The Growth Pod
Episodes
#74 Axel Ahlström – robotics, industrial tech and the future of manufacturing in Europe
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Axel Ahlström sits at the intersection of manufacturing and technology. After working with major industrial companies in private equity, he co-founde...
#73 From zero to 13.5M€: bootstrapping e-commerce with Ebike Center founder Timo Uotila
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How do you profitably grow from zero to 13,5M€ in revenue, with just 20K€ in funding? We sat down to discuss this with Timo Uotila, who co-founded...
#72: How to build a winning e-com/consumer brand in 2026 with Aida Jammal
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
eEquity is one of the Nordics’ most active e-commerce investors. We sat down with partner Aida Jammal to discuss what it really takes to build a str...
#71: Kim Väisänen on growth, sales and investing
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kim Väisänen co-founded and led Blancco, turning it into a global leader in data erasure software and 60M€ exit. Since then he’s made 140+ start...
#70: From founder to investor with Tom Even Mortensen
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tom took his first startup public as CEO, later held exec and board roles in PE-backed companies, and now invests in early-stage companies through San...
#69: Christoffer Järkeborn - building a 10 billion SEK business in technical installation
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In just four years, Nimlas Group scaled from 1.5 to 10 billion SEK while maintaining strong profitability. CEO Christoffer Järkeborn joins us to disc...
#68: Erik Modig - why ROI misleads, funnels fail, and what world-class CMOs do differently
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Erik Modig is a researcher, author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He returns to the podcast to discuss the death of the marketing funnel, the issues with...
#67: Klarna’s growth story with Head of Nordics Björn Bryngelson
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Klarna is one of the world’s most successful startups. We sat down with Head of Nordics Björn Bryngelson to discuss the company’s growth journey,...
#66: Monika Liikamaa: building one of Europe’s top fintech companies
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Enfuce is a fast-growing fintech with a bold goal of becoming the #1 issuer processor in Europe and reach billions in ARR. We sat down with co-founder...
#65 From founder to investor: Ilkka Kivimäki on lessons learned and future bets
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ilkka Kivimäki built and sold a company to SAP, was the first investor and chairman of Wolt, and now runs a 260M€ seed fund. We sat down to discuss...
#64: Backing the next generation of Finnish growth companies with Pia Lemmetty from Tesi
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pia Lemmetty is an Investment Director at Tesi, Finland’s state-owned investment company. We talk about Finnish startups and scaleups, Finland’s i...
#63: Leading the Nordics’ biggest fitness chain with SATS CEO Sondre Gravir
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SATS is the largest fitness chain in the Nordics, with over 270 gyms and 10,000 employees. CEO Sondre Gravir joined us to talk about creating a great ...
#62: Inka Mero - backing deep tech startups that are changing the world
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Voima Ventures is one of the only VC funds in Europe focused only on deep tech. With over 200M€ raised in total, they invest in everything from quan...
#61: Carl Haglund on transforming Veritas and why Finland must reform
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since joining Veritas, Carl Haglund has led the pension company to record-breaking growth in a highly regulated industry. We talk about how he and his...
#60: Pernilla Ramslöv - lessons from building a 500M SEK consulting business
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pernilla Ramslöv is the founder and CEO of NOX, the IT consultancy she built from the ground up into a 500M SEK business. In this episode, we discuss...
#59: What it takes to build a successful startup – with Antler GP Jussi Kallasvuo
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jussi Kallasvuo is a General Partner at Antler, a global early-stage investor and the world’s most active investor in AI. We talk about what makes a...
#58: Building Europe's top leadership event with Nordic Business Forum co-founder Hans-Peter Siefen
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nordic Business Forum started with evening seminars in Jyväskylä and grew into one of Europe’s leading leadership and business events. We sat down...
#57: Risto Siilasmaa – lessons from dot-com bubble, transforming Nokia, and investing in unicorns
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Risto Siilasmaa co-founded F-Secure in 1988 at just 22, and later became Finland’s richest person during the dot-com bubble. As chairman of Nokia, h...
