Raidboxes will be expanding internationally in the coming months. An important step for which we were able to win over a prominent face from the WordPress community: Caspar Hübinger. In this interview, he tells us more about his exciting task.
Developing new markets - a complex project
Caspar, you are responsible for internationalization at Raidboxes. What are your first steps?
In addition to the technical internationalization of our product, my first priority is to make Raidboxes an internationally attractive place to work. This includes strengthening a "remote" culture in the company and introducing English-language documentation and organizational structures.
You are well known in the WordPress scene, including as a speaker at WordCamps throughout Europe and beyond. Why did you switch from an international WordPress agency to Raidboxes, which is still relatively local?
That's right, I'm (hopefully still) relatively well connected in the global WordPress community, and I'd like to actively maintain and use this network in my work. I've always enjoyed doing that at WordCamps.
My previous employer worked exclusively in the enterprise market, i.e. large companies (Fortune 500, etc.). Even though I learned a tremendous amount during my time there, it always made me a little sad that my community background was simply worthless for my job.
I've been following Raidboxes since it was founded, and I've always been fascinated by its strong ethical approach with sustainability and holacracy. It became concrete when I wanted to pitch a product idea to Johannes at a WordCamp and it turned out that pretty much the same idea was already on his roadmap for Raidboxes. Then I thought: ok, you've come to the right place.
The internationalization project involves numerous tasks that run through the entire company. How do you maintain an overview? And how do you get everyone on board?
Internationalization is an umbrella term that encompasses a number of more specific topics: a localizable product, branding (voice, tone), marketing, partnerships, go-to-market strategies in different languages and regions, community relations, but also team-related topics such as diversity and culture, English as a lingua franca, remote work, labor law, etc.
Many of these are closely interlinked, others build on each other - from which priorities and a roadmap can be derived.
The cultural shift
The leap into other countries and languages causes a cultural shift. This triggers anticipation in the team, but sometimes also concerns and fears. How do you react to this?
With the decision to make Raidboxes more visible and attractive beyond German-speaking markets, we have embarked on a journey as a team - and as with most journeys, a lot of things feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar at first.
The human brain releases stress hormones in uncertain situations. In this respect, we all function in the same way in principle, but to want to level out the very different individual stress levels with a blanket class trip rhetoric along the lines of "Hey, welcome to the party bus, next stop: we all speak English!" would simply be undignified.
With a team of currently over 30 people from a wide variety of backgrounds, I can't expect to "pick up" everyone at all times. What I can do is minimize the potential for interpretation (and therefore stress) by making the planning and implementation of specific steps as transparent as possible. For example, naming our Slack channels in English or converting internal documentation to English. What is happening right now? Why is this important now? What does this mean for the team in particular?
Strengthening local markets
What do you say to customers from German-speaking countries who fear that the advantages of a local hoster will be lost?
Ah, good keyword: internationalization is actually about localization. Similar to a grocery store that opens a branch on the other side of a language border, Raidboxes will be present in more local, non-German-speaking markets in the future.
But you, dear German-speaking customers, don't necessarily have to notice anything about this - except that you will benefit, for example, if you work as an agency for customers in other language regions. Server location in Germany, data protection compliance, competent German-speaking support, a dashboard in German - everything that makes Raidboxes attractive for you remains.
Focus on the customer experience
You started out with the "Peer Boxes" project. What was it all about? And what conclusions did you draw from it?
"Peer Boxes" is a market research experiment. Raidboxes was initially launched in German, both as a product and as a company. The dashboard (hosting panel) has been available in English for some time, but we did not yet have any data on the customer experience in English.
So I contacted WordPress experts from regions where English is either an official language or at least generally well understood and spoken. Within the project I supervised, these experts then each implemented one of their customers' websites on Raidboxes, the development and hosting of which we fully sponsored for a year.
The feedback loop with this group validated a number of my assumptions about where we are still lacking in the English-language customer experience and how we can best tackle these areas.
You are actually no longer "new" to Raidboxes, but have been with us for over half a year. Why are you only doing this interview now?
My probationary period has only been over since the end of February. ? I just wanted to wait with the interview until it is really clear that Raidboxes and I will stay together for the foreseeable future.
We in the team appreciate your clear but at the same time very mediating communication - perfect when things get heated in projects. How do you always manage to remain so patient?
Hm, a certain level of professionalism perhaps and ... age? At 46, I feel pretty laid back. ? But honestly, the team is great. I need patience with myself the most.
A few words about you: What do you do when you're not making plans for Raidboxes?
I make sure I get enough fresh air, and in warmer weather I like to go longboarding. Or I write on my blog.
