What are the strategies for a startup to expand internationally and become a global company? Rodrigo Melato, Vice-President of Sales at Pismo, discussed this question at the AWS SaaS Forum in São Paulo, Brazil.
Melato participated in the discussion panel “Conquering the World: The Challenges of International Expansion.” He interacted with Rafa Forte, Co-founder of VTEX, and Ricardo Lepper, Founder of SoftExpert – both software companies headquartered in Brazil. Juliana Amaral, ISV Account Manager at AWS, mediated the session.
Melato analysed the strategies Pismo adopted to expand worldwide. He says going international was a natural move for Pismo since its product, a cloud-native SaaS platform for banking and payments, has universal appeal. It’s a solution that fits banks and fintech companies in almost all countries.
“Our platform was designed from its inception to be used anywhere,” he says. So, national boundaries didn’t limit the business expansion. Founded in Brazil in 2016, Pismo now has offices and clients in five continents.
Local partners are vital
However, since the financial services industry is strictly regulated, moving into a new market requires some planning. “Each country has its requirements. We must comply with the local regulations before starting operations in a new region,” says Melato.
For a financial technology company expanding worldwide, regulations are like speed bumpers. Companies may need some time to adapt their products to them, which slows down the expansion.
The participants in the AWS panel agree that we can never overemphasise the importance of local partners when exploring new markets. These partners know the local culture and the best way to conduct negotiations and close deals.
“Since compliance with the national regulations is our first concern when entering a new market, our first partner is frequently a law firm,” says Melato.
Global investors speed up the expansion
After its Series B funding round in 2021, Pismo sped up its internationalisation process. An essential strategy for the company was to seek investment from global funds. “Our investors are funds like Softbank and Accel, which operate in many countries. They helped us expand internationally,” says Melato.
He concludes with a cautionary reflection: “The temptation to develop all that client’s request is strong when entering a new country. But we must resist. Otherwise, we would lose our focus and risk doing everything the market asks for in a mediocre way.”
“We are committed to offering the best technology for financial services. So we avoid straying away from this purpose,” he adds.
Learn how Pismo helps financial institutions migrate to the cloud by downloading our white paper:
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