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International expansion is often seen as a defining milestone for EdTech companies. A product gains traction in one market, inbound interest appears from other regions, investors begin asking about growth plans, and suddenly expanding internationally becomes the next logical move.
Many founders approach this stage by focusing on market size, regulatory barriers, or localisation. These are important considerations. Yet companies that scale internationally most effectively tend to start somewhere else.
They start with people and insight.
The first step in international expansion is not simply reading market reports. It is speaking to people who understand the reality of operating in that market and learning from those who have already navigated that stage of the company journey.
For EdTech founders and leaders, this often means working with someone who understands the education system within the territory you want to enter.
EdTech products often feel globally scalable because they are digital. A platform that works well in one country should, in theory, work everywhere.
Education rarely works that way.
School systems are deeply embedded within national policies, cultural expectations, and curriculum frameworks. The way schools adopt technology, evaluate products, and allocate budgets varies significantly across countries.
Research from organisations such as HolonIQ and the OECD highlights that EdTech adoption is strongly shaped by local education policy, government funding structures, and institutional decision making processes.
But there is another layer that founders sometimes underestimate.
Selling into education internationally requires an understanding of curriculum frameworks, teaching practices, and cultural expectations around learning.
Curricula differ significantly across countries. Assessment models, subject structures, and teaching approaches vary. Even the language used to describe learning outcomes can differ.
Cultural nuances matter just as much.
Classroom technology that resonates strongly in one culture may feel unfamiliar or even inappropriate in another. Pedagogical assumptions embedded in a product design can unintentionally clash with local teaching approaches.
These nuances can make or break an EdTech product in a new market.
Without local insight, companies often assume that success in one system will automatically translate to another.
In practice, adaptation is almost always required.
Before committing significant resources to international expansion, founders benefit from speaking with people who understand the target market from within.
These individuals may include:
Local EdTech leaders
Former policymakers in education
Regional sales leaders
School network decision makers
Education consultants with sector expertise
These conversations often reveal insights that traditional research rarely captures.
For example:
How procurement actually works in that system
Who the real decision makers are
How long adoption cycles take
Which curriculum frameworks influence purchasing decisions
What cultural expectations schools have around teaching and technology
These insights allow companies to test their assumptions early.
In some cases they reveal that the product requires adjustments in pedagogy, language, or positioning before it can gain traction.
Another critical factor founders often underestimate is the procurement process within education systems, which differs significantly across countries and can heavily influence how and when EdTech products are adopted. Unlike many other sectors, purchasing decisions in education are rarely straightforward. Budgets are often released at specific times during the academic or fiscal year, and the individuals who control those budgets may vary depending on the country, region, or type of institution. In some markets, purchasing decisions sit with school leaders or district administrators, while in others they may be centralised at government or ministry level. Framework agreements, public tenders, and compliance requirements can also play a significant role in how technology is purchased. For this reason, having someone on your team who has previously sold into that specific education system is incredibly valuable. They understand when budgets are typically allocated, who holds decision making authority, how long procurement cycles realistically take, and which relationships need to be built long before a contract is signed. Without that local knowledge, even strong products can struggle to gain traction simply because the sales process is misunderstood.
From a recruitment perspective, one of the most effective ways to begin international expansion is by working with one experienced operator who understands the territory deeply.
Rather than immediately building a large team, companies often start by hiring a senior individual who has experience operating in that specific market.
This person typically helps with:
Understanding local procurement structures
Building relationships with schools and education networks
Testing the product with early adopters
Navigating regulatory expectations
Identifying the right early hires
This approach allows companies to validate the market before making larger investments.
Once traction begins to appear, organisations can then gradually build a broader regional team.
In the early stages of expansion, many EdTech companies build a hybrid structure.
Core functions such as product development, marketing, and operations remain within the existing organisation, while regional expertise is introduced through local hires.
This structure allows the company to maintain strategic alignment while gaining the insights necessary to adapt the product and sales approach to the new environment.
Over time, as traction increases, the regional presence typically expands to include sales, partnerships, and customer success roles based in the local market.
International expansion challenges are not unique to EdTech. Many sectors have developed strategies that offer useful lessons.
Companies such as HubSpot expanded into Europe by appointing regional leadership with strong knowledge of European markets before building broader teams. This approach allowed the company to adapt its sales strategy and regulatory approach to local conditions.
Similarly, Shopify built international growth by combining centralised product development with regional teams that understood local merchant ecosystems.
Both companies recognised that global products still require local expertise.
The global growth of Spotify also illustrates the importance of local knowledge.
When entering new regions, Spotify invested in teams that understood local culture, partnerships, and licensing frameworks. These teams helped shape product positioning and content strategy in ways that resonated with regional audiences.
Although EdTech operates differently, the principle remains relevant.
Local understanding accelerates adoption.
In EdTech, companies such as Duolingo and Coursera achieved global scale through digital platforms, yet their expansion into institutional education systems often required partnerships, localisation, and regional expertise.
Education markets are rarely uniform.
Understanding the structure of each system remains critical.
International expansion rarely succeeds through opportunistic hiring.
Companies that scale effectively tend to approach expansion through clear workforce planning.
This usually involves several stages.
Early exploration of the market
Initial entry with a regional lead
Building traction with early adopters
Scaling the regional team
Each stage requires different types of talent.
Early stages may rely on advisors or consultants. As traction develops, companies often hire regional sales leaders, partnerships managers, and customer success professionals.
Without a clear hiring strategy, organisations often expand too quickly or build teams that do not align with the realities of the market.
At RecruitHer, we frequently work with EdTech companies preparing for this stage of growth.
International expansion often coincides with investment rounds or strategic scaling phases, which means leadership teams are thinking carefully about how their teams will evolve.
Our work focuses heavily on workforce planning.
We support companies as they consider:
Which roles are critical during early expansion
When to hire regional leadership
How to structure teams across multiple territories
How hiring strategy aligns with funding and growth plans
By approaching expansion through a thoughtful talent strategy, companies can build teams that support sustainable international growth rather than reacting to short term hiring needs.
For founders and senior leaders considering international expansion, the first step is rarely a complex market entry plan.
It is conversation.
Speak to people who know the territory. Speak to operators who have built businesses in that market. Speak to education leaders who understand how their system works.
These conversations often surface the curriculum differences, cultural expectations, and purchasing realities that shape EdTech adoption.
Once that understanding is in place, bringing in someone with local expertise becomes the logical next step.
From there, the team can grow alongside the market.
International expansion is one of the most exciting phases in an EdTech company’s journey, yet it is also one of the most complex.
Products may scale globally, but education systems do not.
Companies that succeed internationally rarely rely solely on product strength. They rely on people who understand how education works in each market.
Insight comes first.
Then the team.
Then the scale.
