🏆Yellow Elk Sweeps All Three Awards at Konsultkollen 2025

With strong growth in both revenue and number of employees – and with impressive profitability on top of that – Yellow Elk is the only company to sweep all three awards in this year’s Konsultkollen: Fastest-Growing in Revenue, Fastest-Growing in Employees, and Profit Powerhouse.

In an interview with Cinode, founder and CEO Rikard “Bibo” Granqvist shares the strategy behind their growth, how they manage to preserve their culture during a rapid expansion phase, and why they recently brought in investors and acquired Bizware to take the next step in the company’s journey.

When Rikard talks about Yellow Elk’s journey, he does so with the same energy that has defined the company since it was founded in 2018. Even the story behind the company name says a lot about the culture.

– We were originally going to be called Nordic BI, but the name was already taken. Then we considered House of BI, but that was taken too. Finally, our co-founder Vegard said: ‘Then we must be called Yellow Elk – that one must be available!’ A Nordic animal and a Swedish color – it sounded unexpected and fun right away, he says.

The logo also has a special story. After initially starting out with a Google-style logo, one of the consultants redesigned it on their own initiative.

– It comes from within; no agency has been involved. That says something about our culture.

Combining Growth and Profitability

Yellow Elk has cracked the code that many consulting firms struggle with – growing fast while staying profitable. Rikard calls it their “secret sauce,” made up of several key ingredients:

The hub structure: The company grows by opening new hubs with distributed leadership and entrepreneur-driven expansion. Today, Yellow Elk is represented in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Linköping, Örebro, Malmö, Umeå, and Karlstad.
– We give the leaders the tools they need to grow. They have the brand, the culture, and our way of treating each other. But we’ve also set a limit – no hub is allowed to grow so large that it loses its family-like culture, Rikard explains.

Everyone is a shareholder: Unlike many other companies that rely on option programs, all employees buy into the company directly.
– You don’t need to have been employed for a year or two. As soon as the opportunity is offered, everyone becomes a shareholder. This is a journey we’re taking together.

The salary model: Consultants decide for themselves how much they want to work and are paid a percentage of their billings.
– The only requirement is excellent communication with the client. Some of our employees work 80 percent, and since we only recruit experts, customers often appreciate getting a senior resource at 80 percent rather than no resource at all.

Less Than One Percent Employee Turnover

When the company was founded, the goal was “modest” – to build the best company ever for consultants. How do they measure success? Employee retention.
– If our employees are happy, it shows in low turnover. Right now, we’re averaging less than one percent per year – that’s just seven or eight people in almost eight years, Rikard says.

The secret lies in three core values that permeate everything:

Freedom: By managing their time and earnings, consultants gain indirect control over their lives.

Friendship: An explicit value that Yellow Elk believes sets them apart.
– Our belief is that people prefer to get help from someone they actually know. That’s why we’ve held ‘salary arrows’ every month in all hubs since January 2018. Whether it’s go-karting, bowling, or enjoying a good meal together, participation is incredibly high, Rikard explains.

And then there are hugs. More than one might expect at a consulting firm. At Yellow Elk, meeting with warmth – both figuratively and literally – is a given.

Engagement: Both towards clients and internally, where everyone is expected to contribute in some way.

The Next Phase of the Journey

After proving that their model works, they brought in investors earlier this year. The choice fell on Intera.
– We’re curious to see if we can scale faster and establish ourselves abroad. For that, we need capital, knowledge about growing in other countries, and new networks, Rikard explains.

The first step was the acquisition of Bizware, a company Rikard had been following and “borrowing ideas” from since the beginning.
– It was a dream acquisition. We complement each other extremely well geographically – they are strong in Stockholm, where we were too small, while we have networks across the country that they lacked. And the culture is almost identical. We even got into the details, like the fact that they send newsletters every week while we do it every other week.

A Nordic Powerhouse in AI and Analytics

The vision for the next five years is clear: to build a Nordic powerhouse in data analytics and AI. Yellow Elk already has an internal AI initiative with the mantra, “AI should become your buddy in everything you do.”

– AI frees up time for truly value-creating work. We embrace the wave and try both to ride it and drive it forward, Rikard says.

Focusing on data analytics and AI has been crucial for maintaining relevance with clients, especially during tougher times.
– By staying focused, we’ve remained relevant to our clients. When they aim to drive growth through analytics and AI, we’re there.

Lessons from Past Journeys

Rikard brings valuable experience from previous ventures. His first company grew from three to over a thousand employees in 4.5 years and was listed on the stock exchange, but the expansion also happened too quickly.
–We didn’t have time to establish our culture. There wasn’t time to define why we exist and who we are. That partly explains why everything collapsed after the IT crash.

That lesson has shaped Yellow Elk from the start – culture first, growth second. And with employee turnover under one percent, growing revenue, and sustained profitability, the formula seems to be working.

When Rikard leaves the interview, it is with the same energy he arrived with. Yellow Elk may be a triple winner in Konsultkollen, but the journey has only just begun.