From Noob to SaaS Powerhouse? – My Web Summit Day 1 (And some history)
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!
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!