From Market Expansion to Ecosystem Expansion: Rethinking International Growth Through M&A

When companies think about international expansion, the default playbook is clear: enter new markets, open new offices, acquire local players.

But what if that’s no longer the smartest move?

In this episode, Erlend Mohus, Chief Strategy and Acquisition Officer at SuperOffice shares a radically different approach: using M&A not to expand geographically, but to strengthen your position where you already win.

After years of acquisitions across Europe, SuperOffice made a strategic shift—from entering new countries to building a powerful product ecosystem around their core CRM.

Instead of buying competitors, they acquire complementary solutions and turn integration into a real competitive advantage.

What you'll learn

• Why expanding internationally doesn’t always mean entering new markets

• How to shift from a “portfolio of products” to a true ecosystem strategy

• The real ROI of M&A: cross-sell and synergies—not just ARR

• How to approach post-merger integration (what to do in the first weeks and months)

• What most companies get wrong when acquiring competitors

A concrete example

You’ll hear how SuperOffice acquired an event management platform and turned it into a best-in-class integrated offering—creating a stronger value proposition than standalone tools or loose integrations.

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How do you scale internationally when your product is low-ticket, freemium, and mostly self-serve?

In this episode of International Corner, Laurent Leclerc, Co-Founder of Smappen, shares how his team expanded from France to the US, the UK, and now Canada — by turning outbound into a powerful inbound growth engine.

Smappen is a SaaS mapping platform used by franchise networks and multi-location businesses to decide where to open new physical sites. With over 1,200 customers and 80,000+ monthly users, half of their revenue now comes from outside France.

But their international growth didn’t start with a master plan.

At first, international customers came organically through inbound — thanks to a freemium model and an English version of the product. It was only later, anticipating market saturation in France, that the team became intentional about expansion.

In this conversation, Laurent explains:

• How outbound campaigns boosted brand awareness and actually increased inbound leads

• Why mass outbound failed — and what changed when they narrowed their ICP

• How they balance high-touch and low-touch sales (75% of new customers are self-serve, but high-touch drives most revenue)

• Why the US market requires extreme personalization and patience

• How to know when a new country is “working” before expanding further
  

One of the key takeaways?
Outbound doesn’t create inbound from scratch — it amplifies it. When done right, it becomes a credibility engine that fuels brand awareness, partnerships, and higher conversion rates.

If you’re building a SaaS company and thinking about expanding internationally — especially into English-speaking markets — this episode is packed with practical lessons on sequencing, focus, and building a repeatable growth formula.

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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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🎙️ Episode Summary – Slow is Fast: Cracking the Code to Scaling in Germany

In this episode of International Corner, we speak with Thibault Mathevet, co-founder of Collectif Skala and former expansion lead for Germany at Doctolib.

Thibault shares hard-earned insights from his experience scaling tech solutions across borders—focusing on the unique challenges and success factors in the German market.

Key Takeaways:

• 🔑 The signals that show a business is truly ready to scale internationally

• 🚧 Why rushing into Germany can lead to costly missteps

• 🌍 The importance of building local culture, hiring the right team, and speaking the language

• 🛠️ How to adapt (not copy-paste) your sales playbook to fit the German context

• 📊 Core KPIs and mindset shifts that drive sustainable, long-term growth

  
  

💡 “Going slow is the fastest way to succeed in Germany.”

Whether you’re preparing for your first international launch—or reassessing a market that’s not working—this episode is packed with actionable advice for founders, operators, and go-to-market leaders.

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How do you launch a niche, eye-catching product into a brand new market and close your first 10 customers… globally?

In this episode, I sat down with Lucia Gonzalez Aguilar to talk about how I-virtual Sales team cracked the code on genuine, multi-channel outbound—and turned curiosity into conversions.

🎯 From day one, they went global—securing CE marking early on and targeting multiple markets at once.
💡 The tech creates a “wow” effect, and they built their entire outreach strategy around that spark of excitement.
📬 Mix of email + LinkedIn (cold calling coming soon)
🔍 Personalized > automated. Think: checking LinkedIn activity, likes, shared languages, or even acknowledging someone’s recent post.

What stood out?
✨ She never personalizes the connection request. But once accepted? It’s a real conversation—pulling the thread naturally until the prospect wants to know more.
🤝 “I want to learn” is the icebreaker. Curiosity creates space for trust.
🌍 And yes, cultural nuance matters. WhatsApp in LatAm & Spain. GDPR strictness in corporate EU. Ramadan? A moment to connect, not sell.

📊 Results?

→ 3-4 discovery calls per rep
→ 2-3 solid opps per rep
→ All from genuine outbound, led by just 2 people.

If you are trying to stand out from the crowd, leveraging a personalized and genuine approach might just be your way to do it

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“Diverse teams deliver 60% better results and make better decisions in 87% of cases” (Forbes)

Imagine we could apply this to early expansion?

How much time would we save in the early days?

How fast could we start seeing results in a specific market?

Well that’s exactly what we discussed with Caroline Ramade, Founder & CEO of 50intech in the first episode of season 3 of International Corner

You have to think about diversifying your team in the early days, from scratch to ensure you see successful expansion results faster.

Here is a snapshot of what we covered :

• The impacts on global expansion of diversifying your team very early on

• The main challenges of creating a true diverse team

• How to foster an inclusive culture within your organisation

• How to be aware of your unconscious bias and fight them

• A deep story about one of her hardest time she had to live by those diversity standards

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