International Corner

From Market Expansion to Ecosystem Expansion: Rethinking International Growth Through M&A When companies think about international expansion, the default playbook is clear: enter new markets, open new offices, acquire local players. But what if that’s no longer the smartest move? In this episode, Erlend Mohus , Chief Strategy and Acquisition Officer at SuperOffice shares a radically different...

How do you scale internationally when your product is low-ticket, freemium, and mostly self-serve? In this episode of International Corner , Laurent Leclerc, Co-Founder of Smappen, shares how his team expanded from France to the US, the UK, and now Canada — by turning outbound into a powerful inbound growth engine. Smappen is a SaaS mapping platform used by franchise networks and multi-location bu...

Breaking into Germany can be challenging—but trade shows are a powerful way to build trust, meet decision-makers, and establish credibility. In this episode of International Corner Podcast , Barbara Georgjan Limpa , founder of Interrelations and Quest Germany, shares her 16+ years of experience helping international B2B companies succeed. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why trade shows matter in Ge...

Episode Summary – “Going Far to Win at Home” In this episode, I sit down with Frederic Vendeuvre, founder and CEO of Halifax to explore Halifax’s bold “far first, local next” strategy. Two decades ago, when most consulting firms focused on Europe or the US, Halifax went straight to Chile, Brazil, and Singapore. We discuss how launching in distant markets gave Halifax instant credibility in France,...

In this episode, we sit down with Romaric Philogène , CEO and co-founder of Qovery , a remote-first DevOps SaaS company born in France — and built for the US market from day one. Romaric shares how he approached global expansion intentionally, why the US was their first target market, and what it takes to win (and keep) American customers — even when selling remotely. We dive into: Why Qovery went...

🎙️ Episode Summary – Slow is Fast: Cracking the Code to Scaling in Germany In this episode of International Corner , we speak with Thibault Mathevet , co-founder of Collectif Skala and former expansion lead for Germany at Doctolib . Thibault shares hard-earned insights from his experience scaling tech solutions across borders—focusing on the unique challenges and success factors in the German mark...

How do you launch a niche, eye-catching product into a brand new market and close your first 10 customers… globally ? In this episode, I sat down with Lucia Gonzalez Aguilar to talk about how I-virtual Sales team cracked the code on genuine, multi-channel outbound —and turned curiosity into conversions. 🎯 From day one, they went global—securing CE marking early on and targeting multiple markets a...

“Diverse teams deliver 60% better results and make better decisions in 87% of cases” (Forbes) Imagine we could apply this to early expansion?  How much time would we save in the early days?  How fast could we start seeing results in a specific market? Well that’s exactly what we discussed with Caroline Ramade , Founder & CEO of 50intech in the first episode of season 3 of International Corner...

And that's a wrap for Season 2! There were 24 episodes with tremendous guests who shared so many insights. I computed their best strategies and tips in this recap episode. Here is what you can expect : #1 Finding the right market The market assessment matrix - Maxime from Hublo in ep#45 Expand remotely Zoltan from The Launcher code in ep#31 Expand where your competitors don't go Zach, global Sales...

You’ve sold to a few customers and now you are trying to achieve repeatability in that new market. Except… it doesn’t Work. But Why? And no… the answer is not Product Market Fit. Or rather… it is not that simple. In the last episode of international Corner, I’m welcoming Maxime Renault , chief Strategy & Expansion Officer at Hublo who shares how he has made Product Market Fit more concrete to...

You’ve mastered operational skills to launch new markets… GREAT. However, this is not enough.  There are a number of soft skills you need to gain to become a global leader and be effective at scaling your company. Communication is one of them. External communication: to create compelling messages, amplify them while navigating cultural differences in the different markets you will grow Internal co...

While leveraging your home-market alliance program to expand globally, follow the 80/20 rule. If the targeted country requires you to adapt more than 20% of your current alliance program to get in there, maybe consider choosing another one. The key to succeed, is to make it simple. For this, 3 critical questions you need to consider: What are the right KPI to track? What is the momentum of your bu...

