From 300 cold leads to
2 warm deals — in under a month.
How a European childcare SaaS validated the Brazilian market, identified the right partners, and booked their first demos — without wasting months starting from zero.
in the Brazilian market.
KidsDay had built a solid SaaS product for childcare center management already operating in multiple markets. Brazil was the next target — 220 million people, a booming private childcare sector, and a founder ready to move. But starting from zero in Brazil meant facing exactly the problems that sink most international SaaS expansions.
300 leads with no prioritisation
A list existed — but without local knowledge, there was no way to distinguish high-value prospects from noise. Who were the real decision-makers? Who owned multiple centres?
Translation ≠ trust
Modern translation tools make communication possible. But they don't give you credibility in a new market. Brazilian operators buy from people they know — or people vouched for by people they know.
Digital marketing not landing
An active campaign was running — but the messaging, targeting, and positioning weren't calibrated for the local reality. Clicks without conversions.
No local infrastructure
No Brazilian team, no local contacts, no partners on the ground. Every approach would take months to build from scratch — and burn runway in the process.
Move fast. Waste nothing.
Lead review & prioritisation — all 300
We went through the full lead list and applied local market logic. Who owns multiple kindergartens? Who has the budget and incentive to adopt SaaS? Who is actively growing? We separated the high-signal targets from the irrelevant ones — giving the founder a focused, ranked shortlist instead of a spreadsheet.
300 leads → clear priority tiersDigital marketing audit — what wasn't working and why
We identified the specific issues in the campaign: messaging that didn't speak to Brazilian operators' real pain points, channels with poor local conversion rates, and positioning that was too generic for a market where trust and personal recommendation drive decisions.
Campaign issues identified · Recommendations deliveredWarm introductions through informal local networks
Using PortuGer's trusted local connections in Brazil — not cold outreach, not paid ads — we made two direct introductions to kindergarten owners who manage multiple centres. The right people, the right moment, with the credibility of a trusted referral behind every conversation.
2 introductions · Both to multi-centre operatorsFounder-direct. No intermediary overhead.
Everything was run directly with the founder — no account manager layer, no junior consultants, no slide decks to justify hours. Fast feedback loops, fast pivots, fast results.
Direct with founder throughoutFrom zero to implementation.
300 leads prioritised — the founder now knows exactly who to focus on, who to deprioritise, and why. No more spray-and-pray outreach.
Digital marketing issues identified — specific, actionable feedback on what to fix in the campaign: messaging, targeting, and local positioning.
Trust established from day one — both introductions came through informal local networks, meaning KidsDay entered the conversation with credibility already in place.
Validation confirmed — real demand signals from real operators. Brazil is the right market. The entry just needed the right local intelligence behind it.
