What am I doing wrong? Why does it feel like everything is tumbling down the very mountains we built?

Is this how scaling should feel? Should it really be this tough?

I can’t quite put my finger on it. And honestly, I’ve probably never written a more brutally honest post. But behind all the successful stories I share on LinkedIn, not every day is an Everest climb without oxygen—some days, it feels more like an avalanche.

Let’s Talk Numbers

We are a team of 50 people.

We have 4,500 hours available each month to work on projects.

Yet, our billable hours barely cross 1,000!?? (you might be wondering how in the living lord of this world are we managing to survive.. yes! You might wonder. And that is a story for another day)

So, where did the other 3,500 hours go?

Now, our business model isn’t solely about selling hours. Over the past few years, we’ve transitioned to a retainer-based/SaaS license model. We still deliver consultancy hours, but our future—our real value—lies in the platforms and applications we build. The agency landscape has changed, and we adapted with it.

But here’s the real question: what has changed?

We are innovators in tech. We push boundaries, build, and disrupt. But the AI revolution has flipped the table.

If you’re running an agency and still think AI won’t impact your business, I hate to break it to you—but it will. If you’re still selling storytelling, basic design, or templated services without evolving, ChatGPT is already doing it better.

Now, AI isn’t replacing everything. But it’s changing how agencies work.

Customers are more informed than ever.

Customers can now do more on their own.

Customers rely on AI to set unrealistic expectations.

We build WordPress projects, and two years ago, customers asked for expert opinions and solutions. Now? They prompt ChatGPT. It tells them, “XYZ needs to be done, and it should take 1-2 hours.” Then they send an RFP, and we estimate 5-6 hours. Cue frustration.

Suddenly, agencies are questioned at every turn.

“I wish you guys were more proactive.”

Well, yes and no. Because two years ago, you were happy with our work. We’ve optimized, streamlined, and pushed harder to stay competitive. But now, AI has made you impatient.

You need to do the things AI can’t do.

If you rely on AI the same way your customers do, what value are you providing?

If your customer gets a solution faster than you can respond, you are slowly making yourself obsolete.

AI can generate code, mockups, and ideas—but it can’t solve real business problems. It can’t understand the nuances of a brand, the intricate logic of a tailored solution, or the depth of a long-term strategy. Customers might think AI is enough, but when things break, they come crawling back.

Is it the agency’s fault that their AI experiment didn’t work? Or that their prompt wasn’t quite right?

At HDL, we embrace AI—but not to mindlessly copy, paste, and prompt. We use it to educate, stay agile, and be proactive. But we never rely on AI to deliver solutions. That’s where our human expertise, creativity, and problem-solving come in.

But Here’s the Catch—You Don’t Want to Pay for That

Because AI can do it for 98% less time, right?

Sure.

AI has made our customers smarter—but it has also made them more impatient, price-driven, and often blind to what real expertise looks like. Some use AI to enhance their business, others to cut corners and push prices down.

Back to My 1,000 Billable Hours

A customer spends 30 hours scoping a project.

We estimate 500+ hours for development.

The customer only considers coding—not meetings, QA, testing, emails, or project management.

If we add those hours, they start panicking.

They want our expertise—but they want it squeezed into a fixed price, AI-generated expectation.

And when we mention 100+ hours, it’s suddenly a backward hallelujah moment.

Honestly, I don’t know. I just needed to get this out of my head.

But if you’re running an agency, scaling, and feeling like you’re in an uphill battle with customer expectations………. you’re not alone.

Adapt. Innovate. Stay ahead of AI. And never undervalue the real expertise that only humans can bring to the table.

AND NO – I did not ask chatgpt to write this for me, it my own words, my own structure. But i did user the AI function in grammerly to help me with my spelling and grammer as a i personally have a touch of Dyslexia!

HEY, look! I said it


Enjoy!

In less than a week, I get to meet some truly fantastic people. But as exciting as travel is, it’s also tough—especially when I have to leave behind my two kids, who, if they could, would glue themselves to me 24/7 (which I absolutely love to the core).

But as they say, the show must go on.

