The Growth Pod

Polestar is an electric car company known for its minimalistic design and technological innovations. We talked with CMO Åsa Borg about building a global brand, running a Super Bowl ad, the importance of design, her proudest moments & biggest challenges, and more.

Learn more:

https://generogrowth.com

https://www.polestar.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/åsa-borg-4898b038/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4QI0VzbkHk

(0:00) Introduction

(0:43) What is Polestar?

(5:03) Building a global brand

(9:09) How the EV market has changed over the years

(10:39) Polestar’s successful Super Bowl ad

(14:34) Agencies vs in-house

(16:52) Building a funnel and managing complexity

(20:50) Media and channel choices

(22:50) Competition and the future

(26:39) Word of mouth and community

(27:32) How Polestar thinks about design

(31:17) Testing and learning 

(34:08) Rapid fire: proudest moment, going public, biggest challenge, and how to hire the best talent

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 ARR (annual recurring revenue). We sat down with Demand Gen Director Edward Ford to discuss how they did it.

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 built an international brand while helping grow the entire raw feeding segment. We discuss their journey with Magnus Pettersson, the Business Director at Snellman Pet Food.

https://generogrowth.com

https://www.mushbarf.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/magnus-pettersson1979

Jesper Åström is a growth expert who's spent over 45,000 hours launching hundreds of tactical campaigns for companies around the world. We discuss all things related to growth marketing, including case studies, common mistakes, and underutilized tactics.

Learn more:

https://generogrowth.com/

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

https://www.youtube.com/@JesperAstrom/videos

(0:00) Introduction

(1:07) What is growth marketing?

(4:45) Jesper’s framework for why and how companies grow

(15:03) Types of entrepreneurs and the different marketing mistakes they make

(17:55) Is branding just about reach and frequency? 

(23:52) Budgeting, meetings, and other things companies need to change if they want growth

(33:01) What companies like Voi and Spotify get right about growth

(38:35) How to grow in the physical world

(43:30) How Jesper comes up with new experiments and tactics

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 things SaaS marketing, from KPIs and attribution to selecting business-appropriate strategies and hiring world-class talent.

Learn more:

https://generogrowth.com

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

https://katanamrp.com

(0:00) Introduction

(0:51) How Riikka got started with SaaS marketing

(2:56) Why do Finnish companies underinvest in marketing?

(4:43) Attribution, how it works, and how to use it

(9:49) Why marketers must focus on revenue

(12:57) SaaS metrics that matter

(17:35) The criteria that led her to Katana

(20:45) The first things she did as CMO

(22:16) Creating internal alignment

(28:24) Picking the right strategies

(31:45) Budgeting

(34:12) Visualizations and managing complexity

(36:48) Why you must hire the best talent

(41:33) Education and constant learning

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 discuss their approach to creative and messaging, marketing tactics, and why the traditional agency model is dead.

Learn more:

https://generogrowth.com

https://www.polar.com

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

(0:00) Introduction

(0:53) The traditional agency model is dead

(4:03) Building in-house competency and why awards don’t matter

(8:54) How they produce creatives

(14:12) Polar’s messaging and how it’s changed

(17:43) Speaking to different audiences

(19:36) Building a competitive brand on a worldwide stage

(21:33) Brand ambassadors and influencers

(24:30) Leveraging their Finnish heritage

(26:44) The power of narratives

(31:20) Tactics for grabbing attention in a noisy world

(37:10) Why buy Polar?

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 to 70 markets, launching a dozen or so innovative products each year, and doing influencer marketing on a massive scale.

Learn more:

⁠https://generogrowth.com/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/twistshakebaby/⁠

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/camillo-eriksson-770480b8/⁠

(0:00) Introduction

(0:52) The baby bottle that started it all

(5:14) The early days

(9:33) Meaning, hard work and avoiding burnout

(13:31) The process for consistently launching innovative new products

(20:16) How they succeeded with influencer marketing

(25:16) Twistshake’s 3 pillars for growth

(28:32) The uncomplicated way to expand internationally

(34:00) Focusing on profitability and doubling AOV

(38:23) Company culture and focusing on what matters

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 acquire 800,000 customers and raise 50M€ in funding, what the pharmacy markets in Sweden and North Korea have in common, and much more!

Learn more:

https://generogrowth.com/

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

https://www.meds.se/

(0:00) Introduction

(0:50) The insights that led to MEDS

(3:14) The unique online pharmacy market in Sweden

(6:49) How to win in a competitive market

(10:07) Providing the best customer experience

(16:05) The strategies MEDS used to get 800,000 active customers

(21:35) Finding, acquiring, and activating the right customers

(24:32) Growth and failure during the pandemic

(27:44) Geopolitical risks and the pharmacy value chain

(30:35) Does it always make sense to grow?

(33:22) Raising 50 million euro

(37:31) Biggest lessons learned

Saeid Esmaeilzadeh is a scientist and entrepreneur who has co-founded, managed, and invested in over 30 technology companies.

(0:00) Introduction

(0:57) What got him into the science and chemistry

(2:30) Getting started in business

(4:00) Failure

(6:22) Applying an empirical approach in business

(7:52) Saeid's no-bullshit policy

(14:16) Creating a culture of critical thinking

(18:19) Investment philosophy

(22:47) Incentives, deal structure and autonomy

(26:57) Building vs investing in companies

(30:40) Finding growth opportunities

(33:11) Nordic company cultures

(36:15) Preparing to sell your company

(40:16) Why Saeid's not focusing on trends

Learn more:

https://generogrowth.com/

https://ehab.group/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/saeid-esmaeilzadeh/

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 Marketing at Kyndryl.

(0:00) Introduction

(0:49) Working 20+ years at IBM

(3:58) Choosing career paths and knowing who you are

(6:25) Joining Kyndryl and lessons learned

(12:20) The power and importance of branding

(15:00) Balancing brand consistency with localization

(17:45) Activating employees to become brand ambassadors

(21:07) Scrappy marketing strategies

(25:33) Proudest moment at Kyndryl

(26:42) Strategy and process for creating content

(30:14) Learning new skills as a marketer

Learn more:

⁠https://generogrowth.com/⁠

⁠https://www.kyndryl.com/⁠

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