When a green business model doesn’t translate across borders, adaptation becomes everything.

In this episode of Go-to-Germany Stories, Andrea Vaugan talks with Christian Bergius, Country Director Germany at Ecotree, about adapting their French sustainability model to the German market.

Christian shares why EcoTree had to move away from copy-paste expansion, how local ecosystem needs and customer conversations reshaped the offer, and what it takes to build a country operation with limited resources while staying aligned with HQ.

🎧 You’ll learn:

• Why Germany requires local sustainability projects

• How market feedback drives real adaptation

• What to prioritize when opening a new market

  👉 A concise, practical take on localization and scaling sustainability in Germany.

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In this special episode of Go to Germany Stories, host Andrea Vaugan sits down with the French Tech Düsseldorf team and the winners of the French Tech Germany Awards 2025 to explore what it really takes to build, invest, and scale across the Franco-German border.

This episode brings together founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders who share their firsthand experience of expanding to Germany — from early market entry to long-term growth.

🎤 Guests in this episode:

Adrien Serres & Cyril Catel – French Tech Düsseldorf

🏆 Yun Luo (CEO, ROSi) – Best French-German GreenTech Startup

🏆 Pierre Saudin (CEO, Paire) – Best Breakthrough DeepTech Startup

🏆 David Erhun (Startup Success, XAnge) – Best VC / Investor

🏆 Céline Bayer (CTO, Lemonway) – Best Woman in Tech

💡 Topics covered:

✔️ Expanding a startup to Germany

✔️ Building trust in the German market

✔️ Differences between French and German business cultures

✔️ Scaling teams and operations cross-border

✔️ The role of VCs in European growth

✔️ Why Franco-German cooperation is a strategic advantage

This episode is also special for the host: Andrea Vaugan received the Best Woman in Tech Award last year and is proud to return this year to spotlight the next generation of leaders shaping the Franco-German tech ecosystem.

🎧 Subscribe to Go to Germany Stories for more real stories about international expansion, European tech, and cross-border growth.

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How do you win trust and business in one of Europe’s most conservative markets?

In this episode of Go to Germany Stories, Andrea Vaugan sits down with Besart Shala, Country Manager for Germany at Ibanfirst, to explore how Ibanfirst has built a strong presence in Germany, now accounting for 10% of the company’s global revenue.

We discuss the “sales secret sauce” behind their growth, how to break through the walls of a traditional banking market, and why everything had to happen in German rather than English.

From building a local team and culture from scratch to earning trust through personal connections (and even football!), this episode offers an honest, behind-the-scenes look at scaling a fintech across borders.

🎧 You’ll learn:

• Why trust and proximity are key in Germany’s B2B landscape

• How to build a local culture that still feels connected to HQ

• The balance between autonomy, ownership, and alignment

• Lessons for every startup expanding into conservative markets

👉 Tune in to hear how Ibanfirst turned a tough market into one of its biggest success stories.

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In this episode of Go-to-Germany Stories, host Andrea Vaugan sits down with Marek Kraus, Country Manager Germany at Lucca, the French HR software company breaking into one of Europe’s toughest markets.

Marek shares how Lucca combined rigorous preparation, thoughtful localization, and cultural awareness to build real traction in Germany — from adapting product features to small but telling choices in communication, like whether to say “Du” or “Sie.”

They discuss how to build a resilient local team, turn sales enablement into a true growth driver, and strengthen cross-border collaboration between the local and HQ teams.

A must-listen for anyone expanding into Germany and looking for practical lessons on focus, differentiation, and cultural authenticity.

Marek Kraus has been active in the HR tech industry since 2013 and has held senior positions at companies such as Sage, Lessor (now Infoniqa), Compleet, and Bullhorn. Prior to that, he spent nearly a decade at Microsoft. Today, he is dedicated to driving Lucca’s dynamic growth in Germany – with innovative HR and finance solutions tailored to the evolving needs of modern businesses.

Lucca designs user-friendly HR and finance software that simplifies everyday work for employees and HR teams. Founded in 2002 in Paris, the company serves more than 8,700 clients and over one million users across 130 countries. Lucca’s modular solutions cover core HR processes such as leave management, time tracking, and expense reporting — all designed with usability, data security, and local compliance in mind. With its Munich office, Lucca continues to expand its footprint in the German market.

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Welcome back to Go-to-Germany Stories!

Season 4 opens with host Andrea Vaugan and Philipp Wegmann, Country Manager Germany at Signicat, exploring what it takes to build a true “growth engine” when entering the German market.

Philipp shares first-hand lessons from his journey: how to set the right goals and prove traction early, why sales readiness is essential before scaling, and how regulatory milestones can be turned into compelling events. They also discuss assembling the right team, raising brand awareness in a crowded space, and navigating intercultural differences when Scandinavian and German business cultures meet.

A must-listen for anyone preparing to expand into new markets and looking for a blueprint to build sustainable growth from day one.

