The 5-acre decision for manufacturing scaleups
Cost, compliance, supply chain — in that order For a manufacturing scaleup, the first plant decision is a different problem than expanding the third. The five-acre version — small footprint, first or second facility, often the first time the company is buying land overseas — has its own traps. The instinct is to lead with […]
Why facilitation matters more than analysis
And where the handoff usually breaks Location decisions get a lot of analysis. Spreadsheets, reports, scoring matrices, peer comparisons. The analysis is necessary. It’s also rarely the constraint. The constraint is facilitation — what happens after the decision, when an organisation actually has to land in a place. Permits, approvals, the first conversation with the […]
From shortlist to setup
The 90-day window most teams underestimate Most expansion projects pour energy into the location decision — assessment, shortlist, board approval. The work that determines actual outcomes happens after the decision, in a 90-day window most teams under-resource. This is the gap between “we’ve chosen Country X” and “we’re operating in Country X.” It’s where momentum […]
Geopolitical risk for the mid-market
A pragmatic filter, not a 60-page report Geopolitical risk frameworks were designed for global enterprises with multi-country exposure and the resources to model it. For a $50M scaleup choosing between two or three locations, those frameworks are over-engineered. The answer isn’t to ignore the question — it’s to ask it differently. A pragmatic filter, in […]
Founder geography
What happens when the CEO can’t (or won’t) relocate Location strategy discussions tend to focus on cost, talent, and incentives. The variable that quietly decides outcomes — and rarely makes the spreadsheet — is whether the founder or CEO is willing to spend real time in the new location. There’s an honest version of this […]
How scaleups can punch above their weight with state governments
Access strategies that don’t require a Big-4 retainer Mid-market founders often assume meaningful government access is reserved for large investors with consulting muscle behind them. That used to be more true than it is now. Several state and provincial governments — across India, the Gulf, Eastern Europe, Latin America — have quietly shifted posture. The […]
Why the Fortune-500 location playbook doesn’t fit your $50M company
And what to use instead Most location strategy advice is written for large enterprises. The frameworks, the consulting decks, the case studies — all calibrated for a company with 50,000 people, a corporate real estate team, and enough scale to make any city economical eventually. For a $50M company adding 80 people in year one, […]
Reading an IPA pitch deck
What to trust, what to verify, what to politely ignore Every Investment Promotion Agency has a deck. The good ones are useful primers. None are neutral. You’re being marketed to by a team whose job is to bring you in. That doesn’t make the deck dishonest. It makes it incomplete. Knowing how to read it […]
Why tax breaks rarely move the needle for mid-market expansion
What actually does Walk into any investment promotion conversation and the brochure leads with incentives — tax holidays, capital subsidies, custom-fitted concessions. They’re not nothing. But for a $20M–$200M company, they’re rarely the thing that makes or breaks the decision. Here’s the math most CFOs eventually do but few do upfront. A five-year tax holiday […]
Why your gut is wrong about the “obvious” city
Pattern recognition is a poor substitute for fit assessment Every category has a default city. Software thinks Bengaluru or Austin. Auto components think Pune or Querétaro. Fintech defaults to Singapore. The defaults aren’t wrong, exactly. They’re just often wrong for you. Pattern recognition is the most expensive bias in location decisions. The cities everyone names […]