Vive Crop Protection had the tech. The science was solid. But before the Ontario company started selling its advanced fungicide and insecticide delivery systems to the US market, it took a very close look at the map.
Vive could have pushed out its products to farmers nationwide, but instead, it focused on key Midwest regions, locking in on places where farmers face significant pest and disease challenges.
“You can’t just replicate your Canadian playbook and expect to succeed.”
Geoff Baum, C100
The startup developed a sales strategy tailored to distributors and retailers in these regions, helping achieve early traction with a lean salesforce.
One investor described Vive as a “15-year overnight success,” referencing the time and meticulous planning that went into the company’s US launch.
As Canadian companies weigh the risks and rewards of expanding into the US amid shifting trade dynamics, successful startups have shown that a data-driven, deliberate approach can make all the difference.
Geoff Baum, Chief Mentor at C100, which connects Canadian companies to global opportunities, sees Vive as one of the few startups that cracked the code on US expansion.
Most startups “under-resource and over-generalize their efforts,” Baum said. “They go in seeing big dollar signs in a big, new market, but they don’t understand the reality of what it’s going to take to be successful.”
This approach wastes time, burns resources, and achieves no real traction, he said.
Eric Sleeth, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Sage, agrees that companies need better data to guide their expansion plans.
“Expanding into new regions requires having the right visibility into your performance. Without these insights, companies are flying blind.”
Eric Sleeth, Sage
“Expanding into new regions requires having the right visibility into your performance,” Sleeth said. “Without these insights, companies are flying blind. They need to see what’s working and what’s not, so they can make strategic adjustments before missteps turn into major setbacks.”
For companies seeking a successful entry to a new geography, Baum said assessing the feasibility of a new market and gathering that data requires more than a handful of quick conversations.
“The typical startup spends two weeks talking to three customers, and they say, ‘We’re done. We have product-market fit.’
“In reality, they should be talking to 100 customers, and that will take three to six months or more,” Baum added.
Going slow is particularly important when entering a market as expansive and competitive as the US.
“You can’t just replicate your Canadian playbook and expect to succeed,” Baum added.
He pointed to Vancouver-based Jane Software as another company that took a measured approach when expanding its software for allied health practitioners to the US. The startup relied on word-of-mouth referrals over aggressive sales tactics and took careful steps to align its platform with US laws and regulations.
“Jane was very deliberate about which markets they did go to,” Baum added. “The US market was really hard at the beginning, so they grew their business in markets they felt they knew better. And then gradually, they built their business in the US market.”
Sleeth said the most successful companies navigate expansion with precision, tracking costs, performance, and risks.
“Without clear financial and operational insights, startups can misjudge market demand, overextend resources, and fail to adjust in time,” Sleeth added.
This is where Sage Intacct helps companies take a data-driven approach to expansion. The platform aims to provide real-time visibility into a company’s financial health, and enable faster, smarter decision-making. Startups can track financial and operational trends across different locations, and adjust strategies proactively.
“For companies expanding internationally, this means they can move beyond relying on spreadsheets and static reports, and instead use real-time insights to identify risks, seize opportunities, and scale with confidence,” Sleeth added.
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Photo by BetaKit / C100.