Family
Married to Betina, the love of my life, and father to two sons who are passionate competitive cyclists. I used to race myself; these days I've happily traded the competitive edge for recreational rides.
Copenhagen, Denmark
Lars Dinesen
Senior Commercial Leader & Founder | CEO / Partner-Track | Energy, Industrial & Technology
25+ years building commercial engines - as a founder, an IBM director, and a Nordic VP of Sales & Marketing.
About
I build commercial engines - and I've done it as a founder, an IBM director, and a Nordic VP of Sales & Marketing.
For 25+ years I've led sales, marketing and general management across energy/utility, industrial technology and global enterprise - most recently growing ARR by 60% in a single year as VP Sales & Marketing for EG Utility's Nordic business. Earlier in my career, I personally invented and patented an industrial water-treatment product, scaling it from idea to a multi-million DKK business - so I understand commercial strategy and technical/product reality from both sides of the table.
What ties it together is how I lead: I start every new assignment by deeply understanding the business - a habit from my years in consulting - and then build a compelling, shared "Why" with both clients and employees, because sustainable growth needs people who believe in the story, not just the target.
AI runs through everything I do, from how I shape go-to-market strategy to how teams create content and products. I'm equally driven by sustainability - helping organisations tell a truthful, compelling story about their impact, not just report on it.
Boardroom
What I bring to the table.
I'm a specialist in mobilizing people and creating movement - in what needs to be built, turned around, or transformed. Here's what that means at board level.
Pillar 1
Commercial Excellence
I've spent 25 years fixing and building commercial engines - pipeline, pricing, GTM discipline - when growth stalled or the strategy stopped matching the market. Built businesses from scratch, and driven commercial turnaround across several industries from global to scaleup. I treat AI as a lever for finding revenue people miss, not a tool for writing faster.
Pillar 2
Strategy & Market Penetration
I help organizations find direction when the path forward isn't obvious - entering new markets, repositioning when the old playbook stopped working. From inventing and patenting an industrial product that scaled to multi-million DKK revenue, to building partnerships with ABB, IBM, Microsoft, Schneider and PTC that led to IBM's acquisition of Omnio.net. I use AI to pressure-test strategy and surface blind spots before the board has to.
Pillar 3
Employee Motivation & Culture
Strategy only works if people actually move. I've rebuilt teams and cultures that had stalled. Coached two IBM teams from underperforming to Europe's best - +30% and +275% performance turnarounds. Built a 15-person consulting business from zero in under two years. I bring that same direct, people-first instinct to board conversations about talent and how AI changes the way people work - without losing the human in it.
Commercial judgment, strategic clarity, and the ability to mobilize people - with AI as the edge that ties it together, not a buzzword bolted on.
Career Highlights
Numbers that anchor the story.
+60%
ARR growth in one year as VP Sales & Marketing, EG Utility
Founder
Invented and patented an industrial product, scaled to double-digit-million DKK revenue
M&A
Built partnerships with ABB, IBM, Microsoft, Schneider & PTC - led to IBM's acquisition of Omnio.net
+275%
Coached two IBM teams from underperforming to Europe's best (+30% and +275%)
0→15
Built a 15-person consulting business from zero in under two years - ABP Consultancy
Experience
A 25-year track record.
EG Utility - VP Sales & Marketing, Nordics
May 2025 - End of September 2026Leading commercial teams across the Nordic energy/utility sector.
Ladi Consulting - Independent Advisor
June 2014 - PresentStrategy anchoring, commercial turnarounds, product market fit assessments, ESG advisory and business development.
Tier1Asset A/S - Chief Sales Officer
May - Dec 2024Led a fast commercial turnaround across international sales teams.
NNIT - Consulting Director
Sept 2022 - May 2024Head of Service Development & Sustainability Practice.
ABP Consultancy - Nordics Regional Director & Founder
Oct 2020 - Nov 2022Built the Nordics business from zero.
Omnio.net - Director of Sales
Nov 2019 - Oct 2020Industrial IoT platform, acquired by IBM.
IBM Denmark - Director of IBM Cloud & earlier leadership roles
2014 - 2019 · 1998 - 2010Two stints in sales and cloud leadership.
Tandrup Group / T-Safe - Founder, CCO & Managing Director
2010 - 2013Invented and patented an antibacterial water-treatment technology.
What Colleagues Say
Voices from peers, partners and teams.
"
Lars is a truly unique sales leader - a rare combination of strategic vision and technical fluency, engaging credibly at every level of business conversation.
Anna Aksjonova
VP Professional Services (peer)
"
Lars combines strong commercial skills with a genuine ability to build relationships, both internally and with customers - and stays calm and focused, even in complex situations.
