COMMERCIAL CO-FOUNDER | FRACTIONAL CEO AND CCO

Monica Jill Vaksdal

For founders with a product that works and no company around it yet. I help take it from idea to paying customers, a fundable plan and a business that can scale.

monica.vaksdal@kaifa.no | +47 992 81 255 | monicavaksdal.com | Bergen

NOK 34Mraised as founder of Think Outside, pre-seed and two international seed rounds
Exit 2022international exit of my own Techstars-accelerated company
+89%revenue growth in one year as CEO of Utel
200%revenue growth against plan, entering a new market with Mitta

When founders call me

  • No paying customers yet. The demo works, nobody has signed.
  • No price or business model. Hours, licence, subscription or outcome?
  • Grants that fail on the business case.
  • Pressure to raise too early. Dilution before proof.
  • One founder doing everything, alone.

How I work

  1. Test the hypothesis. Find the problem someone will pay to solve.
  2. Design the offer. Segment, value, price and pilot on one page.
  3. Build traction. Pipeline, pilots, partners and funding in parallel.
  4. Make it fundable. KPIs, board and a capital plan that raises on proof.

What I bring

  • Positioning and go-to-market: who buys, why now, which segment first
  • Pricing and business model: from hours to licences, built to scale
  • First customers: pilots that become contracts
  • Capital strategy: soft funding first, then investors on the founder's terms
  • Company design: agreements, board and investor documents
  • Team and culture: sales and tech working as one team

Tools and methods

  • Commercial: customer discovery, segments, pricing models, pipeline and KPIs
  • Funding: SkatteFUNN, Innovation Norway, Research Council, EU, investors in waves
  • Governance: term sheets, shareholder agreements and board set-up
  • AI-native: Claude in daily use since 2024

Recent work with founders

Co-founder and working chairGlobal Trading SolutionsAI trading and KYC software for energy. Governance, investor pipeline, SkatteFUNN, first paying customer.
Commercial leadResearch-based startupMarket strategy and commercial plan for a Research Council project.
AdvisorAI software companyGo-to-market model and a scalable price structure.
Advisory board and investorFalck Advisory / HorusFrom consulting to SaaS with licence pricing, new name and brand.
Board memberRappyGo-to-market and business model. Stress-tested, then closed. Stopping is a result too.
Founder and CEOThink OutsideTechstars, 17 people in five countries, pivot from consumer to hydropower, exit 2022.

About me and my values

A change leader with a geologist's training, from the energy industry to founding and selling my own company. I bring energy and pace, learn new fields fast, and work quickly but grounded in data. I set the direction and build the system, with detail-strong people beside me. The founder keeps the wheel: I build the commercial engine around the product.

Momentum.Things should move. For a startup, standing still costs more than a wrong turn.
Honesty and directness.I say what the data shows, including when it is time to stop.
People growth.I grow founders and teams, not their dependency on me.
Courage.Pre-revenue, new markets, unknown brands. That is where I do my best work.