Managing more than 10 BDRs spread out across different countries… How do you adapt prospecting sequences for each market? How do you make sure each rep ramps up properly if you can’t coach them because you can’t understand German or Hebrew? And how do you set up the right KPIs to track performance fair and square for every one? Those are the questions Rachel Fay , Senior Manager, Business Developm...

They've launched 50 countries in 10 years and now have 18 offices around the world. That’s what Little Big Connection has managed to do with a test-and-learn mindset and very little investment for each new country launch. But…What is their secret recipe to make it work? Jules Maillard , international expansion director, describes it in 4 steps: Hiring the right country launcher Leveraging the unlo...

9 months to take over a multi-market scope, structure it and scale it to get to the next stage of growth. When she arrived at Partoo, there were 6 people within the expansion team. 2 years later, there are now 20 people. That is what Cécile Farah , VP Sales Expansion, and her international team did at Partoo. But it has been a long journey to make changes and generate positive impacts. In today’s...

As you move from the launching to the scaling phase in a new market,  You’ll Have A Tough Time. Yet, you thought you went through the hardest part - getting the first few customers. Well… I hate to break it to you… but this was just a “Mise en bouche”. There are tons of aspects you need to consider afterwards such as: Building a clear vision of where you are going Spreading clear communication acr...

If you are working on expanding into new markets, your goal should be about finding Product Market Fit (PMF). It can sometimes be really tough to find it.  And this is even more true for competitive markets such as the UK. Edouard Epaud , Head of Sales Uk at My Traffic was obsessed about one key aspect in this PMF quest. Nailing their Ideal Customer Profiles in the UK. To grow sales in the UK over...

Have you considered leveraging communities to grow internationally? This is a strong means to strengthen your lead generation efforts… and in a more genuine way. Communities are a way for you to: ✅ get insights ✅ get direct access to your target audience ✅ form meaningful connections But they are not a way for you to: ❌pitch your product ❌get a list of contacts to send aggressive cold emailin...

The is no one-size-fits-all strategy to sell internationally. Just as much as there is no one-size fits all strategy to manage an international team. I think we’d all agree that one of the toughest aspects of going international is to make it right with people. People with different backgrounds People from different countries People with different personalities   And no matter how different we all...

What if you could reduce your Time to first deal by 50% in all your markets? Imagine being able to have all your new Sales hires get their first deal x2 faster, in every market? Well that is what Niamh Murray Lalanne , VP Global Sales Ena blement at Mirakl managed to do with her team. The power of Sales enablement is often underestimated in organizations. This business unit is often created at a l...

You sold to a firrst few clients in the US, great! But how do you achieve repeatable Sales now? How do you prove you can sell again and again to the same type of companies, the same persona for the same price? Well, as usual for the folks who work on expanding internationally, you know there is no one-size-fits-all solution. But there are stories worth listening to get inspired There are mistakes...

If you are working on expanding into foreign markets, you probably leveraged some of your current customers to expand into other countries. This is the land and expand strategy That’s most likely how most of us get the first 2-3 clients in foreign countries But have you considered using this strategy as your main focus to grow internationally and not just to get the first few references? That's wh...

Thinking about hiring your first local people in a new foreign market? Greeeeat. How can you avoid making mistakes? Well… let’s be honest, you most likely will 😅 But you can probably limit them by learning from Amanda Simon, CPO at The Briars group with her 30+ years of HR experience overseing several markets. We discussed 2 crucial topics that should be at the heart of your HR priorities as you...

It is better to stop investing in international expansion in these times of business uncertainty. Especially if the new target market brings you close to 0% of revenue. Very tempting to have these thoughts right? Well, wouldn’t you miss the point as a founder if you close yourself off to internationalization? There are ways to be more cautious about international expansion. Actually, You can gener...

They went from 5000 to 15000 active users in less than 4 months in Italy How did Akt.io manage to be off to such a fast start? Spoiler alerts, they didn’t spend much marketing budget The key was to focus on 2 very important aspects: Leverage the right acquisition channel from day #1 - referral programs Create Trust for their users from the first release - cyber security and compliance are at the t...