Go-to-market for security vendors selling into Europe
Most security products that fail in the European automotive and industrial market fail commercially, not technically.
Who this is for
Cybersecurity vendors with a working product and no route into European OEMs, tier-1 suppliers, machine builders or rail. Typically Israeli, US or Nordic companies with strong engineering, a domestic reference base, and a European pipeline that stalls at the first procurement conversation.
What usually goes wrong
- Selling the technology instead of the obligation. A European product security team buys against a regulation and an audit date. A demo of detection quality does not move a budget line.
- Wrong entry point. The person who understands the product is rarely the person who can sign. Entering through engineering and hoping it travels upward costs a year.
- Pricing built for a different market. Per-seat and per-endpoint pricing collides with how automotive and industrial buyers budget: per programme, per platform, per model year.
- No design partner. Without one named European reference, procurement treats you as unproven regardless of how good the product is.
- Underestimating the qualification cycle. Supplier onboarding, security questionnaires, TISAX, and a purchasing organisation that is structurally slow.
What we do
| Engagement | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Market entry assessment | Whether the European market is a fit at all, which segment first, what the regulation actually forces buyers to do, and what it will cost in time. Sometimes the answer is not yet. |
| Positioning and messaging | Rebuilding the pitch around the buyer's obligation rather than the product's capability. Deck, one-pager, objection handling, and the words that survive a procurement review. |
| Pricing and packaging | Commercial models that fit how European industrial buyers budget, and that hold up when the customer asks for a five-year total cost. |
| Design partners and first customers | Named introductions into automotive, robotics, rail and industrial accounts, with the qualification done before the meeting rather than after. |
| Advisory retainer | Ongoing commercial counsel to a founder or a VP Sales entering the region. Monthly, cancellable. |
Where this comes from
Twenty years across telecom infrastructure and automotive cybersecurity, including global head of cybersecurity and privacy for an HMI business unit at a tier-1 supplier, and worldwide pre-sales leadership at an automotive security vendor. The useful part is having sat on both sides: building the requirement inside an OEM supplier, and selling against it from a vendor.
Stalled in Europe?
A first call is 45 minutes and free. We will tell you if the problem is the product rather than the go-to-market, which happens more often than anyone likes.