Global Class Podcast

In this episode, we are excited to welcome Freddy Marcos, Founder of Rentbrella, the world’s largest and most successful umbrella-sharing company. Today, Rentbrella has 800 stations with hubs present in the biggest urban centers of the world such as Sao Paolo, New York, and London.
Freddy began his career as Finance Director and Consultant, then as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Before he launched Rentbrella in 2018, he lead the operations and developed business strategy as the Chief Operating Officer of Ezconet.
Here, we discuss why it’s important to start with a global mindset from day one, how to build feedback loops and two-way innovation across teams, tips for building a successful career in international business, and strategies for localizing the business to fit the local market while staying true to company principles.

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets at https://www.zedra.com

In this episode we are excited to welcome Antoine Colaço, Managing Partner of Valor Capital Group, a cross border venture investment firm. Antoine was an early employee at Google and helped build one of the company's early international offices, then going on to global leadership roles overseeing Latin America, Asia and global business development. Prior Antoine had roles at Yahoo! and Goldman Sachs.  

In our conversation, Antoine shares the story of Google's early expansion building teams in India, about the importance of relationships and internal alignment in expansion success, how international cannot be a side project but must be core to the whole company, and how the walls are crumbling that prevented company leaders from seeing global opportunity.   

Get your copy of our Wall Street Journal Bestselling book, GLOBAL CLASS, a playbook on how to build a successful global business. https://www.amazon.com/Global-Class-Fastest-Growing-Companies-Globally/dp/1637742185

For our 25th episode, we are excited to welcome Emil Michael. Emil is the former Chief Business Officer of Uber, and played a huge role in the company's global expansion. Prior, Emil was the Chief Operating Officer of Klout, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense, Senior Vice President at TellMe Networks, and has been a strategic advisor for many companies who have IPO'd or been acquired.

In our conversation, Emil shares many key insights around how Uber successfully reached global scale and empowered a distributed team including: the importance of thinking "glocally," why it's crucial to hire locally, how to map out your expansion plans, and much more.

Get your copy of our Wall Street Journal Bestselling book, GLOBAL CLASS, a playbook on how to build a successful global business. https://www.amazon.com/Global-Class-Fastest-Growing-Companies-Globally/dp/1637742185   

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets at https://www.zedra.com    

In this episode we are excited to welcome Masami Takahashi. Masami is the President of Scrum Studio CEO of Japan at Miles, an applications that offers rewards for traveling, allowing anyone with a smartphone to earn miles and rewards whether your commute is by car, rideshare, plane, train, subway, bus, bicycle or on foot. Prior, Masami led expansion for WeWork & Uber and he's a perfect example of an Interpreneur as we have coined in our book.    

In our conversation, Masami shares how to become a bridge between HQ and local teams when working on an international market (AND why it's the job of the local team to make HQ fall in love with that local market), how to build trust and strong relationships within a distributed organization, and how he helped scale companies like Uber and WeWork in the Japanese market.   Get your copy of our Wall Street Journal Bestselling book, GLOBAL CLASS, a playbook on how to build a successful global business. 

In this episode we are excited to welcome Jerry Luk. Jerry is the co-founder and president of Firework, which empowers businesses to better engage with customers through video. Prior, Jerry was one of the Head of Mobile Business Strategy at Edmodo, Co-Founder and CTO of Presdo and was an early LinkedIn employee and creator of LinkedIn Mobile.    

In our conversation, Jerry offers insights into LinkedIn's global success, looking back on the growth of mobile technology, explains why in business today the opportunity is outside of the US, why it's best to think of the progression of an expansion on a spectrum for testing new products and expanding instead of making leaps between vastly different markets and the importance of building a diverse team but while fostering common beliefs and universal core values.    

Get your copy of our WSJ/National Bestselling book, Global Class, a playbook on how to build a successful global business, along with free pre-order bonuses at https://www.globalclassbook.com

In this episode we are excited to welcome Marvin Liao. Marvin is a partner at Diaspora Ventures and GAMEGROOVE Capital and previously was a partner at 500 Startups, where in total he has invested in over 400 companies. Prior, Marvin played a major role in the international expansion efforts (in APAC and EMEA) at Yahoo!    

In our conversation, Marvin shares why it's crucial to build an internal network and trust to be successful in new markets, the pitfalls of too much localization and autonomy, the importance of 2 way innovation, why bad economic times are great opportunities to expand in international markets and viewpoints on how investing in fast growing companies is getting more global.    

In this episode we are excited to welcome Joanna Harries, Senior Vice President of Global Expansion at Endeavor, the world's leading organization working with high impact entrepreneurs. Prior, Joanna held other growth executive roles at the organization and was a brand manager at Unilever.   

