International expansion consultant
for companies entering new markets
We help foreign companies enter the Polish market, and help companies based in Poland grow sales across the European Union, Canada, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The first conversation with the consultant is free and carries no obligation.
Tell us about your target market
The more you write about the direction you want to grow in, the more concrete the first call will be. The form goes straight to the consultant, not into a CRM queue. We reply within 24 business hours, and over the weekend when a matter is urgent.
Message sent. Thank you.
Dima will read it personally and reply within 24 business hours. If the matter is urgent, write directly to info@thenech.com.
What do companies contact us about?
Enquiries to the nech fall into two groups. The first is foreign companies entering the Polish market — there were already 26,700 enterprises with foreign capital operating in Poland at the end of 2024. The second is companies based in Poland selling abroad, though only 4.5% of Polish firms export goods today. In both cases an international expansion consultant starts with the same question: where is the first real buyer.
An international expansion consultant is usually needed at one of the five moments described below. If you recognise your own situation among them, the form above is the right place to start.
| Situation | What we usually do | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| A foreign B2B company entering the Polish market | Demand and competitor analysis, choice of entry model (own entity, distributor, partner), first commercial conversations | 2–4 months |
| A Poland-based company selling into the European Union | Two priority markets selected, offer validated with local buyers, partner channel built | 3–6 months |
| Expansion beyond the EU: Canada, the US, the United Arab Emirates | Regulatory and entry-barrier review, cost model, local partner selection, trade fair and mission calendar | 4–9 months |
| Already in several markets, but growth has stalled | B2B funnel audit, price and margin review by market, decision on what to wind down and what to scale | 6–10 weeks |
| A business plan or financial model is needed for an investor or bank | Financial model, forecasts, a document in the format the funding institution accepts | 3–6 weeks |
Data: Statistics Poland (GUS), Economic activity of enterprises with foreign capital in 2024 (November 2025) and PARP, Report on the state of the SME sector in Poland 2026 (2024 data).
Which markets do we work in?
the nech works across nine markets: Poland, the European Union, Ukraine, Canada, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. Every direction is handled in English, Polish or Ukrainian, and projects are run from Warsaw — the region that produces 18.3% of Poland's GDP.
We do not start market selection with how attractive a country looks. We start with where your offer has the shortest path to a first contract. Sometimes the answer is Czechia rather than the United States. An international expansion consultant should be able to talk you out of a direction that presents well but needs two years and a certification you have no budget for.
The table below lists the six directions we work in most often, each with the single number that best describes its potential. All figures come from public institutions: GUS, the National Bank of Poland, the European Commission, Poland's Ministry of Development and Technology, and PAIH. An international expansion consultant should work from numbers you can check at the source.
| Direction | Why it makes sense | A number worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Poland | The sixth-largest economy in the European Union and a natural bridgehead for companies from Ukraine, the Gulf and North America. Registering a limited company through the S24 system takes one business day and costs 350 PLN in fees | PLN 1,399.5 bn of accumulated inward FDI (NBP, end of 2024) |
| European Union | A single market with no internal tariffs. It remains the main destination for Polish exports — 74.8% of goods go there, chiefly to Germany (26.9%), Czechia (6.2%) and France (6.1%) | 450 million consumers in the single market (Council of the EU) |
| Canada | CETA removed 99% of tariff lines. In the eight years since it came into force, EU–Canada trade has grown by 80%, and services trade by 91% | EUR 130 bn in EU–Canada trade in 2025 (European Commission) |
| United States | The largest single B2B market in the world, and also the most demanding in terms of sales structure, contracts and product liability | 340 million people (PAIH, 2025) |
| United Arab Emirates | Poland's largest export partner among Arab countries and a gateway to the Gulf and East African markets | USD 1.65 bn in Poland–UAE trade, a record (Ministry of Development and Technology) |
| Ukraine | A reconstruction market with real B2B demand in energy, construction and infrastructure. We work in Ukrainian, with no language intermediaries | 123,600 businesses founded in Poland by Ukrainian citizens in 2022–2025 (PIE) |
Sources: NBP, Foreign direct investment in Poland in 2024; GUS, Foreign trade turnover 2025; European Commission, EU trade relations with Canada; Council of the EU, the single market.
