A U.S. market entry strategy for a CPG brand is a blueprint covering six structural pillars: hero SKU, U.S. value proposition, proof architecture, unit economics, execution design and risk map. Aterra builds it as Gravity Map — a 45-day, Aterra-led engagement that answers how a specific brand should enter the U.S., then coordinates live execution against it.
How should this brand enter the U.S.?
Not whether the market is attractive — it is, which is why it is crowded. The question is which single product leads, what it means to an American shopper, what proof has to exist before a buyer will move, and whether the margin survives U.S. distributor structure. Those four answers determine the next eighteen months.
Every recommendation in the blueprint sits under one of these. They are structural because getting one wrong compromises the others.
Which single product leads the U.S. entry, and why that one rather than the range you sell at home. Getting this wrong multiplies every downstream cost.
What the brand actually means to an American shopper standing at shelf — not the translated version of the home-market story.
Which evidence has to exist before a buyer, a distributor or an investor will move, and the order it has to be built in.
Whether the margin survives U.S. structure — distributor margin, broker fees, trade spend, freight and the promotional calendar.
Who does what, in what sequence, with what capital, across the first four quarters.
What can break the plan, which risks are worth carrying, and which have to be retired before launch.
Gravity Map is Stage Two of the Gravity System. It follows the Scan and precedes live execution coordination.
And who it is not for.
It is a structural plan covering six things: which hero SKU leads, what the brand means to a U.S. shopper, what proof has to exist before buyers move, whether the unit economics survive U.S. distributor structure, who executes what in which sequence, and which risks have to be retired before launch. Aterra delivers this as Gravity Map, a 45-day engagement.
A Gravity Scan reads whether a concept is commercially coherent — it is a $500 diagnostic that returns in minutes. Gravity Map is the advisory engagement that follows: 45 days, Aterra-led, producing the actual market-entry blueprint. The Scan answers 'does this hold?'. The Map answers 'so how do we enter?'
gravity.aterrastudio.co/us-entry is the Gravity product — Ask and Scan, presented for international founders, available in several languages, self-serve and instant. This page is the Aterra consulting engagement: senior, hands-on, scoped to one brand, with live execution coordination afterwards. Most brands use the Gravity product first and engage Aterra once the direction is settled.
Gravity Map is scoped per engagement, because the work varies with category, channel ambition and how much proof already exists. The entry point into the system is a $500 Gravity Scan, which is also the fastest way to find out whether a full engagement is warranted.
Gravity Map itself is 45 days. Execution coordination through Gravity Matrix typically runs three to six months after that. The full arc from blueprint to earned expansion is measured in quarters, not weeks — the Gravity Gates stage exists precisely to stop brands scaling before the proof supports it.
Yes, and it is a common starting point. A stall is usually one pillar failing rather than the whole plan — most often unit economics that did not survive distributor structure, or proof architecture built in the wrong order. The blueprint identifies which.
Functional food, beverage, supplement and wellness, and natural and personal care — the categories the operating experience actually comes from. AMAZ was a functional beverage brand in natural retail.
Gustavo Nader leads the engagement directly. Aterra is deliberately small; the operator experience is the product, and it does not delegate well.
Written and maintained by Gustavo Nader, founder of Aterra Studio and co-founder of AMAZ.
Published 2026-08-05 · Last reviewed 2026-08-05 · Gravity methodology · Contact