A founder explains why his most successful company solved a global problem that worked across multiple markets automatically, while his current venture targets a country-specific issue that would need customer pull to expand worldwide. The scope of the problem you pick shapes how far you can grow.
What problem are you solving? My most successful global company actually started by solving a global problem that was consistent in multiple markets with a single customer automatically transcending multiple markets. That, as big of a hurdle it is to be successful, once you're in, you're already there. Now, on the other hand, the startup I'm working on currently We're starting out in a country-specific, we may expand to the region. If we are successful on a regional level, the only way we go global is through customer demand. There's no open market share, there's no real new problem we're solving on a global scale 'cause we're actually solving a regional/country problem. So I think you need to be very, very aware of the problem to solve and then take the cautionary steps.