How does the work unfold, step by step?
Four stages from the first call to being live in the market. Each ends with a document or a decision you can defend with numbers. This is the work an international expansion consultant does alongside your team.
Conversation
We establish where you are, where you want to get to, and whether expansion is even the best next move. Sometimes the right answer is to fix sales in the home market first.
30 minutesDiagnosis
Analysis of the target market, competitors, prices and entry barriers. We talk to people who work in that market every day — reports only show part of the picture.
1–2 weeksStrategy
Entry model, an offer shaped for the local buyer, a sales plan, budget and milestones. A document you can take to the board, a bank or an investor.
2–4 weeksImplementation
We work alongside your team: first commercial conversations, partner selection, negotiations, corrections. An international expansion consultant is only worth having if they stay until the end.
3–12 monthsWhen is it worth getting in touch, and when not yet?
The best moment to write is when the decision on direction has not been made yet, but the budget and a responsible person already exist. World Bank data shows why that matters: 57% of new exporters leave the export market within their first year. Usually not because the product was wrong, but because entry was planned by intuition. A good international expansion consultant joins before the country decision is made.
Get in touch if
- You sell B2B and have a working product or service in your home market
- You are considering a specific direction — Poland, an EU country, Canada, the US or the United Arab Emirates
- Someone in the company owns expansion and has time for it, not just good intentions
- You have already tried to enter a new market and it did not work — and you want to understand why
- You need a document that will stand up to a bank, an investor or your board
- Working in three languages without translators in the middle matters to you
Wait if
- You only need a document for the drawer, with no intention of implementing it
- The product does not sell in the home market yet — a new market will not fix that
- You operate in B2C, e-commerce or retail — that is not our area
- You expect a ready-made contact list instead of a strategy and work on the offer
- The expansion decision is due next year and there is no budget today
If you are not sure which side of that list you are on, write anyway. Thirty minutes of conversation costs less than a quarter spent on a market that was never going to work. An international expansion consultant is also there to talk you out of a project.
Exporter data: World Bank, Exporter Dynamics Database (2003–2009 data, published 2012).
Frequently asked questions
Fourteen questions we hear most often before a first call — about cost, timing, scope, and how an international expansion consultant differs from a large advisory firm.
How much does the first conversation cost?
The first conversation is free and lasts 30 minutes. It happens online, in English, Polish or Ukrainian. We talk about your situation, the target market and the real barriers to entry.
There is no sales deck and no slides. If after those 30 minutes we conclude we are not the right partner, we say so plainly and — where we know someone — point you to an alternative. An international expansion consultant earns on projects that have a chance of working.
What does an international expansion consultant actually do?
An international expansion consultant is responsible for three things: choosing the target market, the entry model, and the first revenue in that market. In practice that means demand and competitor analysis, the decision between an own entity, a distributor and a partner, adapting the offer to the local buyer, and running the first commercial conversations.
At the nech the work does not end with a document. We stay through implementation, because that is the stage where expansion usually succeeds or fails.
What kind of companies does the nech work with?
An international expansion consultant is only useful within a defined segment. We work with B2B companies in the SME segment: manufacturers, service and technology firms, contractors in construction and energy. A typical client has between 10 and 250 employees and sells to other businesses rather than consumers.
We do not serve B2C e-commerce, retail or marketplaces. That is not snobbery — our experience is in long-cycle B2B sales, and that is where we add value.
How long does a typical project take?
Market diagnosis takes 1–2 weeks, entry strategy 2–4 weeks, and implementation between 3 and 12 months, depending on the market and the length of the sales cycle in your industry.
The shortest projects are audits and business plans, three to six weeks. The longest are full entries into non-EU markets, where procedures and certification alone can take a quarter. An international expansion consultant should tell you which of the two you are looking at on the first call.
How much does an international expansion project cost?
Pricing always follows the first conversation and is quoted in Polish zloty (PLN), with no hidden costs. Scope and price depend on the number of markets, the depth of analysis, and whether we stay through implementation.
