The APAC GM decision

A practical look at when an APAC GM hire makes sense and when it doesn’t

Hiring an APAC GM is often framed as commitment.

Quite rightly, we are advised that we need someone on the ground for unique cultural, relationship, geographical and business practice reason.

In reality, it’s a bet that you’re making that’s expensive, time consuming and hard to reverse.

Sometimes it’s the right move.

Often, it’s simply too early.

Why this decision shows up so early

APAC looks attractive on paper:

• large markets

• strong enterprise logos

• high price points in certain markets

But early-stage expansion rarely fails because of ambition.

It fails because the signal isn’t there yet.

Founders are asked to make a leadership hire before they know:

• which country or market is the entry point

• where budget authority sits

• what is their competition doing

• what pricing holds under pressure

• what sales motion works without brand pull

• what kind of revenue can they reasonable expect

• what support will be needed for this and what’s the timeline

The three common paths founders take

1. Make a senior hire as APAC GM

Theoretical safety from “he’s done it at AWS.”

Expensive, you’re paying for experience.

Have you considered:

• Can they get the right deals without the pull of an established big brand behind them?

• Can you afford to replicate the sales infrastructure they had around them (marketing, outreach, sales ops, negotiators, legal, sales enablement, events, branding, partners) to set them up for success?

• If they’re meant to be a “self-starter”, are they capable of wearing all those hats and is that even a good return on your investment?

• Sales performance is notoriously fickle, what are the reputational and financial consequences of failure?

2. Make a junior hire to get the ball rolling

Low cost, “can do” attitude, low downside.

This raw employee #1 is now expected to:

• Build and execute GTM strategy in individual markets

• Win meetings with senior buyers without existing relationships or professional gravitas

• Be a brand builder, market researcher, seller, internal translator and more

• Onramp quickly and do everything without a mentor or manager in the same timezone

3. Hedge with multiple hires

Fast burn, increased activity, not certainty.

Risk compounds instead of reducing.

What often gets mistaken for progress

• Polite conversations

• Pilots with no urgency

• Channel interest without ownership

• Logos that don’t repeat

These feel like momentum.

They rarely survive scrutiny.

By the time this becomes obvious, the GM hire is already locked in.

What usually needs to come first

Before committing to senior leadership, most teams need:

• real outbound into the region

• direct buyer conversations

• objections surfaced early

• pricing tested in the open

• Pipeline that converts or clearly doesn’t

This work isn’t glamorous.

But it’s where clarity comes from.

A more reversible way to approach APAC

The question isn’t:

“Should we hire an APAC GM?”

It’s:

“What do we know today that makes this hire the obvious next step?”

If that answer isn’t grounded in real conversations and real data,

the risk isn’t delay.

The risk is commitment without proof.

Where this leads next

For many founders, the right next step isn’t a full-time hire.

It’s a phase designed to:

• generate signal

• test assumptions

• reduce unknowns

• keep options open

That phase should be measurable, time-bound, and reversible.

That’s what the next page is about: a founder checklist to decide whether working with NO BS is the right next step for you