Start Global Insights

Can the tradeshows be an effective tool for your international expansion?Many would say – no. But it’s like in he old joke about pesto recipe “Your pesto recipe is bad, I did all what you wrote, but I didn’t have pine nuts, olive oil and basil, so I took peanuts, sunflower oil and parsley – nothing close to the real pesto souse” 😊In this episode of the Start Global Insights I talk to Julia Lisovska, commercial director of the successful Ukrainian family-owned furniture producer Tivoli that exports to more than 24 countries of the world.Julia is sharing their way of going globally and reveals the secrets of successful tradeshows participation.We have discussed:How to use tradeshows and expos efficiently.Why export is inevitable if you would like to grow.How hard is to find clients abroad.Why long-term thinking is a must in international business.And much more.If you want to hear more about finding your clients abroad, please, leave us your feedback on Apple podcast or write to the podcast@start-global.bizSpeakers LinkedIn Profiles:Guest, Julia Lisovska https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-lisovska-74893598/Host, Dmytro Shvets https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshvets/This podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/Listen the Start Global Insights Podcast on all major podcast platforms and YouTube.

How to generate leads? How to find clients abroad? These are the most common questions from the exporters that I hear in my consulting practice.So I decided to invite the expert in international lead generation, Maryna Solomanchuk, the CEO of Sparklead.Maryna shared her experience in this field, and we will discuss the following:What is the process of lead generationWhat’s the most important in this processWhy you can’t just send out emails and when it becomes a SPAMWhy buying a clients database may be a bad ideaWhat tools may be use for automatization of the lead generation processAnd much more.If you want to hear more about finding your clients abroad, please, leave us your feedback on Apple podcast or write to the podcast@start-global.bizThe tools, mentioned by Maryna in the episode:LinkedIn data extraction: https://phantombuster.com/Customer data providers: https://www.zoominfo.com/ https://seamless.ai/B2B lead generation: http://bit.ly/3ZvYxDECRM: https://www.creatio.com/crm ; https://www.pipedrive.comSpeakers LinkedIn Profiles:Guest, Maryna Solomanchuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-solomanchuk-25775b39/Host, Dmytro Shvets https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshvets/This podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/Listen the Start Global Insights Podcast on all major podcast platforms and YouTube.

In this episode we will talk about Ukraine and how to do business in the country as even during the war it has a tremendous potential for international trade.And not to be bias about the country I asked the General Manger of Cisco Ukraine, Serhiy Martynchuk to help me with insights.Sergii has more than 20 years of experience in sales and developing business in Ukraine and several other CIS countries.We will talk about the following:How’s the business in Ukraine doing during the war.What is the roadmap for entering Ukrainian market.Ukraine does not have other choice than to win.How easy it is to reach the decision makers.How to find proper partner in Ukraine.Is it possible to do business with government.How digitalization fights corruption.What are the opportunities after the war and why you need to start preparing already now.What is the negotiation culture in Ukraine.Is there any difference between CIS countries and Ukraine.Why many foreign businesses have big interest towards the country despite the war.And so much more that we definitely want to make another episode about that.And if you want to hear more about Ukrainian business culture, please, leave us your feedback on Apple podcast or write to the podcast@start-global.bizSpeakers LinkedIn Profiles:Guest, Sergii Martynchuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergii-martynchuk-5a31411/Host, Dmytro Shvets https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshvets/This podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/Listen the Start Global Insights Podcast on all major podcast platforms and YouTube.

The next episode is devoted to the one of the happiest countries in the world – Denmark.Peter Kofler – Danish entrepreneur is sharing his experience and insights on how to make business in his country.We will discuss:Why Denmark is a good choice to start your international expansionIs it easy to reach decision making persons in DenmarkThe Danish communication cultureIs it worth taking part in Danish exhibitionsThe digitization in DenmarkAnd much more…Don't miss the next episode, subscribe to the Start Global Insights podcast on all major platforms and YouTube.Speakers LinkedIn Profiles:Guest, Peter Kofler https://www.linkedin.com/in/electrominds/Host, Dmytro Shvets https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshvets/Please, give us your feedback on Apple podcasts or write to the email: podcast@start-global.bizThis podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Access the best, trustworthy small and medium businesses. You may request cooperation with Ukrainian business here: https://www.dobizwithua.com/Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/

