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Comment by zer00eyz | Hacker News Reader

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zer00eyz

Would you be better served staying closer to home for your first attempt?

Rather than reach for the US why not try france or spain (or the UK)

-- common currency (except for the uk)

-- Fewer time zone issues (out of band support and troubleshooting)

-- Not having to deal with US taxes (as in sales tax vs vat)

-- Gives you a chance to work out I18N l16n in a smaller pool/area

-- is your client base one that would help you out if you put up an affiliate model? "sign up french clients and your next month is free"

If your looking for "marketing partners", are you looking at folks who would fit in a "basket of products" related to what you do? If you sell razors who sells shaving cream, can you team up with someone who is local to do the CS and sales for you hear, and you do the same thing for them there?

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a "closer-to home" market would be easier for sure, and we are also thinking about it. but the issue is more or less similar - you need a local with an existing network or somebody with real passion to push the product to partners / clients with different marketing campaigns (content marketing, blogger relations, exhibitions, direct mailings, forums, blogs,...)

affiliate model is an options as well. the easiest push would be through webhosting companies or marketing agencies, who offer the product as upselling product to their existing clients and get some rev-share, i guess.

regarding the razors & shaving cream partnership. the idea is generally a good one (in theory). we already have some local partners (mostly online marketing agencies), but they usually don´t have the time/capacity/motivation to push a product from somebody else for a 40% share of a (small) monthly fee, as they don´t see the value in passive long-term recurring revenue.

Not quite what I was suggesting so let me clarify.

Im in the process of building out a product to help small businesses deal with inbound leads and CRM, moving them to conversion more quickly. Our products would not be "competitive" however my customers could easily become your customers. If I reviewed your product, and LIKED it, would I be willing to promote you to my customers, assuming I could offer them a discount and get a rev share?

Im suggesting you find a SAAS business to partner with, they see the value in long term recurring revenue, and introducing a stream of said revenue, without adding a lot of overhead. Assuming you do reciprocal marketing, at the end of any given month only one of you is going to be writing a check and thats to balance the books between the leads your generating for each other.

The only example that I can think of for these sorts of relationships was/is paypal and eBay (it is early and I need more coffee). Both shared a ton of customers, and had complimentary products did the whole merger/split thing because it looked great on paper, but didn't work in principal. If your eBay, can you find your paypal, and build a partnership rather than seek a merger?

Thank you very much for your clarification. the paypal & ebay example made me think. ;)

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