Episode 7 - Robbie O'Connor, GM EMEA at Notion

The International Expansion Podcast with Ramsey Pryor

This episode is a crash course on entering Europe from Robbie O'Connor. Robbie had led the local charge for Google, Dropbox, Asana, and now Notion, and in this interview, he reflects on the best practices he's learned first hand, from setting up the team, segmenting the continent, and localizing the go to market approach. We also discuss how each of these things have evolved, and what's coming next. Below is the full list of topics we cover:

• What Notion does, and the responsibilities placed on the GM of Europe
• Benchmarking Notion's presence internationally users, geos, and headcount as of June 2021
• How to prioritize geographies when a company has clear product market fit and plans to be everywhere eventually
• The pre-req's and milestones your company should achieve before expanding internationally
• The advantages of setting up a European hub in Ireland - talent, tax, and regulatory benefits
• The current funding environment in Europe, and other talent hubs on the continent
• Ways to segment Europe into sales territories - initially and as your team grows
• The amount of localization that's currently required to succeed as a SaaS company in Europe
• Whether a single sales methodology works in all markets around the world, and the right way to adapt the sales approach for each market
• The pros and cons of starting with a functional leader such as a sales leader versus a general manager when entering a region
• The challenges and soft art of being a regional leader
• Best practices and tactics for staying aligned with HQ and building bi-directional communication
• What companies can do to set their regional leaders up for success
• Knowing what good looks like when you are getting started in Europe
• The importance and impact of data privacy laws in Europe, and what companies should know before entering
• The mentors and opportunities that helped Robbie build his international leadership skills
• Expectation setting and preparing for the bumpy road when going into new markets