Cracking the US: What I Wish I'd Known

"Every hour spent nailing the US yields 5-10x the return of an hour spent on any other market.”

But expansion is as challenging (and costly) for an outsider as it is rewarding.

Craig Hughes (Cofounder of Reasonable, formerly EVP Strategy & Corp Dev at Teads, exec at Unruly) has lived it: from a $100M+ acquisition, to permanent relocation, from near-failures to a transformative turnaround, and ultimately a billion-dollar merger. KNA & BGF hosted a candid conversation about the critical decisions that separate success from expensive failure: when to relocate vs. hire local, how to scale without losing your DNA, solving friction between local sales and distant product teams, and other hard-won insights.

Transcript

1. 1 Cracking the US What I wish I’d Known Craig Hughes | EVP, Strategy & Corp Dev October 2025
2. 2 About me. West Brom season ticket Loves an underdog Craig Hughes
3. 3 10x - GDP 8x - Ad Spend 8-10x - Consumer Spending 40-50% - Worldwide Tech Spending ’’ Every hour spent nailing the US yields 5-10x the return of an hour spent on any other market Sources: Emarketer, WARC, US Bureau of Econ Analysis, IMF, World Bank, ONS - US vs. UK
4. 4 But even the greatest founders…
5. 5 When to commit? When to go? What Goes Wrong? The Three Ts What to adapt? How to adapt? Where to adapt for? Talent Translation Timing Who? How? At what cost?
6. 6 Success!
7. 7 But… “£56m in future consideration contingent upon the achievement of certain performance objectives”
8. 8 Just another market, same playbook The Mistakes Acting under the assumption it could be handled locally (US Team), and remotely (Founders) Good people on the ground, not the right people Weak connectivity to HQ and core culture Inability to influence product and engineering Translation error Talent error Talent error Talent error
9. 9 Slow to adapt to significant market and customer preference shifts The Consequences Spiky progress without real consistency, momentum, or scale New business and relative cheque-size masking retention and concentration issues By the time we focused, competitors had established a significant footprint and the market had evolved
10. 10 • Founder/CEO moves temporarily to NYC • NYC SVP embeds in London • I move to NYC • CEO hires new SVP Sales The US Reset Highest Impact Solution: Founder or C-Level Relocation Executes GTM and sales team reset, soon promoted to President Growth Transformation US S&M later becomes a primary strength
11. 11 • Decision speed • Network building, hire & fire • Local cultural fluency • Build internal connectivity and culture Founder or Exec must relocate for 6-12 months minimum. Non-negotiable. Highest Impact Solution: Founder or C-Level Relocation HBR, Deloitte, Balderton, all emphasize founder or C-level presence as critical success factor. Remote management / delegation is a common failure pattern while successful case studies show founder commitments.
12. 12 Success!
13. 13 But…
14. 14 Assumed we could win with the better product The Mistakes Playing Cricket. While they were playing Basketball. Focused on UK market and advertisers Underestimated Sales & Marketing Didn’t get to a serious US attack stage Translation error Translation error Translation error Timing error
15. 15 Competitor developed an unassailable position in market The Consequences Difficulty winning repeat business and creating scalability Suffered from the growing perception that we had not found PMF It was not clearly understood and articulated that we were competing in the US market, on US terms so we did not adapt to that reality. And we lost.
16. 16 Highest Impact Solution: Build for US PMF, investing in US S&M https://www.businessinsider.com/how-klout-sold-for-200-million-2014-3 It was a term sheet from Lithium Technologies. If Fernandez signed it, his startup would be acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars. If he didn’t, Klout would continue to run independently… Fernandez, 36, weighed the decision, which needed to be made before midnight, which was just minutes away. To his left, a 5-foot-tall stuffed bison loomed near reception. It was a not-so-subtle reminder of the quirky, Western- themed culture Klout had adopted. An employee, or “Kloutlaw,” had purchased it from a thrift store. If Fernandez sold, would his aligned team and product vision persevere? “ ”
17. 17 Success!
18. 18 Alas!
19. 19 The Challenge Resisting local drag on product, business and market development.
20. 20 Allowing local relationships to be loud voices The Issues to Avoid Slowing and diluting expansion by taking the easy path. Taking quick biz wins in multiple safe markets Hiring influential roles in less costly markets Assuming features support US PMF Translation error Timing error Talent error Translation error
21. 21 The Hard Earned Lessons: Talent. Translation. Timing. 1 2 3 4 5 Go early, go in person Treat the US as primary, not incremental Hire for access and impact, not affordability Translate, don’t transplant Beware of home market drag Founder/exec presence in-market is the single biggest predictor of US success. Momentum doesn’t cross the Atlantic by email. 86% of $1b+ European SaaS companies opened 1st international office in the US. Your first US hires define your ceiling. Invest in operators and connectors, not resumes. Express your product, messaging, and culture in the American dialect without sacrificing your British DNA Following easy wins in home markets dilutes PMF. Align product and GTM around your US customers, early.
22. 22 Thank You! Craig Hughes | October 2025