E20: Why I Ignored 60% of My Customers for 5 Years (Why Every Startup Should Go Global from Day One)

Founder Reality

For 5 years building SimpleDirect, 45-50% of our blog traffic came from UK, Germany, France, and South America.

I turned away all those paying customers because I thought "global" meant "complex."

I was dead wrong.

Every founder should build globally from day one - it's easier than perfecting a single local market.
The "focus" trap that costs millions:

• Wore "US-only" restriction like a badge of honor despite constant international demand
• Got US address, phone number, incorporation, banking - convinced this was "smart focus"
• Constant support tickets asking "Do you serve Canada/UK/Australia?" - answered "Sorry, US-only"
• LinkedIn messages from eager international customers we couldn't help
• 50% of blog traffic from countries we completely ignored for half a decade
• Assumed only Americans deserved our home improvement financing solution

The five excuses founders make (and why they're BS):

• "Local regulations are scary" - Unless you're handling money/banking, create one privacy policy covering California/GDPR/Canada rules in an hour
• "Different countries have different needs" - Google, Zoom, Microsoft work the same everywhere
• "Language barriers are complex" - Buffer serves the world in English only, no regional versions
• "Payment processing is complicated" - Stripe processes globally from day one using existing frameworks
• "Customer support across time zones is impossible" - Email support with 48-hour response works fine

What successful global companies actually share:

• Solve universal problems that exist everywhere (not region-specific challenges)
• English by default - no localization required initially
• USD pricing for stability - Shopify (Canadian company) charges USD globally
• Digital delivery only - no physical constraints or shipping nightmares
• Network effects spread organically across countries and continents

My default global strategy for new products:

• SimpleDirect Context (MCP servers for AI) and ChangeLock (customer-facing changelogs) launching global day one
• Same product, pricing, support process, development work - but 4x larger addressable market
• Use Stripe for payments, email support with clear response times, accept international everything
• Don't build separate country versions, don't assume local partnerships needed
• Remove country restrictions from signup, design for multiple time zones from start

The brutal results of going global:

• Similar conversion rates across international and domestic traffic
• No significant increase in support tickets despite serving worldwide
• International customers pay more because local competition can't solve their problems
• Less competition in many international markets means faster growth
• Word-of-mouth works as multiplier across multiple regions simultaneously

Check your analytics right now - you'll probably find:

• Significant traffic from countries you don't serve
• Higher engagement but zero conversion from international visitors
• Support requests asking about availability in other markets you're ignoring

Red flags you're artificially limiting your market: Assuming international means complexity, requiring country-specific customizations before launch, believing you need local partnerships, waiting for "perfect" international strategy, asking users which country they're from unnecessarily.

Bottom line: With modern payment processing, cloud infrastructure, and global English adoption, building globally should be the default in 2025. Most founders artificially limit markets by assuming international equals complex setups.

Unless you're solving problems that only exist in one country (extremely rare), you're leaving money on the table by staying local-only.

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