Gelato featured on McKinsey podcast

“In order to succeed tomorrow, we have to find good solutions today”

Müller-Hansen joined host Khorist Kustani, Helene Margrethe Bøhler from Vind AI, and McKinsey software expert Anders Jørgen Bjørndalen to discuss McKinsey’s recent study of 1000 Nordic software companies. The study suggests that the companies’ revenue can quadruple by 2030 if they continue to grow at the same speed as they are today. But how do we ensure that Norwegian tech companies can maintain that speed, and for the Nordics to become the next Silicon Valley? 

A global mindset fit for scale

Bjørndalen pointed to a trend where more Norwegian companies show a bigger appetite for going global. 

Müller-Hansen shared his thoughts on building and growing the Gelato platform -  a service that today is fueling thousands of global creators and ecommerce stores with local production and distribution of customized products.

“From day one, we never thought just the Nordics to build Gelato, we thought about the global market,” says Müller-Hansen. For more Nordic companies to succeed, he also highlighted the importance of role models: 

“As I was building Gelato, I had role models and other entrepreneurs to help guide me, like Niklas Zennström, the Founder of Skype and the venture capital company Atomico. We have had these role models within sports in Norway, and they are now also starting to emerge within entrepreneurship. That is also why I support and invest in the communities that help enable other Norwegian startups to grow, such as Startup Lab.”

Fostering education to build future global companies 

When asked what is the one decision we have to make today, in order to make the Nordics the Silicon Valley of tomorrow, his recommendation is: 

“I would like for us to build NICE in Oslo - the Norwegian Innovation Center for Entrepreneurship - and attract the best student and teacher talent from Norway and across the world so they together can build the global companies of tomorrow,” he says.