What is a soft landing program?
A soft landing program reduces the cost and risk of an initial market entry. The startup is provided with a workspace in a host facility, a local address, advice on setting up a subsidiary, and introductions to potential early customers or investors. The duration ranges from a few weeks to several months.
In economics, the term also refers to a slowdown without a recession. That is not the meaning used here.
Soft landing vs. go-to-market: what’s the difference?
The go-to-market is the strategy: which customer to target, with what offer, and through which channels. A soft landing is the logistics of setting up: where to work, how to open an entity, and who to meet first. A startup can have an excellent soft landing but a vague go-to-market strategy, and that is often where expansion fails.
What does a soft landing not cover?
Brand awareness. These programs open doors to partners, but rarely to journalists. A startup arriving in a new country is unknown; its French press coverage means nothing to a German or American buyer. PR work must begin before arrival, not after signing a lease.
At Linker, we estimate about three months of work per market before expecting the first local coverage. That is the time required to build a list of journalists, rewrite the narrative to fit local cultural references, and prepare a spokesperson.
How do you prepare for your arrival from a PR perspective?
- Choose one market at a time—the one where the startup already has a customer or partner.
- Adapt your messaging to the country through transcreation, not just simple translation.
- Arrange for a spokesperson who can respond in the local language, or use a local representative.
- Align your expansion announcement with a key milestone: opening an office, signing a first contract, or making a local hire.
Learn more
For the full method: press relations and international expansion in Europe. French startups often rely on a LIFE for their first local appearance. To prepare the press for a new market: our public relations support.
Last updated: October 2026
