Expansion planning usually starts with a question about geography, and the beachhead concept was never built to answer it. A country settles tax, entity and logistics questions while leaving the commercial ones open. The harder decision sits below that level: which buyers, with which problem, reached how. This piece looks at what separates a useful first market from a merely attractive one, what a beachhead should actually prove, and how to tell when the position has been held.

A target account can pass every fit criterion and still not be a near-term opportunity. Gartner's survey of 771 business-to-business buyers found that 99% pointed to an organisational change as the reason a purchase became necessary, which makes timing a selection criterion rather than a follow-up question. This article examines what belongs in an account selection decision during market entry, why revenue is a poor early indicator, and what priority accounts reveal about the market thesis when they convert and when they do not.

Most accounts of software churn assume dissatisfaction is the trigger: a team grows frustrated, a better tool appears, and the switch follows. In practice it often stalls at the last step. Companies renew tools they openly dislike, frequently while a stronger alternative sits in front of them. Drawing on the prospect theory of Kahneman and Tversky, this piece examines why staying can be the rational choice when the cost of leaving feels larger and more certain than the gain. It also turns the argument outward: for companies entering a new market, being better than the local alternative is rarely enough if switching feels unsafe to the buyer.

Hopin went from Europe's fastest-growing startup to liquidation in under three years. But this wasn't just bad luck — it was a failure of market expansion strategy. We examine how Hopin mistook crisis-driven demand for a durable market, and what growing businesses can learn from its collapse.