The Growth Pod

Fredrik Heinonen is a partner and Deputy Managing Director at Miltton, a Nordic consultancy specializing in communications, insight, and strategy. We discuss the agency’s journey from 4 to 400 employees, navigating the different phases of growth, the rising importance of stakeholder management, effective communication in a noisy world, attracting top talent, and more.

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 business case for sustainability, how Santa Maria grew to become the European leader in Tex-Mex and more.

Learn more:

https://paulig.com/

https://generogrowth.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolf-ladau-458b892

(0:00) Introduction

(1:10) Working at Unilever, P&G, Coca-Cola and more

(4:15) How to build and maintain world-class consumer brands

(11:40) Do brands spend too little on marketing?

(14:25) Becoming the CEO of Paulig

(20:30) Santa Maria’s growth journey, playbooks, and the future of snacking

(33:07) How Paulig has succeded for 148 years

(40:15) The art and science of brand positioning

(46:05) Feedback loops and learning from mistakes 

(49:33) The business case for sustainability

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+ people across 27 countries. We discuss operational excellence, how to hire well, lessons learned from DoorDash, and how leaders can increase speed, raise the bar for quality, and narrow the focus.

Learn more:

https://wolt.com/

https://generogrowth.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mvikkula

(0:00) Introduction

(1:08) Marianne’s background and why she joined Wolt

(4:42) Operational excellence and bringing energy into an organization

(10:34) Increasing speed

(17:07) Raising the bar of quality

(25:30) Narrowing the focus

(32:24) Doing hard things

(37:45) How to grow and develop as a leader

(41:25) Lessons learned from DoorDash after the acquisition

(47:57) How to hire

(57:56) The future of Wolt

As CEO of Pilke, Mari Puoskari has driven rapid growth and achieved profitability at Finland’s largest private early education company. Now also CEO of Dibber Sverige, Mari joins us to discuss the Nordic model of early childhood education, employee well-being, leadership, personal habits, the future of childcare, and more.

https://generogrowth.com/⁠⁠

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mari-puoskari-b0ab69

https://pilkepaivakodit.fi/

https://www.dibber.com/

(0:00) Introduction

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, lessons learned from the Fortum-Uniper deal, challenges with subsidies, and more.

⁠https://generogrowth.com/⁠⁠

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersatz

https://valtioneuvosto.fi/omistajaohjaus/yhtiot

(0:00) Introduction

Antti Kummu, a founding partner of CapMan Growth, joins us to discuss their take-private of Silmäasema, what makes companies valuable, the importance of storytelling, Elon Musk, and much more.

Learn more:

https://generogrowth.com/⁠

⁠https://capman.com/private-equity/growth/⁠

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/antti-kummu-cfa-a85aa11/⁠

(0:00) Introduction

(0:40) Antti’s background and Finnvera and Tesi

(3:35) Working as CFO at a rapidly growing company

(6:53)The role of metrics and data in understanding a business

(14:07) The insights behind the Silmäasema take-private

(18:47) CapMan Growth’s investment strategy

(23:55) Working with strong-willed entrepreneurs

(26:25) What makes companies valuable?

(31:17) Storytelling

(36:37) Timing the market vs building a good business

(38:55) Raising 130 million euros

(44:45) Private equity in Finland, Elon Musk

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 challenges of the early days, the importance of intention, Prince Harry's endorsement, and more.

Learn more:

https://ouraring.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/plahtela/

https://generogrowth.com/e-commerce-growth-method/

(0:00) Introduction

Jyri Engeström is a startup expert, having sold his company to Google and invested in numerous unicorns. We discuss opportunities and technologies, lessons learned from Silicon Valley, and how Finland (of all places) could become a leading global startup hub.

https://generogrowth.com/⁠⁠

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jyriengestrom/

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, quickly turning it profitable while doubling down on growth.

Learn more:

(0:00) Introduction

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 and owner Richard Bergfors about the secret to their success, competing with giants like McDonald's and Burger King, international expansion, failures and challenges, market trends, and a lot more.

Learn more:

⁠https://www.max.se/⁠

⁠https://generogrowth.com/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/burgerspotting/⁠

(0:00) Introduction

(0:55) How MAX got started

(5:05) @Burgerspotting and eating 400+ burgers per year

(10:03) Max’s secret to success

(14:15) The competitive advantage of a family business

(17:40) Will Max become bigger than McDonald’s in Sweden?

(20:38) Expanding to Poland and Egypt

(24:55) What Richard loves most about his job

(26:45) Why MAX is no longer in Dubai

(29:27) The "better burger" trend and market consolidation

(33:40) Betting on plant-based

(38:47) Richard’s go-to MAX order, recent lessons learned, inspiration, thoughts on the future