There are around 200 countries in the world you could sell your goods and services. But your resources are always limited and it’s impossible to enter all countries simultaneously. How to understand what country should be your TOP priority?In this explainer episode your host Dmytro Shvets, the international expansion consultant, is sharing his experience in choosing the right market for your international expansion.You will get a step-by-step instruction on how to prioritize your potential markets and focus your resources in the most efficient way.This podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/Mentioned URLs:Import export statistics: trademap.orgWorld Bank: data.worldbank.orgStatista: statista.comFood and Agriculture Organization: fao.orgFull episode transcript:The second step of the journey is to understand where you would sell your goods or services and choose the focus market for your international expansion.So, today I will share with you the approach that I use in my consulting practice and show you how to choose your markets based on facts and not emotions.Every country, every market has its own rules, languages, and specifics. Entering one single country may take from one year to several.And now answer the question: How many resources do you have? And whether they would be enough to do all these things simultaneously in the whole world?So, the only way to deal with limited resources is to focus.But how to do that? How to select from the nearly 200 countries? Well, the first thing you need to do when you are looking for something is to clearly understand what you are looking for. You need to describe the market that would be the best match for your product. In other words, to make a list of criteria that will help you to filter all the markets and select the best one for your business.To simplify the approach, you have two very basic criteria. Where is the biggest number of your clients and where it would be the easiest to enter. So, you can start from these criteria and decompose them further, thinking what will show you that the market is exactly what you are looking for.To make this easier I usually split the list of criteria in 2 tiers. The 1st tier for data easily available in the open-source statistics databases. For example, the average income, population or imported goods. You may find the links in the description of this episode.These data will help you to narrow down your search to the 5-7 countries where you can look for more detailed information in local sources according to the second-tier criteria. The second-tier criteria may be already more country specific, for example number of distributors and retail networks, prices for your products, certification needed to enter or local business culture.Now you can collect the data needed and organize them in one table. The first column of the table will consist of countries names and the first table row - of your criteria. Having done this, you will get your focus markets and your next step would be to analyse them deeper to understand how to enter them.

When you start exporting you don’t have to look for tons of information, there are organisations that already have done it for you.Most of the developed countries have so called Trade Promotion Offices that help their own exporters to sell internationally. But who said you can’t use this information as well not being from that country.The guest of this episode is Andriy Lytvyn, the deputy director of the State Institution Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office of Ukraine.The office analysed the best practices of all major TPOs in the world and now helps Ukrainian exporters to expand globally.We will talk about:What are the main challenges of exporters in their international expansionWhy the US market is not the best idea to start withWhat countries are the most difficult to enterHow clusters help to enter international marketsHow efficient are the official trade missionsAfrica as a destination pointWhat country is considered to have the world’s best Trade Promotion Office Don't miss the next episode, subscribe to the Start Global Insights podcast on all major platforms and YouTube. Speakers LinkedIn Profiles:Guest, Andriy Lytvyn https://ua.linkedin.com/in/andriilyvtyn/enHost, Dmytro Shvets https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshvets/Web-site of the State Institution Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office of Ukraine https://export.gov.ua Please, give us your feedback on Apple podcasts or write to the email: podcast@start-global.biz This podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Access the best, trustworthy small and medium businesses. You may request cooperation with Ukrainian business here: https://www.dobizwithua.com/ Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/

If you think about Italy, what comes to your head? Sunny beaches, pizza, pasta, fashion, supercars…But in addition to that Italy is a huge market for exporters from all over the world. Many different regions with own peculiarities and needs.We discussed how to export to this sunny European country with a special guest of our Start Global Insights Christmas episode Dario Peirone, the chairman of the board of CEIPIEMONTE.From the episode you will know:What’s the difference between the regions of ItalyWhere is the best place to do business with ItaliansWhat’s common between space and ItalyWhat is the business and negotiation cultureWhere to look for local partnersWhat to keep in mind when choosing a local agentAnd much more as usual… Don't miss the next episode, subscribe to the Start Global Insights podcast on all major platforms and YouTube. Speakers LinkedIn Profiles:Guest, Dario Peirone https://www.linkedin.com/in/dario-peirone-343a474Host, Dmytro Shvets https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshvets/ Please, give us your feedback on Apple podcasts or write to the email: podcast@start-global.biz This podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Access the best, trustworthy small and medium businesses. You may request cooperation with Ukrainian business here: https://www.dobizwithua.com/Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/

