We’re building seenode, a European alternative to Render and Fly.io. When you’re fundraising, you’re always compared to global competitors, not just European ones. Which usually have better access to capital, they get to the traction and revenues faster as there is one big market with huge purchase power.
I’ve spoken with other DevTools founders, and many of them see 60–80% of their revenue coming from the US. When you’re building a PLG model targeting software developers, you really have to think globally from day one.
Even though demand for EU-based server providers has increased recently. It wasn’t always like that.
Being EU based and trying to target only EU customers is more complicated, from fundraising to customer acquisition, especially when you factor in language localization and legal bureaucracy. It’s even harder if you’re building a B2C startup where regional differences are more pronounced.