How U.S. buyers define credibility — and why most EU founders get it totally wrong.
You listed all your awards. We still don’t trust you.
Let me tell you something that might sting:
Your credibility slide?
It doesn’t land here.
All the badges.
All the certifications.
All the “partner of…” logos.
In Europe, that builds trust.
In the U.S.?
It’s noise — unless you earned the right kind of trust.
Let me explain.
Americans don’t buy based on “proof.”
We buy based on belief.
And belief comes from one question:
“Does this person get me?”
Not “did they win an EU startup prize.”
Not “did they raise from this VC.”
Not “have they been featured in TechCrunch.”
None of that moves the needle on its own.
Because in the U.S., credibility is emotional first, rational second.
Here’s what actually makes buyers trust you:
You talk like them.
Not perfect English — just fluent in their pain, fast.
“Sounds like onboarding’s burning 4 hours a week and nobody sees it?”
That hits harder than any G2 badge.
You show you’ve been here before.
“We helped [X buyer profile] in a similar mess — fixed it in 3 weeks.”
Now you’re familiar. And in the U.S., familiar = safe.
You make the fix feel simple.
Not “our proprietary architecture leverages…”
Instead:
“They stopped patching it together manually. Now it’s Slack + one click.”
You don’t overprove.
If you need 10 logos and a 4-minute credibility monologue…
we assume you’re compensating.
What to cut from your pitch deck:
EU innovation awards
Vague partner slides with 17 logos
Long backstories of the company’s founding
Testimonials that don’t sound like how Americans talk
You think it builds trust.
We think it’s filler.
What to say instead:
“Look — we’re not trying to be everything.
We just solve this specific problem really fast for teams like yours.
If that’s not a priority, no pressure.
But if it is, I can show you what’s working — and what’s not — in 10 minutes.”
That is American credibility.
Clarity. Relevance. Confidence without ego.
You don’t need to be a big name.
You need to be the right one.
And that means showing up like you understand their world better than anyone else in the inbox.
That’s how we decide:
“Yes. This one’s different.”
—
Paulius
Founder, Exported
If your deck is full of logos and your pitch still isn’t landing — you don’t have a credibility problem. You have a cultural alignment problem.
👉 Visit exported.io — where EU founders upgrade their buyer psychology, not just their branding.