SaaS Nordic

In this episode, we’re joined by Jakob Lilholm, Co-founder & CEO at Formalize, the Danish-based compliance SaaS that went from a single-point whistleblowing tool to a multi-product GRC platform used by 8,000+ customers across ~80 countries. Jakob shares how his team timed EU regulatory tailwinds, built whistleblowing software, and then layered products on top, shifting from high-volume transactional sales to a focused, consultative motion for regulated industries.

Fresh off announcing a €30M Series B, Jakob walks through the internal rewiring it took: carving out an innovation pod with its own OKRs, resisting flattering false positives from the existing base, and proving platform demand with new-logo sales first, going from ~€100k ARR on the platform to >50% of company revenue in a year. 

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• When do you expand from a point solution to a platform? We discuss the timing model Formalize used (EU roadmap + S-curve “next wave” before the first peaks).

• What’s the right ICP for a platform? Why did they end up narrowing their ICP and say “not yet” to others?

• How do you avoid false positives when you already have thousands of customers? Jakob explains why he decided to validate platform fit with new logos first.

• What org design supports a second act like this?

• How do you shift GTM, pricing, and messaging? What is the process moving from low ACV sales to higher-ACV, consultative deals without breaking the engine?

• Which metrics matter in the first year of a platform bet? How do you prove value creation, track conversion quality, and know when to re-inject the core team?

🎧 Tune in to hear how Jakob and team rewired a fast-growing SaaS from a single product to a multi-product platform play, aligning product, GTM, and finance while keeping the culture hungry enough to chase unicorn status by 2028.

In this episode, we’re joined by Rav Dhaliwal, recovering software exec turned early-stage VC at Crane. A longtime CS leader and board-level advisor, Rav breaks down how AI is reshaping Customer Success, from onboarding and telemetry-driven predictions to agentic workflows, while pushing CS to converge with account management and get far more revenue-centric.

We spoke with Rav about what AI should (and shouldn’t) automate, how to keep relationships authentic, and how leaders actually drive adoption, treating AI not as a tool drop but a behavioral change program. 

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• Will AI compress or redefine CS, and where does it create leverage vs. require human expertise?

• What does the CS–Account Management convergence look like in practice (discovery, multi-threading, commercial acumen)?

• Which AI use cases move the needle now: telemetry-based churn/upsell prediction, voice sentiment, and agentic next-best-action?

• How do you avoid the “AI for efficiency only” trap and tie it to revenue, cost, and risk outcomes that customers actually buy?

• What’s the playbook for AI adoption in GTM/CS? How do leaders run a change program (not a tool rollout) and measure progress?

• Where are the authenticity risks and how do you keep the customer relationship human?

• How far can we push AI-led onboarding and what’s the 90% automated vs. 10% bespoke split likely to be?

🎧 Tune in to hear Rav’s pragmatic take on CS in the age of AI: more signal, smarter workflows, tighter revenue alignment and leadership that treats AI as an operating change, not a shiny tool. Also, watch out for his new book coming out shortly on Founder-Led Sales!

In this episode, we’re joined by Inês Lourenco, VP of Growth at Usercentrics, the privacy-led MarTech company that is powering consent on 2M+ websites & apps across 200 countries for 600k customers. 

Inês unpacks how she built a 50-person growth org of cross-functional pods (Monetization & Pricing, Acquisition & Virality, Activation, Partner Experience, CMS Integrations, and Retention) around a simple thesis: growth = product distribution. She details the early, scrappy phase with manual signal detection, nightly queries, and “product specialist” outreach - through to a scalable system that routes users to self-serve, low-touch, or high-touch paths based on predicted AOV, with a hard-earned lesson to start with activation before everything else.

We spoke with Inês about turning signals into revenue, structuring pods, and creating an operating cadence where every pod owns its metric such as ARPA growth, NRR/GRR, activation time, and virality share, while collaborating tightly with Product, Marketing, Sales, and CS. 