You receive the proposal within 2–3 business days of the call. It contains the scope of work, a schedule, milestones and the terms for ending the engagement. An international expansion consultant should bill for scope, not for hours spent in presentations.
Do you help foreign companies enter the Polish market?
Yes, this is our main direction. Poland is the sixth-largest economy in the European Union, and at the end of 2024 there were 26,700 companies with foreign capital operating here, holding PLN 280.8 bn of foreign capital.
We guide you through legal form, registration, demand analysis, partner selection and the first commercial conversations. Registering a limited company through the S24 system takes one business day and costs 350 PLN — it is selling that is hard, not the paperwork.
Do you also support expansion out of Poland?
Yes. We support entry into the European Union, Canada, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine. It is the second pillar of our work.
The scale is still small: only 4.5% of firms operating in Poland export goods, and Polish outward direct investment stood at PLN 164.9 bn at the end of 2024. There is plenty of room to grow — what is missing is preparation, not opportunity.
Which languages do you work in?
We work in three languages: English, Polish and Ukrainian. That covers calls, documents, board presentations and negotiations with partners.
In practice it means a Ukrainian manufacturer can speak Ukrainian, their Polish distributor can speak Polish, and a Canadian partner can speak English — with no translator in the middle and nothing lost on the way. A multilingual international expansion consultant takes weeks out of every one of those conversations.
How is the nech different from large consulting firms?
You work directly with someone who has 19 years of B2B experience across 9 markets. There is no layer of junior associates rewriting a template from the previous project.
The second difference is scope. Large firms stop at the recommendation. We stay through implementation: the first commercial conversations, partner selection, and corrections to the offer when the market answers differently than the plan assumed. An international expansion consultant should answer for the outcome, not for the slides.
How long until we see the first results?
First findings from the diagnosis arrive after 2 weeks. First commercial conversations in the new market usually after 2–3 months. The first signed contract — depending on the industry, between month four and month nine.
B2B sales cycles are long and no honest international expansion consultant will promise a contract in six weeks. What you do get after two months is a clear read on whether the market responds, and a basis to continue or change direction.
Where is the nech office located?
The office is at ul. Williama Lindleya 16 in Warsaw (02-013), open Monday to Friday, 09:00–18:00 CET.
Meetings with the consultant happen in person in Warsaw or online, whichever suits you. The Warsaw capital region produces 18.3% of Poland's GDP and the REGON register lists over a million entities in the Mazowieckie voivodeship, so most conversations about the Polish market start here anyway.
Do you help find a distributor or partner in the new market?
Yes, and we treat it as part of implementation rather than a separate service. We build a list of real candidates, verify their financial standing and portfolio, and then run the first conversations together with you — in the partner's language.
We do not sell ready-made contact databases. A purchased list will not replace the conversation in which a partner explains why your price will not work in their channel. This is exactly the part of the job an international expansion consultant cannot outsource. Choosing a distributor is a strategic decision: the wrong partner can close a market for two years.
Do you sign an NDA and how is our data protected?
Yes. We sign an NDA before any sensitive data changes hands, usually before the second call. We accept your template or send ours.
Data from the contact form is processed solely to answer the enquiry, in line with the privacy policy. We do not pass it to third parties and nobody is added to a newsletter without separate consent.
How quickly will I get a reply to the form?
We reply within 24 business hours, usually sooner. The enquiry lands directly in the founder's inbox, not in a CRM with an autoresponder.
If the matter is urgent, write to info@thenech.com or call +48 733 765 023. If you would rather see how we work first, look at the services overview.
Your next market deserves
a plan, not a hunch
Thirty minutes is usually enough to see whether a direction makes sense, what entry really costs, and how long it takes from first research to first signed contract.
Write a few sentences about your target market. You will get concrete questions back, not a pitch. An international expansion consultant starts by understanding the situation, not by quoting a price.
Book a free consultationFree and without obligation. A reply within 24 hours from the consultant, not from an autoresponder.
Warsaw office
the nech — ul. Williama Lindleya 16, 02-013 Warsaw, Poland