Paint Nite · $110M Annual Revenue · Inc. 5000 #2 fastest-growing company in the US

About Sean McGrail

I'm the founder of Pivotal Catalyst, a US market entry advisory based in Auckland. I work with New Zealand companies and founders on the commercial decisions that determine whether US expansion has a real chance of working before serious capital is committed to the move.

"I built Pivotal Catalyst for founders who know the US is the next logical move, but also know that logic alone is not enough."

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OPERATOR CREDENTIALS

SCALING RECORD

$110M

Annual Revenue

GROWTH RANK

#2

Fastest-Growing US Company, Inc. 5000

CAPITAL RAISED

$22M

Raised from US VCs

Sean McGrail, Pivotal Catalyst — growth architect for NZ businesses entering the US market

Sean McGrail · Founder, Pivotal Catalyst

From someone who built a $110M business in the US.

I co-founded Paint Nite and helped scale it to $110M in annual revenue in the United States in four years, with over 2 million people attending an event each year. Inc. 5000 ranked it the #2 fastest-growing company in the US in 2016. That growth came from getting a short list of decisions right, in order: who buys first, why they buy, what to charge, which channel carries the economics, where to expand next, and what to leave alone for another year. That is the work I do now. I work with founders who have built something real in New Zealand and are deciding whether to commit serious capital to the US. By the time they call me, the US is obviously attractive. The open question is whether the current model survives in a bigger, noisier, more expensive market, and what has to change first.

Building in the US

The US is not one market.

It is 50 states and 393 metro areas holding 340 million people, with local regulation and buying habits that change across state lines. What works in one pocket of the market fails in another.

What matters is not the headline scale. It is the decisions underneath it: how to price for the market, which channels can scale economically, where to enter first, and what to delay.

Those decisions are what I help New Zealand companies decide before they commit to US market entry. The details change with every business. The decisions that determine the outcome stay the same.

Investor pattern recognition

I help founders build a US plan that holds up in front of a board and in front of an investor.

Why New Zealand

Getting it wrong in the US costs New Zealand companies more than they expect.

The US has 340 million people. The upside scales with that. So does the cost of getting it wrong.

My role is to help founders see what has to change before they potentially make a crippling mistake.

How I Work With Clients

Directness over theatre.

Some founders hire a consultant to give the board cover: someone who will nod along and produce a good-looking deck justifying the US move. I do the opposite.

Based in New Zealand

Auckland-based.

Engagements run remotely or face-to-face. Founder-led from first conversation to final deliverable.

GLOBAL CREDENTIAL

Edmund Hillary Fellow

Investor Fellow of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship, a global fellowship for investors and entrepreneurs based in New Zealand.

Ready to test the move?

Start with the US Market Entry Diagnostic. If the opportunity is real, I build from there. If it is not, you will know before the market teaches you a hard lesson.

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