One day, I hope my kids will look back and say, “Remember when Dad did X & Y?” and see the bigger picture—how every late night, every decision, and every step forward wasn’t just for me, but also for them. Every parent wants the best for their kids, but there are only two people in this world I truly want to see surpass me in every way possible.

Still, life at home doesn’t completely pause. It just shifts. Because just as my kids need love, attention, and guidance, so does the incredible team I work with every day. Leadership, in many ways, mirrors parenthood—it’s about showing up, making tough calls, and investing in people so they can grow into the best version of themselves.

Looking back, 2024 was the year of deep reflection—about the people I work with and the people who work for us. And so far, 2025 has proven that the decisions we made were the right ones, positioning us exactly where we need to be.

But let’s be real—running a business in Sweden? Hands down, one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. And that’s without even trying to do it anywhere else. BUT I F€hashtag#IN& LOVE IT

Heres to Moving forward. Taking on new challenges. And making it all count.

🤝

In just under three weeks, my intensive 1.5-month tour kicks off!

This is the most exciting time of the year for me—a chance to meet every single member of our rockstar team. It’s a time to look each person in the eyes, thank them for their hard work, build stronger bonds, let off some steam, and find renewed motivation together.

Being a CEO is just a title. Behind the scenes, a CEO wears many hats. I’m the mechanic, the carpenter, the painter, the cleaner—but also the one trusted to lead our ventures, drive new client acquisitions, shape product development, refine pricing models, and set the business plan.

But at the core of it all, I do this for my team. There’s so much trust in these roles, and I know the weight of every decision I make. Each one can either take us soaring to new heights or lead us into a dark hole. It’s a big responsibility, but it’s what makes this journey so fulfilling.

These 1.5 months of travel, events, meetings, and innovation fuel me for the entire year!

The itinerary is jam-packed:

– First stop: Nepal, where it all begins.

– Then back to Sweden to gear up for D-Congress, where we’ll have a strong presence.

– Four members of our Nepal team will join us in Sweden, and one team member will fly in from Spain to Gothenburg, where we’ll connect with clients, customers, and partners.

– Afterward, it’s back to Helsingborg to wrap up the trip, align our goals, and set our compass for the next three quarters.

But the momentum doesn’t stop there!

In May, we have more events lined up, including a special one in Helsingborg just before summer.
And in November, team members from Nepal and Sweden will head to Portugal for Web Summit, where we’ll host our first international HDL event—a special gathering for our Nordic partners and friends.

Our strategy is simple: transparency and connection.

We want the world to see what’s happening behind the scenes, to showcase the culture and the incredible people driving everything we do.

Together, we move mountains. And we’re committed to making a lasting impact.

Here’s to an exciting few months ahead!

I have this (probably terrible) habit of working until 2-3 AM, cracking a Celsius at 8 PM like it’s my lifeline, waking up at 6:30 AM to get the kids ready and shipped off to school—and then racing to my local McDonald’s for a Mighty McMuffin and a juice box.

Now here’s the thing. No matter how hard I try, my McDonald’s drive-thru order is never correct. I ask for six chicken nuggets with spicy chili dip. I repeat it. They repeat it back. Somewhere between the speaker, the kitchen, and the bag they hand me, my order gets lost. I end up with curry dip, no dip, or fries I didn’t even order.

At this point, I’m questioning my life choices:

Am I that bad at explaining myself?

Or are basic orders just too complicated for the system?

This gets me thinking about what I do every day—working with people, managing projects, and delivering results.

Here’s how my world works:

A Swedish-speaking client sends us feedback.

Our Project Manager translates it to English.

It’s passed on to our Local/Nepali counterpart, who discusses it in Nepali with our developers.

The developers, working in Nepali and English with a splash of Swedish, get it done.

And somehow, it works. Most of the time, anyway.

But then I compare this process—managing multilingual teams across time zones—to the simple task of ordering nuggets!!!!

Why does picking the correct dip sometimes feel more challenging than managing developers? Why does one require so much effort to get the dip right, while the other usually works?

The truth is, communication is tough—whether you’re in a McDonald’s drive-thru or managing a complex project.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: Whether you’re flipping burgers or coding software, success depends on understanding, clarity, and (probably) some patience.

Now, what do you think? Is it me, or does everyone have a McDonald’s moment where communication just falls apart?

