Principal Experience · Aviation · Treasury & Risk SaaS · United Arab Emirates
Etihad Airways: a first-of-its-kind logo in the UAE while building EMEA from zero.
How a US treasury software platform with no brand, no references and no regional presence won Etihad Airways as an anchor customer and built a $10M EMEA business from a two-desk office in London.
This case study draws on work led by a Rebar principal in a previous operating role.
Summary
In a previous operating role, a Rebar principal helped lead a US cloud treasury and risk management platform’s expansion into EMEA with no local brand or customers. By concentrating on a single marquee account, Etihad Airways, the team closed the first enterprise cloud treasury deployment in the UAE in 11 months. That reference grew Middle East pipeline 4x within a year and helped scale EMEA from $0 to $10M in annual recurring revenue over four years.
At a glance
Situation, complication, resolution
SSituation
The company had product-market fit with US corporates but zero revenue outside North America. The board approved a London office and asked for a credible EMEA business, fast.
CComplication
Gulf enterprises bought treasury technology on-premise, through global system integrators, from vendors with local references. The company had none of the three, and cloud was viewed as a security risk.
RResolution
The team overcame the reference problem by targeting one marquee account, building a coalition across treasury, IT, audit and finance, and turning the win into the regional reference everyone else needed.
01 · The challenge
Why was Etihad Airways a hard first customer for a new vendor in the UAE?
Etihad was in the middle of one of the most aggressive expansions in aviation. New routes, new aircraft orders and a growing portfolio of equity partner airlines meant treasury was managing jet fuel, interest rate and foreign exchange risk across dozens of currencies, with revenue collected in one set and costs paid in another.
The tooling had not kept pace. Hedge positions lived in spreadsheets, exposure reports were assembled by hand each month, and IFRS hedge accounting standards were raising the bar for audit evidence. The Group Treasurer needed visibility the board could trust before the next wave of fleet financing.
For the company, the opportunity was obvious. The path to it was not. No cloud treasury vendor had ever closed a Gulf carrier, and the incumbents had spent a decade selling installed software through the region's largest integrators.
02 · The approach
How do you win an enterprise customer in a new region with no references?
The team ran a four-phase play built around one idea: the first customer is not a deal, it is the reference that unlocks the region. Every decision optimized for a win that other Gulf and EMEA buyers would recognize.
Pick one door
Scored 40 Gulf enterprises on exposure complexity, growth and appetite to modernize. Concentrated the entire regional effort on the one account that would make every future deal easier.
Lead with the problem
Opened with a hedge accounting and exposure diagnostic built on Etihad's own public disclosures, not a product demo. Treasury saw its own gaps before it saw the software.
Build the coalition
Mapped nine stakeholder groups and ran a dedicated track for each. IT security and audit got their own workshops, documentation and a site visit to the hosting provider.
De-risk the yes
Proposed a phased go-live starting with FX exposure reporting, success criteria agreed in writing and a London-based delivery team committed to the account.
| Stakeholder | Influence | Core concern | How the team addressed it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group Treasurer | Sponsor | Real-time view of exposure and hedge effectiveness | Exposure diagnostic and a live model on Etihad's own risk profile |
| Chief Financial Officer | Approver | Audit-ready hedge accounting and board-level reporting | Board reporting pack mocked up in month four |
| Head of IT Security | Veto | Data residency, access control, cloud risk | Security workshop, penetration test results and a hosting site visit |
| Internal Audit | Influencer | Control evidence and segregation of duties | Controls matrix mapped to their existing audit framework |
| Procurement | Gatekeeper | Vendor viability and total cost versus incumbents | Five-year cost comparison and a phased commercial structure |
03 · The impact
What happened after Etihad Airways signed? One logo became the reference for a region.
Etihad signed a multi-year enterprise agreement and went live on FX exposure reporting within the first quarter, followed by hedge accounting and fuel risk. More important for the company, the account answered the question every other Gulf and EMEA buyer had been asking: who else like us is using this?
Follow-on regional logos
Closed across the Gulf and wider Middle East within 18 months, each citing Etihad as the deciding reference.
Shorter sales cycles
Average EMEA enterprise cycle fell from 11 months to under 7 once a peer reference was available.
Of global ARR from EMEA
A region that did not exist at the start of the expansion became a material growth line ahead of a strategic exit.
Nobody in the region wanted to be first. So we stopped selling software and started selling the chance to set the standard. Once one flag carrier said yes, the rest of the market had its answer.
Rebar principal · Reflecting on a previous operating role
04 · What carries over
What can other companies learn from the Etihad Airways win?
One anchor beats forty prospects.
Concentrate on the account that answers everyone else's objection.
Diagnose before you demo.
Show buyers their own problem in their own numbers first.
Sell to the veto, not just the sponsor.
Security, audit and procurement each need their own track.
Engineer the reference.
Design the first win so it becomes the next ten.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How do you win an enterprise customer in the UAE without local references?
Concentrate on one marquee account instead of a broad list, lead with a diagnostic of the buyer's own problem rather than a product demo, run a separate track for every stakeholder who can veto the deal (IT security, internal audit, procurement), and structure a phased go-live that lowers the risk of saying yes. The first win then becomes the reference the rest of the region asks for.
How long does an enterprise software sale to a Gulf airline take?
In this case the Etihad Airways deal took 11 months from first meeting to signed multi-year contract. Once Etihad was live as a reference, the average EMEA enterprise sales cycle fell to under 7 months.
Why does a first reference customer matter so much in a new region?
Enterprise buyers in a new region want to speak to a peer before they commit. Without one, every deal stalls on the same objection. After Etihad signed, Middle East pipeline grew 4x within 12 months and three follow-on regional logos closed within 18 months, each citing Etihad as the deciding reference.
What does Rebar do?
Rebar is a CRO-led go-to-market firm based in Austin, Texas. It helps companies move from founder-led sales to a repeatable revenue engine, including new market entry, first marquee logos and partner channels.