Month: April 2025

Breakit usually covers the Swedish startup ecosystem. But ahead of their Exit Forum event (I assume) they’re sharing the story about their own exit to Bonnier. A good read, as it should be written by two journalists, but only for Breakit Premium subscribers at this time. It is a good story, especially for entrepreneurs.

• Breakit gör unik satsning – följ med bakom kulisserna på vår exit-resa
• Dubbelspel, miljardärer och en kniv i ryggen – här är min ocensurerade story om Breakit
• Värsta skitåret i min karriär – tårarna föll och firman blödde
• Från bardisken till katastrofen i slutförhandlingen – nu avslöjar Breakit-grundaren spelet bakom sin exit
• Årets mest självgoda analys – därför blev Breakit en succé

Elad Gil has a good post called Market Ending Moves.

Building a startup into a big company is difficult and getting a strong team that can build and sell a great product is always required. However, sometimes there are moves that can significant accelerate development.

For founders and boards it is well worth thinking about those too, to become the last startup in a sector (to paraphrase Peter Thiel).

Hiten Shah: ”You’re not building a startup. You’re building the version of you that can survive one.

That means making decisions with half the data. Keeping morale up when yours is gone. Holding the line when everything feels shaky.

It’s not about being fearless. It’s about showing up when you’re full of doubt.

It’s not about having a plan. It’s about moving when the plan falls apart.

First-time founder doesn’t mean first-time pressure. It means first-time accountability when it’s all on you.

And still you keep going. That’s what makes you real. Not traction. Not funding. Not followers.

Just the ability to stay in it. Long enough to become undeniable.”

The problem is that you might keep on going for a long time when your startup is just not really working instead of becoming undeniable.

I find it nearly impossible to keep up with the rollout of the US’s new tariffs. But regardless of the day-to-day details, we should all be adapting to the broader shift: a less globalized world in terms of trade, and the rise of regional manufacturing and supply chains.

For Sweden and other European countries, there is no true resilience without the ability to manufacture and distribute essential products. Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have made that painfully clear.

Building production capacity will require significant investments in companies and real assets, which is quite different from buying treasury bonds or trading shares on the stock market.

Politico is reporting that EU’s GDPR privacy regulation will be cut back and streamlined. This would be very good news in itself as poor regulation like GDPR is an expensive ‘tax’ and it is also a promising sign that the European Commission is serious about cutting down on poor regulation.

In a complex and chaotic world it is important to remember how interconnected technology development, regulations, economic growth, pension systems, tariffs, security, and the welfare state are. Adjusting GDPR to make it less harmful will help drive economic growth which, will allow us to pay for more important things.