The Fedtrade® Podcast recently interviewed Jeffrey Smith, Chief Operating Officer at Factum Global, as part of our SelectUSA Investment Summit Spotlight series. Factum Global is an international consulting firm that specializes in helping businesses and associations expand internationally. Members of Factum Global will be attending the 2025 SelectUSA Investment Summit in National Harbor, Maryland, from May 11-14, 2025.
Learn more about Factum Global on their website or follow them on LinkedIn. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.
Key Takeaways:
- The four Rs (research, readiness, roadmap, and relationships) are key for market entry.
- Intellectual property due diligence is an essential part of the research phase companies should complete before launching into a new market.
- Setting up meetings and reviewing the conference agenda are two essential steps to preparation for the SelectUSA Investment Summit.
[a copy of the written transcript is here]:
Hello, welcome to Fedtrade®. I’m James Hastings of Rothwell Figg. Joining us on the podcast today is Jeff Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Factum Global. Jeff will share his insight on international business expansion and U.S. market entry, and how Factum Global helps businesses and associations expand and operate across the world. Jeff, welcome to Fedtrade®.
Jamie, thanks so much for having me today. I really appreciate it. And I’m really pleased to be speaking to your listeners. Factum Global is a Washington, D.C.-based international consulting firm. And we help companies, nonprofit associations, nonprofits, and others successfully expand into new markets. We were created as a one-stop solution for organizations looking to expand into a new market. Oftentimes, companies come to us when they’re trying to better understand if they’re even ready to expand globally. And so we conduct an objective international readiness assessment, which is rooted in a model that we created called the International Maturity Model. And basically we review a dozen facets of an organization from culture to technology to their finances and we help them understand how mature these different pieces of their business are in order to sustain an expansion globally. So we provide things like market entry strategy, global expansion planning and strategy, and operational support. And in fact, we recently started offering fractional executive support. So if you’re a company that is looking at an expansion project, but you’re not really fully ready to commit to hiring someone full time, we will dispatch one of our executives that effectively becomes part of the management team. Maybe temporary, maybe it turns into something more permanent. But we meet our clients where they are on their global expansion journey. Not everyone has the research and the data that’s pointing them in a certain direction. Some do already and we help them implement their strategy.
What types of clients do you serve in terms of either size or sector?
So we typically serve mid-sized companies, so anywhere between like $25 million in annual revenue upwards of $700 or $800 million in revenue. We have some outliers. We’ve worked with companies across a variety of industries. So we’re truly industry agnostic. We believe that a global expansion strategy, the principles of strategy can go across industries. And I might mention we’re also sort of regionally agnostic. We have a global team and a presence in many corners of the world. We have a physical presence in Bangkok, Thailand. While we’re headquartered in the United States, and we help companies enter the United States, we’re also helping U.S.-based companies enter markets around the world. So in Asia Pacific, we’re in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, and we have a Latin American headquarters based in Bogota, Colombia, which is where our founder and CEO was born. We have a physical presence in Brazil and we also have a member of the team in Dubai. We find that it’s useful to have a member of the team on the ground to help our clients execute their strategies there. But we also rely on a large global network of partners because we are still a small firm, but we have a pretty, vast global network.
What are some of the challenges facing your clients?
So it’s a good question. For companies that are entering the U.S., regulatory and compliance issues should be top of mind for these companies. Many companies don’t realize how different the legal environment is here in the United States. And I know I’m preaching to the choir here. Cultural and business practice differences often come about. So a non-U.S. company entering the U.S. may not fully understand that we are really 50 countries within one. Business practices in California may be very different from the southeastern U.S. versus the Midwest. And then for U.S. companies looking abroad, what are some business etiquette practices that will help you get the deal signed? For example, you’re going to parts of Asia for a meeting, bringing a wrapped gift to your meeting with your potential client could help you seal the deal. Or if you’re meeting with a potential client in South America or parts of Europe, understanding that they really want to get to know you personally. And so your meetings may involve dinners or meeting family members or going out into the evening and then business is discussed. So business practice differences, the cultural differences, and also operational complexity is a challenge, such as understanding how to set up supply chains. Forming partnerships, understanding how to register your entity in the United States, what kind of entity should you be registering. And then we have companies that need help with a go-to-market strategy. So finding, again, with a non-U.S.-based company coming into the States, finding their customers, finding the right distribution channels, finding the right marketing and sales approach. Again, back to the U.S. not being a monolith, understanding how to speak to a consumer base in Florida may be very different from Washington State. And so we help our clients understand these potential pitfalls that they could fall into and help them successfully enter the U.S. or another market around the world.
