Insights
By Jason Kumpf · June 1, 2026
The most common mistake in going global is picking the biggest market on the map. Size is easy to see and easy to fall for. It is also a poor guide to where you will actually win first.
A better first market is one where demand is already visible, friction is manageable, and you can get a real foothold before you spread out. Here is how to find it.
If customers in a country are already finding you, asking about you, or buying despite the friction, that is signal. It is worth more than a forecast. Start where the pull already exists, then widen out from strength.
Total market size tells you the ceiling, not the path. Plenty of companies have stalled in huge markets they had no right to win yet, while a focused entry into a smaller, warmer market funded the next move.
Every market carries hidden costs. Local regulation, how people expect to pay, language, the strength of your nearest competitor, and how hard it is to hire. None of these is a dealbreaker on its own. Stacked together, they decide how fast and how cheaply you can get traction.
Score your shortlist on friction as honestly as you score it on size. The right first market is often the one with the best ratio of real demand to real friction.
It is tempting to plant flags in several countries at once. It almost always spreads a small team too thin. Pick one, get the product, pricing, and support genuinely right for that market, and build a repeatable motion. Then take that playbook somewhere new.
Going global is a sequence, not a land grab. The companies that last abroad usually started by winning one market completely.
Pick the market with the clearest demand and the most manageable friction, not the largest number. Win it fully, then let what you learned carry you to the next one.
The most important rule for choosing a first international market is to pick one where you have a genuine right to win. That usually means a place where your product solves a real problem, where customers can afford it, and where you have some natural advantage, whether a cultural connection, an existing relationship, or simply a clear gap in the market. The first market is not the place to prove you can win anywhere. It is the place to win convincingly, because that first success funds and informs everything that follows.
Resist the temptation to choose a market just because it is large or fashionable. A smaller market where you fit beautifully will teach you more and reward you faster than a giant one where you are a poor match. The goal of the first market is momentum, a real win you can point to and learn from, and that comes from playing to your strengths rather than chasing the biggest prize.
The easiest markets to enter are the ones already pulling at you. If customers in a particular country are finding you, asking for you, or solving their problem in a clumsy way that your product would fix, that is a powerful signal. Demand that already exists is far cheaper to serve than demand you have to create from scratch. Smart companies pay close attention to where interest is bubbling up on its own and treat that as a map to their first market.
These signals are everywhere if you look. Web traffic from a country you do not yet serve, inbound questions from a particular region, competitors thriving in a market you have ignored. Each is evidence of demand waiting to be met. Choosing a first market where the pull already exists turns expansion from a gamble into a response to something real.
Two markets with equal opportunity are not equally easy to enter, and the difference matters enormously for a first move. Some markets are straightforward to operate in, with familiar business customs, a shared language, and simple logistics. Others, however attractive, demand far more effort to get started. For a first market, leaning toward the one that is easier to enter is usually wise, because it lets you learn the craft of expansion without fighting unnecessary friction at the same time.
This does not mean avoiding every challenge. It means being honest about your capacity and choosing a first market where the degree of difficulty matches what you can handle well. A smoother first entry builds the confidence, the playbook, and the track record that make the harder markets achievable later. Save the difficult conquests for when you have a win or two behind you.
A market that feels close, in language, culture, or business style, is often a smart first choice. The closer a market is to what you already understand, the fewer surprises you will face and the faster you will find your footing. Many successful companies expand first into markets that share their language or sit nearby, then use the lessons from that move to reach further afield. Familiarity lowers the learning curve at exactly the moment you most need an early win.
That said, proximity is a factor to weigh, not a rule to obey. Sometimes the best first market is far away but perfectly suited to your product. The point is simply to give real weight to how well you understand a market, because that understanding is a quiet advantage that makes everything about the entry easier.
Once the choice is made, the final principle is to commit properly. A half-hearted entry into a first market teaches you little and rarely succeeds. The companies that expand well pick their first market with care and then give it real resources and attention, treating it as a serious priority rather than a side experiment. That commitment is what produces a genuine result, and a genuine result, win or learn, is the whole point of choosing a first market wisely.
Approach it as the first chapter of a long story. The lessons from that first market, about how to localize, how to build a team, how to serve customers far from home, become the foundation for every market after it. Choose it thoughtfully, commit to it fully, and let it teach you how to conquer the next one.
Jason Kumpf has helped many companies pick and win their first new market. He is Head of US Revenue at Razorpay, a board advisor, angel investor, and speaker. More about Jason.