Mistakes Founders Face Expanding in Asia
Every founder expanding into Asia turns up with a plan. Very few turn up with the right one.
Asia looks like one region on a slide and behaves like a dozen separate countries in practice. Different buyers, different procurement rules, different expectations about who you need to know before anyone signs anything. The mistakes that hurt are rarely strategic. They are operational, they are expensive, and it is the same short list over and over.
This session opens Zavior's Australian Tour, a run of founder events across Melbourne and Sydney through September and October. We are starting online, with the market most Australian founders look at first.
Brought to you by ShiftControl, Bliink, TalentHero and Zavior.
No country guides. No "the opportunity is enormous" slides. Just the decisions that cost real money, from people who have made them.
What we'll get into
The partnership that looks like distribution and turns out to be a dead end. How to tell a real channel from a logo swap, what to put in writing before you hand anyone your pipeline, and how to get out of one that isn't working.
Your first hire on the ground. Country manager, local sales or a contractor: what you are actually paying for, and why the wrong first hire sets your market entry back a year.
Localisation that isn't translation. Pricing, payment rails, contract norms and the buying process itself, which changes far more between markets than the language does.
The compliance gate nobody budgets for. Enterprise and government buyers in the region ask for certifications and security reviews early, and a deal that is ready to sign can sit frozen for months while you catch up.
Associations, chambers and government programs. Which ones open doors, and which are a membership fee with a newsletter attached.
The real cost of entry. Travel, entity setup, tax, and the months of relationship building nobody puts in the business case.
Who this is for
Founders with a working business at home who are being pulled into Asia by a customer, an investor or a partner
Teams already selling into the region and hitting friction they can't quite name
Anyone wanting which Asian country to start with first
Speakers
Julien Monguillot, Co-Founder, ShiftControl · LinkedIn
James Miles, Co-Founder and COO, TalentHero · LinkedIn
About the hosts
Zavior: an all-in-one compliance platform built for teams to get their cyber security and data protection requirements in order. Zavior helps startups attain and maintain the certifications enterprise and government buyers ask for before they will sign, including ASD's Essential Eight and ISO 27001.
8 Circle: The 8 Circle Community is a network of over 2,000+ founders and industry experts dedicated to guiding startups and SMEs through key aspects of establishing and operating businesses in various countries. Our vision is to build interconnected communities across major global cities, enabling seamless cross-border expansion through trusted partnerships.
The community provides insights and guidance in areas such as incorporation, accounting, tax compliance, reporting, work permits, funding, bank setup, investors, partners and regulatory filings.
Reserve your spot today.