The US is the largest, most competitive, and most unforgiving enterprise software market in the world. It is also, for many European SaaS companies, the single most important strategic move they will ever make. Get the US right, and you access a market that can transform your business. Get the hiring wrong, and you spend eighteen months and a significant amount of capital learning that lesson at your own expense.
European SaaS companies entering the US face a specific set of challenges that their American competitors do not. They are operating in an unfamiliar talent market with different norms, different expectations, and a deeply competitive landscape for the best people. They are hiring from a position of relative brand anonymity in a market where brand matters enormously to candidate attraction. And they are doing it, in most cases, without the local knowledge required to make fast, confident decisions.
The Brand Anonymity Problem
The most successful SaaS companies in Europe are often genuinely unknown in the US market. A company that is a recognised brand in the UK, the DACH region, or the Nordics can arrive in the US as a blank slate to the talent market. Senior enterprise sellers in New York, San Francisco, or Chicago have no frame of reference for the company, its customers, or its reputation. This is a material disadvantage in a talent market where the best people have multiple options and are evaluating each one carefully.
The solution is not to wait until the brand is established before hiring. It is to build the narrative that makes the opportunity compelling before the search begins. The story needs to address the obvious question that every strong US candidate will ask: why should I take a risk on a European company I have never heard of when I have domestic options from companies I know and trust? The answer needs to be genuinely compelling, not just well-packaged.
US Compensation Reality
European SaaS companies consistently underestimate US compensation levels. The gap between what a senior enterprise Account Executive or VP of Sales earns in London and what their equivalent earns in a major US market is not a margin. It is a structural difference that reflects the depth of the talent market, the intensity of the competition for top performers, and the cultural expectation in the US that commercial success should be generously rewarded.
A senior enterprise AE in the US expects a base salary that will be meaningfully higher than their UK counterpart, with an OTE that can reach two to three times base in high-performance years. Equity is often a significant factor, particularly at growth-stage companies where the upside story is part of the attraction. European companies that enter the US with European-calibrated packages will consistently lose the best candidates to domestic competitors who understand what the market pays.
Who to Hire First
The first US GTM hire for a European SaaS company is almost never the right time to hire a VP of Sales. A VP of Sales needs a team to lead, a playbook to execute, and an organisation that can support them. None of those things exist in a market you have not previously operated in. The first hire is almost always a senior individual contributor or player-coach: someone who can generate their own pipeline, close their own deals, and simultaneously build the foundations of a team.
This person needs to be genuinely senior in their thinking and their credibility with enterprise buyers, but comfortable operating without the support structures that a VP-level hire would expect. They need to be entrepreneurially motivated, attracted by the opportunity to build rather than join. And they need existing relationships in the target market: a first US hire without a warm network in the relevant vertical or geography is starting from zero in every dimension.
The Search Process in the US
Hiring in the US from a European base requires a search process that can operate effectively across the Atlantic. The logistics are manageable. The knowledge gap is the harder problem. US market dynamics, compensation norms, candidate expectations, and the pace of the hiring process are all different from EMEA. Companies that attempt to run a US search using their EMEA process and their EMEA benchmarks will consistently find themselves behind.
Strong Search’s North America practice, led by Larry Sanford, provides the on-the-ground market knowledge and relationships that European SaaS companies need to move quickly and confidently in the US talent market. Our combination of EMEA and North America depth means we can support the full expansion journey, from the initial US hire through to building a scaled GTM team, without the company losing continuity of search partner or quality of hire.
Strong Search supports European SaaS companies entering the US market with GTM search expertise on both sides of the Atlantic. If you are planning your US expansion, we would welcome a conversation. Book a discovery call.
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