#56: Sanna Suvanto-Harsaae - what successful CEOs and leadership teams do
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sanna Suvanto-Harsaae is one of the most respected and sought-after business leaders in the Nordics. She currently chairs the boards of companies like...
#55: Building Europe’s most loved hospitality brand with Bob W. CEO Niko Karstikko
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bob W. is a fast-growing, profitable startup that’s raised €70 million to transform hospitality through technology. What began as an Airbnb side h...
#54: Building the world’s fastest-growing boat brand with Saxdor CEO Erna Rusi
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Saxdor is the world’s fastest-growing boat brand. We sat down with CEO Erna Rusi to discuss the journey to 100 million euros in revenue, scaling a t...
#53: Growth & dialogue in the stakeholder economy with Miltton's Fredrik Heinonen
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Fredrik Heinonen is a partner and Deputy Managing Director at Miltton, a Nordic consultancy specializing in communications, insight, and strategy. We ...
#52: Building a European food powerhouse with Paulig CEO Rolf Ladau
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rolf Ladau is the CEO of Paulig, a 148-year-old family-owned food company. We discuss the fundamentals of consumer branding, growth playbooks, the bus...
#51: Wolt COO Marianne Vikkula on leadership, operational excellence and hiring
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Marianne Vikkula joined Wolt as a small startup with fewer than 100 employees. Today she’s the COO, overseeing a global operation with 10,000+ peopl...
#50: 100M€ turnaround in early childhood education with Pilke CEO Mari Puoskari
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As CEO of Pilke, Mari Puoskari has driven rapid growth and achieved profitability at Finland’s largest private early education company. Now also CEO...
#49: Minister Anders Adlercreutz on state ownership & aid, Fortum/Uniper, SSAB investment and more
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Finnish state is an investor or owner in over 70 companies. We discuss with Minister Anders Adlercreutz the state's role as a shareholder, les...
#48: Silmäasema & other growth stories with Antti Kummu from CapMan
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Antti Kummu, a founding partner of CapMan Growth, joins us to discuss their take-private of Silmäasema, what makes companies valuable, the importance...
#47: Building a $2.55 billion startup with Oura co-founder Petteri Lahtela
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Petteri Lahtela is the co-founder and former CEO of Oura, the $2.55 billion startup behind the world's most accurate smart ring. We discuss the ch...
#46: Jyri Engeström on startups, investing, and building the future
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jyri Engeström is a startup expert, having sold his company to Google and invested in numerous unicorns. We discuss opportunities and technologies, l...
#45: From profitability to exceptional growth with Christoffer Rutgersson
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Christoffer Rutgersson co-founded Bambora, and helped lead the startup to a 1.5 billion euro exit. Then he became CEO of public fintech company Qliro,...
#44: Saving the world from McDonald's with MAX CEO Richard Bergfors
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
MAX is a family-owned restaurant chain with more than 170 locations, consistently ranked as the favorite burger chain in Sweden. We talked with CEO an...
#43: From 0 to 100 million euro with Matsmart co-founder Karl Andersson
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Matsmart is an online grocery store that has helped save over 65,000 tons of food from going to waste. We talked with co-founder Karl Andersson about ...
#42 How Boxbollen grew to $30 million and became a global sensation
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Learn more: https://generogrowth.com https://boxbollen.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacoberiksson/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-eriksson...
#41 Alf Rehn: how to create an innovative company
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Innovation is a term that is as often used as it is misunderstood. To tackle this huge topic, we sat down with professor, speaker, author, advisor, an...
#40 Challenging the smartphone industry with HMD Global CMO Lars Silberbauer
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
HMD Global is the manufacturer behind Nokia phones. We talked with CMO Lars Silberbauer about the "dumbphone" trend, HMD's unique appro...
#39 Building a global SaaS company with Funnel CEO Fredrik Skantze
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We sat down with Fredrik Skantze, CEO and co-founder of Funnel, the Swedish SaaS company that’s raised over 120M€ to build the leading marketing d...
