US market entry
Enter the United States before you have a US organization.
A company can commit to entering the United States long before it actually has anyone here to make that happen. No US president, no customer relationships, no partners, no bank, no counsel, no first hire, and nobody who can say which of those matters first.
That gap is where we work. We establish whether and how you should enter, build the plan and the relationships it depends on, and where the engagement calls for it, run the US operation itself until your own organization is ready to take it over.
Key takeaways
- Most companies commit to entering the United States before they have any US organization capable of executing it, and that gap is an organization problem rather than a strategy problem.
- Eleven 186 advises on and executes US market entry across eight areas: strategy, commercial development, relationships, people and organization, operations, government and economic development, capital strategy, and executive leadership.
- At higher engagement levels the firm provides fractional or interim US executive leadership, taking operating responsibility for the US business until the client builds its own permanent organization.
- A US entry runs on relationships a foreign company cannot buy on day one, and introductions are discretionary, unpaid, and never promised in any quantity.
- Eleven 186 does not raise capital, is not a broker-dealer or placement agent, and takes no compensation tied to the size or completion of a financing.
- Engagements begin at $6,000 per month with a three-month minimum, and the first ninety days run Understand, Build, Execute before a decision about what happens next.
What you have, and what is missing
A company that reaches the point of entering the United States is usually not a weak company. It has a product that works, engineering and manufacturing capability, customers at home, capital, and a headquarters that knows how to run a business.
What it doesn't have is any of the things that only exist here: US executive leadership, customer and partner relationships, local commercial context, government and institutional relationships, a recruiting capability, a professional services bench, site selection knowledge, and the operating infrastructure underneath all of it. That gap isn't a strategy problem, it's an organization problem, and it's why competent companies stall in their first eighteen months here.
How a US entry actually runs
One arc, five stages, and the final stage drawn as a handoff: your own organization taking over is what the engagement is for.
- 01Explore Whether to enter at all, where, and on what terms. This stage is allowed to end in no.
- 02Enter The entry plan, the first relationships, the corporate and operating requirements, and the order they have to happen in.
- 03Establish The first real US operating capability: early customers, the initial team, the professional bench, and the infrastructure underneath.
- 04Scale Customers, capital readiness, people, partners, and facilities, once the entry has proven it is worth expanding.
- 05Transition Your permanent US organization takes ownership, and our involvement narrows and then ends. That's the intended outcome, not a failure of the engagement.
What we do
01
Strategy
Whether the United States is the right market, which part of it, and in what order. Sometimes the answer is not yet, and we'll say so.
02
Commercial Development
The first US customers, and the machinery that finds the next ones. Most entrants underestimate how long an American enterprise takes to buy, and how many people have to agree along the way.
03
Relationships
The part you can't buy or hire quickly. Customers, distributors and channel partners, state and local government, economic development offices, utilities, universities and workforce programs, industry bodies, attorneys, accountants, recruiters, and the specialists who only surface when you already know to ask for them.
04
People and Organization
The US team you're going to need, designed before it gets hired rather than assembled after the first wrong hire. What we're aiming at is an organization that runs without us.
05
Operations
The unglamorous infrastructure everything else depends on. Entity, banking, insurance, contracts, facilities, supply chain, and the legal workstream coordinated around your counsel.
06
Government and Economic Development
States compete for companies like yours, and most foreign entrants never find out. This is often where the economics of an entry actually change.
07
Capital Strategy
What the expansion actually costs, over what period, and how it gets funded. Where a financing is the answer, we prepare the business for that scrutiny and coordinate the licensed professionals who handle it. We do not raise capital ourselves.
08
Executive Leadership
At the higher engagement levels we stop advising the US operation and start running it. It's the part most advisory firms don't offer, and usually the part a company needs first.
The first ninety days
Days 1 to 30
Understand
The business, the product, the management team, the competitive environment, the addressable market, the regulatory position, the customer universe, pricing, existing relationships, corporate readiness, and the operational and risk requirements of a US entry. We work from the evidence, not from the deck.
Days 31 to 60
Build
The entry roadmap, the priority accounts, the relationship map, the partner ecosystem, the organization and initial hiring plan, the professional services bench, the operating model, the capital requirements, and the economic development opportunities worth pursuing.
Days 61 to 90
Execute
Outreach, introductions where they fit, customer meetings, partnership development, hiring, service provider onboarding, site selection work where relevant, negotiations, and the operating cadence that carries past the engagement.
At day ninety there's a decision, and it's a real one. You continue with strategic advisory, expand into execution, move up to fractional executive leadership, transition the work to your own people, or stop. We'll tell you which one we think is right, including when the answer is that you don't need us.
Most of a US entry is people you have not met
A foreign company can buy market research, office space, and a law firm on day one. What it can't buy on day one is the person who already knows which distributor actually performs, which economic development office will return a call, which utility timeline is real, and which specialist has solved this exact problem before.
That's most of what an entry runs on, and it's the slowest thing to build from scratch. It's also the part of this work we're most careful with.
Introductions are made when there is a real fit, and not otherwise.
We don't sell introductions, promise a number of them, or treat the network as something a retainer buys. Introducing the wrong company to the right person costs us that relationship permanently, which is the whole reason it's worth anything to you. Expect us to say no to some of them, and to tell you why.
Why it is called Eleven 186
Escape velocity.
11.186 kilometres per second is the speed you need to break free of Earth's gravity. Below it, you fall back.
A US entry is the same problem. With enough momentum the market carries you, and without it eighteen months of effort quietly returns to where it started.
What we do not do
We do not raise capital, act as a broker-dealer or placement agent, or take compensation tied to the size or completion of a financing.
We do not provide legal, tax, accounting, or other licensed professional advice. We coordinate the professionals who do.
We do not sell introductions, promise a number of meetings, or treat the network as something a retainer buys.
We do not guarantee outcomes, customers, capital, or a successful entry.
We do not take engagements where we do not believe the US entry should happen.
Questions we are asked first
What is the minimum engagement?
Do you work hourly?
Can you raise capital for us?
Will you introduce us to people?
Can you actually run our US operation?
Do you provide legal, tax, or accounting services?
How does this relate to how Eleven 186 works generally?
What does an engagement cost?
Tell us what you are trying to enter
Write two paragraphs about where the company is and what the United States is supposed to do for it. A person reads them, and you'll hear back within one business day.