Lessons from Scaling Products Across Multiple Markets

3 MINS

# Lessons from Scaling Products Across Multiple Markets

Launching in one market is hard. Launching in three simultaneously is a different beast altogether. At Workmate, I had the opportunity to take our hiring automation platform across distinct markets, each with its own regulations, user behaviours, and employer expectations.

The experience fundamentally changed how I approach product strategy.

One Product, Multiple Realities

The temptation when expanding is to replicate what worked. Copy the playbook. But markets don't work that way.

What I learned:

Localisation goes beyond language. Payment cycles, compliance requirements, and even the definition of "part-time work" vary wildly. We had to rethink payroll logic for each region.

User research doesn't transfer. Assumptions about candidate behaviour in Singapore didn't hold in Thailand or Indonesia. We ran separate discovery cycles for each market.

Prioritisation becomes political. When three markets compete for engineering bandwidth, you need clear frameworks for deciding which features serve the broader vision.

The Framework That Helped

I started using a simple filter for every feature request:

1. Does this unblock revenue in a new market?

2. Does this improve retention across all markets?

3. Does this reduce operational cost at scale?

If a feature didn't hit at least one of these, it waited. This kept us focused when the backlog threatened to spiral.

What I'd Do Differently

I underestimated how much local partnerships matter. In hindsight, embedding someone from each market into the product team earlier would have saved us months of rework.

Scaling isn't just about building features. It's about building the right features for the right context at the right time.

Why Product Managers Should Think Like Business Owners

Nitin skipped presentations and built real AI products.

Nitin Bharathy was part of the September 2025 cohort at Curious PM, alongside 13 other talented participants.