Madeleine Holbye

Serial commercial builder. Open to what’s next.

Oslo, Oslo, Norway2.9k followers

Growthworks

ex-ScaleupXQ

ex-TwentyThree

Hi, I’m Madeleine. I like figuring out what actually works, and then making it happen.
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I’ve spent my career building commercial functions from the ground up. From founding teams and new market entries for bootstrapped SaaS companies, to helping scale a consultancy that’s worked with 400+ B2B tech companies across five countries. The pattern has been the same every time: set the system, test it in practice, adjust until it repeats, hand it off, and find the next thing that needs building. I’ve rarely had the budget to do things the conventional way. That turned out to be an advantage. Along the way I’ve covered every commercial function, and stepped into operational leadership when needed. At ScaleupXQ that meant building the management systems, OKRs and structures that let a fast-growing consultancy scale without losing its edge. Right now I’m finishing two engagements. Advising early-stage founders at Impact Startup, and helping a PE-backed group restructure their commercial operations for performance. After that I’m open to what’s next, whether that’s a co-founder role in something I truly believe in, or a senior commercial role in a company serious about changing how it grows. If any of that sounds relevant, reach out.

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GTM Index

GROWTHWORKSJOB
1. Commercial Advisor
  7Y 2M
IMPACT STARTUP NORGEJOB
1. Business Developer, GTM &…
  1Y 2M
SCALEUPXQJOB
1. Founding Partner & VP Oper…
  3Y 11M
2. Founding Partner & Commerc…
  3Y 5M
TWENTYTHREEJOB
1. Head of Evangelism
  7M
2. Head of BD
  2Y 2M
3. Strategic Growth & Partner…
  10M
4. Country Mgr
  3Y 7M
JOBYLONJOB
1. Country Mgr
  1Y 6M
MELTWATERJOB
1. Sales Consultant
  10M
ACCENTUREJOB
1. Researcher
  5M
HOLBYE CONSULTJOB
1. Organizational Development…
  3Y 5M
TEACH FIRST NORWAYJOB
1. Founder
  1Y 2M
TELENOR DKJOB
1. Viral Mktg Intern
  4M

Job: Growthworks — Commercial Advisor · 2019-08 – present · 7y — Backing and building businesses worth believing in — creating commercial foundations for sustainable growth across community, technology, and impact.
Job: Impact StartUp Norge — Business Developer, GTM & Growth Specialist · 2025-08 – present · 1y
Job: ScaleupXQ — Founding Partner & VP Operations · 2022-05 – 2026-04 · 3y 11mo — Strategy & organisational development
Job: ScaleupXQ — Founding Partner & Commercial Director · 2018-12 – 2022-05 · 3y 5mo — Leading the development of commercial strategy for customers. ScaleupXQ is the NO.1 Agency for B2Bs looking to build scalable sales organisations and establish predictable repeatable revenue.
Job: TwentyThree — Head of Evangelism · 2018-05 – 2018-12 · 7 mo
Job: TwentyThree — Head of Business Development · 2016-03 – 2018-05 · 2y 2mo — Expansion to new markets, with focus on US though ecosystem partnerships, leveraging integration partnerships, agencies and thought leadership.
Job: TwentyThree — Strategic Growth & Partnerships · 2016-03 – 2017-01 · 10 mo
Job: TwentyThree — Country Manager · 2012-08 – 2016-03 · 3y 7mo
Job: Jobylon — Country Manager · 2011-02 – 2012-08 · 1y 6mo — Was a part of building the recruitment platform in a cross-functional team, and establishing early stage sales in Sweden and Norway, taking lead in the Norwegian market.
Job: Meltwater — Sales Consultant · 2010-04 – 2011-02 · 10 mo — A deliberate step into sales after my Master's in IT & Change Management — selling a collaboration platform I knew deeply from my thesis work. Hit targets consistently enough to be recruited by the founder into his next venture, Jobylon.
Job: Accenture — Researcher · 2010-05 – 2010-10 · 5 mo — A collaboration on my Master Thesis, "Building Technology for Successful Virtual Communities of Practice".
Job: Holbye Consult — Organizational Development Consultant · 2007-03 – 2010-08 · 3y 5mo — Independent consultancy focused on facilitation for collaboration and innovation. Designed and facilitated workshops for organisations and cross-sector initiatives — including co-facilitating cluster innovation processes for Norwegian Innovation Clusters (NCE & Arena Pro) with Foresight Norway/Mind The Gap, combining Design Thinking (Kaospilot) and foresight methodology.
Job: Teach First Norway — Founder · 2008-10 – 2009-12 · 1y 2mo — Founded the Norwegian chapter of the Teach First model — developed the concept, built the foundational stakeholder relationships, and initiated collaboration between the Department of Education, Equinor, and the University of Oslo. The program continues to operate today.
Job: Telenor DK — Viral Marketing Intern · 2007-10 – 2008-02 · 4 mo — Developed and executed influencer marketing campaigns across sports, beauty and music — onboarding and managing 8 influencers to create content distributed to Djuice's full customer base via early mobile technology (WAP).
School: Wharton Executive Education — Diploma of Education, Leading an AI-Powered Future
School: Lancaster University — MSc, Information Technology Management and Organisational Change Management
School: Kaospilot: International School of New Business Design & Social Innovation — BA Design thinking, Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship, Innovation
School: EXIN Institute for Information Science — Certificate, ITIL
School: Oslo School of Management (MH) — BA, Innovation & change management
School: Université Nice Sophia Antipolis — DAEF, French Economics & Law

Skills

Program ManagementSocial Impact Assessmentimpact managementBusiness CoachingOrganizational ConsultingKommersiell ledelseKunstig intelligensInternasjonalt salgIT Service ManagementLedelseSalgTeamledelseEarly Stage InvestmentReal Estateprop techCoachingArtificial Intelligence (AI)Data AnalysisSoftware as a Service (SaaS)Strategic Business Development

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Madeleine Holbye

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