In this episode we will talk about B2B sales in Germany with Christopher Cole, a Senior Vice President for EMEA at LeanIX named by Deloitte as one of Germany's fastest growing technology companies in 2022.We were really lucky to get Chris sharing his multinational sales experience and to discuss with him the following:- The potential of the German market- How to generate leads in Germany- What you need to know about German business culture- What sales stage takes most of the time- How important is to speak German- Why Germans are so thorough in making the decisions- What is the role of marketing in B2B sales… and much more, as alwaysDon't miss the next episode, subscribe to the Start Global Insights podcast on all major platforms and YouTube.URLs in the episode:The platform for webinars mentioned by Chris https://www.brighttalk.com/Speakers Linked In Profiles:Guest, Christopher Cole https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccole4Host, Dmytro Shvets https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshvets/Please, give us your feedback on Apple podcasts or write to the email: podcast@start-global.bizThis podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Access the best, trustworthy small and medium businesses. You may request cooperation with Ukrainian business here: https://www.dobizwithua.com/Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/

In this episode we will talk about Romania with Romulus Oprica – the managing partner of market research agency BrandBerry.Romulus has more than 20 years of experience in market research and marketing consultancy in Romania. During his career Romulus worked both with local Romanian companies, international corporations, and NGOs.We will discuss:Where to find information about Romanian marketsWhat is the best way to find local partnerHow to check the reliability of potential local partner in RomaniaHow to negotiate in RomaniaIf Dracula is still aliveAnd much more…The URL used in the episode to check legal entities in Romania: https://www.romanian-companies.eu/This podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now.Work with verified teams. Access the best, trustworthy small and medium businesses. You may request cooperation with Ukrainian business here: https://www.dobizwithua.com/Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/

This time my guest is Daniel Tonkopi, the CEO and founder of the unique Ukrainian e-bike producer Delfast.Their bikes hold the world records in speed and distance, drive longer than Tesla, used by police, army and ordinary people around the world.In our conversation Daniel shares his story about entering US market.We will talk about:How to sell in USWhat is the role of PR and marketing in international expansionWhat is the best way to understand the local markets...and other insights from the experienced exporterThis podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now.Work with verified teams. Access the best, trustworthy small and medium businesses. You may request cooperation with Ukrainian business here: https://www.dobizwithua.com/Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/

Today my guest is Karolina Janik and we will talk about Poland and communication you need to make about your business before starting your export. Karolina has almost 20 years of experience in marketing communication. She is the owner & CEO of Personal PR, the biggest integrated communication agency in Pomerania in Poland and lecturer in the University of Gdansk.We will discuss:What is the roadmap for entering Polish marketWhat are the biggest mistakes foreign companies doHow to get published by Polish mediaHow get insights about the market from the potential Polish clientsIs it important to know Polishand much more...This podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Access the best, trustworthy small and medium businesses. You may request cooperation with Ukrainian business here: https://www.dobizwithua.com/Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/

In this episode you will hear what steps should be made by exporters in order to expand their sales to new markets.Your host Dmytro Shvets, the international expansion consultant, shares his vision of international expansion roadmap based on more than 15 years experience of creating export strategies.

