A medical device company spent 18 months and $2 million preparing to launch in Southeast Asia — despite already holding approvals in the US, EU, Japan, and Australia. They launched three years behind schedule anyway. The direct answer: every SEA market runs its own approval process, its own timeline, and its own ownership rules — there's no "ASEAN license" that clears all six at once. Singapore approves in 3–6 months; Vietnam can take 18–30. Budget country-specific timelines

8 resellers. 6 months. Zero cybersecurity jargon lost in translation. That's the headline number from Curt & Co's engagement with D2G Security Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based cybersecurity company that came to us with a clear but hard problem: how do you build a reseller network in Indonesia when your product is technical, your buyers are new to the category, and you have no local presence to lean on? Curt & Co was engaged to design and run the entire market entry — from identif

In 2015, SEA's internet economy was worth $30 billion. By 2022: $200 billion. By 2025: projected $330 billion. That's not growth. That's an explosion. The Mobile-First Leapfrog Unlike Western markets where consumers graduated from desktop to mobile, most Southeast Asians skipped desktop entirely. They came of age digitally through a smartphone. This has profound consequences for how brands must show up: if you're not mobile-optimised, you simply don't exist for a significant

350 million new middle-class consumers by 2030. That's the entire population of the United States joining the consumer economy — in less than a decade. What This Consumer Class Is Actually Buying Rising incomes don't produce uniform spending patterns. According to Euromonitor International's 2023 report on SEA consumer trends, the fastest-growing categories include: · Packaged and premium food (CAGR 8.2%) · Personal care and beauty (CAGR 9.1%) · Education an

A US food brand launched in Thailand with an award-winning product. The marketing won a Cannes Lion. Sales were dismal. Here's why. Thai consumers found the product too salty, the portion size wasteful, and the price point unjustifiable. Every element that made the product successful in Western markets made it irrelevant in Thailand. Localisation is not a nice-to-have. It is the entire game. What Localisation Actually Means — and What It Doesn't Most companies think localis

Breaking into a new market is exciting—but it is rarely straightforward. When ACT 3 International, a Singapore-based enrichment company, set its sights on Indonesia and Vietnam, the ambition was not just to expand. The goal was to grow sustainably, stay lean, and make a meaningful impact in education. The challenge? Enter diverse markets without building heavy operations from the ground up. Instead of taking a conventional route, a different path was designed. It started with

What are the 3 things that are key for any company to succeed in a market? It’s the boring fundamentals ; 1. Localization 2. Targeted positioning 3. Right leveraged partnerships. When SpeechWorth, an education company that uses drama-based methodologies to teach English, explored entering Malaysia, Curt & Co stepped in to craft and execute a structured market-entry plan rooted in deep market understanding and strategic relationships. 1. Localising SpeechWorth’s

Boy do we get a lot of questions from our clients about this… much more than one would ever think. Business partners are like no different from last time when you were studying and had a group project at school to do. There was always someone who took initiative, someone who followed instructions and that one person who would just be in for the ride. While highly annoying, it is a very stark reality in business. Our advice to our clients? Take a philosophical view on this re