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• How do you define growth as product distribution and design pods that actually move revenue, not vanity metrics?
• What signals predict AOV early, and how do you route users to self-serve vs. low/high-touch experiences accordingly?
• Why did “product specialist” outreach outperform SDR-style messaging, and how do you structure those “baby-step” nudges?
• If you’re starting from scratch, why begin with an Activation pod and what are the first experiments to run?
• How do you set pod-level metrics (ARPA growth, activation time, virality share, NRR/GRR) and avoid cross-metric collateral damage?
• What collaboration model keeps Growth aligned with Product, Marketing, Sales, and CS, and who should Growth report to?
• When shouldn’t you build a growth team (and what to do instead if your top of funnel is small)?
• How do you evolve from consent management to a privacy-led marketing platform, while staying profitable and fast?

🎧 Tune in to learn how Inês turned signals into a system, building a growth engine that’s rigorous, cross-functional, and activation-first, proving that modern growth isn’t a channel, it’s product distribution by design.

In this episode, we’re joined by Peter Sunna (ex-Contentful, Commercetools), now leading product at Kognic, an annotation platform that helps cars “see” via camera & LiDAR for ADAS and autonomous driving. Peter shares why he downplays traditional roadmaps in favor of a company-wide “How We Win” operating system, aligning teams on target segment, differentiation, and the strategic power to compound.

We dive into the automotive software shift, safety-critical AI, and how to build defensibility when AI keeps redefining what’s feasible, sometimes in months. Peter explains how to keep Sales, Product, Marketing, and CS selling and building the same thing so strategy drives the plan, not a feature laundry list.

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• How do you replace feature roadmaps with a "How We Win" system that aligns every team and still tells customers what matters next?

• What does differentiation look like in practice and which power are you compounding (process, network effects, brand, switching costs, etc.)?

• When you’re early and have no moat, how do you use counter-positioning and when do you evolve to a more durable power?

• Depth vs. breadth: should you go deeper on a few use cases or widen to adjacent ones, and how do you decide?

• How do you sell a new workflow into enterprises (crossing the chasm) when existing org structures resist change?

• With AI rapidly changing what’s feasible, how do you plan, defend your margins, and avoid being automated away?

🎧 Tune in to hear how Peter turns strategy into an everyday operating cadence proving that in B2B, roadmaps don’t win markets; clarity on how you win does.

In this episode, we’re joined by Frida Ahrenby, CMO at Rillion, the AP automation platform expanding aggressively in the US with a new Austin hub. Frida breaks down how she rebuilt marketing from zero to a lean, 10-person, high-output team, starting with a performance+ops backbone, overhauling content/SEO, and leaning hard into field marketing for CFO buyers, while keeping creativity human in an AI-accelerated org.

We spoke with Frida about sequencing the first hires, structuring around three pods (Demand Gen incl. Field, Brand/Content/Design, Product & Customer Marketing), and using AI to multiply output without outsourcing originality. She shares how to avoid silos and title inflation, decide what must be owned in-house to truly own the number, and what it really takes to crack the US market from a European base.

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• How do you build a lean, unsiloed marketing org that still scales output (and keeps standards high) with AI in the mix?

• What’s the exact hiring sequence from a blank slate: why start with performance/ops, then content/SEO, then expand demand?

• Own it in-house or outsource? A simple rule for speed, agility, and true metric ownership and when agencies still help.

• Which marketing roles will compress vs. which remain decisively human in the AI era?

• What skills win now: how to hire for smart, analytical, creative demand gen, and deeply curious content that drives revenue?

🎧 Tune in to hear how Frida designed a tighter, faster marketing engine and why cracking the US is a marathon you run with data, creativity, and relentless focus, not headcount.

In this episode, we’re joined by Barbara Matthews, Chief People Officer at Remote, the Series C company with 1800 employees across 85 countries building an end-to-end global HR platform. Barbara shares how her team compressed a 6–8 week performance cycle into 48 hours using monthly manager “trend” nudges, lightweight pre-calibration, and AI-generated self/manager summaries, while scaling a transparent, high-performance culture in a fully async org.

We spoke with Barbara about designing performance to be continuous, objective, and fast, and how you can align leaders on what “good” vs. “great” looks like, avoid surprises for employees, and turn HR from a slow ritual into a real-time operating system.

