Before you start
Most wasted European spend happens before the first sale. US software companies usually reach Europe before they have anyone in Europe. A few deals arrive through the website, a partner signs up, someone in the US picks it up on top of their real job, and Europe becomes the line on the plan that slips every quarter.
The decision that matters most is made early and often without much thought: which market first, through which route, and with whom. Get the order right and a modest budget goes a long way. Get it wrong and the first year goes on lessons that could have been learned somewhere cheaper.
When the moment comes, most leadership teams see three options. Hire a country manager: expensive, slow to recruit, and very costly if the first hire is the wrong shape. Use a large systems integrator: built for delivery, not for building your go-to-market. Hire a consultancy: you get a strategy, and nobody on the ground executes it.
This guide is about a fourth option. Sequence the markets deliberately, prove the motion somewhere cheap, and put someone in place who can build partner infrastructure rather than just carry a number.
The guide
Five parts, in the order you will need them.
Europe is five decisions, not one
"Europe" on a US plan usually means one budget line and one owner. On the ground it is a set of markets that buy differently, hire differently and respond to different partners.
- UK: a direct and partner hybrid. The lowest-friction place to validate demand, test messaging and sign the first partners.
- DACH: partner-led. Technical and compliance expectations are high, and buyers lean on local partners they already trust.
- France: GSIs and niche boutiques. Enterprise buying often runs through integrator relationships rather than direct vendor sales.
- Iberia and Italy: value-added distribution, which brings together a fragmented partner landscape you could not cover directly at this stage.
Sequenced well, a budget that would fund two or three direct hires can open five markets within a year. The constraint is rarely money. It is whether the first person can recruit and enable partners, because partners are what let a small team reach several countries at once.
Three questions to answer before choosing: where are your current European customers and inbound leads; who already sells to your buyer; and what does the buyer need locally, from language to data residency to procurement habits.
The principle. Enter where it is cheapest to learn, expand where the learning tells you to, and use partners to reach markets you cannot yet staff.
Why the UK first
The UK is not always the biggest prize, but it is usually the cheapest place to find out whether you have a European business at all.
- No translation. Your materials, contracts, demos and team work from day one.
- Familiar foundations. Common law and accounting practices that a US company's finance and legal teams already understand.
- Partners in one city. The major partner networks, distributors and integrators have a large presence in and around London, so one person can meet a lot of them quickly.
- Flexible hiring. It is generally easier to hire, and to change course, than in much of the continent.
Treat the UK as a test with clear questions, not as a sales office. Does the US positioning land with European buyers? Which partner type produces real opportunities? How long does a partner take to go from signed to selling without help? Which parts of the motion can be repeated in the next market?
A caution. The UK is a test market, not a proxy for the continent. DACH and France will not accept being covered from London for long. Plan for them as separate decisions from the start.
The first hire is an architect, not a bag-carrier
The instinct is to hire a strong closer with a quota. In a new region with no pipeline and no partners, a closer has nothing to close. The first person needs to build the thing the closers will later sell through. The work follows the same shape in every market:
- Identify the partners worth having. The resellers, MSPs, integrators and marketplaces that already sell to your buyer in that market, and the ones that will not.
- Run the recruitment that brings them in. Outreach, qualification, the commercial conversation, signature. The unglamorous part that decides whether a programme exists or is just a page on your website.
- Enable them and fold them into your programme. Onboarding partners actually complete, co-selling on named accounts, and attribution from the first deal.
Look for someone who has recruited and enabled partners, not just managed existing ones; who knows the partner landscape in your first two markets; and who is comfortable building process, attribution and reporting. Be wary of a strong direct sales record with no partner building behind it.
A permanent country lead is the right end state for most companies. Many find it useful to have the partner foundations built first on an interim or fractional basis, so the permanent hire inherits a working motion rather than a blank page.
Four failure modes that burn the first year
- Hiring a bag-carrier, not an architect. A good salesperson with no pipeline, no partners and a quota that slips every quarter. Make the first role about building partner infrastructure, and measure it on the leading indicators below.
- Paying for advice, not execution. A thoughtful strategy deck that nobody on the ground owns. Make sure whoever writes the plan also runs it, or hands it to someone named who will.
- Overinvesting before the model is proven. An office, an entity and several hires in a high-friction market before anyone knows what sells. Prove the motion in the UK first, then expand on evidence.
- Handing the market to an integrator. A large SI signs up, announces the partnership, and your product becomes one line item among many. Use integrators where buyers expect them, but keep ownership of the programme and the pipeline yourself.
Beyond salaries, European entry brings costs that rarely make the first budget: entity set-up or an employer of record, local accounting, payroll and VAT registration, legal review of partner and customer contracts, data protection work, localisation beyond the UK and Ireland, and partner enablement. None is large on its own. Together they surprise people.
The first hundred days, and the leading indicators
- Days 1 to 30. Confirm the first market and the partner types to target. Map the partners already selling to your buyer. Adapt positioning and materials for European buyers.
- Days 31 to 60. Start partner recruitment. Agree the commercial terms and the rules a partner can read and act on. Sign the first few partners worth having.
- Days 61 to 100. Onboard and enable the first partners. Start co-selling on named accounts. Put attribution in place before the first partner deal, not after.
Revenue is a lagging signal. In the first two quarters, watch these instead:
- Co-sell mapping calls: your sellers and partner sellers working named accounts together.
- Partner-sourced pipeline: opportunities partners bring to you, attributed properly from the first deal.
- Enablement speed: how quickly a newly signed partner can sell without help.
- Cost of the next market: by the end of two quarters, entering the next market should cost less than the last.
A simple test at six months. Could the motion you have built run in the next market with a new person following the same steps? If yes, expand. If not, fix the UK motion first.
In short
Get the sequencing right first.
Treat Europe as five decisions, not one budget line. Start in the UK, because it is the cheapest place to find out. Make the first hire an architect who can recruit and enable partners. Avoid the four failure modes. Watch co-sell activity, partner-sourced pipeline, enablement speed and the cost of the next market long before revenue tells you anything.
AXQ is led by John Bates, founder. Five years at TD SYNNEX as key account lead for AWS, Cisco, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia, responsible for end to end delivery of EMEA partner GTM strategy. Research and operations at AXQ are run by a small team of AI agents, overseen by the founder.
This guide is general information to help you plan, not legal, tax or employment advice. Take local advice before setting up an entity or hiring in any market.