Interview with Carlos Monteiro

The Evolution of International Expansion

Damian: For the last 10 years, you've been helping companies and entrepreneurs expand internationally by building relationships and networking. How has this process changed over the past decade? We all know some significant events have occurred during this time!

Carlos: Before discussing how the process of international expansion has changed, I would like to step back and introduce what I've been doing for the past decade. It started in Denmark. I moved to Denmark because I met a Danish woman back in Brazil, and I worked for the Danish government as an intern there.

Every government has its trade councils or chambers of commerce, and the role of these associations is to help companies from their respective countries tap into new markets.

As an intern for the Danish government, besides brewing coffee and washing fruits, I acted as a connector. I was the one cold-calling people and facilitating interactions between Danish and Brazilian companies.

It wasn't just commerce; it could be anything—from hammers and umbrellas to healthcare products.

Limitations of government assistance.

That experience taught me a lot because I understood the value of government assistance when a company is trying to enter a new market. However, this assistance is limited. As a government representative, we couldn't fully represent the company; we could only facilitate meetings. Which I found frustrating.

When I moved to Denmark in June of 2013, I started a blog about the business environment in Brazil. At that time, I was studying digital marketing and online positioning.

While working for the Danish Consulate, I heard many Brazilians say it was very hard to find a job in Denmark. So, I started my blog as a means to position myself for job opportunities.

What ended up happening was that my blog became unique because I interviewed Brazilian decision-makers and explained the business landscape in Brazil. Companies from Denmark, and others I connected with through LinkedIn, started seeking my services as a business developer.

So, I started my company as a consultant to help companies tap into new markets, similar to what I did at the Danish Consulate.

I did this for many years, working with various industries until companies in the e-commerce space, particularly vendors, began approaching me. I specialized in that sector.

To answer your question about the shift in sales, marketing, and international expansion, especially after COVID when everyone went online, it has become clear that relying solely on paid ads or outbound sales alone isn't entirely effective.

Many factors have changed.

Founders began to realize the importance of having a stronger digital presence. If you're a founder and don't work on your personal brand, you're probably leaving opportunities on the table.

Companies where the founder appears, shares their perspective, explains why they are different, and educates the industry tend to be more trusted and successful. Social media plays a fundamental role in how businesses expand and succeed abroad, and that is a massive change in the last 10 years of international expansion.

After Covid, it became clear that there isn't a one-size-fits-GTM approach, but rather a combination, which includes events, community, content, SoMe presence and the like

So how to get started?

The first step is to understand how to build relationships. More companies are now focusing on education because competition is fierce. To stand out, the founder needs to be present and educate the market.

Once you start educating the market, people become more interested in what you're doing, allowing you to start conversations. Education is a big aspect.

When it comes to international expansion, think about building an ecosystem. Forget just generating leads. When stepping into a new market, you need to develop a region where you know nobody.

One of the most powerful ways to develop that market is by building an ecosystem. You need to create a platform where people see value, facilitate education, and build relationships.

Building relationships with people we like and trust is one of the most challenging things a company can do, especially in an international market.

I believe in the evolution of the ecosystem economy.

Companies, especially in the SaaS space, are increasingly recognizing the importance of building an ecosystem.

There is always an existing ecosystem, but the challenge lies in how to activate it effectively. To activate this ecosystem, you need to provide value, especially when entering a new market as the newcomer. These are the major shifts that I see.

Reputation, Narrative, and Authenticity

Damian: You pointed out the importance of personal brand. Can you tell us some specific differences between building a personal brand in Europe and South America? Are there differences in how people tend to do this?

Carlos: First off, a personal brand is about your reputation. I made a post some time ago, and I was making fun of it.

Sometimes I get a bit tired of LinkedIn because I'm there to consume knowledge. I'm at a stage in my life where if I see a selfie, I just unfollow. Because I think LinkedIn has a lot of nonsense these days; people just want to promote themselves. Fair enough, but a selfie, in my opinion, is not a personal brand.

A personal brand, for me, is about what you've built throughout the years.

It's about what you've delivered. Perhaps you haven't delivered yet; perhaps you're building. And I think that is also possible, which is what I'm doing with the Evolve Club.

But I do have a history of building companies in international markets. I'm sharing what I'm doing with the club as I build it. I also know what I'm talking about. If I don't know, I look for experts to help me share some expertise.

Regarding your question, I think I would start with what a personal brand isn't. A personal brand, in my opinion, isn't a selfie. A personal brand is about your reputation.

How do you best show your reputation?

I think it's about sharing. You need to find your narrative. That's a very difficult topic, whether we are in Brazil, Poland, or the US.

It's always very hard for us to look at ourselves. I also have that challenge. It's about what I call, it's not me who coined this term, an origin story. These are the highs and lows that I had throughout my journey.

You need to value your journey and your story as an asset because this is a real asset. Things that you went through and lived have value. But to find value, you need to value your story.

That's the first step. That's where mentoring, in my opinion, is so important. You're going to come in as an outsider, and I'm going to listen to your story. Then we're going to identify together what are the highs and lows and the mentors you had throughout your life. We build your narrative.

After building your narrative, identify what your pillars are.

Your content pillars are the topics that you're really good at and can defend. In your case, I believe it's UX.

I can talk about international expansion and building an international brand. Identifying your pillars is also a challenge. Once you do those things, you're in a position where you need to execute that plan and tell your story.

