5 Tips For Startups Going Global, According To Piktochart's Ai Ching Goh

The co-founder and CEO of Piktochart, a web-based graphic design tool and infographic maker, shares her biggest lessons about running a global software company from her home base in Malaysia

Before starting Piktochart, Ai Ching Goh had a hunch that marketing would become more visually driven. She believed that infographics would grow to become an effective tool for communicating data and information in a manner that was easier to digest and more pleasing to the eye. She tried to learn how to create infographics using Adobe and on PowerPoint, but she found it too difficult and wasn't satisfied with the results either.

This led her and her husband, Andrea Zaggia, to develop their own solution. Their result is Piktochart, a web-based infographic creation tool that is now being used worldwide by more than 300,000 people every month.

Goh, who is also the company's CEO, says that infographics have become an essential visual storytelling tool to communicate anything from data-heavy reports to complex business processes—and her platform has the features to help make creating them an easier process. Piktochart has templates for users to create anything from reports to social media graphics to investor pitch decks. It also offers collaborative features that allow teams to work on a project together and share their feedback.

The company also runs Piktostory, a video editing platform that allows users to turn long-form videos into bite-sized clips ready to be shared on social media.

From her home base in Penang, Malaysia, Goh shares with us the five lessons she picked up from running a global company.

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1. Understand your target market

"Piktochart's success is due to multiple factors. One of the main reasons is that we offered the right product at the right time. Just as we were launching in 2012, there was a significant uptick in users who needed to make infographics. The main bulk of our customers come from the US and Canada, so I would often travel to these countries to learn about our customers and observe what our competitors are doing.

"It is essential to improve on your product continually. As Piktochart built upon our core strengths as an infographic creation tool, we also continue to create new products that help our users communicate visually. That's why in August 2021, we launched Piktostory, a video editing platform that allows users to turn long-form videos into shareable bite-sized clips."

2. Expand your network, expand your opportunities

"As a founder, I challenge myself to expand my network every few years. I believe it is essential to keep yourself connected with a wide variety of people wherever you go because you never know if they can be potential partners and mentors.

"We were fortunate enough to get the opportunity to go to Silicon Valley and we build a lot of connections there with people who are now our partners and mentors. Before the pandemic, I would fly to the US every year and I highly recommend anyone who has the opportunity to spend two to three months in Silicon Valley to do so and immerse yourself in its ecosystem. Looking beyond [your home base] will help to open up your worldview of what is possible."

3. Your employees are your competitive edge

"I've always believed the most critical asset of a company is its people. The people you employ will differentiate your company from others. It also doesn't matter where you are in the world, every company has the potential to bring their business global so long as they hire the right talent.

"As a smaller software company going up against industry behemoths such as Adobe, Piktochart needs to employ the best people from around the world to serve a global customer base. Even though many of our staff are working remotely from across the world, we make an effort to meet in person at least once a year. This year, we are flying everyone to Langkawi for a company retreat."

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4. Preventing burnout

"Around the time that we launch a new product, things can get very hectic. So I make a point to check in with the team to make sure that everyone is doing okay. We sometimes give them extra days [off], if they have been working late. I don't like having people working overtime often.

"Even though we have goals to meet and we want the company to grow, it shouldn't be done at the expense of our people. You shouldn't be pushing people so hard that it results in burnout. It's just not healthy for their mental health. That's why we have also implemented a four-day workweek, to ensure our employees do not overwork themselves and suffer from burnout."

5. Fewer meetings, greater productivity

"Running a global company means having to work across multiple time zones. We are mindful of everyone's time, so we usually run our meetings in Malaysia in the afternoons or evenings in order to catch our European colleagues at the start of their day. Although meetings are necessary to keep everyone abreast of what is currently happening, people who have to stay connected or in discussions are less productive.

"With our four-day workweek arrangement, we have learned to be disciplined with our time. Every meeting needs to have an agenda and we are mindful of not having long meetings. As a result, we have been able to cut down our number of meetings by half. I now spend 10 hours in meetings a week instead of 20, which makes me feel that I can get more done as well as feel healthier and happier overall."

See more honourees from the Media, Marketing & Advertising category of the Gen.T List.

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