits that you should look for when building an international-literate team 10:49  Key business aspects to evaluate in transitioning from local to international 13:19  Globalization versus Localization 18:12  What key factors do companies often fail with in their international business model? 20:37  What are the costs associated with going international: localization and market entry cost 23:45  The challenges of international expansion that you have to anticipate and address 26:32  Klaus' expert advice for successful American businesses seeking international                experience 30:52  Huge advantage of going international besides making more money 34:34  Klaus’ insights on the present decline in globalization 37:23  How does the virtuality of business today affect the international business arena?

Key Takeaways

"If you seek to learn and understand nothing will be foreign.” —Klaus Wehage

“Be open and be willing to relearn and listen to local teams to discover how to best find product market fit in new markets.” —Klaus Wehage

 "Think about partnerships instead of disruption when you go into new markets. Take a more collaborative approach in enabling support and growth in the industry" —Klaus Wehage

“Localization is about creating a strong business model and then identifying key questions that will challenge it.” —Klaus Wehage

"One of the most important things, when you go international, is also the ability to say no. Cause you have a tendency when you engage with customers in new markets to say yes, we want to do it, we want to secure a customer" —Klaus Wehage   "The biggest mistake that we see with companies is that the leadership team are not exposed to the local reality" —Klaus Wehage

"If you don't understand how they react to certain tastes in a specific market, you're not going to be successful because you can't just change a person's palate, the taste buttons. It sounds very simple but there is a tendency to standardize, that's the bias." —Klaus Wehage

"Make your product/company more resilient to competition.” —Klaus Wehage

People/Resources Mentioned

Global Class: How the World's Fastest-Growing Companies Scale Globally by Focusing Locally: https://www.amazon.com/Global-Class-Fastest-Growing-Companies-Globally-ebook/dp/B09RMFNNZ4?ref_=ast_author_mpb  10x Innovation Lab:  https://www.10xinnovationlab.com/  Silicon Valley: https://www.siliconvalley.com/ 

Connect with Klaus Wehage

Website: www.globalclassbook.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mr10x/  Email: klaus@10xinnovationlab.com 

Connect with Dr. Katrina Burrus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinaburrus/  Website: https://mkbconseil.ch/contact/