In early 2023, I landed what I thought was my dream job: launching a successful French start-up into the UK market.

I was incredibly excited and convinced it would work. I could already see the company growing fast, the team of one becoming four, five, ten… I had 15 years of experience developing new markets from scratch behind me so... it could only work!

Well, it didn't. Or at least, not as fast as the founders and investors expected.

Eight months later, I lost my dream job and the start-up closed its UK entity. It wasn't only the loss of a job, hopes and a dream. It was also a considerable investment on both sides of time and money in a market that hadn't yet had the chance to prove itself. On the positive side: that experience gave me the idea for Kameleā: 

What if companies could test and develop new markets without immediately committing to a full-time senior hire, opening an office or building a local team?

Give me the challenge, let me crack on with the new market, build relationships and create traction. Then, when the opportunity is proven, invest, open the office, hire the team and scale. If it's not proven, let's find other ways to grow... 

Kameleā comes from the chameleon: when I work with a company, I don't want to feel like an external consultant sitting on the sidelines. I learn the business, understand its culture and proposition, adapt its pitch to the market and represent it as if I were part of the team.

That ability to adapt while wearing different hats quickly proved successful. My first Kameleā clients came through relationships built during my previous roles, and one of them eventually hired me full-time after 18 months working together fractionally.

That, to me, proved the model. Today, Kameleā works with ambitious businesses that want to explore new markets, create commercial opportunities and grow internationally, without taking all the risk upfront.

Julie Tebeka. -Founder & Director