Getting back home from Web Summit was both a relief and a harsh reality check. I landed in Copenhagen with a mountain of motivation, but during the flight, I found myself reflecting while listening to a “Persuasive Sales” masterclass. It struck me that success—what we all chase so fiercely—has another side, one we don’t often talk about.

Like many entrepreneurs, I’ve always shared the positive side: growth milestones, new achievements, and the shiny moments. Rarely do I let people into the harder parts of my journey—what the bottom of the bungee jump looks like before you’re slingshotted back up.

One of the most impactful moments at Web Summit wasn’t the headline speakers but a small startup roundtable.

A founder opened up about being stuck—99 rejections, no funding, no path forward. He used his last money to attend Web Summit, looking for advice and ways to pivot. It was raw, honest, and deeply relatable. That openness—acknowledging the struggle—was a reminder of how often entrepreneurship feels like you’re hitting rock bottom before finding a way up. (Its not just hitting its going trough with the full force of gravity).

For me, Web Summit is a testing ground—not just for businesses, but for entrepreneurs themselves. It’s where you’re forced to look inward, to question your decisions, and to confront both your strengths and your weaknesses.

My last blog talked about my Web Summit journey from 2019 to 2024, highlighting the wins and growth. But let me pull back the curtain: running a business is a never-ending series of bungee jumps. The leap is exhilarating, but the fall can be terrifying. And just when you think you’re about to hit rock bottom, the slingshot of success propels you upward—only for it to happen again and again, magnified over years.

Entrepreneurs often hear about mental health, work-life balance, and taking time for yourself. It’s a lovely theory, but for most of us, it’s just that—a theory. The reality? You eat, sleep, and breathe your business. You are your business. Work-life balance? Forget it. Mental health? It’s a constant fight. And yet, it’s this relentless focus that drives innovation and success.

At Web Summit, I noticed a pattern: day one was highly motivating, but by day two, I felt disoriented. Session after session, speaker after speaker, I kept wondering why their stories felt familiar. Was I ahead of the curve? Or was I behind? Why wasn’t I on stage sharing my journey? Despite our success, that nagging voice questioning every decision I’ve ever made was louder than ever.

Yes, I’ve made decisions that make me shake my head in hindsight. But I’ve also had moments of clarity where everything falls into place, like divine intervention.

Returning from Web Summit felt like hitting a wall. Motivation aside, reality came crashing down: client demands, production challenges, internal projects, finances, legal, HR—you name it. My first week (or, to be honest, 2 days in) was a jampacked marathon of catching up, a sharp contrast to the inspiration of the Summit.

This is the reality of being a tech CEO. One moment, you’re at the forefront of innovation, energised and visionary. The next, you’re knee-deep in the grind, battling the endless to-do list. It’s exhausting, but it’s also the price of building something meaningful.

Web Summit reminded me of two truths. First, success is built not just on motivation but on the willingness to face the lows with resilience. Second, every leap—no matter how terrifying the fall—brings lessons that propel you higher the next time.

For anyone navigating their own bungee-jump journey, remember: the slingshot moment is coming. It’s the grind in between that makes it all worthwhile.

Stay bold. Keep innovating. And as I learnt at Web Summit, never be afraid to share the other side of the story. It’s where the real growth happens.

What a day at Web Summit! It’s thrilling to be back since 2019.

Let me give you a quick history of everything that’s happened since then.

Back in 2019, I got invited to a blockchain project, packed my bags, and flew to Web Summit—an absolute novice in “tech to investor relations.” I thought, Hey, I’ve got a great idea. Let’s find people who want to invest. I poured hours, endless nights, into pitch decks, shaping what was, at that time, just a concept on a whiteboard. I arrived at Web Summit, hustling hard to secure meetings, connect with people, but all I heard was, “Cool idea, but we only invest in 10 million currency deals.” Cue frustration. So, I switched focus, trying to leverage a 16-stage event with over 70,000 people—it was overwhelming.

We even built a VR experience to explain our insanely complex product, thinking it could change the world (and I still believe it could, but that’s a story for another day). A year later, I finally secured an investor. Ironically, it was during one of my worst pitches ever—but that pitch took us public, so maybe it wasn’t so bad.

