To me, the biggest difference I’ve observed is you can be strong in just one European country. There’s nothing quite like this in the U.S.
You can be strong just in the U.K.. Or just in France, in Sweden, in Belgium etc. You’ll have customers in other countries too, of course, but 80% of the first $1m-$2m in ARR in Euro SaaS companies often comes from just one country. One with a far smaller economy than California, let alone the entire U.S.
This just doesn’t happen in U.S. SaaS. You don’t just get good at selling to Colorodans or Maine-ers or Nevada-ians.
It can be a great way to get you off the ground, to Initial Traction, to have a strong market share in just one European country. But it can also create some myopia, and some challenges reproducing that success in non-local geographies.
