Topics › Defining and delivering strategy
European market entry
You have decided to grow in Europe and want to get there fast. The product is ready, but there are no reference customers, no partners and no one on the ground who knows the market, drives the business day to day and is accountable for results.
What is at stake
The first year often determines whether a European entry gains momentum or becomes an expensive experiment. The wrong first hire or partner can cost months, and without reference customers, every new deal is harder to win. Each quarter without progress also makes the next internal investment harder to justify.
What typically goes wrong
- The approach that worked at home is copied unchanged, and European buyers do not respond to it.
- A local lead is hired before the market is understood, and the first year goes into recruiting and correction.
- Partners are signed for coverage rather than fit, and nobody actually sells.
- Headquarters and the European team disagree on targets, prices and pace, and the conflict is settled on the phone instead of agreed.
- Regulatory and, in healthcare, reimbursement requirements surface late and block deals that otherwise looked within reach.
What changes for you
- A clear decision on where to start, and where not to, based on conversations with real buyers.
- A focused approach to the first customers and partners who can serve as references and open further doors.
- Clear ownership on the ground from the start, through your own people, a partner or an interim setup, and a path to a local team that runs the business on its own.
- Targets, budgets and decision rights that headquarters and the European team have actually agreed on.
How we approach it
We start with a short assessment of markets, buyers and potential partners, and of what headquarters really expects. From there we either advise your team or take on the role ourselves, as interim head of Europe for a defined period: we represent you with customers and partners, negotiate the first agreements and report to headquarters at fixed intervals. When the business carries itself, we hand it over to your own people.
What we clarify first
- Which market comes first, and what would make you stop?
- Who decides in Europe, and what can the local lead commit to without asking headquarters?
- Which customers and partners would serve as proof for everyone who comes after them?
Tell us what’s at stake
Thirty minutes, no pitch. You describe the situation. We tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.