Global Expansion Readiness Assessment
Answer 15 questions to get your personalized expansion readiness score and recommendations based on our experience with 500+ expansions.
Business Foundation
How would you describe your current revenue situation?
Join 2,500+ companies who've taken this assessment
What the Readiness Assessment Covers
Fifteen questions across seven dimensions, designed for product and SaaS companies evaluating international expansion. Each dimension reflects a category where we've seen expansions consistently succeed or fail in the first 18 months.
Business Foundation
Revenue stage, domestic market penetration, and process standardization. Companies between $10–$50M ARR with 15–30% domestic share score highest — that's the band where expansion cost-of-capital makes the most sense and the playbook is most replicable.
Financial Readiness
Cash runway and dedicated expansion budget. Twelve-plus months of runway and a separate expansion line item — not absorbed into general operating budget — is the threshold where expansion stops competing with core business funding.
Market Demand
Inbound international interest and validated target-market demand. Companies actively turning away international leads are the most expansion-ready by this metric — there is provable demand without a marketing spend gamble.
Operational Readiness
Delivery complexity and remote-team experience. Mostly-digital or fully-automated delivery models scale globally with the lowest unit-cost increase; physical or high-touch delivery requires substantially more local investment.
Team Readiness
Leadership's international experience and dedicated expansion capacity. Trying to add global expansion to an already-maxed team is the most common cause of stalled expansions — the work is real, and it needs an owner.
Legal & Compliance
Familiarity with international business regulations and IP protection. IP protection in target markets is the most often overlooked dimension — and the most expensive to fix retroactively if a competitor files first.
Technology
Multi-region infrastructure and product localization. The most common gap is single-region cloud architecture — common in early-stage SaaS, painful when expanding into markets with data-residency requirements (EU, India, Brazil). The fix is rarely fast.
How the Score Is Calculated
Each question scores 1–5 points based on the answer. Your overall percentage is the sum of all answer scores divided by 75 (the maximum). A category breakdown shows which dimensions are pulling your score up or down.
Move on a 1–2 pilot-market plan in the next quarter.
Strong on every dimension. The decision now is which markets first, not whether you're capable. Most companies in this band benefit from picking two pilot markets rather than one — the comparison sharpens the playbook for the next cohort.
Address the lowest-scoring category, then launch in 3–6 months.
Foundation is solid but one or two dimensions trail meaningfully. Closing those before signing local commitments avoids paying twice — first for the launch, then for the rework.
Build for 6–12 months before launching.
Multiple dimensions need work. Companies that push forward at this band typically end up rebuilding the same capability twice — once cobbled together for the launch, once properly after the launch reveals what's missing.
Strengthen the domestic business first.
A low score usually reflects an early-stage business where domestic market opportunity is still substantial. Expanding now divides attention across two unfamiliar problems simultaneously — the math rarely favors it.
When This Assessment Is Useful — And When It Isn't
Best fit
- SaaS or digital-product companies between $1M–$50M ARR considering their first international markets.
- Companies receiving inbound international demand and trying to decide if it's time to act on it.
- Leadership teams aligning on whether to expand now or strengthen the domestic foundation first.
- Companies preparing for an investor conversation about international growth plans.
Less useful for
- Pure customer-experience or back-office offshoring decisions — use the Expansion Scorecard instead.
- Picking which specific country to enter — this measures readiness, not market selection.
- Physical-goods market entry — logistics, customs, and channel dimensions aren't covered here.
- Companies already operating in 3+ international markets — your gaps are operational, not readiness.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from the Expansion Readiness Scorecard?
Both measure expansion readiness, but with different lenses. The Readiness Assessment is built for SaaS and product companies — it asks about ARR, IP protection, multi-region infrastructure. The Expansion Scorecard is built for services and CX operations — it weights employment law, cultural readiness, and operational documentation more heavily. Pick the one whose questions match your business model.
How accurate is the readiness score?
The score is a directional signal, not a guarantee. Companies that score 80+ and execute well still encounter market-specific surprises; companies that score 40 and prepare deliberately often outperform their numbers. Use the score to focus where to invest preparation time, not as a go/no-go decision.
Should I take this with my whole team?
For most companies, the most useful version is having two or three people complete it independently — typically the CEO or COO, the CFO, and the person who would lead the expansion. Where the answers diverge is usually where you don't actually have alignment yet.
What if my score is "Not Ready"?
A low score reflects timing, not capability. Most companies that score below 40 today can close the gaps within 6–12 months by addressing two specific weak categories first — usually Business Foundation and Financial Readiness. The category breakdown shows where to focus.
Related Resources
All Resources
Browse all free resources for global expansion including calculators, guides, and tools.
Country Guides
In-depth guides for expanding to 8 key markets with real operational insights.
Compliance Hub
Country-specific employment regulations and compliance checklists updated monthly.