The playbook is familiar. A founder or a first US sales lead moves over, hires two or three reps, and books the major industry events. Marketing will come later, once there's traction. It's a sensible default, and most investors recommend a version of it.
The trouble is what those sellers sell into: no local customer proof, a story translated from home, events with no follow-up, and nobody generating demand. A full-time US marketer feels premature and an agency doesn't know the business, so marketing waits. The first sellers end up doing it themselves, on top of selling. A year later, the conclusion is that the US is hard.
The first salesperson in a new market shouldn't also be its marketing department.
A European Series A startup was building its US market. Instead of sending AEs in first and adding marketing later, we built both at once. We tested value propositions and the category story in front of US buyers before scaling anything. Then we built one motion per buyer: a self-serve sign-up flow for developers that fed enterprise sales, and an enterprise program run with the SDRs from day one. From their first call, AEs had a story, a source of pipeline, and a qualification framework behind them.
No two launches are the same. These are the answers that change the plan.
What will your first AE sell into?
With no local proof, no story built for US buyers, and no source of pipeline, they'll spend their first year building those instead of selling.
Who builds the US story before the first call?
A translated pitch deck isn't a US story. Someone has to rebuild the message for buyers who have never heard of you, before your sellers are in front of them.
Where do you start?
The US is fifty markets. Pick the region, industry, or segment where you can win first, and earn the references that open the next ones.
What does an event produce beyond badges?
Events teach you the market. Without target accounts before and follow-up after, they're the most expensive leads you'll ever buy.
When does marketing start, and what does it own?
If it starts with the first seller, it owns the story, the first channels, and the definition of a qualified lead. If a full-time hire feels early, a fractional marketer on US time can build those while your first seller learns the market. You get the capability before you commit to the headcount.
If more than two of these don't have a clear answer, that's where to start.
Start a conversation