In our conversation, Joanna offers great insights about taking a decentralized approach to localizing for new markets, but having the playbooks and structures, how to foster an owner's mentality and create a community of trust, how to develop local-to-local knowledge sharing (not always requiring HQ) and building a global mindset within your family.  

Get your copy of our #2 Wall Street Journal Bestselling book, Global Class, a playbook on how to build a successful global business at https://www.amazon.com/Global-Class-Fastest-Growing-Companies-Globally/dp/1637742185   

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets at https://www.zedra.com    

In this episode we are excited to welcome Frédéric Mazzella, Founder, Chairman and Former CEO of BlaBlaCar, the world's largest carpooling platform. Frédéric is also an active investor, startup board member and Co-President Entrepreneur of France Digitale.

In our conversation, Frédéric speaks to us about how to think big but act small at the beginning of global expansion initiatives, how to create a business name with global appeal, building a community of trust within an organization, successful strategies like how to "build for 2 markets," and how to hire a talented, internationally-minded local team who connect with your company culture and how to listen to them and leverage their local market expertise.

In this episode we are excited to welcome Bianca Martinelli, Partner at Brazilian venture capital firm Alexia Ventures, Co-Founder of International Mastermind, a global network of professionals focused on international expansion. Previously, Bianca was the Senior Vice President of Global Operations at global entrepreneurial community Endeavor and Vice President of International Expansion for digital marketing and CRM platform company RD Station.

In our conversation, Bianca talks about the importance of having strong company values that can be universalized to have global appeal, how HQ can be an enabler of global growth and trust building instead of a command-and-control mechanism, how it is crucial to create internal systems for unifying knowledge and facilitating strong communication, why iterating and embracing failure are key in succeeding with global expansion and how to architect your company to go global when you are ready, among other topics.

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets @ https://www.zedra.com

In this episode, we are excited to welcome Heini Zachariassen, Founder and Former CEO of Vivino, the world's largest wine app. Prior, Heini was the CEO of BullGuard, and a board member of NORRIQ and Faroese Telecom. He is also the founder and host of Raw Startup.

In our conversation, Heini talks about a number of topics including the importance of hiring a strong team and how the roles and expertise of the team need to change as an organization grows in new markets, building a decentralized organization, the tradeoffs of localization in markets and when to make changes to your business model and when not to, the future of global business, as well as the benefits of coming from a small country.

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets at https://www.zedra.com

In this episode, we are excited to welcome Claudia Makadristo, Head of Africa Expansion for MetaMap, a fast-growing digital trust and reputation infrastructure layer that enables other service providers. Prior, Claudia was Head of Partnerships and Regional Manager for Seedstars.

In our conversation, Claudia talks about the importance of building relationships in emerging markets to understand local dynamics - especially with government regulators, introducing your company the right way, why you don't want to underestimate local competitors who fully understand the local market well, the importance of having a solid local team to navigate local nuances in a market and why it's crucial to understand the sensitivities and differences within a market, leading with empathy so you can effectively interpret your product or service for the new market.

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets at https://www.zedra.com

In this episode we are excited to welcome Marcello Schermer, Head of International Expansion at Yoco, a South Africa-based fintech startup helping SMEs accept payments and get data-driven insights. Prior, Marcello was Managing Director of Seedstars and strategy consultant at Detecon Inc. 

In our conversation, Marcello talks about the importance of immersing yourself in a new market to understand how trust is built, why it's crucial to build a cross-cultural team from early on within the whole company and not just within the expansion team, as well as the growing opportunities across the continent of Africa with it's fast growing population and how Africa should be thought of as a source of innovation and not just an opportunity for market entry.  

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets at https://www.zedra.com    

In this episode we are excited to welcome Jivko Bojinov, Co-Founder of ShipBob, a tech enabled 3PL (third party logistics provider) that offers simple, fast and affordable fulfillment for thousands of brands across 3 continents. Prior, Jivko worked in China at YESSAT, an education consulting and training company and founder of Ivy League Travels.  

In our conversation, Jivko talks about why international expansion is both easier and also more difficult than you think it is, what characteristics to look for when building out a team in international markets, knowing what can and cannot change when figuring out what to localize and navigating the gray area in between, and the benefits of getting career experience abroad.  

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets at https://www.zedra.com    

In this episode we are excited to welcome Tiffany Stevenson, Chief People Officer of Patreon, a membership platform that supports over 200,000 creators and their 7 million fans, powering the creator economy. Prior, Tiffany was the Chief Talent & Inclusion Officer at Box and held executive roles at Sephora and Charles Schwab. In our conversation, Tiffany talks about the differences between a company being "international" vs. being "global," the importance of curiosity within the team to understand a local market and translate this knowledge back to localizing the business, how culture moves a company forward, how autonomy allows scale to happen and why Hubs could be the right structure for decision-making instead of a centralized HQ when you have a distributed workforce  

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets @ https://www.zedra.com    

In this episode we are excited to welcome Elius Hussain, co-founder and former CEO of Pathao, a Bangladeshi super app that offers ride sharing, food delivery, and content streaming, among other services. In our conversation Elius shares more about the Bangladeshi market, the importance of building a solid local team that knows the market better than HQ does and empowering them to make important decisions, and how to think global day one, purposely building the company to work in multiple markets and transcend borders.  

