198. Jakob Lilholm, Co-founder & CEO, Formalize - The S-Curve Bet: How to time product #2 before product #1 peaks?

In this episode, we’re joined by Jakob Lilholm, Co-founder & CEO at Formalize, the Danish-based compliance SaaS that went from a single-point whistleblowing tool to a multi-product GRC platform used by 8,000+ customers across ~80 countries. Jakob shares how his team timed EU regulatory tailwinds, built whistleblowing software, and then layered products on top, shifting from high-volume transactional sales to a focused, consultative motion for regulated industries.

Fresh off announcing a €30M Series B, Jakob walks through the internal rewiring it took: carving out an innovation pod with its own OKRs, resisting flattering false positives from the existing base, and proving platform demand with new-logo sales first, going from ~€100k ARR on the platform to >50% of company revenue in a year. 

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• When do you expand from a point solution to a platform? We discuss the timing model Formalize used (EU roadmap + S-curve “next wave” before the first peaks).

• What’s the right ICP for a platform? Why did they end up narrowing their ICP and say “not yet” to others?

• How do you avoid false positives when you already have thousands of customers? Jakob explains why he decided to validate platform fit with new logos first.

• What org design supports a second act like this?

• How do you shift GTM, pricing, and messaging? What is the process moving from low ACV sales to higher-ACV, consultative deals without breaking the engine?

• Which metrics matter in the first year of a platform bet? How do you prove value creation, track conversion quality, and know when to re-inject the core team?

🎧 Tune in to hear how Jakob and team rewired a fast-growing SaaS from a single product to a multi-product platform play, aligning product, GTM, and finance while keeping the culture hungry enough to chase unicorn status by 2028.