无国界创新的新世界：超越硅谷的 3 种商业模式

The world of innovation is global. Indeed, more than 90 startup ecosystems are home to a billion-dollar startup. And it isn’t just that startups are scaling internationally—increasingly, global startup ecosystems are home to the largest global players. For example, the largest edtech in the world is in India, the largest neobank is in Brazil, and the largest superapp is in China.

Today, innovation is happening in interconnected waves: The best ideas are coming from anywhere and scaling everywhere.

In that vein, here are three business models that are scaling internationally while playing out in local markets.

Social commerce

In China, social commerce, or group buying, first became possible as mobile adoption, digital payments usage and social network penetration—including all-in-one via superapps like WeChat—skyrocketed. It offered the possibility to better serve the majority of China’s massive population—those in the low- to middle-income brackets, particularly in second- and third-tier cities, and other historically underserved customers.

Pinduoduo is largely seen as the pioneer in this space. It became China’s second-largest e-commerce player in seven short years. But social commerce models are now on the rise in many similarly emerging markets from India (Meesho) to Latin America (Facily) and beyond.

Why? By combining group buying schemes and social media, these platforms can onboard new consumers into the world of e-commerce at a viral rate. They’re creating a unique combination of solidarity with other users and trust. And by shortcutting supply chains, they can also be a boon for merchants, matching them with local demand.

Buy now, pay later

BNPL has been a global movement evolving in many digital ecosystems. Players such as Affirm and Klarna demonstrated the BNPL industry’s potential in the West. For customers, BNPL offers a convenient alternative way to check out with more flexible payment terms. For merchants, it drives higher basket size and lower cart abandonment.

Outside of Silicon Valley, particularly where underbanked rates are higher, the model is more impactful. By using alternative data coupled with lower-cost delivery models, BNPL can drive expansion of financial access and, like social commerce, help onboard customers. We’re seeing this in Southeast Asia (FinAccel; Rely), the Middle East (Tamara; Tabby), India (Zest), Latin America (Addi; Kueski), Africa (Credpal; Motitio) and the list goes on.

Entrepreneurial support

Entrepreneurship is the largest profession in the world. For many, it is of necessity. For the lucky few, it is by choice.

There are many solutions for specific verticals or pain points of managing a business, from e-commerce (Shopify) to HR (Gusto) to payments (Stripe). But now, new platforms are making it easier for anyone, anywhere to launch a business, manage finances, purchase domain names and so on—all under a single pane of glass.

By uniting the fragmented ***B market, these platforms help entrepreneurs manage the governance of their business so they can instead focus on growth. And with ***Es representing around 90 percent of businesses and more than 50 percent of employment worldwide, we’re seeing this model take off globally from Texas-based ZenBusiness to Brazil-based Contabilizei and more.

Where does this take us?

The best ideas used to come from Silicon Valley and scale globally. No longer. They’re now coming from anywhere and scaling everywhere.

While it may seem as though borders are going up around the world, ideas are more borderless than ever. This cross-pollination of models is close to my heart and my recent book “Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs—from Delhi to Detroit—Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley.”

We are in the early innings of this global shift. But one thing is certain, the world will be better for it.

Alexandre (Alex) Lazarow is a partner at Cathay Innovation. An early investor in Chime and Sidecar Health, Lazarow is committed to expanding venture capital opportunities into the “frontier,” which he describes as the world beyond the Silicon Valley bubble and other major economic centers.

创新的世界是全球性的。事实上，90 多个创业生态系统是一家价值 10 亿美元的创业公司的所在地。不仅仅是初创公司在国际范围内扩张——全球初创企业生态系统越来越多地成为全球最大参与者的家园。例如，世界上最大的教育科技在印度，最大的 Neobank 在巴西，最大的超级应用在中国。

今天，创新正以相互关联的方式发生：最好的想法来自任何地方，并无处不在。

在这种情况下，这里有三种商业模式在国际扩张的同时在当地市场上发挥作用。

社交商务

在中国，社交商务或团购首先成为可能，因为移动应用、数字支付使用和社交网络渗透率——包括通过微信等超级应用程序实现的一体化——飙升。它提供了更好地服务于中国大部分人口的可能性——中低收入人群，特别是在二三线城市，以及其他历史上服务不足的客户。

拼多多 在很大程度上被视为该领域的先驱。它在短短七年内成为中国第二大电子商务公司。但社交商务模式现在在许多类似的新兴市场中都在兴起，从印度 ( Meesho ) 到拉丁美洲 ( Facily ) 及其他地区。

为什么？通过将团购计划和社交媒体相结合，这些平台可以以病毒式传播的速度将新消费者带入电子商务世界。他们正在创建与其他用户的团结和信任的独特组合。通过缩短供应链，它们还可以为商家带来福音，使其与当地需求相匹配。

现在购买，稍后付款

BNPL 一直是在许多数字生态系统中不断发展的全球运动。Affirm和Klarna 等参与者展示了 BNPL 行业在西方的潜力。对于客户，BNPL 提供了一种方便的替代方式，以更灵活的付款条件结账。对于商家来说，它推动了更大的购物篮尺寸和更低的购物车放弃率。

在硅谷之外，特别是在银行存款不足的利率较高的地方，该模型更具影响力。通过使用替代数据和低成本交付模式，BNPL 可以推动金融准入的扩展，并像社交商务一样帮助船上客户。我们在东南亚（FinAccel；Rely）、中东（Tamara；Tabby）、印度（Zest）、拉丁美洲（Addi；Kueski）、非洲（Credpal；Motitio）都看到了这种情况，不胜枚举。

创业支持

创业是世界上最大的职业。对许多人来说，这是必要的。对于少数幸运儿来说，这是一种选择。

从电子商务 ( Shopify ) 到人力资源 ( Gusto ) 再到支付 ( Stripe )，有许多解决方案可以针对特定的垂直行业或管理业务的痛点。但现在，新平台让任何人在任何地方都可以更轻松地开展业务、管理财务、购买域名等等——所有这些都在一个单一的管理平台下完成。

通过联合分散的 ***B 市场，这些平台帮助企业家管理他们的业务，以便他们可以专注于增长。中小企业代表了全球约 90% 的企业和 超过 50% 的就业，我们看到这种模式在全球范围内从德克萨斯州的ZenBusiness到巴西的Contabilizei等等。

这会把我们带到哪里？

过去最好的想法来自硅谷并在全球范围内扩展。不再。它们现在来自任何地方，并且无处不在。

虽然似乎世界各地的边界正在上升，但想法比以往任何时候都更加无国界。这种模型的异花授粉与我的心和我最近的书“ Out-Innovate：从德里到底特律的全球企业家如何改写硅谷规则”很接近。

我们正处于这一全球转变的早期阶段。但有一件事是肯定的，世界会因为它而变得更好。

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