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Effective partnering is crucial for success in Asia. Many companies partner with the first company to knock on the door at their headquarters and later wonder why things did not work out. Unlike Western markets, the quality of the partner and the type of relationship you structure with them is paramount to your success in a particular country. Simply put, Western startups typically give away too much to partners (exclusive rights, etc.) for little or nothing in return.
To avoid costly mistakes that could hinder long term business growth, partnering in Asia must be done in a thoughtful and strategic fashion. The partnership strategy must reinforce your company's long term product, revenue and growth goals.
Also unlike Western markets, many partners in Asia understand that it is a costly endeavor to localize the product to fit the market linguistically and culturally and will often be willing to "share" the costs. Money to defray these costs can be raised via a number of mechanisms: up front purchase orders, minimum purchase commitments, non-recurring engineering (NRE) charges, selling equity in the local company or the parent company.
Even if you have no budget or bandwidth to expand into Asia, it can be done−inexpensively− with the right advice and strategy. This is where RTMAsia excels. When there is a will−and a good product−there is always a way.
Over the last decade, RTMAsia principals have closed over 100 distribution deals each worth over $1 million for Western technology companies. For an example of how this process works, read more about how we helped Larry Ellison-backed startup NetSuite raise more than $23 million from partners in Japan. |
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