Thomas Grübler

Scaling Across Borders

The core message of this session is that scaling across borders requires more than exporting a sales function: OroraTech’s experience shows that international growth depends on market-specific trust, founder-level commitment, and customer learning in the field. Andreas Just introduced German Accelerator as an organization that has helped German startups enter foreign markets since 2012, with 1,800 startups supported. He then framed OroraTech as a fast-growing case: founded in 2018, now with 170 people across six continents, 19 satellites in orbit, a Series B raised last year, and what was introduced as the world’s largest wildfire monitoring operation. Thomas explained that OroraTech uses thermal infrared satellites to provide wildfire early detection and situational awareness for first responders, utilities, insurers, forestry companies, and governments. Thomas described OroraTech’s market footprint as global from the beginning, with activity in the US, Canada, South America, Australia, Europe, and Greece, where the company has a subsidiary in Athens and sold four satellites specifically for Greece. COVID made early selling difficult but also normalized video calls with customers across wildfire-prone regions. The wildfire market, he said, is relatively small in the sense that customers know one another, share knowledge across borders, and are not necessarily competing regionally. The US, however, proved difficult: two attempts with sales managers or account executives produced limited progress. The turning point came when Thomas shifted back into “founder mode,” spending 80% to 90% of his time leading the US effort, building a local team of six, and moving from nearly $1 million in US revenue last year toward a likely $3 million this year. The practical lessons centered on committing fully to a market, adapting to local buying culture, and moving faster. Thomas said the US market often wants to buy from Americans, which led OroraTech to build an American team. He also argued they should have gone “all in or no in” earlier and been faster with hiring and firing than German norms typically allow. On market timing, he said Europe was too early for wildfire monitoring at first, while South America, Australia, Canada, and others became early customers. Now Europe is “completely flipping” as wildfire activity increases and the region begins copying practices that are more established in the US. He linked the company’s readiness to the idea that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. For entering new markets, Thomas prioritized understanding customers before regulation, while acknowledging that OroraTech operates in a partly regulated environment and does lobbying in the US. His advice was to use a consultative approach, listen broadly even when the fit is not obvious, and learn in relaxed settings after official meetings, such as coffee or lunch. He pushed back on the idea that AI or software businesses can do everything from the home market, especially when buyers are firefighters and fire chiefs who must trust tools that affect life-and-death decisions. After the Series B, OroraTech could invest more seriously in markets and satellite infrastructure. Thomas said the biggest spend is building that infrastructure quickly, because competitors now exist, but OroraTech believes it is about two years ahead through operational use of its data in wildfire workflows.