Fast forward: we secured pre-seed funding, got to Pre-Beta, then went through more funding rounds, a merger, and eventually, we were public on the Spotlight stock market. Proud moment? Absolutely. But taking an early-stage company public? That’s 99 ways to kill yourself and your company. Yet, through all that, I came away with a deeper understanding of what we call “business.”

Business is nuanced. It’s a mix of crucial ingredients and a margin for error that I like to call my Happy Spot. This is where I push my company, my team, and myself. We either crash into bankruptcy or we flourish in a golden shower of cash. I’ve experienced both. And let me tell you, the cash flow lasts about half a second—then it’s back to being five minutes from the edge. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Moving from CTO to board member, then largest investor, CEO, and finally selling all my shares and stepping away from public CEO roles. People asked why I’d walk away from being a public CEO. The truth is, the board didn’t align with my vision; climbing that mountain again and again was exhausting. They couldn’t see what I was building, and it drained me. So, I said goodbye and doubled down on my private companies.

Side by side with my public role, i have been innovating in my other businesses, focusing heavily on building our SaaS applications. Leaving the public sector was the best decision for me and my teams.

Fast forward to 2023—one of the hardest yet most rewarding years. We broke the 10+ million revenue barrier and aimed for the sky. We transformed Kepler from a basic WordPress host with a cool dashboard into a powerhouse in the Nordic cloud hosting market, launching our own Kepler Cloud. Our e-commerce platform now handles over 900+ million SEK in transactions. We’ve launched multiple micro-SaaS products slated for market in Q1 2025. We’re building a SaaS powerhouse, and it’s just the beginning.

In 2024, our focus is all about scaling up, commercialising our products, and pushing them to the next level—which brings me to Web Summit.

Now that you’re up to speed (with a small fraction of the story), here’s the highlight reel from Day 1 at Web Summit 2024.

I dove into sessions designed to challenge perspectives and ignite growth. I’m in a phase where I’m devouring business books, taking masterclasses, and talking to top leaders. Day 1 at Web Summit was my testing ground.

“Move fast, break things”—a classic mantra, but one that doesn’t always fit. For structured, well-oiled machines, maybe not. But for chaotic, high-speed startups like mine? It’s our fuel. Innovating at this pace means reverse-engineering competitors, rebuilding broken processes, and moving fast, even if it puts us in the line of fire. Our clients know our approach, and those who join us believe in our tech-first culture. That’s what sets us apart.

Is content still king? Time to rethink what’s driving real engagement and loyalty. Content is crucial, but I’m not just talking written words. We’re creating for algorithms, for people, and for our clients. Internally and externally, we’re ramping up not just written content but video and imagery. While top leaders talked about this at the Summit, I realised we’ve been doing it all along, and that reaffirmed: I’m on the frontlines of tech. Maybe not big and mighty—yet—but hopefully, I’ll be speaking on the 2030 Web Summit stage!

Decoding the Unicorn Code—this session spoke to me. I’ve always dreamt of building a unicorn, and with our SaaS powerhouse and the complexity of our business model, I see a clear path to 100 million SEK in the next three years. It’s bold, it’s ambitious, and it’s achievable (but hey, don’t hold me to Elon Musk standards).

Building the social commerce engine was all about leveraging community-driven growth. It validated our approach and gave me insights for the future. We’re building an e-commerce platform that needs to be storm-ready—whether that storm hits in one year or ten.

The Growth Startup CEOs Meetup was inspiring. I had the chance to talk to 10+ CEOs, asking them what they’d do differently to 10X their growth. Few had a clear answer—it was eye-opening. Most don’t fully know how they got where they are, let alone how to scale it, and that was a huge takeaway for me.

Each session sparked new ideas to evolve our operations, tackle challenges, and bring fresh, innovative thinking to my team. 💡

So here we are: Web Summit 2019 took me to being a public CEO/Board Member; Web Summit 2024 is setting me up to hit 100 million KR in three years. Can it really be this good?

@WebSummit—let me share this journey. I believe I can inspire people with my story. Can I be a speaker for the 2025 Edition? #MakeMyDream

Stay tuned!