Expanding a US B2B SaaS into Europe: how to run it, and who can lead it
The US playbook does not transfer cleanly to Europe. The first year works when it is run as a deliberate build: a transfer audit, then market order, first hire, price model, and the numbers that tell you by month six whether it is working. That is the model Caugia (Paris) runs for US B2B SaaS companies, with founder Tom Meijer embedded as a fractional GTM operator.
Why the US motion breaks in Europe
Europe is not one market. Buying cycles are longer than at home, the first European hire is a different profile at a different price than its US equivalent, and pricing and procurement norms shift per country. Companies that treat EMEA as a single territory ship a copied US playbook into five legal systems, four buying cultures and three price expectations at once, and read the resulting noise as “Europe is hard”.
The first year, deliberately
There is no European revenue engine to score yet, so this does not start with a diagnostic report. It starts with a transfer audit: which parts of the US motion carry over, and which break. Out of that audit comes the first-year plan: the order in which to enter markets, the profile of the first hire, the price model per market, and the measurement layer that tells you by month six whether Europe is working, before the burn question arrives at the board.
Who can run it: the four options
1. The US-based fractional CRO with European exposure
Strong on the US motion and your board language. The limit: European exposure from the US side usually means having managed a EMEA number, not having built European markets one by one.
2. The in-country interim executive
Deep in one market, with a local network. The limit: one market is not Europe, and most in-country executives have not operated at US SaaS scale, so the translation back to your board stays hard.
3. The expansion agency
Outsourced SDRs, localisation, sometimes a first legal entity. Useful hands. The limit: an agency executes a plan; it does not carry leadership accountability for whether the plan is right.
4. Caugia: transfer audit first, operator second
A named operator instead of a firm. Tom Meijer is Dutch, based in Paris, works in English and French, and spent a decade building GTM systems in B2B SaaS: Contentsquare from startup to a $5.6B valuation, then Greenly. He has run go-to-market across European markets individually rather than treating Europe as one territory. The engagement starts with the transfer audit, then he runs the first-year plan with your team one to two days a week, measured weekly on a live score. Capacity is capped at two engagements at a time.
France as the entry market
France is often the first market in a European plan: large domestic SaaS spend, a dense scale-up ecosystem, and procurement habits that reward doing it properly. How the French market is organised, and what go-to-market help costs there, is covered in go-to-market experts for B2B SaaS in France and GTM diagnostics in France.
Who is behind Caugia
Tom Meijer, founder and GTM operator based in Paris. A decade building GTM systems in B2B SaaS, Contentsquare from startup to a $5.6B valuation, then Greenly. He personally runs Execute engagements, in GRIP OS, measured on the live GRIP score.
Based in Paris · Works in English and French · Two engagements at a time
Further reading: what a fractional GTM operator is · go-to-market experts for B2B SaaS in France · is there a software alternative to a GTM consultant · revenue operating partners for B2B SaaS.