Philipp Wegmann is Country Manager Germany at Signicat, a European leader in digital identity solutions. With more than 15 years of experience in sales, business development, and product management, he has worked across industries from engineering and electronics to digital identity. Before joining Signicat, Philipp headed partnerships at IDnow and held leadership roles at companies including Panasonic and Truma, where he focused on building local teams, establishing brand presence, and driving sustainable growth. Building on this experience, he now leads Signicat’s expansion in Germany and positions the company for long-term success in a highly regulated market.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipp-wegmann-0a11ba157/

Signicat is Europe’s leading provider of digital identity solutions. We help businesses establish trust in the digital world - from secure onboarding and authentication to advanced electronic signatures. Our solutions are eIDAS and AML compliant and support more than 35 electronic identity methods. Thousands of organizations across Europe trust Signicat to deliver seamless and secure digital identity experiences.

https://www.signicat.com

https://wyngs.co

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In this episode, Andrea Vaugan interviews Eva Katernberg, a localization specialist and translator.

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Andrea Vaugan interviews Tim Rath, the founder of Yoyaba, a leading B2B tech SaaS growth agency in the German market. They discuss how to approach the German market and the critical steps to launch a brand successfully. They emphasize the importance of mindset, market differences, and mechanics in the process and also highlight the need for thorough research, understanding the target market's pain points, and adapting the creative strategy to fit the local culture. They discuss the challenges of convincing investors and stakeholders to prioritize warming up the market over immediate revenue goals. They also touch on the key elements of building a European brand, such as formality, task-oriented communication, reliability, and transparency in data handling. They conclude by discussing the importance of personal interactions and offline events, especially for reaching the German Mittelstand (SMBs). Takeaways - Approaching the German market requires a specific mindset, understanding market differences, and implementing the right mechanics. - Thorough research and understanding of the target market's pain points are crucial for success. - Adapting the creative strategy to fit the local culture is essential for building a European brand. - Warming up the market and establishing trust before focusing on revenue goals is important, even if it requires convincing investors and stakeholders. - Personal interactions and offline events play a significant role in reaching the German Mittelstand. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 03:15 Approaching the German Market 09:17 Thorough Research and Understanding of Pain Points 18:35 Adapting the Creative Strategy for a European Brand 25:03 Warming Up the Market: Trust Before Revenue 30:57 Building a European Brand: Mindset and Communication 37:08 Reaching the German Mittelstand: Personal Interactions and Offline Events

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In this new episode of Go-to-Germany Stories Caroline Langer and Andrea Vaugan take a look behind the scenes of the employer branding and international communications strategies of Doctolib - a prime example of what can happen when international market expansion is done right. ✅

Head of Employer Brand & International Communications at Doctolib today, Caroline is a trilingual marketing leader with a decade of experience across various domains. 🇪🇺 She leverages marketing strategies to enhance recruiting and internal communication efforts for the French and European healthcare company that employs more than 2800 team members across 4 countries and x offices.

Caroline and podcast host Andrea Vaugan touch upon balancing global vs local needs in internal communications and even go into the practical depths of which tools to use and how Doctolib sets up meetings in an efficient way.

And it wouldn’t be a Go-to-Germany episode without some crucial advice from Caroline on how to handle international recruiting at the beginning of your expansion journey.

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If at any point since 2014 you were looking to buy a phone or laptop, more likely than not you know of them - Back Market 📱🔋

By offering a platform that ensures rigorous refurbishing processes and quality checks, Back Market enables consumers to make eco-friendly choices without compromising on performance or affordability.

Active in 13 European countries today, as well as Australia, Japan, South Korea, the UK and the US, the Back Market teams have mastered one thing: 💫 The art of market expansion. 💫

A key player of this success since he joined the company in 2020 as GM Germany and then GM Europe, Martin Huegli now leads regional growth and expansion strategies as well as the global seller ecosystem as Back Market’s Chief Commercial Officer.

Our host Andrea Vaugan had the pleasure to sit down with Martin for a thought-provoking conversation on Back Market’s journey so far:

✅ What they’re doing to push the category’s boundaries on an EU level,

✅ how the expansion process of an e-comm company might differ from that of other business models

✅ and where Martin wishes they had taken more risk

Martin on Linkedin

Back Market on Linkedin

Andrea on Linkedin

Wyngs on Linkedin

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Season 3 continues with a second deep-dive into Swan, the leading provider of embedded finance solutions in Europe. This time, Andrea Vaugan interviews Pico Petershagen, VP Growth at the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) startup. Splitting his time between Paris and Berlin, Pico leads Swan’s growth marketing, product marketing and brand teams.

What Pico outlines as the reason for Swan’s rapid success in now 10 European countries is a growth strategy he coins “hyper-localization”.

How this strategy compares to more traditional growth marketing and international business development strategies, what the difference between mere translation and true localization is and how important it is to recognize differences, but also similarities between local ICPs - all included in this step-by-step guide to hyper-localization.

Pico on Linkedin

Swan on Linkedin

Andrea on Linkedin

Wyngs on Linkedin

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