3 ms·

you're absolutely right. but, scaling up is difficult. start in the wrong country and you have a big barrier. you need to start in the US, no way around it. s

you're absolutely right. but, scaling up is difficult. start in the wrong country and you have a big barrier. you need to start in the US, no way around it. single biggest homogenic market (language, culture, legal). your 3 sales people can cover a lot of ground. start in France and great, once you have France where do you scale out to? Germany? The US? Your French sales people are likely worthless outside of France. You see this pattern in enterprise companies. Way fewer in central Europe than there should be. Germany's SAP made it, Software AG follows. Cegedim in France. UK has advantage of US-ties. Eastern Europe? Kill yourself (outliers: Skype, Kasperksy). Qliktech started in Sweden and nearly died. Only after it was re-located to the US it kicked off.

jacques_chester 14y ago
I agree that the USA is the market that matters most; but the second best starting position isn't Europe -- it's the Anglosphere. Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in particular and I think in that order. It's easier to move into the US market from Australia, for example, than it would be from France. Common language, lots of shared history, ease of travel, all that stuff.
- pinaceae 14y ago
  one could argue that the UK and Ireland are Europe, but I fully agree - the Commonwealth countries are second best. don't underestimate timezones though. UK has a way better fit than Australia when it comes to covering US and Europe.
  - jacques_chester 14y ago
    Oh timezones are crazy. I'm literally on the other side of the planet from the US east coast. I'm working on a niche business tool at the moment and it's at the back of my mind that upon moving into the middle tier, I'll need to think about having someone in the USA simply to act as level 1 support. That said, Patrick McKenzie of patio11 fame pointed out that he's using a virtual assistant service to fill that role. That might be my first port of call. /sorta-kinda-maserati-problem
    - davedx 14y ago
      I've had a couple of jobs at places in Europe / the UK who basically had a tiny sales office in the US. One of them was a small business of only around 15 employees total, and they still had a sales guy in LA or NYC. I guess it would be the same with support. The only job I've worked in a tech support role in, only had enterprise customers in Europe.
arethuza 14y ago
Worth noting that what are now Microsoft Dynamics Nav and Dynamics AX both started as European companies.

jacques_chester 14y ago

I agree that the USA is the market that matters most; but the second best starting position isn't Europe -- it's the Anglosphere. Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in particular and I think in that order. It's easier to move into the US market from Australia, for example, than it would be from France. Common language, lots of shared history, ease of travel, all that stuff.

pinaceae 14y ago
one could argue that the UK and Ireland are Europe, but I fully agree - the Commonwealth countries are second best. don't underestimate timezones though. UK has a way better fit than Australia when it comes to covering US and Europe.
- jacques_chester 14y ago
  Oh timezones are crazy. I'm literally on the other side of the planet from the US east coast. I'm working on a niche business tool at the moment and it's at the back of my mind that upon moving into the middle tier, I'll need to think about having someone in the USA simply to act as level 1 support. That said, Patrick McKenzie of patio11 fame pointed out that he's using a virtual assistant service to fill that role. That might be my first port of call. /sorta-kinda-maserati-problem
  - davedx 14y ago
    I've had a couple of jobs at places in Europe / the UK who basically had a tiny sales office in the US. One of them was a small business of only around 15 employees total, and they still had a sales guy in LA or NYC. I guess it would be the same with support. The only job I've worked in a tech support role in, only had enterprise customers in Europe.

arethuza 14y ago

Worth noting that what are now Microsoft Dynamics Nav and Dynamics AX both started as European companies.