Magnet
Anchor
Telescope
Pendulum
Index Ventures
ExpansionPlan
Only a small proportion of European tech companies that expand into the US grow to the scale of global category winners. We have distilled the strategies adopted by the winners into four distinct archetypes: These are organisational templates that startups can follow as they expand into the US.
Now discover your archetype…
Anchor
Tethered, like an anchor, in Europe.
The Anchor archetype is for companies where Europe represents a larger market opportunity, with the US typically accounting for 15–30 percent of TAM. For Anchors, Europe remains their centre of gravity. Rather than pivoting the entire organization toward the US market, Anchors build a focused US operation while protecting and growing their European core. This often means keeping all major leadership functions (except the US President role) in Europe, including maintaining founder presence there. Success in this model relies on building a relatively autonomous US GTM team, with a strong US-dedicated leader.
Notable Anchor startups
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Magnet
Built in Europe, sold in the US.
The Magnet archetype is for companies with a large US TAM (over 50%), as well as the ambition to pursue it. This archetype dominates among B2B companies, particularly enterprise SaaS startups. For Magnets, US is the clear centre of gravity and the entire organisation tends to pivot toward the US early on. You'll gravitate toward a setup where your engineering and R&D remain primarily in Europe, while your commercial functions are built in the US. Founder/CEOs typically relocate to the US and, over time, most of your executive team will be based there as well.
Notable Magnet startups
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Pendulum
Swinging between
the US and Europe.
Pendulums are companies that balance between the two continents, maintaining multiple centers of gravity. Like a pendulum swinging between two points, these companies must embrace distributed leadership, ambiguous prioritization, and organizational complexity and duplication. For Pendulums, US percentage of revenue typically fall somewhere between 15-30%. Either the total addressable market (TAM) is more equally weighted across Europe and the US, in which case Pendulum is a natural archetype, or companies have a large US TAM but their US entry is delayed. This might be due to regulatory barriers, need for intense localization, or a direct US competitor. This delay often means that you will end up building substantive operations in Europe, and by the time your attention turns to the US, the organisation is more mature with an established leadership structure in place in Europe. Pendulums typically have a US President and some US-based functional executives with the founder/CEO navigating between the two continents.
Notable Pendulum startups
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Telescope
Focus on US, through a lens
located in Europe.
This is the main archetype for startups when distribution is self-serve, or through app stores or digital marketing channels. The US might represent a large portion of your total addressable market, but the bulk of your leadership and headcount can remain in Europe. Your organisation is like a telescope, able to focus on the US market and customers, through a lens located back in Europe.