Chapter 1
At Kyudo, our mission is to help Fintech’s to enter and grow in the Australian financial services sector. We particularly understand the challenges that international firms face when crossing the pond. This two -part series explores some of these challenges and maps out the five key steps to build momentum and grow in this outstanding market. To get us started, we’ll look at the first three steps. Let’s get into it….
Step 1: Don’t recruit!
Ok, so this is more of a step not to take, but bear with me……
One of the biggest mistakes we see firms make is recruiting a local Managing Director or Head of Sales to build a pipeline, with unrealistic expectations of how quickly deals will close and how soon profitable revenue will flow. The reality of this market is that local relationships and demonstrable experience are massively important. Sales cycles are typically long, and the cost of supporting a full time, senior resource is high. Experience has shown us that off-shore FinTech’s who recruit local staff tend to lose those staff regularly, resulting in high costs, low deal rates and uncomfortable meetings with investors!
Step 2: Get the lay of the land before landing
I cannot count the number of tech firms who have seen $4,000,000,000,000 in the Australian Pensions market (Superannuation in the local lexicon) and almost compulsively dived in with hefty investments in people and marketing and no clear idea of who they’re selling to and why their products or services will beat out their competitors.
The actual addressable market in this sector is much, much smaller than it appears on the surface. The lesson learned here is to fully understand the market you are entering. Which firms are of sufficient scale (or too big) for you to work with? Which competitors are active, rising or declining in your space? What regulatory barriers or trends are active or rising that would either help or hinder your chances of success? Answering these questions with confidence with information drawn from a local source reduces your investment risk, provides the foundation of your market entry strategy and dramatically increases your chances of success.
Step 3: Build your GTM plan
You have engaged a local expert, you’ve considered the real market opportunity and now you’re ready to enter the market. But wait!…what’s your plan? What is your value proposition for this specific market? Who, specifically, will you target? How will you get your brand in front of them? What contractual and financial model will be most favourable to your potential buyers?
These questions, and more, get answered and a clear path to success laid out in your Go To Market plan. This is your map and directions to follow to successfully navigate your way into closed deals and customer success. Without this localised and specific plan it is simply too easy to get lost along your way and lose your momentum.
Proper prior preparation
These first three steps will provide a solid foundation for your business to expand and grow in the Australian financial services market. Working through the process can take as little as a few weeks of focused effort from Kyudo’s market experts. With proper prior preparation (harder to say than it is to type) your investors and leaders will have confidence in your ability to build momentum and grow.
In our next article, we’ll dig deeper into the nuts and bolts of what successful FinTech’s are doing to execute on their GTM plans. We’ll explore the pitfalls of cold-calling, the dangers of taking a booth in the backwaters of a forgotten industry event, and the sheer delight of building meaningful relationships with potential customers and closing deals on the other side of the planet.
If you’d like to learn more in the meantime, drop us a line and we’ll set up a call. Building momentum is what we do.
