I run a mid-sized digital agency here in Moscow, and over the past two years I’ve tried to push into US markets. The problem isn’t finding potential partners—it’s figuring out who’s actually legit and who’s just good at sales pitches.
Last year I connected with three different agencies through cold outreach. Two of them either ghosted after initial talks or wanted ridiculous markup percentages. The third one we actually worked with on a joint campaign, but the communication was painful. They didn’t understand our brief structure, we didn’t understand their timelines, and it felt like translating wasn’t enough—we were basically translating business cultures too.
Now I’m thinking about trying the platform’s bilingual hub to find partners, but I’m hesitant. How do you actually vet someone when you can’t just grab coffee? What questions should I be asking? Are there red flags I should watch for?
I’m also curious—when you do find a good partner cross-border, what does the actual collaboration look like? Do you formalize everything with contracts, or do you start smaller and build trust first?
Has anyone had success using a matchmaking approach vs. cold outreach?
I’ve been there—vetting partners is honestly the hardest part of scaling across borders. Here’s what I’ve learned: don’t rely on portfolio alone. Anyone can cherry-pick their best work. What I do now is ask for references from actual clients they’ve worked with on similar projects. Not just any client, but ones in complementary niches.
The bilingual hub actually helped me here because I could see how agencies communicated in their profiles, which says a lot. If their messaging is vague or full of buzzwords, that usually translates to vague briefs and miscommunication later.
For vetting, I always ask three things: (1) What was your most complicated project and why was it complicated? (2) Tell me about a time you had to say no to a client or partner request. (3) How do you handle scope creep?
The answers tell you everything. If they dodge or give corporate-speak answers, move on. If they’re direct about failures, they’re usually people you can trust.
As for collaboration, yes, formalize it. Even a simple statement of work beats a handshake every time, especially across borders. Start small though—one campaign, clear deliverables, exit clause if it doesn’t work.
One more thing—timezone differences are real but overblown. What actually matters is whether you have overlapping working hours and who owns communication. I always establish: one person from each side is the primary point of contact. Everything goes through them first. Sounds rigid, but it saves so much back-and-forth confusion.
Also, matchmaking tools are worth testing, but they’re not magic. They just remove the friction of finding people. You still need to vet properly. But I’ll say this—when I started using structured matchmaking instead of cold emails, my response rate went from maybe 15% to closer to 60%. Quality was better too because the platform pre-filters for industry alignment.
From a US side, I’d add that cultural differences in how you approach briefs matter more than you’d think. Russian teams often work more collaboratively on brief development—you’ll iterate and refine together. American teams sometimes expect more detailed specs upfront. Neither is wrong, but if you don’t know this going in, it creates friction.
I’d suggest building a hybrid brief template early. Front half is your detailed specs, back half is open for collaborative refinement. Set expectations on both sides about that structure before you start.
Also, when you’re evaluating a US partner, look at their client retention rate if you can find it. It’s the truest indicator of whether they’re easy to work with. High turnover usually means communication issues or scope creep problems that they’ve blamed on the client.
I love this question because it’s about real partnership, not just transactions. My experience with introductions on the platform has actually been really positive. I’ve made three solid partnerships just by being clear about what I was looking for and honest about our constraints.
One thing that helped: when you reach out to a potential partner through the hub, don’t ask vague questions. Be specific: “We specialize in beauty influencer campaigns in Eastern Europe and want to co-deliver with a US partner who has DTC or e-commerce experience. What does success look like for you in a partnership?” That one question tells you a lot.
For vetting without coffee meetings, request case studies specific to cross-border work. How they write about their own wins shows their communication style.
From an analytics perspective, I’d ask to see their reporting structure before you commit. How they track and report on campaign performance will either align with your metrics or create headaches. I worked with a partner once who reported on completely different KPIs than we tracked—we were looking at CAC and they were focused on impressions. That disconnect meant we couldn’t actually measure ROI on the partnership.
When you vet, ask them: “Walk me through how you’d report on a $50K campaign if we did one together.” Their answer matters.
I’m in a similar boat, trying to build partnerships with US teams. What’s worked for me is starting with a smaller scope, like a single influencer campaign or a small test with one creator. That way you learn their process, communication style, and whether they actually deliver without betting the whole relationship on day one.
I also joined the bilingual hub specifically to find partners doing what I’m doing—international expansion. The filtering there helped me skip past agencies that weren’t interested in that kind of work. And honestly? The quality of conversations was higher because everyone there is actively looking to build something, not just reply to cold emails.
As someone who works with a ton of different agencies, I can tell you what makes a partner easier to work with: clear briefs and actual feedback on drafts. Some agencies are great about this, some are terrible. When you’re vetting, ask if they’d be willing to do one or two rounds of feedback on a test asset before you commit to a full campaign. That tells you everything about collaboration style.