I flew to Colombo to tell founders one uncomfortable truth about why Indian brands fail abroad.
TiECon Colombo was my first international speaking opportunity. The topic – how can brands go global (while focus was for Sri Lankan brands – learnings apply to Indian founders too)
A room full of founders, and the one thing that got everyone nodding wasn’t a strategy or framework.
It was this – Companies don’t fail abroad because of cost or capability. They fail when belief lags behind ambition.
Ambition decides whether you run a small pilot or bet big on a new market. Everything starts there.
Here’s what I shared with the room:
→ Stop selling your heritage. Sell the outcome. Kapiva cracked the US market by never using the word “Ayurveda.” They sold performance rituals for modern men. That one positioning shift changed everything.
→ Talk to your customers before building anything. Not surveys, but real conversations. Understand their pain points, not your assumptions.
→ Test with digital first. Run a pilot – lead gen for services, a D2C site for products. You don’t need an office abroad to start selling abroad.
→ Premium is never about price. It’s about perceived value. And perceived value comes from storytelling – on your products, your experiences, your brand.
Also met Vijay Amritraj backstage – fellow Don Bosco alumni. He was just awarded the Padma Bhushan. He took Indian tennis global 45 years ago, reaching world no. 16 in 1980 – still one of the highest rankings by an Indian singles player.
Different fields, but same lesson. Excellence combined with ambition can take you anywhere.
If you’re an Indian founder thinking about going global – start with one question. Do you truly believe your brand belongs on a world stage?
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