Resources

Checklists and templates for Europe GTM decisions

These resources are designed to be saved, reused, and shared internally: Europe expansion readiness, VP Sales Europe hiring, market-entry planning, first-year budgeting, and first-90-day execution. Each one below states who it is for and the exact decision it helps you make.

Adrien de Malherbe

Adrien de Malherbe

VP Sales Europe · CRO · GM Europe · B2B SaaS

Barcelona-based · Open to relocate across Europe

Europe expansion checklist

Who it is for: US and international SaaS founders and CEOs at roughly USD 1-10M ARR considering a European push.

Decision it helps with: Whether the company is actually ready to commit budget and headcount to Europe this year, or should wait.

Preview: Walks through the readiness signals that matter: repeatable home-market motion, ACV high enough to fund a quota-carrying hire, inbound or expansion demand already coming from Europe, and a founder willing to sponsor the market for 18 months. If three or more are missing, the honest answer is "not yet".

Related: Open Europe for US SaaS, Choose your first market

VP Sales Europe hiring checklist

Who it is for: Founders and talent leaders about to open a VP Sales Europe or first European commercial leader search.

Decision it helps with: What you are actually hiring for: a market-opener, a player-coach, or a scaler, and what evidence proves it.

Preview: Forces you to write the scorecard before the first call: the specific market-opening evidence to require, the difference between someone who inherited a territory and someone who built one, the comp envelope, and the reference questions that separate pattern from charisma.

Related: How to hire VP Sales Europe, VP Sales Europe scorecard

Market entry template for Europe

Who it is for: Operators owning the European plan who need to convert intent into a document the board can review.

Decision it helps with: Which market first, with what ICP, motion, pricing posture, and 12-month milestones.

Preview: A fill-in operating template: target market and why, ICP and trigger events, the inbound-versus-outbound motion, localisation depth, pricing and currency posture, headcount sequence, and the milestone ladder that tells you whether the bet is working by month six.

Related: Europe expansion frameworks, UK vs France vs DACH first

Europe expansion budget

Who it is for: Founders and finance leads building the first-year European P&L for a board or investor conversation.

Decision it helps with: How much the first year of Europe really costs, and what a credible budget line looks like.

Preview: Breaks the first-year envelope into its real components: the first quota-carrying hire fully loaded with employer costs, entity-versus-EOR choice, travel and events, localisation, and the buffer founders systematically forget. Cost ranges are operator estimates to model against your own numbers, not a quote.

Related: Scale 1M to 10M ARR, Comp plan for first hires

First 90 days after launch

Who it is for: Founders and the first European leader, in the window between "approved" and "operating".

Decision it helps with: What good execution looks like in the first quarter, and what to escalate if it is not happening.

Preview: A week-by-week view of the first quarter: entity or EOR live, first hire onboarded, ICP and messaging localised, first pipeline created from zero, and the leading indicators that tell you by day 90 whether the motion is taking hold or stalling.

Related: VP Sales Europe first 90 days, Hire VP Sales Europe

Recruiters

Use this site if you are hiring a VP Sales Europe, CRO, GM Europe or interim revenue operator for a B2B SaaS company.

Founders

Use this site if you are opening Europe, hiring your first senior sales leader, or need a sharper GTM motion by country.

Investors

Use this site if a portfolio company needs Europe market entry, sales leadership, or a faster path from €1M to €10M ARR.

Work with Adrien

Need the operator version, not just the document?

Talk to Adrien about using these resources to make a real Europe GTM, hiring, or expansion decision.