Beyond borders: building trust and scale across Europe
Let’s be honest – scaling a business across Europe sounds more exciting on paper. New customers. Diverse markets. International flair. You picture your brand in Paris cafés, Berlin boardrooms, and Madrid rooftops.
But in reality? It’s a little more complicated.
Because borders aren’t just physical anymore. They’re cultural, political, economic – and more pronounced than ever. What clicks in Copenhagen might completely flop in France. The tone of voice that delights in London could feel off-putting in Lisbon. And when every country has its own tax systems, compliance rules, and business etiquette, scaling starts to feel like playing chess.
Startups today are born global – but not necessarily born ready. Every market you enter requires more than Google translation – they require transformation. You can’t expect the world to adapt to your product anymore. You have to adapt your product to the world.
At Pleo, we’ve spent the last 10 years learning this lesson in real time. Growing from a Copenhagen-based startup to a European business serving over 40,000 companies across 16 countries, we know that to build a global business that feels deeply local, you have to do more than “expand” – integrate, listen, and show up.
THE VALUE OF LOCAL: ZERO IN TO SCALE UP
When people talk about scaling, they talk about going big. Bigger offices. Bigger customer base. Bigger revenue targets.
But at Pleo, we’ve found that the key to scaling is going local. Real, lasting growth comes from embedding yourself with care, curiosity, and a willingness to adapt. That’s why we invest intentionally and deeply in every market we enter. We adjusted our playful tone of voice to meet the professionalism and precision that the French market was looking for. And when the “Crea y Crece” law came out in Spain, we launched Pleo Invoices to help Spanish businesses stay compliant. When you start seeing local as freedom within your business structure, you’ll start building an international business that connects with your customers.
Below are two core strategies tried and tested by Pleo in its first 10 years of building a truly European business – helping us move beyond borders and grow with intent.
BUILD LOCAL: CREATING TRUST FROM THE GROUND UP
Want to build trust in a market? Start by putting down roots.That means more than “launching” in a new country – but committing to it. That means building full-scale offices – complete with local sales, support, partnerships, and operations teams who know their market inside and out.
Local offices are not satellites. They’re anchors.
And as every market is unique, you should prioritise local partnerships and integrations too. Focus on tools that local businesses already trust (like Twinfield in the Netherlands) and the best partners that already know local markets inside out (like TravelPerk). These connections help us solve real customer needs and embed ourselves in the business ecosystem – not just sell into it.
Every new market starts with a learning curve. What’s valued most – control, trust, speed, simplicity – varies across Europe. For example, our customers in Germany tend to value precision and control. In the Nordics, it’s all about simplicity and user friendliness. That context shapes everything: how we position our product, how we onboard customers, even how we support them post-sale. By understanding the priorities of local customers, we learn where to prioritise our efforts too.
LISTEN LOCAL: LETTING LOCAL TEAMS LEAD
One of the most overlooked superpowers in international scaling? Trusting your people on the ground.
Local teams aren’t just closer to the customer – in many ways, they are the customer. They speak the language (literally and culturally), understand the market rhythms, and bring the nuance that a central team simply can’t replicate from afar. As a company with over 80 nationalities and 35 languages spoken, our people are our biggest asset.
Companies should prioritise autonomy over micromanagement. This gives local leaders the space to adapt – whether that’s tailoring messaging, adjusting go-to-market strategies, or even re-prioritising product features – to fit what actually works in their region. Because trust isn’t just external. It has to exist internally too.
As Ernest Hemingway once put it, “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
But listening goes beyond strategy. It starts with culture. Companies need to actively pay attention to how their values translate in different regions. Work-life balance, leadership expectations, communication norms – they all vary across Europe.
When it comes to storytelling, it’s never one-size-fits-all. Behind every local story is a universal truth: people want to be seen, supported, and taken seriously. That’s why it’s important to look closely at local performance data and customer feedback. Whether a customer values trust, control, or simplicity most, the end goal is the same – they want to be a strategic partner too.
BE A LOCAL, NOT A TOURIST
Tourists come and go. Locals invest.
Nowadays, businesses can no longer afford to treat their expansion like a weekend break. Customers, partners, and even employees can sense when you’re not all-in.
You need to set down roots – and keep evolving. That means building real local presence, listening closely to customers and employees, and staying agile enough to adapt as the market shifts.
We’ve made mistakes along the way – whether underestimating cultural differences, launching too fast, or misjudging local needs. But those missteps weren’t failures. They were feedback. And learning from them has put us in a stronger position than if we’d played it safe all along.
In the end, that’s the difference between expanding and truly scaling. When you show up in each market with relevance, respect, and readiness to learn, you become a business that thrives, not just survives.
If you’re thinking globally, start by thinking locally.
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2025 issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe
