🥷🏻Market Launchers: What are they? Why startups need them? How essential are they for expansions to Egypt?🇪🇬

Some companies call it “Market Launcher”, others call it “Go-2-Market Manager”, many also refer to it as “Expansion Manager”.

Call it what you want, either way it’s by far one of the most fun, challenging & rewarding jobs in the entrepreneurship scene!

I mean how many people get to say they’ve helped their company launch in a city/country and it took off and grew until it became one of the main growth engines of the company?

Since I joined the startup game in 2014, I realized that this was the job made in heaven for me and luckily I was able to do it between late 2017 till 2021 at Noon Academy.

A market launcher is basically like being the founder; it’s a role that requires you to have a founders mentality & to be a well-rounded entrepreneur who is a generalist that is able to be on top of multiple projects at the same time!

How well rounded?

Well, market launchers create comprehensive launch plans, study the market, hire a team, set up operations, build supply side, execute strategic partnerships, lead media outreach ALL WITH A limited timeline and budget! A Ninja! 🥷🏻

Let’s quickly answer 4 questions:

1) What is a market launcher?

2) What is their Job Description?

3) Who is good fit for this role?

4) Why do should startups considering expanding to Egypt hire one? (IN PART 2 OF THIS ARTICLE)

What is a market launcher?

The legend says that Google was one of the first companies to create this role because they were launching 100s of products (features) every months and they felt like there should be a dedicated manager owning and leading this launch. I read somewhere that they called it “Commercialization”.

For most startups, market launchers are individuals who can wear multiple strategic & operational hats and are all about getting their hands dirty to achieve market launch goals (in early-stage developing markets).

They are the brand image of the company in this new market.

For real, check Truecaller. You’ll find the market launcher’s name written next to the startup! (Selouky Noon — was a thing for a couple of years)

Their biggest challenge is that they are trying to create something where previously there was nothing!

They are introducing a product/service to a market while learning who are the early adopters, what is the relevant use case to this specific market and which customer segment will generate long-term growth/revenue!

ALL. AT. THE. SAME. TIME.

They are “dedicated leaders” responsible for managing the go-2-market strategy and launch.

What is their JD?

In one of the vacancies Careem had for market launchers back in 2018, they wrote:

As a baseline, the launcher needs to understand how a city lives and breathes before he/she sets foot in a city.

I think this is a great way to look at the role.

Market launchers’ JD is very fluid. They are problem solvers who aim to learn about the new market, collect data & fuel the management with learnings that will shape how they approach the launch.

This includes but is not limited to:

- Understanding pain points of the customers in this new market, designing a customer persona, conducting market sizing exercises & pricing benchmarks

- Running on-the-ground experiments and campaigns that will help in positioning and messaging while providing insights for product development teams

- Setting & tracking milestones, metrics, KPIs & OKRs for launch initiatives and activities

- Making sure legal clearances are taken care of and regulations are met

- Recruiting, on-boarding and training a team of passionate talents across all teams

- Developing partnerships and exploring BD opportunities

- Mapping out the supply landscape then recruiting & educating the supply side stakeholders & bringing them up to speed

- Collaborating cross-functionally with sales, customer service, product, operations, content, marketing, legal and finance to drive market entry and strategic initiatives

- Consolidating leanings and report recommendations

Who fits the job?

So let’s take a look on the job nature to figure out who matches it!

Market Launchers are always on the road!

They’re also constantly evaluating ideas, motivating teams to meet deadlines, and ensuring all-around alignment in the go-to-market process.

So what skills/characteristics do they need to have to keep the flywheels turning?

- Thriving in fast-paced ambiguous environments

- Always having a bias towards execution & are result-oriented

- A self-starter mentality, autonomous & independent

- Natural at working cross functionally to resolve challenges and meet launch milestones

- Constantly digesting complex problems fast and developing clear actions

In a nutshell, you can consider the market launcher an interim CEO of the company or a General Manager on the road who is exceptional at creating & executing a growth playbook anywhere anytime!

In part 2 I will answer the following:

Why do startups expanding to Egypt need to hire one?