Humble Nordic founders are finally getting bolder – now they need to stay that way

As a Finnish person, I am well aware of the apprehension many of us in the Nordics feel about taking up space. While there are inter-Nordic differences in this regard, I believe this trait is a fundamental and shared cultural undercurrent across the Nordic nations. From the Finnish concept of Sisu, a form of quiet endurance, to the Swedish Jantelagen, a socio-cultural phenomenon based on the “Ten Commandments of Jante,” which discourages individuals from seeing themselves as special or standing out unnecessarily, the Nordics are steeped in humility.

But humility, while often admirable, can become ruinous when it discourages people, especially founders, from standing out. So where does this leave those trying to build companies?

Being bullish

A key part of scaling a company, especially in the venture-backed world, is having an ambitious vision. While that vision doesn’t always need to clash with humility, in practice, it often does.

Have you ever had a conversation with a venture capitalist who told you your go-to-market strategy wasn’t ambitious enough? I’ve had that conversation myself, as an investor, and I’ve heard it echoed back to me by many founders in the region.

In one particular case, a potential co-investor in a funding round asked the founder to prepare a much more aggressive “bull-case” financial scenario in order to present a more ambitious narrative to their investment committee. What struck me was that the founder had already outlined a very ambitious growth path. Was the investor effectively asking the founder to lie?

A numbers game

VCs sometimes exert a lot of pressure on founders, which is driven largely by how investors assess potential returns based on high-level, back-of-the-napkin calculations.

A venture investor making twenty bets may only expect one or two of those to return any capital at all. Because of this, we lean heavily on frameworks that estimate future value based on market size, expected penetration, and revenue multiples, preferably recurring.

Investors often prefer a story involving one percent penetration of a €5B market (€50M) over ten percent of an €800M market (€80M), even when the latter might be more credible. If your product is well positioned in a moderately niche market, that may not be enough, depending on how specialized the investor is in your particular vertical.

Finding balance

So how might you, as a founder, balance ambition, humility, and the realities of a challenging funding environment in a way that supports your success? Here are some pieces of moderately actionable advice I’ve picked up over time:

1. Become fluent in investor rationale – understand how VCs think about market size, penetration, revenue models, and exit potential.
2. Separate confidence from arrogance – confidence rooted in deep understanding of your problem and impact is not arrogance.
3. Practice “aspirational honesty” – present ambitious but grounded projections that build trust while still showing big potential.
4. Craft a narrative that aligns with investor worldview without compromising your own mission or values.
5. Surround yourself with “culture bridgers” – advisors who understand both founder realism and global ambition and can help translate your story effectively.
6. Aim for measured ambition – combine humility with a credible, globally competitive vision to make your idea resonate more widely.

A Nordic shift in ambition

Despite the challenges, the Nordic startup ecosystem seems to be at a turning point, likely even maturing beyond some of the cultural barriers that Jantelagen once imposed.

In recent months, we’ve seen a wave of large-scale funding rounds that point toward a growing boldness among Nordic founders and investors alike. Finland’s ReOrbit, a manufacturer of satellites and developer of connected systems, raised a €45M Series A, while DataCrunch raised €55m to challenge US hyperscalers and accelerate Europe’s AI sovereignty. Quantum computing startup IQM closed an €275 million Series B round, and vibe-coding platform Lovable raised $200m (€173m) at a $1.8b valuation.

These examples reflect not only the strength of Nordic innovation but also a shift in how we tell our stories. Founders are learning to pair the quiet confidence of Sisu with a global sense of scale and urgency. Shipping faster and opening up about their talent (while not my favourite expression, how “cracked” they are). The humility that once constrained ambition is gradually transforming into something more constructive, measured confidence backed by deep competence.

As an investor at 4impact capital, I’m watching this evolution with genuine excitement. It feels as if the region is learning to balance humility and ambition in new, healthier ways, ways that could make the Nordics a global leader in purpose-driven innovation over the coming decade. The next few years will tell whether this shift marks a passing phase or a structural change in how Nordic founders express their ambition. Personally, I’m betting on the latter.