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When most CEE founders think about international expansion, they look West. The US market. Maybe the UK or Germany. It’s the natural path – familiar cultures, established ecosystems, clear playbooks.
But Mihai Bocai, co-founder and CEO of Flaminjoy, followed the data instead. And it led him somewhere most European founders never consider: Southeast Asia and Brazil.
Today, Flaminjoy operates across markets with over 800 million potential users combined. Markets where a single country has more digital users than all of Central and Eastern Europe. Markets where, as Mihai discovered, you can actually win without needing a war chest of VC capital.
The Wake-Up Call
Romania has 18 million people online. For a local founder, that might feel substantial. But when you’re building a digital product that needs scale to drive innovation, 18 million is a rounding error.
The wake-up call came from watching how tech giants roll out new features. Facebook doesn’t test in Romania first. Or Bulgaria. Or even most of Europe. They test in Brazil.
Why? Because Brazil has the numbers that matter: 200+ million people, a young population, and mobile-first behavior.
The average age in Brazil is 34. In Indonesia, it’s 30. Compare that to Germany at 44.6, or the US at 38.
"How can I talk to people about trends and social media innovation in a country where the average age is 40?"
Mihai Bocai
Co-founder and CEO, Flaminjoy
The Math That Changes Everything
When Mihai and his co-founder Alex started doing the research, the numbers became impossible to ignore:
- Indonesia: 300 million people
- The Philippines: 110+ million people
- Brazil: 200+ million people
Put those three markets together, and you’re above 600 million people – markets that are 20-30x larger than Romania.
But it’s not just about population size. It’s about market maturity and technological gaps.
Mihai recalls a conversation with a market leader in food delivery in the Philippines who was failing to execute 30% of their orders due to errors and system issues. And nothing happened to them. They remained the market leader, still growing, still investing.
"Tell me about a player in an industry in the US or Western Europe where you can behave like that. You'd be out of business immediately."
Mihai Bocai
Co-founder and CEO, Flaminjoy
The insight: In these markets, there’s both massive scale AND a significant technology gap. If you come in with better execution and better tech, you have a real chance to capture meaningful market share quickly.
And here’s the other advantage: you don’t need the massive capital that Western markets demand. Breaking into the US requires VPs of sales, local salespeople, and partnership managers – resources that burn through the runway fast. Flaminjoy didn’t have those resources, so they went where the competition was thinner and the barrier to entry was lower.
What It Actually Takes
It takes guts to go to a totally unfamiliar market. And it takes time. Don’t mistake data-driven decision-making for a shortcut. It took two years to sign their first contract in Southeast Asia. Two years of traveling, meeting people, building trust, and – most importantly – showing up physically.
“Physical presence matters to them,” Mihai emphasizes. “It’s difficult to give $10,000 or $100,000 to someone on another continent that you never shook hands with.”
Flaminjoy didn’t have a local team at first. Mihai and his co-founder, Alex, just traveled. A lot. Once they had traction, they started building the local team.
Here’s what makes these markets different:
✔️ They commit for the long term. The first contract Mihai signed came with a question: “Can you guarantee that you can work with us for four years?” They don’t look for quick wins or two-month trials.
✔️ They’re more focused on relationships. There’s a stronger emphasis on partnership. In the US, one issue can quickly damage trust. In Indonesia, situations are seen as shared experiences rather than individual faults, with an emphasis on support, learning, and continuous improvement.
✔️ Cultural nuances take time to learn. In Indonesia, “yes” often means “yes, I heard you” – not “yes, we’ll do that.” It took Mihai months to figure this out. But you don’t need to master the culture before you start. You learn by being there.
The ICP Trap
Here’s a critical mistake: don’t build your Ideal Customer Profile based on your local market if you’re targeting global markets.
“The biggest e-commerce player in Romania is a small-to-medium enterprise in Indonesia,” Mihai points out.
Flaminjoy initially defined its ICP based on Romanian businesses – companies with at least €1 million in revenue. But in Indonesia or the Philippines, €1 million is tiny. Those businesses have completely different problems.
Define your ICP based on the market you’re actually targeting, not the market you know.
Practical Advice for Founders
1️⃣ Start without overthinking. “We lost too much time planning,” Mihai admits. “You just need to go there and talk to people.” Stay two weeks, meet people, exchange ideas, and build a network.
2️⃣ You don’t need a local team to start. Let the founder move first. Once you have traction, then build the local team.
3️⃣ Expect about a year of being there on and off before you truly understand how things work enough to reshape your strategy.
4️⃣ The path from first conversation to signing a deal is longer than in Europe, precisely because they’re committing for the long term. But once they commit, they stick with you.
5️⃣ Avoid hiring C-level people from big corporations. “You hire people thinking they have the solution, but they are not used to startup culture. You just lose time. You need to look for the entrepreneurial mindset.”
The Bottom Line
Can you build a global company from CEE by targeting Southeast Asia and Latin America instead of Silicon Valley?
Mihai’s answer: “It’s 100% possible to build from here. The biggest missing ingredient is mentality.”
For those willing to look East, there’s an opportunity that’s 20x bigger than your home market, with less competition and long-term partners who want to grow with you. It just requires the courage to go where it’s unfamiliar and the patience to learn a different way of doing business.
As Mihai puts it: “We need to be crazier than the average.”
The data is there. The opportunity is there. The only question is: do you have the guts?