There are many things you can do there. Finding or defining your narrative involves looking back. An exercise I always do is to look backward. We draw a timeline and go backward, look at your story, identify highs and lows, mentors, learnings, and successes.

Then we can get to your origin story, to where you are today, and define new routes, so to speak.

Once we do that, we define content pillars and start telling the story. A personal brand is about your reputation and the story of how you're going to position yourself.

I do not believe in "fake it till you make it."

I believe in being real but also being strategic about what you're going to share on social media.

Navigating Authenticity in Personal Branding

Damian: I remember from the book “Go-Giver” that one rule states that the most outstanding value you can give is yourself. It was about being authentic, not pretending to be someone you're not. If you're building, you're creating - and you're being honest about it. I always felt that this rule is valid for many businesses worldwide.

Carlos: I think it's quite easy sometimes to spot who's there just for the sake of selfies, for the sake of a thumbs up, and those who are making an effort to tell a story. It's different.

Though I totally agree, I think the word "authenticity" also needs to be taken with a pinch of salt nowadays because everybody talks about authenticity, but what does it mean?

I've had a conversation with a guy, shortly after his father's passing he wanted my advice because did a post where he was talking about how life was hard and unfair.

I said, "Don't do that." It's not that you have to use social media to dump your frustrations and other personal issues. Go to a psychologist for that. It's better to take care of your mental health and when use social media strategically, not to show your best version, but to share some knowledge and be strategic about where you're going to get.

Maybe you want to be there whining and whatever it is, then it's your problem. But I don't recommend that.

How Founders Can Build a Presence Without Being the Face of the Brand

Damian: Let’s talk a little bit about the perspective of a company or entrepreneur who is potentially thinking about going international. Let’s say that I have a company where we are doing good. I feel that we can enter new markets, but I don't feel like building a personal brand. I don't feel good on social media. I don't feel good on connecting with people more than I have to. How would you approach such fear or doubts?

Carlos: You can't force people to do what they don't feel comfortable doing.

It's not a problem if you don't feel comfortable. This is very common in tech and in the founder ecosystem. Sometimes you have someone who is an absolute geek, building something unique, and doesn't like to connect with people.

If that's the case, you need to find the right people to help you because you're not going to do it yourself. I have clients who are not going to be the faces of the company. I'm like, "That's fine." Then we identify someone else who is going to take over that role because it is important to have the human factor.

Sometimes I don't talk about building a personal brand because this may feel intimidating. But we talk about the human factor.

Companies need to humanize their brand.

So, let's find the right person to help you do that. Maybe it's not going to be you, but you need to hire someone to do it for you.

We have a client where the CEO doesn't want to do it. So, we hired a person to be the face of the company. This person is doing a great job building the human factor, bringing all the cases that they have done throughout the years and becoming more visible.

If you can't do it yourself, it's fine.

But you need to find someone else to help you. It's not possible to launch a brand internationally without a human factor. People don't buy from companies, people buy from people.

Damian: You touched an important topic. In the first part of our conversation, you mentioned that it’s crucial to connect with people, create an ecosystem, and a platform. That’s much more about the community around the brand rather than just pushing products. Do you see some trends in the way how people are using communities and creating ecosystems?

Carlos: Yes, and to be honest, I think that the biggest challenge is for a company to make the community thrive. We have so many online communities nowadays. I built one called Evolve Club, and it's challenging because people want quick results.

Sometimes people join an online community expecting to get a quick win or return on their investment, especially if the community is paid. That's not going to happen in most cases.

I believe the best thing to do is to start slowly and find a niche.

We see many companies succeeding in building communities around a particular topic. They educate the market, give them tools to interact, and help them with specific challenges.

The key to building a thriving community is to identify a pain point, understand what they need, and start solving these problems together.

Another challenge is to foster interaction. Some community members just come in to read and leave. They don't interact.

You need to find ways to make people interact and feel part of the community. Maybe it's through events, webinars, meetups, or sharing stories and successes. But it's crucial to give them a platform where they can share and learn from each other.

Evolve Club: Building a Community for International Expansion

Damian: You’ve built a community called Evolve Club. Could you tell us a bit more about it and its purpose?

Carlos: Yes, Evolve Club is an international network that aims to enable professionals in the world of commerce to build strategic partnerships and enter new markets.

The idea came from my years of experience helping businesses expand internationally. I saw that many companies struggled because they didn't have the right connections or didn't know where to start.

So, I decided to create a community where we could share knowledge, support each other, and build connections.

We focus on education, sharing insights, and giving members the tools to succeed in new markets. We have a platform where members can interact, ask questions, and get advice. We also organize events, webinars, and workshops to help them learn and grow.

The goal is to create an ecosystem where members can thrive and succeed together. We want to be the go-to place for anyone looking to expand internationally, providing them with the support and resources they need to succeed.

Carlos Monteiro is the founder of " THE EVOLVE Commerce Club"

The EVOLVE Commerce Club is a senior and cross-functional community comprising global experts from over 24 nationalities in the world of commerce.

The club's mission is to enable strategic partnerships for commerce professionals who seek to develop their companies in international markets.

Carlos is a father of two girls and husband to Laís.
He enjoys talking about strategic partnerships, and content strategy, and he is obsessed with helping people to connect and seeing people succeed across markets

You can reach him on LinkedIn.