3 Tips for Localizing Global Trends in an Emerging Market
Tablets and e-readers are already established.
Net TV is set to explode worldwide. But will cars that drive
themselves really take off? As 2012 comes to an end, many media
outlets and companies have announced their predictions for next
year’s hot technology trends. Although these trends give a sense of
where things are headed, the key questions ask when and if they
will materialize.
Since timing is everything for start-ups, especially in emerging
markets, where short-term thinking is the norm, entrepreneurs need
to know how they should read trends and apply them. It’s important
to consider who these predictions are for before we determine how
seriously to take them. Should we drive trends or be driven by
them? The answer is both.
The trends projected by companies such as Gartner, Verizon and
Global Trends are mostly for corporations that begin investing in
new technology early on so that they can scale and continue to stay
ahead. Agile startups can take advantage of this need, however, by
quickly developing applications based on these new technologies and
selling them to corporations, serving a B2B market. After
all, entrepreneurs who can build faster than corporations become
attractive potential acquisitions.
There is no hard and fast rule here, however. Since both working
culture and expectations for return on investment can wildly differ
between large corporations and small startups, it pays to address
trends strategically before building a product. In the Wall Street
Journal’s recent article “Trends
for Startups in 2013,” mentors offer advice for choosing your
route carefully as an entrepreneur.
“If you are an entrepreneur and are following a trend, you are too
late. You want to be creating the trend that other people are
following. I don’t think entrepreneurs should be short-term
thinkers,” says Brad Feld, a Silicon Valley-based early-stage
investor and entrepreneur, in the discussion.
“Create the trends, don’t follow them. Stop reading what trend
everyone else is doing and figure out how to pursue your passion,”
says serial entrepreneur and academic Steve Blank. Of course if you
are an entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley, it should seem easier
to lead the pack.
Alexander Osterwalder, an entrepreneur and business-model
innovator, agrees with Blank and Feld. In his trend assessment,
titled “Don’t be a ‘Wantrapreneur,” he urges entrepreneurs to ask
themselves the following questions: What am I really passionate
about and really good at? Who are the biggest customers? What are
the biggest pains, gains and jobs in that area those are not yet
sufficiently addressed? What would a scalable, profitable and
sustainable business model that addresses those gaps look like?
But what is the emerging-market perspective?
There are three points that need to be considered in an emerging
markets before focusing on global trends.
Understand local investors’ interest. First of
all, we should be aware that in emerging markets investors are
mostly short-term thinkers, often because of generally riskier
macroeconomic conditions. This means entrepreneurs have to be
short-term thinkers as well, unless they want to work with
investors from developed markets. We need to understand what local
investors are looking for. If trends are essentially copycat
projects, then check out what Silicon Valley startups are doing,
but localize the idea.
Understand gaps in the technology market. Get to know the collective knowledge of the technology you are building in your local market. Even if there are big global players working in your sector, they may not provide a specific technology.
Understand consumer behavior in your local
market. What matters are your market’s needs, regardless
of whether these trends- like the rise of a
sharing economy- are strong in other markets. Awareness of the
reasons behind these trends and the differences between consumer
behaviors in emerging and developed markets are critical for any
business.
It is always good to know what the global trends are, which trends
failed globally, and which failed to catch on locally. For instance
in the mobile telecom sector where I previously worked, MMS
technology was predicted to be the next big thing after SMS. It
never was (and WAP wasn’t either).
With awareness of the main trends, we as entrepreneurs have to
focus on our local market needs and, more importantly, what we are
passionate about.
“If you don’t [focus on your passion], there is no way you can
sustain the hours, stress and disappointment,” says Blank. “There’s
no way you’re going to be able to convince investors, customers
and, most importantly, recruit a world-class team if you not
building something you think is going to change the world.” We
should keep this in mind along with the realities of our local
market.