By Ray Newal, Managing Director of the Techstars Bangalore Accelerator

Freshworks, Zoho, Druva, and most recently, Postman. You might recognize them as successful Indian unicorns, but did you know a significant portion of their revenues come from North America? 

For these companies and many others, their opportunity is now. Global measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 have accelerated a shift in the way consumers and businesses around the world transact. The ability to meet face-to-face with a customer is no longer the competitive advantage it used to be, providing tech startups across the globe the ability to more easily establish leadership positions in foreign markets.

India is home to one of the largest pools of skilled engineers and product developers in the world. And it’s clear the Indian tech community and workforce is capable of building quality products at scale that the rest of the world wants. 

Why Haven’t We Seen More Success Stories Like These? 

From the start, companies like these were established to do business globally. The business language they use, the brands they developed, and the pricing strategies and sales processes they follow were designed to resonate with North American customers. This is no easy feat for companies based in culturally distant markets.

It comes down to understanding the signals that convey trust and credibility to buyers. As a foreign startup, it’s difficult to grasp the narratives, purchase behaviours, or cultural nuances that matter to North American customers. 

This understanding of how to recognize and emit signals with the power to influence purchase decisions is one of the largest gaps to stand between hundreds of South Asian startups and the ability to effectively and productively sell to customers in North America.

Become a Market Leader in North America

Having invested in more than 2,300 companies, Techstars is one of North America’s largest investors, with a track record of providing market leaders such as Sendgrid, PillPack, Classpass, Digital Ocean, and Salesloft with the tools to build hyper-scale businesses. 

In our upcoming 2021 program, Techstars Bangalore is going to provide 10 outstanding companies from South Asia with the tools and network to become market leaders in North America. We’re open to applications from all tech-enabled businesses, but successful applicants will have demonstrated a strong product-market awareness specific to North America, a detailed understanding of the competitive landscape, and an ability to articulate a competitive advantage that will allow them to become leaders in their respective vertical markets. 

Apply Now!

If this describes your business, we welcome you to apply now!

Applications will be accepted until October 11th, and will be reviewed as they come in, so don’t wait for the last minute! Historically, early applicants benefit from an advantage by having multiple opportunities to meet with us for office hours. 

Before you meet us we highly recommend reading our FAQs to learn more about Techstars accelerators. We also recommend reviewing our application FAQ, which will provide you with insights you’ll need to submit a great application.

For further announcements, details about upcoming AMAs, and information about the upcoming program, I invite you to follow me on Linkedin.

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