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Guides, glossary terms, numbers, tools and pages. Arrow keys move through the results, Enter opens one. New here? Start with four questions.

guides4 in this area

where to sell first, and through whom.

Before the first deal comes a set of choices that are expensive to reverse: which country, through which kind of partner, and who is on the ground. These guides cover those choices in the order most vendors meet them, with the arithmetic where there is some.

  1. 01a one-market playbook meets Europe1 guide
  2. 02choosing the first country1 guide
  3. 03choosing the route1 guide
  4. 04making the first hire1 guide

The reasoning behind this order: trust transfer, the thesis behind the site.

read them in this order.

tools for this area.

questions these guides answer.

Which CEE country should a security vendor enter first?

For most vendors selling to mid-sized and large organisations, Poland, because it has by far the most enterprises in the size bands security products sell to. Eurostat counted 3,547 Polish enterprises with 250 or more employees in 2023, about twice as many as Czechia or Romania. A vendor with existing customers or inbound demand in a smaller country, and a free specialist distributor there, can reasonably start elsewhere.

More in entering central and eastern Europe country by country: which market first, and through whom

Is exclusive distribution legal in the EU?

Yes, within limits. Under the EU Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (2022/720), a supplier with under 30% market share can appoint exclusive distributors for a territory, shared by up to five, and restrict their active selling into other territories. Blocking passive sales, meaning responses to customers who approach a distributor on their own, is a hardcore restriction.

More in one distributor per country or two: the arithmetic for a mid-sized European market

Should a security vendor's first hire in Europe be a country manager?

Usually only when there is already pipeline to run. A country manager without partners, a price list in euros or open deals spends the first year building those alone. If partners will carry the market, a channel manager is the better first hire; if direct enterprise deals stall in proof of concept, a sales engineer is.

More in your first hire in Europe: country manager, channel manager or sales engineer

Can a US cybersecurity vendor sell into Europe with an English-only team?

In the Nordics, Benelux and Ireland often yes. In DACH, France, Southern Europe and most of Central and Eastern Europe, buyers below the largest enterprises expect local-language presales, proposals and partners. Language there works as a trust signal more than a comprehension test.

More in why the US volume playbook breaks in Europe