Breaking into Germany can be challenging—but trade shows are a powerful way to build trust, meet decision-makers, and establish credibility. In this episode of International Corner Podcast,Barbara Georgjan Limpa, founder of Interrelations and Quest Germany, shares her 16+ years of experience helping international B2B companies succeed.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why trade shows matter in Germany: Build trust, meet decision-makers, and establish credibility.

• The 3-phase approach to market entry: From research and scouting to market entry and sales growth.

• Timing & preparation secrets: How to plan months ahead to maximize ROI, including pre-booking meetings and targeted outreach.

• Team & resource tips: Optimal booth sizes, team roles, and the “minimum viable preparation” if time is tight.

• The power of speaking slots: Position your company as an industry expert and accelerate market traction.

• Regional strategies: Why Germany’s decentralized structure requires thoughtful location and partner targeting.

• Realistic ROI expectations: How to measure success in long sales cycles and set achievable KPIs.
  

Tune in to discover actionable strategies to make your trade show investment pay off!

More about Barbara:

Barbara Gjurgjan Lempa is the founder of Interrelations and creator of Quest Germany, a market-entry program that helps international B2B companies expand into Germany with structure, credibility, and traction.
With over 15 years of experience guiding SMEs through trade shows, business development, and cross-cultural strategy, she combines practical market insight with a hands-on consulting approach.
Barbara has supported clients from more than 20 countries and is passionate about helping businesses turn “German complexity” into predictable growth.

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Episode Summary – “Going Far to Win at Home”

In this episode, I sit down with Frederic Vendeuvre, founder and CEO of Halifax to explore Halifax’s bold “far first, local next” strategy. Two decades ago, when most consulting firms focused on Europe or the US, Halifax went straight to Chile, Brazil, and Singapore.

We discuss how launching in distant markets gave Halifax instant credibility in France, how they moved from serving French clients abroad to winning local ones, and the organizational changes required to become truly global. Along the way, Frederic shares candid stories of costly mistakes, tough hurdles, and the moments when he knew the bet had paid off.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why choosing “far first” can accelerate credibility at home

• How Halifax won its first international and then its first local clients abroad

• The toughest challenges of global expansion (from admin nightmares to hiring missteps)

• The tipping points that showed Halifax had truly leveled up

• Practical advice for CEOs hesitating to take their business international

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In this episode, we sit down with Romaric Philogène, CEO and co-founder of Qovery, a remote-first DevOps SaaS company born in France — and built for the US market from day one.

Romaric shares how he approached global expansion intentionally, why the US was their first target market, and what it takes to win (and keep) American customers — even when selling remotely.

We dive into:

• Why Qovery went global from the start — and how they validated the US as their first market

• The cultural and strategic differences between selling in the US vs. Europe

• How ROI-driven messaging shaped their GTM and customer success approach

• What it's really like building and scaling a remote-first international team

• Lessons learned from expanding into the US — and what other European founders should know
  

Whether you're building a SaaS product, expanding into new markets, or hiring globally, this episode offers a tactical and honest look at what going global really means today.

🎧 Listen now and get the full playbook for international SaaS growth.

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