CASE STUDY
US Market Entry Strategy for Cyber Recovery Services
Ireland-based systems integrator & managed services provider
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Case study by Michele Reister
The Context
Triangle is a well-established Irish systems integrator with a strong cyber recovery practice, anchored in enterprise infrastructure partnerships (Dell, IBM, VMware/Broadcom).
As ransomware incidents accelerated across the U.S., Triangle began exploring a potential US East Coast expansion for its cyber recovery services.
Leadership needed to answer a fundamental question before investing:
Is there a real, defensible opportunity for a services-led cyber recovery offering in the US — and if so, how should we enter without overextending?
This was not a branding exercise or a sales plan. It was a board-level decision problem.
The Challenge
Triangle's leadership team needed clarity on:
Whether US demand for cyber recovery services (not backup or DR) was real and near-term
Which US markets made sense for an initial landing
Which industries had the highest buyer urgency and willingness to pay
How Triangle should enter the market without premature hiring or spend
What a realistic 12–18 month investment path — and breakeven timeline — would look like
They wanted evidence, not opinions, and a clear go / no-go recommendation.
The Approach
I led a time-bound US Market Entry Discovery designed to support confident executive and board decision-making.
The engagement focused on four integrated workstreams, delivered as a single consolidated output.
1
Market Validation & Sizing
  • Defined a Total Relevant Market (TRM) specifically for cyber recovery services (explicitly excluding generic backup, DR, and cybersecurity tooling)
  • Established ICP hypotheses based on:
  • Infrastructure complexity
  • Downtime and recovery risk
  • Regulatory and insurance pressure
  • Identified demand triggers tied to ransomware exposure and recovery readiness
  • Clarified buyer confusion between backup, DR, and true cyber recovery

Outcome: A conservative, defensible view of market size and buyer urgency — grounded in reality, not inflated projections.
2
Location & Entry Analysis
Evaluated potential US landing markets, including Raleigh, Boston, and the DMV, across:
  • Target customer density
  • Partner ecosystem coverage
  • Operating and talent costs
  • Cultural and delivery fit
  • Travel and time-zone alignment with Ireland

Outcome: A recommended primary landing market with a secondary option, supported by clear, comparative rationale.
3
Go-To-Market Motion Design
Defined and compared viable US entry motions:
  • Partner-led co-sell
  • Executive-led discovery
  • Services-forward pilot engagements
Mapped buyer personas across CISO, CIO, BCP, and Risk roles
Identified the minimum proof required to earn first and second meetings (clean-room validation, recovery rehearsal evidence, insurer-ready artifacts)

Outcome: Clear GTM paths aligned to Triangle's services strengths — without assuming scale too early.
4
Investment Modeling & Breakeven Analysis
  • Built a directional 12–18 month investment model for US entry
  • Compared hire vs. partner vs. agency-led approaches
  • Modeled cost bands, milestone gates, and downside risk
  • Framed time-to-breakeven scenarios tied to realistic services economics
  • Explicitly surfaced opportunity cost and "what not to do"

Outcome: Leadership gained clarity on how much investment was required, when it could break even, and where the risk actually sat.
The Deliverable
All findings were synthesized into one board-ready presentation, designed to answer executive questions clearly and directly.
Market opportunity and TRM
ICP and industry prioritization
Recommended US landing market
GTM entry motion options
Investment and breakeven framing
Clear go / no-go decision logic
The Result
At the end of four weeks, Triangle's leadership had:
A clear recommendation on whether to proceed with US entry
Confidence in the size and shape of the opportunity
Alignment across commercial, delivery, and operations stakeholders
A realistic understanding of investment, risk, and breakeven timing
A shared narrative for board-level discussion
Most importantly, they could move forward with confidence — or choose not to — based on evidence.
What the Client Said
"Well done, smashed it 😊 I was delighted with that and the initial feedback from Miriam was that she was super impressed. Both she and Brendan are key stakeholders in Triangle so it was fantastic to see them being so impressed with your research and delivery – thanks again!"
— Emmet Dowling, Commercial Director
"It's really impressive — there's some gold in there, things that we haven't heard from others over the year that we've been looking at this. Well put together and really comprehensive; as I was reading through it I had questions and then the answers were already there."
— Miriam Byrne, Operations Director
Why This Worked
The work was decision-grade, not theoretical
Market sizing was conservative and tightly scoped to Triangle's real delivery model
GTM strategy reflected services economics and network leverage
Investment modeling made trade-offs explicit
The output matched how boards actually evaluate risk and opportunity
Services Demonstrated
  • US market entry strategy (0→1)
  • Total Relevant Market (TRM) definition
  • ICP and buyer-journey modeling
  • Services-led GTM motion design
  • Investment modeling and breakeven analysis for US expansion
  • Board-level narrative and decision frameworks
  • Cyber recovery category positioning (distinct from backup and DR)
Ready for Similar Results?
I’m Michele Reister, founder of Confidence GTM and a go-to-market leader who’s spent 25+ years scaling B2B SaaS companies from “figuring it out” to predictable growth. I work with founders who are ready to ditch random acts of marketing and build a GTM engine that actually works — with a little help from AI to make it faster and smarter.