The guest of this show is Topi Paananen, the CEO and Entrepreneur at Peikko Group, a Finnish construction company.Topi has more than 20 years of experience in global business development, 17 of which in the family owned Peikko Group. He was also named by EY as an entrepreneur of the Year in Finland in 2020.We will talk about:How to international markets can increase your revenue from tens of millions to hundreds of millionsWhy trust is one of the most important issues in doing business with FinnsWhy to enter multiple countries at once is a bad ideaHow not to be fooled by Finnish quietnessWhat you need to know before negotiation with FinnsAnd many more interesting insights…

This time the guest of the show is Andrus Kotri, the customer experience expert from Estonia.We will talk about the Estonian Market from the perspective of local customers and local business culture.Andrus has more than 10 years of experience in understanding customers in all Baltic countries, and Estonia in particular, and 17 years of international business experience in Eastern, Northern and Northern Europe.From the conversation you will know:What the customer experience management is and why it is important for your business.What you should start your business expansion with.How different the demand in Estonia and other countries is.Why you need to adapt your unique sales proposition to the local market.How to understand the local customers’ needs and get the feeling of the market.What the best market research is.If you need to change the packaging of your product for the local market.How to treat your first sales to the country.How easy it is to make cold sales in Estonia and other Baltic countries.How to use exhibitions in Estonia.And many more amazing local insights…This podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Access the best, trustworthy small and medium businesses. You may request cooperation with Ukrainian business here: https://www.dobizwithua.com/Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/The host of the podcast is Dmytro Shvets, the director of Start Global LLC.Dmytro on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshvets/Listen the Start Global Insights Podcast on all major podcast platformsGoogle Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWRpYS5yc3MuY29tL3N0YXJ0Z2xvYmFsaW5zaWdodHMvZmVlZC54bWwApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/start-global-insights/id1634963261 Amazon music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ea1fafef-d325-465a-b544-f8eef7a66b70/start-global-insightsYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCsoVzefx445ORFgmpXxC0g or in your browser https://www.start-global.biz/en/start-global-insights/

This episode is about expansion to the Estonian market.My guest this time is a local Estonian expert with decades of experience in sales in Estonia and Eastern Europe.From the episode you’ll learn:What you should do before talking to potential Estonian customersSome pages from the Estonian historyWhy Estonia it is a good idea to make Estonia as an entry point to the European UnionWhere and how you can get insights from your potential customers in EstoniaWhy Estonia can benefit from existence of UkraineThat establishing the relations with Estonians will take timeWho might be a good source of information about Estonian marketThis podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with now Work with verified teams.Access the best, trustworthy small and medium businesses. You may request cooperation with Ukrainian business here: https://www.dobizwithua.com/Create your international expansion strategy with Start Global, your guide to foreign markets. https://www.start-global.biz/The host of the podcast is Dmytro Shvets, the director of Start Global LLC, Dmytro has more than 18 years experience of international expansion consulting Dmytro on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshvets/

My guest in this episode is Vladyslav Sushko, the co-owner of the brave Ukrainian exporter Hybro Technologies, an innovating heating system producer, that survived twice during the russian invasion to Ukraine and relocated production first in 2014 and again in 2022.The story of their international expansion and future plans despite of the war.We will talk about:What is the most important to start going global?What main obstacles do exporters meet at their way?What is important to do when you start building your relationship with international B2B clients?Why it is important to study new entry markets before you go there?What is in common with music and client experience?

Johan Gustafsson, my guest at this show, a Swedish entrepreneur and business developer shares his experience in doing business with companies in Sweden.We will talk about:The most important things to know before entering Swedish market.Why trust is so important by international B2B sales?The aspects of negotiations with your potential customers in Sweden.What is common between Sweden and the Lords of the Rings?Why Sweden is a corrupted country in its own way?The possible roadmap of starting sales in Sweden?How is Israel connected to sales in Sweden?Is it a good idea to use the Chambers of Commerce as an entry point to the country?Why it is not a good idea to start with Stockholm?What major mistakes to US companies by entering Sweden?and other insights and secrets from the local business expert…This podcast is made in a partnership with Do Business With Ukrainians, the platform of Ukrainian business teams you can work with nowWork with verified teams. Access the best, trustworthy small and medium businesses. You may request cooperation with Ukrainian business here: https://www.dobizwithua.com/

The introduction to the Start Global Insights:Join us on this show and get answers about international trade directly from local players and global expansion experts.Let’s find together the answers to the questions:How to prepare your business for the international expansion? How to select proper focus markets? How to get market insights and research new markets? How to find a proper local partner and start your sales? And many more…