Jens Albom
Executive Product Manager (cross-functional partner)
"
The best leaders leave a lasting impact on how you think, not just on what you achieve. Lars is one of those leaders - an inspiring leader with exceptional energy and a clear vision.
Frida Grahn
Senior Account Executive (direct report)
Core Competencies
Where I create the most value.
Strategy Anchoring
Sales Strategy & Target Delivery
Product-Market Fit & Commercial Communication
Leadership & Coaching
PEOPLE-LED GROWTH CONSULTING
Why do some commercial teams keep growing, quarter after quarter - while others peak once and fade?
The easy answer would be a strong product, a clever campaign, or simply talent. It's rarely the real story.
Sustained growth happens when people with real individual strengths are coached to thrive, build a genuinely grounded understanding of their customers' problems, and have real evidence they can solve them. That combination - not a lucky quarter - is what turns engagement into lasting commercial success.
I help organizations build exactly that, as a people-led growth consultant.
- Lars Dinesen
+60%
Highest year-over-year ARR growth in EG Utility's history
4.7 → 9.8
Team engagement score in 6 months - while 100% of the sales team hit their target (vs. just two the year before)
40+
Client engagements built from scratch leading NNIT's ESG reporting service
What I help organizations do
Sales & Commercial Leadership
Building and coaching high-performing sales teams that hit targets sustainably, not just once.
Value-Proposition & "Why" Workshops
Involving teams in defining their own value propositions, so the change sticks because they own it.
Go-to-Market for New Markets
Helping organizations enter new markets, segments, or industries with a sharp, well-grounded strategy.
Founder & Executive Advisory
Hands-on advisory for founders and leadership teams navigating growth, restructuring, or new commercial models.
Structured programmes
Three of these run as defined engagements - a fixed sequence of workshops, coaching or interim leadership with a clear outcome at the end.
Programme
Strategy Anchoring
Turning a signed-off strategy into something every employee can act on - leadership alignment, team workshops, and leader coaching on cadence and structure.
See the programmeProgramme
Sales & Product-Market Fit Workshops
Four workshops that establish what you actually sell, which customer problems it solves, and how the commercial team identifies and speaks to those problems.
See the programmeInterim
Interim CEO / CCO
Stepping into the seat when it's empty or the business needs a steady hand - running the commercial engine until the permanent leader is in place.
See how it worksClient voices
“
We built out sales strategy from the ground up - value propositions, prospecting, and positioning - and created real, lasting change in how the team operates.
Jesper Vinther Nielsen
Commercial Strategy (direct report)
“
The best leaders leave a lasting impact on how you think, not just on what you achieve. Lars is one of those leaders - an inspiring leader with exceptional energy and a clear vision.
Frida Grahn
Senior Account Executive (direct report)
“
Lars combines strong commercial skills with a genuine ability to build relationships, both internally and with customers - and stays calm and focused, even in complex situations.
Jens Albom
Executive Product Manager (cross-functional partner)
STRATEGY ANCHORING
Most strategies don't fail because they're wrong. They fail because nobody knows what to do differently on Monday.
The strategy is signed off, presented, and then people quietly keep doing what they've always done. Not out of resistance - it's just that the strategy is written in a language that doesn't tell the individual employee what it means for them, or how they can make a difference.
Strategy anchoring closes that gap: from the leadership team's own words, down to the single team's weekly cadence - until every person can say out loud what they contribute and how it moves the company in the intended direction.
How a strategy anchoring programme runs
01
Leadership alignment - top to bottom
We start with the leadership layer. Each level translates the strategy into concrete execution and contribution - in their own words, not the deck's.
- Translate strategy into clear, owned execution statements per level
- Expose where leaders disagree before it reaches the teams
- One shared narrative the whole leadership line can repeat
02
Team workshops - making it personal
Then the teams are brought in. Workshops that turn strategy into individual meaning: what changed, what it means for me, and where I can contribute.
- Each team defines its own contribution to the strategy
- Individual roles mapped to real, visible impact
- Change sticks because people helped write it
03
Leader coaching - cadence and structure
Finally I coach the leaders: how their cadence is built, which goals to set, and what management structures hold it in place - designed with them, not handed to them.
- Weekly, monthly and quarterly cadence designed with each leader
- Goals and metrics that measure movement, not activity
- Management structures and follow-up that survive after I leave
What you get out of it
Every employee can explain their own contribution to the strategy
Leaders run a cadence that keeps execution visible week by week
Goals cascade from board level to individual without losing meaning
Change that holds after the programme ends - because the organisation owns it
SALES & PRODUCT-MARKET FIT
Most commercial teams can describe what they sell. Far fewer can describe the customer problem it solves.
