Twingly – Social Data with Passion

 

Today we make it public that, after six years on duty, I’ve made the decision to replace myself as the CEO of Twingly. Effective as of now, I no longer work on a day-to-day basis at Twingly. I remain as shareholder and will take a seat on the board of directors.

While recruiting Peter as our new CEO we also made the decision to elect Niclas Heurlin as Chairman of the Board. He has been on our board for several years and contributed a lot to our success. Together, the CEO and the chairman have very defining roles and it will be great to see how far they can take Twingly with the help of our great team.

I believe in intuition, the importance of taking your gut feeling into account when making decisions. Intuition is often thought of as something that comes to you in an instant. But life altering decisions are rarely made in an instant, and they shouldn’t be. You need to feel out the consequences of a decision over some time, sort of trying it out to see if it fits.

In big decisions I believe intuition is as important as in smaller ones. But it’s a different kind if intuition, that grows on you instead of appearing in a flash. These are the gut feelings that are really important to pay attention to. Otherwise you end up living a life that’s not what you want it to be. In the most literal sense, life is far too short to spend on anything else than fulfilling your dreams.

Last year I realized I felt uneasy from being too safe and not learning as much every day as I want to. I thrive in uncertainty. I’m an entrepreneur because I love the unknown, and Twingly is today a profitable and predictable business. We have accomplished a lot, even acquiring Bloggportalen.se which was our biggest competitor when we started up in 2006. The feeling of accomplishment is a big part of why I need to do something else: It’s time to take on a great challenge again.

Since the opportunity seldom arises I want to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone that has been part of my journey at Twingly. Everything I have accomplished at Twingly has been thanks to the best co-founders in the world; Björn, Nicke and Figge. The best team I have ever worked with; Anton, Pontus, Oskar, Jörgen, Mattias, Hugo, Anja, Kristoffer, Marcus, Annie and Charlotta. A great Board of Directors; Lars, Björn J and Niclas H. And the best supporters and advisors imaginable; all the people of the Swedish social media sphere, Bubblan.

There are a few people I especially want to mention that have helped define Twingly from the outside. Per-Åke Olsson, who opened the door for Twingly at Dagens Nyheter, our first customer. Joakim Jardenberg, the archangel of Swedish media, who has always been supportive but also never held back on due criticism. Emanuel Karlsten, who is a never tiring lighthouse in Swedish journalism. Matti Palm and Åsa Melin-Mandre, who helped shape the Twingly brand more than anyone else. And Sandra Källström, my wife and better half without whom I would never have made it to where I am.

Actively turning the page into a new chapter of my life allows me to get back to what I do best, dealing with uncertainty. At the birth of a new company everything is unknown and every day is an opportunity to learn something new. And a new opportunity to conquer the world.

With love,
Martin Källström