Ep 13 - Marc McCarthy— Mastering Market Entry from Either Side of the Pond
Episode Summary
Mark McCarthy, founder of Pro Consult IQ, discusses the complexities of cross-Atlantic business expansion for B2B software companies. He covers cultural differences in sales approaches, regulatory considerations across US states versus UK markets, and the critical importance of hiring locally and understanding regional business practices. McCarthy emphasizes that successful market entry requires more than language compatibility—it demands cultural adaptation, proper incorporation, local partnerships, and strategic timing for direct market presence.
Key Quotes
"Americans like to buy America from Americans. As much as people enjoy my wonderful English accent, in the end of the day you have to build trust, and at some point it really does matter to have the right kind of team."
"In the UK we would sugarcoat the message by saying you can realign your FTE to do something more value added, whereas in the US you say here is a hard bottom line change—our system might cost $200,000 but you'll save $500,000 in year one."
"There's nothing that beats getting on a plane and meeting someone face to face. You see the gestures, the eye rolls, the pointing—all the things missing from Zoom that build trust and reveal what customers really think."
Transcript
Hi welcome to Tales From The Sky Lounge. It's a podcast about business consulting and venture investing. We get out there in the world and we talk to people who are making it happen and we get their stories. So today's guest in the Sky Lounge is Mark McCarthy. Hey Mark, welcome to the Sky Lounge.
Hey Todd, great to be here and thank you very much for inviting me.
So Mark, why don't you give us a little bit of background? Who are you?
Well, so my name is Mark McCarthy and as you can hear from my accent, I'm British. I'm based out of the UK and I've spent the past five years crossing the Atlantic doing business on both sides, both in the US, Europe and the UK. And basically that's kind of become my specialty. I've realized over the years that this is really what companies need. They need help in many different ways, whether it's from a sales approach like how do you sell into the US market, right through to well, how do I even expand? How do I set up? What does it mean from a tax or corporate perspective? So to help companies along, and particularly B2B software vendors, I've set up my own company called Pro Consult IQ and that's what we do. We specialize in helping companies on both sides of the Atlantic gain foothold into new markets. And it's a very exciting time, especially now that COVID is over. The markets have opened up. We're a few years beyond and there is a little bit more resilience in the market now. A little bit more money coming through for investors to really help companies expand their footprint and enter new markets.
A lot to unpack there. This is very exciting. So you know, I'm in the US obviously, and by my accent, we often, you know, I'm often in the room when people are talking about how do we get to Europe and expand. It's interesting to get your perspective on the other way around. So you've successfully gone from Europe and then opened up an American market a couple times. So why don't you talk about that process? You know, and then what do you think about when you're going to go into the American market? How do you do that? Is that a phone call? Do you fly over here? What's that process look like for a typical company that's in the EU? And then what are some of those considerations?
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