Episode #1
S02E01 - Christian Finstad, CSO Mentimeter - Four Go-To-Market Motions
Mentimeter had zero salespeople from 2014 to 2017 and still grew into the double-digit millions. Then the company added enterprise sales on top of a product-led engine, went from 100 to 330 employees and passed €35m ARR. Christian Finstad joined as Chief Sales Officer in 2022, after 17 years at Meltwater, and has run that build since. In this episode he lays out the four motions Mentimeter operates in parallel, no-touch, low-touch, high-touch and premium-touch, and why treating them as one motion is where most companies break. We get into how they define ICP for a horizontal product using usage signals rather than firmographics, why enterprise deals with 15 to 30 stakeholders still require people, and how they moved from 95% inbound capture to a balanced inbound and outbound motion. Christian is also direct about two decisions most sales organisations would not make: Mentimeter has no commission-based variable pay, and it localises leadership by region while keeping strategy centralised. If you are adding enterprise motion to a product-led company, this is the episode where the sequencing gets specific. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:02 Christian's background: 17 years at Meltwater, then Mentimeter 07:29 From product-led to sales-led growth 09:28 Building the sales organisation 11:56 Do you still need salespeople in an AI-driven world? 18:49 Why enterprise buying still requires humans 27:19 Defining ICP for a horizontal product 32:53 Data-driven decision making 34:41 Localising leadership by region 36:09 Why Mentimeter removed sales commissions 38:03 Promoting sellers into leadership 42:01 Value creation over closing 47:48 AI as a game changer in SaaS sales 53:01 The first structural move from PLG to enterprise Nordic Growth Podcast is hosted by Oliver Lopez, founder of Structsales. A show about B2B revenue, commercial strategy, and what it actually takes to grow. Learn more: https://oliverlopez.se Structsales: https://structsales.se
