Events, News

My Startup Wins People’s Choice Award at Nordic Startup Awards 2012 Norway!

W00t!

Yesterday I was in Oslo, Norway for the national Nordic Startup Awards where our startup Gauss – The People Magnet were nominated in three categories; Best Bootstrapper, Best International and People’s Choice.

I was amazed and humbled to take home your award, the People’s Choice Award. It means a lot to us to know that there is a lot of people like you out there who believes in us and find what we do meaningful. It keeps us going! Thank you so much!

So see you in the Nordic Startup Awards grand finals in Copenhagen, December 7th!

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Events, News, startup

I need your VOTES!

Our startup Gauss – The People Magnet (@getGauss) has been nominated for Nordic Startup Awards in no less than three categories: Bootstrapper, International and Startup of the Year! Wow! We’re humbled and amazed! Now I need your help by voting *every single day* until October 27th and spread and share the good word all over them Internets.

To vote, simply go to http://startupawards.co/startup/193, scroll down to below the video and click one of the “Vote” buttons with orange text below left – every day (new vote each 24h for you) for the next week.

Be advised that “liking” the page is not the same as voting for us, so make sure to hit those “Vote” buttons in orange *once every day* – and then return and “like” the page too for extra karma points! :) The red circle below shows where the “vote” buttons are located.

And then for more bonus karma points, remember to click the “like” button on the voting page *in addition* to voting. :)

You can additionally help by retweeting this tweet:

Thank you!

About The Nordic Startup Awards:

An Award show like none before, Nordic Startup Awards is a series of events that happen throughout the region in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden to recognize and celebrate the startup eco-system based in the Nordics. All of the events will lead to a grand finale in Copenhagen in December 2012 to crown the startup kings and queens of the Nordic region.

The main purpose behind the event is to consolidate the Nordic startup scene and place Scandinavian startup ecosystem on the map as a leading center for innovation in Europe, against London and Berlin. We all know we do things here a little different. And probably a little better than others. This is an opportunity to show the rest of the world how vibrant our community is and how successful Scandinavian startup genome is.

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Lessons Learned, News

In loving memory of my uncle, Torodd Olsen

The night before Christmas 24.12.2008 I lost my only uncle by blood – Torodd Olsen (52) – in an utterly horrible and utterly tragic accident.

Flowers where the car hit the wooden curb…

My uncle was the role model and inspiration in my professional life – Highly accomplished and highly respected in his field.

It’s of little or no comfort that I at least got to tell him that before it was too late.

Contrary to my uncle’s humble beliefs, he will never be forgotten. He will be loved and missed forever.

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Rants, Social

So, where are you from?

I hail from the southern most town (no, I didn’t write it and I wonder why there’s nothing about the imense drug problems there) of Norway called Mandal. It’s a tiny little place internationally speaking with its ca. 14.000 inhabitants. Like many other people growing up in tiny places I moved out as soon as I could. That was 13 years ago. Much has happened since then and I currently find myself living in Cologne, Germany.

For those of you who may not know, Mandal is a coastal town, surrounded by beaches, small islands and the ocean. Growing up and living a five minutes walk from the coastline, I fell in love with the ocean at an early age. (For those of you who may not know, Cologne is like 200 Km from the (Dutch) coast). I do travel back to Mandal once a year to see family and friends, but from time to time I find myself missing the beaches, the islands and the ocean – even just the smell of it all.

As I find myself going through the images I shot of the coastline visiting Mandal last Christmas, the thought occurs to me that you too may have left somewhere. That you too may be missing some aspects of what you left behind. I thought I’d share what I’m missing by posting the images on flickr and invite you to have a look.

I would be thrilled to know what you’re missing by sharing your story – perhaps even with links to images – in the comments!

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