B2B GTM & international expansion: Ben Goodman (Okta, Adobe)
SVP & GM (APJ) @ Okta, ex-MD (APAC) @ Adobe
Ben has helped scale some of the world’s most iconic tech firms across APAC. Now SVP & GM (APJ) at Okta (market cap of US$15B+), and formerly Managing Director (APAC) at Adobe (market cap of US$150B+), Ben has built regional go-to-market engines from the ground up.
In this conversation, he unpacks proven playbooks for market entry, shares how to hire your first local sales leaders, and flags the most common mistakes tech companies make when expanding across APAC.
Q: When a tech company enters a new country, what are the main strategic bets you recommend getting right from day one?
Ben: The most critical thing is to be deliberate about why you're entering that country. Market entry playbooks differ significantly depending on the country and your product.
Take Japan, for example—success in the SMB segment there depends on first landing a marquee brand like Rakuten or NTT. You may look to invest heavily in a large well-known brand to establish your credibility in the market and build trust. Once you’ve secured that, you can move downstream to scale.
Contrast that with Indonesia or Thailand, where a marquee client may actually work against you. In those markets, it’s better to start by flooding the SMB segment—partner with communities or platforms that give you access to thousands of small clients and build from the SMB and mid-market.
In Singapore and Hong Kong, however, you probably should land a large enterprise—be it a major bank, FMCG, or government agency. Every region has a repeatable playbook, but it needs to be localized by product and GTM motion.
Q: When hiring your first sales leader in a new market, what qualities do you prioritize?
Ben: Most companies get this wrong by hiring a leader before they’ve built a clear plan.
You need to define your 12–18 month KPIs first. If you're targeting big enterprises in Korea—Samsung, LG, etc.—you want someone with direct access. Network trumps skill in that case. They can build out a team with the right capabilities afterward.
But if you’re going after digital-native companies, then product knowledge and the ability to work with platforms like Amazon or Naver matter more.
I’ve also seen companies hire someone great at enterprise sales, only to realize a year later that they needed mid-market coverage instead. That mismatch can cost time and morale.
Q: If you had to choose between someone highly experienced but from a different vertical, versus someone less senior but with relevant domain experience, who do you pick?
Ben: It depends on adaptability. If the experienced person has successfully shifted verticals every few years, they’re likely a better long-term bet. They’ll lead you through pivots, and you will need to pivot—especially in tech, where product, market, and buyer dynamics shift every three years.
But if they’ve only ever operated in one domain, I’d lean toward the person with sector-specific expertise—especially if your company’s roadmap is locked into that sector.
Q: What are the most common mistakes you see when companies expand across APAC?
Ben: There are two big ones.
First, regulations. In the past, the playbook was to drop people into the market and let them figure it out. But now, regulations can derail that. You can't just hire and wait for the product to follow. If you’re not compliant with local data laws from day one, you’re setting yourself up to fail.
The upside? If you engage regulators early and even commit to local infrastructure (like a data center), you can gain massive tailwinds.
Second, misjudging the balance between company experience talent from abroad and local teams. Many companies ship in teams from North America or Australia. That might work for global clients, but not for local governments or domestic banks. In places like Singapore, buyers prefer local account management—people who’ve been through the army, who understand the culture.
Going all-local without support, though, can backfire. You need the right leadership infrastructure to support local teams. The best companies find a balance between importing expertise and hiring locally—and evolve toward a fully local model as they scale.
Q: Any final words for founders thinking about APAC expansion?
Ben: Embrace the nuance. APAC isn’t one market—it’s many, and each has its own cultural, regulatory, and sales dynamics. But the playbooks are repeatable once you understand them. Just don’t assume one size fits all.