#38 Sanna Suvanto-Harsaae: boardroom lessons from Finnair, Posti, Clas Ohlson, Paulig and 20+ companies
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sanna Suvanto-Harsaae has been on the boards of over 20 Nordic companies like Finnair, Clas Ohlson, Posti, and Paulig. We talked about why strategies ...
#37 From 0 to 100 million euro with BookBeat CEO Niclas Sandin
25 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In just eight years, BookBeat grew from zero to 100+ million euros. We spoke with CEO Niclas Sandin about strategy, branding, customer acquisition, co...
#36 Buying 40 companies in 3 years with Lyvia Group CEO Sebastian Karlsson
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In just 3 years Lyvia went from an idea to a group of 40 companies with 2+ billion SEK in total revenue. We talked with CEO and co-founder Sebastian K...
#35 Building the car brand of the future with Polestar CMO Åsa Borg
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Polestar is an electric car company known for its minimalistic design and technological innovations. We talked with CMO Åsa Borg about building a glo...
#34 Generating demand for a 50M€ ARR SaaS company with Edward Ford
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Supermetrics is one of the most successful software companies to come out of the Nordics, growing profitably and quickly to over 50 million euros in A...
#33 Magnus Pettersson - building an international pet food brand from scratch
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
MUSH began as a startup with little money and no brand, selling commodities to a tiny segment of the pet food industry. Over almost 20 years they’ve...
#32 Jesper Åström - why your company isn’t growing and how to fix it
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jesper Åström is a growth expert who's spent over 45,000 hours launching hundreds of tactical campaigns for companies around the world. We discu...
#31 SaaS marketing with Riikka Söderlund
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Riikka Söderlund is a SaaS marketing expert and the CMO of Katana, a Tallinn-based startup that has raised over 50m€ in funding. We discuss all thi...
#30 Polar CMO Anssi Mäkelä on their approach to branding and marketing
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Anssi Mäkelä is the CMO of Polar, a leading global player in sports watches, fitness trackers, and heart rate monitors. We sat down with him to disc...
#29 Building the world's biggest baby brand with Twistshake CEO/Co-founder Camillo Eriksson
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Camillo Eriksson, co-founder and CEO of Twistshake, joins us to talk about building the world's biggest baby brand. We cover topics like expanding...
#28 How MEDS became the fastest-growing company in Sweden with founder & CEO Björn Thorngren
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Björn Thorngren is the CEO and founder of MEDS. We talk about how they became the fastest-growing company in Sweden, the strategies they used to acqu...
#27 Saeid Esmaeilzadeh - no-bullshit approach to building and investing in companies
13 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Saeid Esmaeilzadeh is a scientist and entrepreneur who has co-founded, managed, and invested in over 30 technology companies. (0:00) Introduction (0:...
#26 Lisa Gilbert - building a global brand at the world's biggest startup
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take to build a global brand from scratch at a 90,000-person startup? We discussed this and more with Lisa Gilbert, VP of Global Marketin...
#25 Byron Sharp - how marketing really works
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Byron Sharp is one of the global leaders in marketing research and the author of the best-selling book ‘How Brands Grow’. We discuss the myths and...
#24: Thomas Floberg, Microsoft Sweden's COO on remote work, leadership and AI
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Thomas Floberg is the COO of Microsoft Sweden and a 17-year veteran at the company. We discuss the past and future of work, productivity, leadership, ...
#23: Erik Modig - Stop making these marketing mistakes
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How does marketing actually work? What is the key to great advertising and how can we avoid the most common mistakes? We discuss this and much more wi...
#22: Unpacking foodora's growth journey with CEO Hans Skruvfors
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is it like to go from a startup to a household brand in just a few years? Or hire 1,200 people in a single month? We discuss this and more with f...
#21: Tricia Weener - former CMO at Kone and HSBC
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tricia Weener has an extraordinary range and depth of marketing expertise. We talk about what it’s like to lead marketing at global companies, lesso...