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• How do you build a high-performance culture (with transparency) across 85 countries without burning people out?
• What does it take to shrink performance reviews to 48 hours, and what’s the exact sequence from self-assessments to calibrations, promos, and comp?
• How do monthly nudges and a simple 5-point trend score improve alignment and reduce end-of-cycle thrash?
• Where does AI add the most value in performance, and where should humans stay firmly in the loop?
• What is pre-calibration, and how do you align managers on role expectations so ratings are fair and consistent?
• How do you keep feedback truly continuous in an async environment - training managers, closing loops, and avoiding “annual surprise” syndrome?
• When promotions aren’t available, what retention levers can be used to keep top talent engaged and growing?

🎧 Tune in to hear how Barbara re-engineered performance for speed and clarity, proving that modern people ops is a product you design, not a form you fill.

In this episode, we’re joined by Ruan Smit, SEO & Growth leader at Sendcloud, the leading shipping platform helping 30,000+ e-commerce brands connect carriers, print labels, and turn delivery into a competitive advantage. With a blend of technical SEO, AI know-how, and real-world growth experience across agencies, e-commerce, and SaaS, Ruan shares what actually moves the needle when AI is rewriting search.

We spoke with Ruan about how to gain visibility when AI Overviews and LLMs answer first, and how Sendcloud structures content, tech, and brand citations to appear where customers look—without losing focus on the pages that drive revenue.

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• How do you prioritize GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) without sacrificing the SEO “money pages” that pay the bills?
• What specific page structures (summaries, headings, FAQs, schema) increase your chances of appearing in Google’s AI Overview?
• Where should teams invest to earn brand citations LLMs trust, and how do you do it without sounding salesy?
• When does domain consolidation outperform country-by-country sites, and what are the must-do steps for clean migrations and 301s?
• How do you track performance in a zero-click world—what proxies (impressions, BOFU outcomes, referrers) matter most?
• What’s the practical workflow for “reverse-engineering” AI Overviews to refresh content that actually ranks and converts?
• Are videos still worth it for discovery, and why is hosting on YouTube more important than ever for LLM sourcing?

🎧 Tune in to hear how Ruan blends solid SEO fundamentals with GEO tactics, proving that sustainable growth in the AI era comes from clear structure, smart measurement, and showing up helpfully wherever your buyers look.

In this episode, we’re joined by Lukas Saari, CEO and Co-Founder of Tandem Health, the AI-driven platform transforming how clinicians and healthcare teams work together to deliver better patient outcomes. By combining customer obsession with advanced automation, Tandem Health empowers providers to streamline workflows, reduce administrative burden, and keep the human touch at the center of care.

We spoke with Lukas about how AI is reshaping one of the most traditional industries and how Tandem Health has built trust with customers by deeply understanding their real-world pain points.

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• How do you build trust with customers in industries where credibility and experience matter most?

• Why should commercial and product teams include people who’ve actually lived their customers’ pain points?

• How does every new onboarding experience fuel product innovation?

• What role does deep customer understanding play in deciding where to take the product next?

• Why must SaaS founders think in terms of “jobs to be done” rather than features, and how does that mindset unlock customer value?

🎧 Tune in to hear how Lukas combines customer empathy, sharp execution, and a forward-looking approach to AI adoption, proving that scaling in SaaS isn’t just about technology, but about truly understanding the people you serve.

In this episode, we’re joined by Marili 't Hooft-Bolle, CEO, Trengo, the AI-powered omnichannel customer engagement platform that unifies messaging across email, WhatsApp, live chat, social media, and more into a single shared inbox, helping teams automate repetitive tasks while preserving the human touch. Trusted by thousands of businesses worldwide, it empowers brands to deliver seamless, delightful customer interactions across every channel.

We spoke with Marili about how AI is changing the way they operate at Trengo - and how it has led to a future-proof mentality across the business in everything they do.

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• How do you, as a CEO, drive AI adoption across the teams in their daily operations?
• Why you may need to "update" your cultural and performance values to support the new AI era for operators?
• What is the process to make sure new AI initiatives are focused on must-haves vs nice-to-haves?
• How does she see the roles of product, engineering, and marketing need to adjust in this new era to fully leverage AI?
• Why does she encourage everyone to be ready to dedicate some "learning money" on their journey to find the best AI leverage for their business?

🎧 Tune in to hear how Marili combines empathy, discipline, and sharp business acumen to guide her team through the reality of scaling in a rapidly evolving tech environment, proving that great companies are built not just on strategy, but on people who grow with intention.