Which country should I target first, US, UK, or the UAE / Middle East?
The short answer
There's no universal answer, but a useful rule of thumb: the US has the biggest demand and the toughest competition, while the UAE and wider GCC are the softest landing for Indian brands thanks to a large diaspora, short shipping lanes and lower marketing costs. Start where your product already has pull, diaspora-loved categories (food, ethnic beauty, wellness) often test cheapest in the Gulf, while globally differentiated products (audio, premium tea, clean beauty) can justify going straight to the US. Pick one, prove unit economics, then expand.
A quick summary to orient you. The real value is below: the resources worth your time, from people who've actually done it, not us.
Here are the resources
Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time. India-specific ones carry a badge.
4 resources2 India-specific4 link-checked
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📄 Article
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Why we picked it
A structured nine-step framework, research, market-entry plan, localization, compliance, local partnerships, that turns 'go global' into a sequence you can actually follow.
Why we picked it
A grounded look at the two things that actually break Indian brands going global, logistics and payments, and the India-specific tooling that now solves them.
Why we picked it
The destination-side view of the same program, useful for understanding account structures across North America, Europe, APAC and MENA before you commit to one marketplace.
Why we picked it
The most concrete India-founder account of going global, Vahdam's Bala Sarda built a brand where cross-border is ~90% of revenue, broken into nine tactical points on timing, differentiation, inventory and pricing.