U..S market entry issues can sometimes be overwhelming. Do you have any priority recommendations for clients entering the U.S. market or does it depend on their sector?
There are obviously sector-specific considerations and that’s for the company to really do their homework. Really, Jamie, the bottom line is I like to boil it down to the four Rs: research, readiness, roadmap, and relationships. So if you’re entering the U.S. market, if you do your research and have data that’s driving your decision making, if you’re sure that your company is ready by sort of doing the evaluation of your organization, that’s the research part. I mentioned the international readiness assessment – part of that assessment is a series of interviews or focus groups or even a survey with your key stakeholders, so your staff, your board members, your customers, and really understanding how ready you are. And then the roadmap is your strategy, your global expansion strategy, your market entry strategy. What is that roadmap? What does it look like? What kind of company do you want to be in that new market? And then the relationships are critical. So I’ll give you an example. We worked with a Singaporean-based company looking to enter the U.S. market. They were a small tech company, a SaaS company, and they recognized in their early days that in order to make an impact in the U.S., they needed to partner with some of the giants. And so we worked with them to help them form relationships, help them understand that their membership in an association, a nonprofit association, where their potential partners and customers are all in the same room, so to speak, has a lot of value. An association, a trade association, or a professional association in the U.S. could be quite different from other parts of the world, particularly in Asia. And so, you know, we help them form those types of relationships and they’re on their way to continuing to make progress in their U.S. market entry.
I’d be remiss not to also plug the SelectUSA Investment Summit which is sponsored by the U.S. Commerce Department. And it’s an event that we attend every year, typically in May or June in the Washington, D.C. area, where the U.S. government welcomes delegations from countries all around the world. I think last year there were over 50 countries represented. And these companies are coming to the Washington, D.C. area to learn how to do business here. How do they make inroads in the U.S. market? Where are their investors? So you have these companies from around the world and on the flip side, you have in the exposition hall the 50 states and all of the U.S. territories representing why their state should be the place that these companies do business. All of the incentives that states around the United States offer to attract foreign investment in their communities. And then there are also people there like me from international consulting firms who are looking to put our hands out and welcome them and make them feel like they have a partner in the states so that when they go back to wherever they’re from, they know that they have a lifeline in the U.S. That goes beyond, you know, other contacts that maybe they would have made at SelectUSA.
The SelectUSA Investment Summit will be occurring May 11th through 14th of this year at National Harbor, Maryland. You had mentioned that when companies visit the Summit, there are at least 50 states there and their economic development organizations. There are also county economic development organizations, city and regional ones. Bottom line is it can get very overwhelming for international visitors in terms of choosing the best partners to work with or the economic incentives. Do you work with clients to make that journey easier?
It is very overwhelming. I’ll tell you, that’s a good point, Jamie. Last year, I I think they had over 5,000 participants, which in the grand scheme of things may not sound very large, but we do help organizations and companies navigate SelectUSA. And we have a couple pieces of advice. First off, I would say, anyone listening that would like to set up a meeting with me, I’m sure my contact information will be available and I’m happy to do that in advance. And that’s one of the lessons. Try to set up as many meetings in advance as possible because that will really define your schedule for the Summit. There are opportunities to connect with people through the Summit platform in advance of your arrival in Washington, D.C. And they make it fairly easy to do that. The other thing is, is obviously, and this goes with any conference you’re attending, check out the agenda beforehand and see which sessions make the most sense for whatever strategic goals you have for the Summit. I mean, if you’re looking for investors, there are investors walking around. But to your point, Jamie, without the preparation and understanding of who’s in the room, who the speakers are, for example, without that preparation, you could very easily get lost, in the chaos, if you will, of a very busy conference. There are deals that are made. I witnessed it firsthand last year. Companies will come in and they even have sort of a side area where they make announcements of different companies that finalize plans with a particular state or a county or a city, as you say. And that’s pretty great.
Companies that are exporting to the United States products have a couple of choices. One is that they manufacture them in their home jurisdiction and bring them in via U.S. customs to the United States. The other alternative is to partner with a U.S. manufacturer and distributor. What are the pros and cons of each?
