Watch the recording:
Podcast version:
In this SaaS Camp fireside chat, Johanna Småros unpacks the RELEX story – how a small Finnish startup with a PhD founder team bootstrapped its way into global retail giants and kept growing for 66 consecutive quarters. She shares pragmatic insights on scaling the product, organization, and business, including why she’s still motivated nearly 20 years in.
Key takeaways
1. RELEX started as research, not a startup.
The idea grew out of supply chain optimization research that highlighted a gap in forecasting complex product categories (like fresh or seasonal items). The academic route felt too slow to create real-world impact, so the founders decided to build software instead.
2. Every customer was also an R&D project.
For the first years, each new client brought new complexity: electronics, books, car tires, agriculture. That diversity forced flexibility into the product architecture early on – a strategic advantage when scaling.
3. Bootstrapped for 10 years.
RELEX didn’t raise VC funding until 2015, when they needed capital to enter the U.S. market. Before that, growth was fueled by customer revenue and careful expansion. The founders chose learning from paying customers over chasing small seed rounds.
4. Scaling product scope was reactive, not pre-planned.
RELEX moved upstream from store replenishment to distribution, space planning, promotions, and now pricing – all based on identifying friction points and adjacent pain within customers’ operations.
5. The secret to success: SaaS + retention.
The SaaS model gave financial predictability, but customer satisfaction was the real engine. Retention has been strong because the team focused on actually solving problems, not overselling.
“If you just deliver what you promised, customers tend to be happy.”
6. Sales was DIY in the early days.
Johanna herself cold-called Swedish retailers to open their first international market. She later transitioned to marketing –one of many roles she’s held over the years.
7. U.S. expansion? Send a founder.
They sent co-founder Michael to the U.S. for years to lead the expansion and ensure cultural alignment, real-time communication, and operational excellence. Without a founder on-site, Johanna believes the ramp-up would’ve taken far longer.
8. Hiring external execs came late and deliberately.
RELEX only brought in its first external VP in 2019, when scale demanded it. Prior to that, most leaders had grown within the company. Cost, timing, and readiness of internal talent shaped this strategy.
9. Implementation scaled through learning and GenAI.
A major bottleneck remains master data mapping from clients’ ERP systems. But onboarding now leverages e-learning and even RELEX's own GenAI chatbot to support end users. Results have been promising.
10. Partners enabled global expansion.
As customer sizes and complexity grew, Relex could no longer handle implementations alone. Partnerships became critical to scale in new regions like APAC and LATAM.
11. What set RELEX apart from giants? Smart tech bets.
Early decisions to go all-in on SaaS and in-memory computing gave them performance and flexibility that legacy vendors couldn’t match despite their size.
12. Founding values matter more than you think.
Johanna credits their co-founder alignment around “solving problems, not chasing hype or exits” as foundational to the company’s culture and longevity. That mindset attracted similar people and guided decisions over decades.
Top 3 reasons for RELEX’s 66 quarters of growth
- World-class product: thanks to smart early tech decisions and deep domain understanding.
- Happy customers: strong retention and trust built over time.
- Founder alignment and values: long-term focus, not short-term hype.
.jpg)
.jpg)