#20: Tuva Palm - technology, growth and building great products
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tuva Palm is a tech investor, board member, and former CPO/CTO at Nordnet. We talk about building great products and driving growth through technology...
#19: Konrad Bergström - electric boats, headphones and Sweden's fastest growing company
14 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Konrad Bergström co-founded Sweden's fastest-growing company and has now raised over $100 million to build electric boats. We talk about success,...
#18 Picnic - reinventing a 30-year old restaurant brand
04 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Picnic is one of the most well-known restaurant chains in Finland. We sat down with CEO Janina Hallberg to discuss how they were able to get through t...
#17 Wolt - growing to 25 countries and €7 billion exit
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Wolt is one of the most successful startups in Europe, with 25 countries and a 7 billion euro exit. We discuss their growth formula and strategy with ...
#16: Perlego - raising $65 million to build the 'Netflix of textbooks’
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Perlego is a fast-growing education tech company. We discuss their growth story and strategy with CEO and co-founder Gauthier Van Malderen. Learn mor...
#15 Managing hype, growth and iconic brands in the food space
16 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did Härkis become a household name in Finland in less than a year? What is it like to manage an iconic brand like Elovena? We discuss this and mo...
#14 Chris Walker - rewriting the B2B marketing playbook
09 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Walker is the founder and CEO of Refine Labs. He's the mastermind behind the demand strategies of some of the fastest-growing B2B SaaS compa...
#13: Ruokaboksi - the ups and downs of building a hypergrowth startup
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ruokaboksi is one of the fastest-growing Finnish startups, growing revenue from 1 to over 20m€ in just three years. We talk about their story, the h...
#12 Framery - creating a category and 150m€ business
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Founded in 2010, Framery has grown quickly to become the global market leader in soundproof booths and podcasts. We discussed their growth and marketi...
#11 - Per Holknekt on building an iconic fashion brand and 43 other companies
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Per Holknekt has done it all. From being a pro skateboarder to founding the iconic fashion brand Odd Molly, he's also started 43 other businesses....
#10 - Future-proofing your growth with data
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How should business leaders and marketers think about their data strategies for 2023 and beyond? We discuss this and more with Evan Kaeding, Lead Solu...
#9 - Martin Paasi on the Finnish economy, growth, and investments
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We're back with season two of the podcast! The first guest is financial expert Martin Paasi. Learn more: https://generogrowth.com/
#8 - Focusing on conversions to get better marketing results
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We talk about how to use marketing to generate tangible business results, i.e. conversions. The guest is Fredrik Rönnlund, the CEO of Leadoo Marketin...
#7 - Social commerce & other consumer trends in the Nordics
17 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Brands must understand how and why customers make their buying decisions. We discuss current consumer trends in the Nordic countries with Susanne Holm...
#6 - How to win in the new era of direct-to-consumer
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With data from hundreds of DTC brands, Taylor Holiday breaks down the formula for success in this new era of marketing. Taylor is the CEO and Co-found...
#5 - Brand or performance? How to achieve both!
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How can companies build their brands while generating leads and sales at the same time? We discuss this with Minna Keränen, Business Unit Director In...
#4 - Growing 20+ online brands through Amazon, DTC, and omnichannel
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What strategies can brands use to maximize online growth? CEO & co-founder Robin Bade shares how eBrands manage their portfolio of 20+ purpose-dri...
#3 - Growth in a crisis
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Travel came to an abrupt stop in 2020, with severe impact on hotel and apartment operators. Michael Huotari, Head of Web Sales, shares how Forenom was...
#2 - Building a category-leading restaurant brand
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did Friends & Brgrs go from a single restaurant to 24 locations and the number #1 restaurant brand* in Finland? We discuss the growth story wi...
#1 - Balancing Growth And Profitability in eCommerce
03 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After years of prioritizing growth, many eCommerce brands are now looking more closely at the bottom line. In the first episode, we discuss this chang...