Fredrik Hultner started his career as a software developer but soon transitioned to working in software sales. Since the 90s, he has travelled the world to build sales and marketing organizations, among others within the Kinnevik sphere. During his time at ElisaPolystar, he set up a regional office in Dubai where he also lived for four years. After that, he worked as a Key Account Manager at Comptel in Sweden. He began his Executive Interim Management career eight years ago, and has since worked with various companies, including the cyber security SaaS company Eyeonid Group, as interim Head of Sales at SaaS company & Frankly, as CRO at the SaaS company Spintr, and several other assignments alongside other start-up- and scale-up roles, and board work.
Can you tell us about one of your latest interim assignments?
”It was a Swedish software company where my assignment was to manage the daily operations for the sales and marketing team and act as a support to the CEO. Among other things, I established a sales methodology, developed new positioning, new pricing models, and new customer offerings together with the CEO and owners, as well as negotiated new agreements with current customers and targeted defined customers for new sales. I reported directly to the CEO and owners.”
What were the biggest challenges in the assignment?
”The company quickly needed to get control of the situation and identify opportunities as it faced certain challenges. It involved a lot of analysing the potential of customers, offerings, pricing strategies, the market, and the organisation. We needed to streamline the organisation, implement new pricing models with new value propositions, and renegotiate contracts to become more sales-oriented. The goal was to quickly find growth, and we succeeded in adjusting the business model and prices while keeping customers satisfied, demonstrating profitability where the company could both create more value for its customers and get adequately paid to develop long-term with them.”
How do you work with leading change?
”Change management is largely about creating a new vision and a clear current state, and getting everyone on board, a classic ADKAR model. It’s important to clarify the change for everyone and get them engaged in the journey forward. Open communication is crucial – you have to explain why changes are being made and what is required to achieve the goals. Since the company had no physical office, we had regular morning meetings and strategy meetings to show every step we took forward, which required clarity. We also set aside strategy days with the entire organization once per quarter to ensure that we worked correctly as an organization with a strong customer focus.”
Why did the company choose to bring in an Executive Interim Manager to solve its challenges?
”They needed to act quickly and lacked the right competence and resources internally. By bringing in an Interim Manager, they got an experienced extra resource who could provide an objective view of the situation without having to consider internal politics and who could quickly get up to speed without taking too much energy from the rest of the organization. This allowed me to question things in a different way than if I was permanently employed and quickly get a good picture of the current situation and identify areas that needed attention. It is also very expensive to find someone with long experience in SaaS and sales management, and there are significant consequences if you make a bad hire when rushing a recruitment.”
What is the best part of working with interim assignments?
”Seeing people grow when things fall into place and when the changes start to have an effect, is the best part. Entering a chaotic situation and sorting it out is very rewarding. Sharing my experiences and genuinely improving and streamlining is something I am passionate about. I don’t focus on maintenance; instead, it is about analysis, finding solutions, building teams, leadership, and creating the right offerings and conditions for the teams. Once everything is in place, a different type of leader is often needed to maintain and refine the function. My role often becomes a broad support for the CEO.”
How do you maintain a good work/life balance?
”I play golf in the weekends during the summer with my family and friends, and I work out during the weeks to keep both mind and body in a good balance. My family and I also love to travel, so we try to do that whenever possible, ideally to different places. This spring, we were in the Alps. I love skiing and have a background in competitive skiing. I can recommend visiting Chamonix; it’s a fantastic place, a charming town with magnificent mountains, especially Mont Blanc! I really like the French Alps.”