5 Key Considerations for Your European Cyber GTM Strategy
Bringing new cyber technology to or expanding into European markets? Here are five considerations you should add to your go-to-market strategy.
Expanding into Europe presents a significant opportunity for U.S. cybersecurity companies. Over time, a successful European operation can contribute 30%+ of global revenue, as well as demonstrate that your company can seamlessly service clients across the globe. So how soon — and how should — your company take advantage of this opportunity?
We’ve pulled together decades of proven experience supporting companies as they venture into the European markets and created a guide to be used by companies large and small to help them answer fundamental go-to-market questions.
There’s a lot in our report, but here’s a sample
Where do we start?
Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, “By failing to plan, you are planning to fail.” Our guide will give you the first steps to take when mapping your markets and evaluating the opportunity size in your new geographic focus.
We also include some metrics and research to get you started identifying which regions best suit your solution.
Who should we hire?
When you’re standing up a field office, you’ll want to make sure you have very solid boots on the ground with your first few hires. We’ll help you identify what kind of leadership and what level of experience you’ll need to take advantage of the cultural differences in the region.
What roles are critical? Do you need to replicate your back office in Europe? What are the compensation considerations? The more upfront decisions you’re able to make, the more efficient your expansion will be.
Which customers should we get first?
Do you have your “lighthouse customers” identified for your new market? Do you even know what a lighthouse customer is? That first sale or contract points the direction for your market. We already know the energy and effort it takes to land the first customers are immense, so make sure it really counts by identifying which you’re going to go after and how.
How do we build and leverage a European channel?
You don’t have to do everything alone, and you almost certainly shouldn’t. We’ll discuss why and how developing channel partners in Europe can augment and be a force-multiplier for your team. But, like any partnership, you need to step into it with eyes wide open and a plan in place to accommodate shifts in strategy or the market.
We’ll share lessons learned that we’ve witnessed in the many decades of setting up European channel relationships, so you know what to plan for and avoid the many pitfalls.
What are and how do we build “Corporate APIs” to support field offices and expand?
Finally, APIs are not just for software. We’ll discuss a set of programs that are codified at HQ and used to integrate and accelerate each international field office as it opens, while also maintaining a critical tie to the home office. We’ll discuss marketing, public relations, content and sales enablement, event, human resources, and many other needs that could develop organically, but would be better off formalized.
Corporate APIs become the blueprint of your global footprint, so it’s important to consider them and get mostly right at the beginning.
Read the full report
Our Planning to Win in Europe report is over fifty pages of in-depth considerations when considering your expansion, and we’ve only scratched the surface here. We hope you get a lot of value out of the full report. You can download it below.
