Congratulations Navan: Frontline’s First IPO
Today is a big day for Ariel Cohen and Ilan Twig, who have taken Navan — the travel and expense platform — public on the Nasdaq. It’s also a big day for Frontline: Navan was the first investment from our US Growth fund and it becomes the first IPO in Frontline’s wider portfolio. I met […]
Why US Startups Shouldn’t Wait to Expand to Europe
In the three years since we published our inaugural European Expansion Report, we’ve experienced a devastating global pandemic and substantial economic volatility. Many venture-backed startups have shied away from – or abandoned outright – the ‘growth at all costs’ mentality, instead favoring extreme focus on efficient growth and controlling costs. For U.S. software startups with international […]
Where to Land: Selecting Your European HQ
A European HQ Is Still Essential in a post-covid world Although decision making has become increasingly decentralised, selecting the right location for a European headquarters is a critical step on the journey to becoming a global business. Even if you are currently working with a distributed team and have no plans to invest in a […]
What U.S. Startups Get Wrong About Expanding into Europe
This post was originally published by HBR U.S. software firms are the most successful companies of the 21st century. From software-as-a-service pioneers like Salesforce and Zoom to ads-powered giants such as Google and Facebook, software firms represent close to 30 percent of the S&P-500 index. But despite their ascendancy, these companies have an Achilles’ heel: […]
Introducing Frontline Growth
We’ve learned a thing or two from great founders in our European Seed funds over the years. For example, it’s hard to beat an idea that’s borne of personal experience; a problem that drives the founders so crazy they simply have to drop what they’re doing and try to solve it. Our new fund, Frontline […]
What’s the revenue opportunity for your company in Europe?
How $$$ opportunity drives hiring decisions and enterprise valueIn our last post we asked the question “are you ready to expand into Europe?” After completing the checklist, it’s time to look at some numbers. Namely, what’s the revenue opportunity? Is Europe a rounding error compared to the US or a major new market? Without answering this question […]
5 Questions to ask before expanding into Europe
Part 2 in our series about European Expansion for US B2B Companies Europe is the largest addressable overseas market for almost all American B2B software companies. With 30 per cent of a company’s global revenue at stake, the question of Europe is not if but when. Some companies wait too long, foregoing millions of dollars in revenue by […]
Why US founders can’t afford to ignore Europe
First in a series of posts about European Expansion for B2B software companies In the late 2000s I ran a big chunk of Google’s ad business in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Google’s global revenue was already monstrous — all the numbers were colossal. My quarterly revenue target was $350 million and my team […]