Thomas S. Riebs
Managing Partner · Los Angeles — leads defence & dual-use and aerospace & space
An operator, not a consultant — an American raised in Denmark who has spent his career helping European companies win their first US customer. He founded Traksjon to do the thing most advisers only talk about: the hands-on work of turning a company’s US ambition into revenue on the ground.
How Thomas works with clients
Operators, not consultants. The measure of success is your first US customer — not a deck.
Thomas built Traksjon around a single conviction: European companies rarely fail in the US for lack of strategy — they fail in execution. So the work is hands-on. It means sitting inside the market, making the introductions that matter, and pursuing the first customer rather than mapping the whole market from a distance.
In practice that looks like sharper questions than clients expect, deep local engagement over broad market surveys, and an honest answer about whether we are the right fit before any work begins.
Background
A California attorney and former BNP Paribas vice president, raised between Denmark and the United States.
Thomas grew up helping his American parents run a hand-knit sweater company between Denmark and the United States — an early, practical education in selling across the Atlantic. He earned a B.A. in European Studies & History and a J.D. in Business Law, both from UCLA, and served as a Vice President in the International Clientèle department at Bank of the West – BNP Paribas.
He has since supported the US expansion of more than 300 companies from 14 countries, serves as Executive Board Chair of AXEL, and is active in the Danish-American Business Council of Los Angeles, the British-American Business Council LA, and the Los Angeles economic-development community.
How he thinks about US market entry
In the US they speak American — not English. The gap between the two is where most European entrants stumble.
Thomas’s approach is captured in the frameworks he uses with clients and audiences: the Top 3 Obstacles to Commercial Success in the US, Win the First Customer, and the conviction that it comes down to people — you are not doing business with the United States, but with the industry clusters and individuals who decide whether to buy.
Each targets the same blind spot: the assumption that a strong home-market business will translate directly to the American market. It is also the subject of his forthcoming book on connection in an era of AI and social media.
Considering the US market?
Start with a conversation. We will listen, ask sharper questions than you expect, and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. AXEL assesses fit before committing. The conversation is the first step, not the commitment.
Begin a conversation →