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets @ https://www.zedra.com    

In this episode we are excited to welcome Kathryn Hymes, former Head of International Product Expansion for Slack. Prior, Kathryn held product leadership roles at Nextdoor and Facebook and currently runs Thorny Games, a company that builds games at the intersection of language and crytography. 

In our conversation, Kathryn offers some awesome insights into a vast number of topics: from how to be successful entering new markets (a hint being not to launch and leave, but to build for sustainability and scalability), the importance of curiosity, energy, passion and understanding a functional cross-section of the business in being an effective product leader;  and the need for leaders to meet both customers and employees where they are at and to ask the right questions in order to be successful localizing your business for new markets.   

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets @ https://www.zedra.com 

Join us as we speak with Israel Bimpe, head of Africa Go-To-Market for Zipline, a drone delivery company focused on building the world's fastest and most reliable delivery drone and logistics network to ensure every person on the planet can have instant access to vital medical supplies.  In our conversation, we discuss how emerging markets are leapfrogging mature markets in a number of key areas, the benefits of cultural diversity and valuing the voice of teams in local markets when scaling a business globally and how Zipline is building strong teams in the markets they are expanding into.

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets @ https://www.zedra.com

If you are an international business leader looking to connect with others leading global expansion, join the Global Class Community. More info at https://www.globalclassbook.com/community

In this episode, we speak with Jenn Cornelius, Chief People Officer at Ritual, an LA-based direct-to-consumer health brand. Prior, Jenn was the Head of Future of Work and Organizational Design at Pinterest, Chief People Officer at Sweetgreen and Head of Organization Design for Apple's Retail division. In our conversation, Jenn discusses a number of important topics including: how virtual work affects organizational design, the role of HQ in creating serendipity and ensuring employee readiness (when it relates to launching teams in new markets), balancing decision-rights to empower local market team, as well as the importance of company culture and facilitating connections to help teams create meaning.

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets @ https://www.zedra.com    

If you are an international business leader looking to connect with others leading global expansion, join the Global Class Community. More info at https://www.globalclassbook.com/community

In this episode, we speak with Gabriel Engel, CEO and Co-Founder of Rocket.Chat, a fast growing Brazilian enterprise messaging platform born through open source. We cover a number of topics relevant to international expansion: from the benefits of having a distributed team to serve a distributed customer base, the importance of creating a physical working space that represents the values of the company and how common values can help you connect across cultures and geographies.   

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets @ https://www.zedra.com  

Join us in our discussion with Freddy Vega, Co-Founder and CEO of Platzi, Latin America's largest online education platform, as we discuss a diverse set of topics from: poverty and positivity to Pokemon and Psychology, from Trust and Technology to Soft Skills and the Latin American business ecosystem. Freddy shares his story and the story of how Platzi is improving the careers (and lives) of its over 2 million students.

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets @ https://www.zedra.com/

As our episode's guest says, "Don't treat an international expansion as an extension of your business, treat it as a startup." Get key insights from Imre Hild, Managing Director of startup advisory firm Global Traction. AKA the "Godfather" of the Hungarian startup ecosystem, Imre will share keys to success in expanding your company beyond your borders.

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets @ https://www.zedra.com/

Join us in a conversation with Jennifer Yuen, former Global Marketing Executive & Head of Americas Marketing at Airbnb to talk about the company's global growth story. Hear great insights Jennifer learned as one of the first people to expand the brand into APAC and about some of the best practices in expanding to new markets including: the importance of immersing yourself in other cultures, how diversity can be a company's core strength, how to create balance between HQ and Local Offices and much more.

This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets @ https://www.zedra.com/

Learn how Abe Smith, Head of International @ Zoom, went from teaching English in a rural Japanese fishing village, to learning the trade of international business & sales at a bagel company, to leading international at one of the fastest growing companies in the world. Careers aren't linear and formative experiences (as well as serendipitous moments) often takes careers to new heights. With Abe, we'll explore the keys to Zoom's incredible growth and delve into some of the personal pivotal moments as well as how his early experiences have shaped him into the leader he is today.

This episode is sponsored by ZEDRA, an international provider of Corporate Services & Global Expansion, Active Wealth and Fund Solutions. Learn more at http://zedra.com/