Enterprise-first playbooks assume a homogenous market. In Europe's fragmented, regulated verticals, the mid-market is a faster, cheaper, more defensible landing zone.
US-headquartered software companies entering Europe still default to the enterprise-first playbook — anchor a lighthouse account in the DACH region, hire an enterprise AE, wait 18 months for the flywheel.
The pattern breaks. Europe is not a market; it is 27 markets, each with its own regulator, buying committee, and channel structure. Enterprise-first flatters vanity metrics and hides a brutal payback profile.
"Every US software company that succeeded in Europe in the last decade landed mid-market first. Every one that failed tried to sell enterprise from Boston."
— Head of EMEA, PE-backed vertical SaaS
The Markets module produces a TAM/SAM/SOM funnel per country, a payer heatmap, and a right-to-win score against the top three incumbents — so the wedge decision is quantified, not vibed.
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