For companies solving meaningful societal problems
15-min intro call. No prep needed.
Breakthrough sprints. One clear commercial outcome each.
I’ve co-founded six companies since 2009, working primarily from zero to one, from the initial idea to category, proposition, strategy, sales and market. I’ve also worked alongside startups and scaleups facing the same challenge: turning something complex and unproven into something people understand, buy, fund or join.
Major customers, zero-to-one sales, propositions and market opportunities. As a three-time CEO, I’ve sold across five industries and multiple markets, including Norway and Portugal, and supported market entry into Brazil by opening key relationships and helping navigate the local context, often building demand where there was no established brand, category or reference point.
Finding the right partners, creating the collaboration and structuring opportunities where several organisations need to say yes. From international market entry to cross-border innovation partnerships.
EU and public funding, investor strategy and capital that enables growth. Former European Commission Expert Evaluator, with $7M+ in public funding won for clients and experience raising capital as a founder and CEO.
Category, positioning, market entry and the decisions that cut across functions. I work alongside founders and leadership teams to turn complexity into a clear commercial direction.
Discover. We find your core challenge in a focused intro call.
Define. We set a time frame for the sprint with a clear, measurable outcome.
Deliver. I execute. You get results, not reports.
Co-founder. The world's first contactless fingerprint payment card. My co-founder and I raised early-stage funds and built the company 0-to-1 in the first years. Years later Zwipe brought me back as a consultant through my consultancy Growth to Great: I wrote and led the application that won them a €2.3M European grant, an important milestone that strengthened the company's credibility ahead of its IPO on the Oslo Stock Exchange the following year.
Strategic advisor. Category and narrative work for governed welfare infrastructure: investor narrative, EIC Accelerator strategy and other EU and national funding opportunities.
Co-founder and investor, building from zero-to-one as CEO. Real-time engagement for football, with club partnerships including Benfica and Sporting. I was also part of setting up the market entry into Brazil, finding the key people to open it.
Founder. My investment company. It began by winning $7M+ in public funding for clients, and I reinvested the success fees into early-stage startups.
Co-author, with Ole Paulsen. A framework for natural energy profiles: Hunter, Gatherer, Farmer. Published 2024. Proof that I build language people actually use.
"I have encountered numerous personality theories and tools. Yet nothing has resonated with me more profoundly than the Hunter, Gatherer, Farmer concept in Fullpotentialpeople. It has revolutionised my effectiveness as a leader and entrepreneur."
"The first time Joakim worked with us was years ago. He challenged us strategically and strengthened every part of our proposal. We received the Seal of Excellence from the EU and secured an 18 million NOK government grant on the back of it. But what he built then we used for years, and parts of it are still on the table in our board meetings today.
Since then he has gone wider: helping define what we actually are, the position we own and the category we belong in. That thinking now sits underneath how we talk to investors and everyone else. He turns complexity into clarity."
"He combined strategic insight with the ability to map and articulate our R&D, turning a complex idea into a clear, compelling story that fit the funding narrative. We received the Seal of Excellence from the EU, which became the portal to securing government funding."
I take a small number of engagements. Best fit: founder-led, complex, category-creating companies in welfare-tech, deep tech, fintech, sportstech, and public-sector innovation.
Book a call15-min intro call · No prep needed.