When the product story and the customer's real workflow drift apart, everything downstream gets harder: messaging is generic, sellers improvise their own pitch, and marketing spends money on the wrong people. It usually isn't a talent problem - it's that nobody has forced the organisation to agree on what the offering is and which problem it removes.
Four workshops - leadership, customer journey, commercial team, and finally the customers themselves - that end with one agreed answer to what we sell, who has the pain, how we recognise it, and how we solve it.
The four workshops
01
Leadership - where we stand today
An honest evaluation of the current market position, the competitive situation, and the marketing messaging actually in market today.
- Current market position assessed without the internal gloss
- Competitor landscape and where you genuinely differ
- Existing messaging held up against what customers respond to
02
Leadership - the customer journey
We map the customer workflows that your products and services actually influence. That mapping is what exposes portfolio gaps and real competitive advantages.
- Customer workflows mapped end to end, not the internal sales process
- Portfolio gaps made visible - where the offering stops short
- Competitive advantages separated from assumptions
03
Commercial team - personas, pains and value propositions
The commercial team works through the journey and the value propositions until there is agreement on which personas carry which pains - and how those pains are identified and solved.
- Personas matched to concrete, recognisable pains
- Pain-identification guides the team can use in live conversations
- A clear line from each pain to how you solve it
- The foundation for the marketing plan: who to target, and how to talk to them
04
Customers - validation
Workshops with decision-makers at key customers, to validate the value propositions and pains against reality rather than internal opinion.
- Value propositions tested with the people who actually buy
- Pains confirmed, corrected or discarded
- Customer language captured word for word for messaging
What you get out of it
One agreed answer to what you sell and which problem it removes
Personas and pain-identification guides the commercial team actually uses
A documented view of portfolio gaps and competitive advantages
A grounded marketing plan: right customers, right personas, right language
INTERIM LEADERSHIP
When the seat is empty, the business doesn't pause. I step in and keep it moving.
A CEO or CCO leaves, a turnaround needs a steady hand, or the board needs someone to run the commercial engine while the permanent hire is being found. The risk isn't the empty chair - it's the three to six months where decisions stall, the team loses direction, and the pipeline quietly dries out.
I take interim roles at CEO and CCO level. 25+ years across energy, industry and technology means I get up to speed in days, not months - and because I'm not campaigning for the permanent job, I can make the calls that need making.
How an interim assignment runs
01
First 30 days - read the business
I start by understanding the business properly: numbers, customers, pipeline, and the people who actually make things happen.
- Commercial baseline: pipeline, forecast, margins and churn
- One-to-ones with the leadership team and key customers
- A short, honest read to the board on what's real and what's noise
02
Stabilise and lead
Then I run the function - decisions, cadence, targets and priorities - so the organisation has someone accountable, not a placeholder.
- Clear priorities and a cadence the team can operate to
- Hands-on with key deals, pricing and customer relationships
- Underperformance and blockers addressed, not deferred
03
Hand over without a dip
I work myself out of the job: help find and onboard the permanent leader, and leave the structures behind that keep it running.
- Input to the profile, search and interviews for the permanent hire
- Structured handover of accounts, plans and metrics
- Available afterwards as advisor or sparring partner if useful
What you get out of it
An experienced commercial leader in the seat within weeks, not months
Momentum kept: decisions get made, deals keep closing
An honest, outside read on the organisation the board can act on
A permanent successor who inherits structure instead of a mess
Beyond the Boardroom
Hiring teams hire whole people, not just CVs - here's a bit of who I am outside of work.
Golf
Picked up the game three years ago. Still very much a student of it, and enjoying every frustrating minute.
Motorbike restoration
I restore old motorbikes, including my 1977 Honda GL1000, brought back to full original condition.
Classic cars & mechanics
Part of a small workshop with five old friends, where we tinker with classic cars and motorbikes. Most recently I tuned and repaired a 1975 Porsche that I love taking out for runs with friends and family.
Sailing
Sailing since I was 10 years old, mostly competitive racing. I don't own a boat anymore - these days I get invited to help other teams make their boats go fast, which might be the most fun way to not own a boat.
Languages
Danish · NativeEnglish · Native / BilingualSwedish · ProfessionalGerman · ProfessionalNorwegian Bokmål · Limited
Contact
Let's talk.
Always glad to connect and talk Energy, Industrial Tech, Sales Leadership, or where AI is genuinely changing how businesses grow.
© 2026 Lars DinesenCopenhagen, Denmark