International Expansion: From $3.5M to $35M ARR in Three Years | Pawel Malon on Lineage Most operators dream of taking their business beyond the home market. Few actually pull it off. International expansion is brutal: which market first, direct or partner, when to hire locally, what to centralise. Get the sequencing wrong and you burn capital before you find the playbook. Pawel Malon is CEO of Singu, a leading facility, maintenance, and ESG management software platform for commercial real estate. He acquired the business in 2023 together with his co-founder Marek Jakubow through a traditional search fund, when Singu had 45 people in Krakow and roughly $3.5 million in ARR. Three years later, Singu is at $35 million ARR, 250 people, over 40 countries, and seven offices. In 2025 he exited to K1 Investment Management and continues as CEO, now running a pan-European buy and build with three acquisitions in the last twelve months. In this episode, Pawel walks through the full playbook: the failed US entry six months after acquisition, what he did differently in Germany, the four expansion routes he has tested, how the organisation is structured across seven countries, and the 18-month threshold he now gives every new market. What you’ll learn in this episode: → The readiness signals that matter: net revenue retention, land and expand, CAC → Four expansion routes: land and expand, organic, M&A, partners → Premature signals operators mistake for readiness → Why the US entry failed: one reference customer, 1 to 2 percent of capacity, pulled after nine months → Why Germany worked: 20 to 30 percent of capacity spent before hiring a single salesperson → Hiring the first local salespeople and six months of founder-led selling → Direct presence vs. customer presence: how Singu scores markets → Why M&A became the entry route into the US and Germany → Centralised C-suite, local go-to-market: running 250 people across seven offices → The 18-month hard stop for any new market → Confidence vs. arrogance: the one lesson that runs through everything Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Pawel Malon and Singu 01:05 Singu in 2023: 45 people, $3.5M ARR, one large customer 02:19 The search thesis: international expansion as the value driver 05:16 Readiness signals: retention, land and expand, CAC 07:28 Market prioritisation: US, Germany, UK, Mexico 08:41 Four expansion routes: land and expand, organic, M&A, partners 09:36 Partner models: value added resellers and system integrators 11:37 Premature signals operators mistake for readiness 14:46 The US entry in 2023: what went wrong 17:01 No substitute for time on the ground 18:57 Pulling out of the US after nine months 21:37 The Germany entry: preparing before entering 25:07 Capacity spent: Germany 20 to 30 percent vs US 1 to 2 percent 25:39 Pricing in a new market 26:32 Founder-led sales and the first German deals 27:13 Hiring the first local salespeople 28:29 Six months of hand holding 29:32 Singu today: 40 countries, seven offices 30:50 The repeatable market entry playbook and product localisation 32:31 Direct presence vs. customer presence: scoring markets 34:03 Re-entering the US via M&A and Mexico 35:35 Search phase vs. post-exit: growth vs. margin and the decision to sell 39:10 Why buy vs. build: Micad, Symbiotics, NetHouse 42:00 Organic vs. inorganic: the favourite child 43:07 M&A lesson: customer migration is change management 44:48 Organisation at 250 people: centralised C-suite, local go-to-market 48:39 Vision 2030: pan-European champion, $100M ARR 49:28 The 18-month threshold for a new market 50:45 Closing advice: confidence vs. arrogance Connect with Pawel Malon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawelmalon/
