☝️ On the importance of localization
We have spoken with dozens of startups who perceived localization as an important milestone on their journey to successful growth. However, localization is often buried too deep in the backlog, and CEOs and Product Managers like to focus on growing through continuous delivery of new features and service improvements while overlooking the tremendous growth that localization can bring.
The same situation is present not only in startups. When your primary line of business is e-commerce, language localization is a low priority until the rest of the tasks is done, mainly logistics & regulations compliance. When all prerequisites are met, language localization "suddenly" becomes a top priority. It is not an exception if language localization is sewn with a hot needle due to this myopic approach.
If you have an unchanging set of products, then a simple spreadsheet with translations may probably seem to be a satisfactory solution. But when you have to manage tens of products with an ever-changing inventory, handling translations in spreadsheets is a quick & sure shortcut to localization management hell, with each additional language cranking up the speed at which you are moving there.
🙈 Localization myths
Decision-makers postpone localization to later stages due to believing in some well-known localization myths.
☝️ Thinking that "our customers or users speak English; therefore, we don't need to localize" is a trap many businesses fall into.
When you consider that only 4.5% of the world's population are native English speakers, with a further 19% speaking it as a second language to varying proficiency levels, it quickly becomes apparent that "everybody speaks English" is a myth.
In other words, more than 75% of the global population doesn't speak any English at all!😮 Now, you can see how huge part of a potential market you might be missing because of a language barrier. Localization clearly makes sense!
🍃 Wrong localization approach can cost you your investment
Ignoring localization is foolish. But when you approach it incorrectly, what was once a sensible business objective can become a burden that slows growth down instead of accelerating it!
Our CEO Václav had various calls with Venture Capital funds representatives regarding our investment rounds. Václav also made one of the most valuable calls with VCs whose portfolio companies failed to scale up internationally because of an absolute lack of experience with internationalization & localization workflows in fast-growing companies.
Moreover, startups with 10x larger investment rounds than Localazy's failed to attempt international growth due to poor localization management. As a result, their backing funds lost their investment to better-prepared competitors.
🤠 How can Localazy help you?
So here is a Localazy deal for all VCs and Accelerators that perceive the value of localization for healthy international business growth as a means of diversifying the risks associated with their investments.
Are you a VC interested in having a language localization partner to help your startups spread their vision globally?
Head directly to this page and learn more about your opportunity to increase the odds of your portfolio companies succeeding in ever-growing multilingual markets. We are here to help you achieve steady international growth through successful localization without unnecessary hassle.
If you need more information, feel free to contact us at team@localazy.com
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