That’s a good question. I think let’s just be realistic in where we are. You know, we’re speaking to each other in February of 2025. We have a new administration in Washington. And from what we can gather so far, the push is really for non-U.S. companies to find manufacturing partners here in the States to manufacture their goods. In a way, you maybe lose some of the margin on your goods. However, you’re able to then take advantage of some of the incentives that are available here in the States. I think what it comes back down to, Jamie, is one of the Rs that I mentioned, and that is research. Truly understanding what are the pros and cons. So depending on whatever your product is, working with a firm like ours or with another to help them understand what are the costs involved, what are the costs to doing business where you are to then bringing them here to the States versus having your supply chain move closer to where your customer is. And it might be doing it in the U.S., it may be manufacturing in Mexico. This whole phenomenon of nearshoring, or other parts of the Americas, by the way, this whole phenomenon of nearshoring really came to light. I mean, it’s not a new phenomenon, but it came to light during COVID when we all saw the cargo ships out in the Pacific Ocean, not far from Los Angeles, trying to get to the docks. I think at that point, companies realized, you know what? The manufacturing we’re doing in China or other parts in Asia, it’s not working for us anymore. So we worked with a California-based company that was in the security sector. They produced hardware and software and we helped them register their entity in Mexico. So those are considerations. There are ways to avoid maybe the tariffs by registering your entity here in the States, and taking advantage of some of the local economic development benefits and finding a manufacturing partner here rather than spend the money on shipping from other parts of the world.
What is your experience regarding the value and importance of intellectual property due diligence and protection when entering into the U.S. marketplace?
Yeah, it’s a great question. Frankly, not everyone gets it right, Jamie, to be honest. IP protection is essential. And, you know, the U.S. market is is pretty litigious, probably good for your business. But companies should really secure their trademarks, their patents, their copyrights before they come to the U.S.
They shouldn’t assume that if they’re registered in their home country, they’re safe here. We recommend, and this is part of the research phase, really doing due diligence on your IP before you launch to the U.S. to avoid issues with your trademark or infringing on other patents that are out there. And we have legal partners, including your firm, here in the States that we connect our clients with to make sure that they’re safe. At the end of the day, it’s your brand, it’s your product, it’s your technology. That’s why you’re competitive. Protecting them in the U.S. isn’t optional. It has to be essential. You run the risk of getting caught up in the legal system, maybe paying a bunch of fines. You know, know before you go. Know why you’re entering a new market and have some data that’s helping you drive that decision. Funny example. We had a U.S. based organization looking to expand to Italy. And when we asked why, they said because a board member of theirs had a home there. Well, that’s not why you expand into a new market. I mean, Italy might be the greatest market for your business, but where is the data to back up that decision? And that data then feeds into your strategy. And then you’re sure that your expansion project is sustainable over the long term. Look, expansion into a new market, whether it’s the U.S. or another one, is not for everyone. It takes time. It takes a lot of money. And so by doing a readiness assessment, which now I’ve talked about a couple of times, and understanding if you’re ready to sustain growth like this, which is what it is, will help save up front the the time, the money, the blood, sweat and tears that go into growing your business.
Does Factum Global work with private equity firms and investors seeking to invest in companies entering the U.S. marketplace?
It’s one of our verticals that we work with. Personally, I spent a few years at a private equity firm. We help them as part of their due diligence process when they’re evaluating perhaps an investment on a portfolio company. We help them with their existing portfolio or we can help them with their existing portfolio understand if that company’s expansion strategy is viable. We can support private equity firms and their deal teams with things like providing reports on market conditions or a better objective understanding of what the competitive landscape is. Or maybe we could even give some guidance on the regulatory hurdles. When it comes to investors, they don’t want to lose any money. They’re quite the opposite. They want to achieve growth for their investors. So we’ll support them with market research. We could even help forge strategic partnerships to ensure that their portfolio companies are entering more smoothly. So there are a variety of things that we do as our core service offerings that would support private equity firms, perhaps even the smaller ones that don’t have as much capacity. We are a capacity builder. And that’s along the lines of what I mentioned earlier when it comes to fractional executive offerings. We will add capacity to your team. We will give you an objective view on data on the market that’s in question. We become an extension of the management team of our clients.
Jeff Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Factum Global. Thanks for joining us today.
Thanks so much for having me, Jamie.
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