I founded my first company in 1993. I was young, Iceland was just discovering the internet, and the idea of building one of the country's first Internet Service Providers felt like the most exciting thing in the world. Thirty-two years and more than ten companies later, I'm still building — now it's edge data centers for AI processing across five European countries. The excitement hasn't faded, but the lessons have accumulated.
Here's what I've learned.
1. Timing Is Everything (And You Can't Control It)
Islandia Internet succeeded in part because we launched at exactly the right moment — when Iceland was ready for the internet but before the market was saturated. Kerfisþroun, our ERP company, captured 25% of the Icelandic SMB market because we built the right product at the right time for businesses that were digitizing their operations.
But timing works both ways. Some ventures I started were simply too early or entered markets that shifted underneath us. You can have the right team, the right technology, and the right strategy, and still fail because the market isn't ready. The lesson isn't to wait for perfect timing — it's to move fast, stay lean, and be prepared to pivot when the timing doesn't align.
2. Infrastructure Is the Most Durable Business
Looking back across my career, the ventures that created the most lasting value were infrastructure plays. ISPs, data centers, fiber networks, ERP systems — these are the foundations that other businesses build on. They're harder to start, require more capital, and take longer to reach profitability. But once established, they create deep moats and long-term value.
When I founded Datacell in 2009, I wasn't thinking about WikiLeaks or international headlines. I was thinking about the fact that Iceland needed a world-class data center, and that whoever built it would be positioned at the center of the country's digital economy. That thesis proved correct, even if the journey was more dramatic than I'd anticipated.
3. Small Markets Force Creative Thinking
Iceland has a population of roughly 380,000 people. Building a technology company in a market that small forces you to think differently. You can't rely on scale — you have to be creative about business models, efficient about operations, and strategic about when to expand internationally.
Merkurpoint, our Point of Sale company, succeeded by dominating a niche in a small market. The retail expansion project — opening 18 stores across Sweden and Denmark — was about taking Icelandic retail expertise and applying it to larger Nordic markets. Every company I've built has had to grapple with the tension between local depth and international scale.
This constraint has been a gift. It taught me to build lean, think globally from day one, and never assume that a large addressable market will compensate for a weak business model.
4. The Best Partnerships Are Built on Complementary Strengths
I'm a technologist by training — computer science, network architecture, database administration. But my Master's degree in International Business taught me that technology alone doesn't build companies. You need commercial acumen, operational discipline, and the ability to navigate different cultures and regulatory environments.
The best ventures I've been part of were ones where I partnered with people who brought strengths I lacked. At AI Green Bytes, my co-founder and I complement each other in ways that make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. I've learned to be honest about what I'm good at and what I'm not, and to seek out partners who fill those gaps.
5. Adversity Reveals Character (Yours and Your Company's)
The WikiLeaks chapter of my career was the most challenging period I've experienced as an entrepreneur. Having Visa and Mastercard shut down your payment processing, dealing with international media attention, fighting a legal battle that went all the way to Iceland's Supreme Court — these aren't situations any business school prepares you for.
But that experience taught me more about resilience, conviction, and the importance of standing behind your principles than any success ever could. We fought because we believed we were right, and the courts agreed. That experience shaped how I approach every business decision today: with a clear sense of what I'm willing to fight for and what I'm not.
6. The Technology Changes, the Fundamentals Don't
In 1993, the cutting edge was dial-up internet. In 2009, it was data center hosting. In 2026, it's edge AI infrastructure with immersion cooling. The specific technologies change constantly, but the fundamentals of building a successful technology venture remain remarkably stable: solve a real problem, build for the customer (not for the technology), hire people smarter than you, manage cash flow religiously, and never stop learning.
I'm 32 years into this journey, and I'm more energized than ever. The AI revolution is creating opportunities that dwarf anything we've seen before. But the principles that will determine who succeeds and who fails are the same ones that applied when I was stringing network cables in Reykjavik in 1993.
Build something real. Build it well. And don't give up when it gets hard.
