Gelato featured on McKinsey podcast
Founder & CEO Henrik Müller-Hansen joined McKinsey’s podcast “Tomorrow” to discuss how we can foster more innovation and growth in Nordic tech companies
“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.
About Gelato
Gelato is a software company on a mission to redefine global manufacturing for people and the planet. Through its network of 150+ local production partners in 32 countries, Gelato provides the operating system for local manufacturing,
GelatoConnect. It consolidates every element of digital print production into a single platform, driving profitable growth, efficiency and control.
GelatoCreate, empowers creators and ecommerce entrepreneurs to reach customers anywhere in the world without the burden of inventory, upfront costs, or long-haul shipping. Orders are automatically routed to local production hubs, ensuring products are made closer to the end customer, reducing costs, transportation distances, and waste caused by overproduction. The result is a more streamlined supply chain and new way of manufacturing and distributing products—better for people and the planet.
Gelato was founded by CEO Henrik Müller-Hansen in 2007 and consists of GelatoConnect, GelatoCreate, and GelatoConsumer, operating under the Optimalprint brand. Backed by Insight Partners, Dawn Capital, SoftBank, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Gelato is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with 16 offices worldwide, including in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Pakistan, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the UK, the US, and Vietnam.
To learn more about Gelato, visit Gelato.com. For career opportunities, visit Gelato’s careers page.
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