Ulf Arnetz talks with Jason Barnard about establishing solutions-driven companies.

Ulf Arnetz is the founder and chairman of Howwe Technologies, a unique solution for executives to bridge the gap between strategy and execution. He is a Swedish entrepreneur who developed a software solution for CEOs.

Jason Barnard and Ulf Arnetz discuss the challenge of maintaining quality and competitive advantage as their companies grow. Ulf also emphasizes that maintaining quality involves keeping the product narrowly focused on solving a specific business problem.

Jason and Ulf also discuss the challenges of delegating problem-solving responsibilities and the necessity of clear communication and alignment within teams. This episode provides founders and executives like you with the key insights you need to handle constant change and build solutions that truly last.

What you’ll learn from Ulf Arnetz

00:00 Ulf Arnetz and Jason Barnard

01:06 What Did Jason Barnard Highlight in Ulf Arnetz’s Google Knowledge Panel?

01:29 What Did Jason Barnard Focus On in Ulf Arnetz’s ChatGPT Results?

01:49 What Misidentification Did Jason Barnard Discover in Ulf Arnetz’s Google Learn About Results?

02:25 How Should a Leader Feel About AI Shaping Their Digital Presence?

02:54 What Problem Does Howwe Technologies Aim to Solve for Businesses?

03:28 Who Are the Main Users That Will Use the Software Designed by Ulf Arnetz?

06:00 What Motivated Ulf Arnetz to Focus On Improving Execution Within Companies?

07:27 How Do Business Leaders Build Sustainable Advantage in Today’s Fast-Moving AI-Driven Market?

07:50 Why Do Most Applications Fail to Solve Actual Business Problems for Users?

08:17 How Can Your Company Secure Lasting Advantage When Filling Market Gaps?

08:55 How Can You Maintain Quality as Your Team and Software Scale with Growth?

10:36 What Are the Ways Companies Can Maintain Quality as Their Teams Grow?

10:52 What Role Does AI Play in Improving Work Quality in Mid-Size or Large Companies?

12:18 How Can You Explain or Present Your Innovative Solution to CEOs Who Don’t Yet Realize They Need It?

13:46 How Can You Delegate Problem-Solving Responsibilities to Your Team Without Losing Your Vision?

15:11 Why is it Important to Stay Focused on Solving One Problem Instead of Trying to Solve Many?

15:16 Why Aren’t Excel and Monday.com Ideal for Solving CEOs’ Execution Challenges?

16:39 What Happened When Jason Tried to Release Kalicube Pro as a SaaS Product?

17:34 Why Does Ulf Call It Micro Delegation When Guiding the Team to Stay Focused and Involved?

18:35 How Can You Build Systems That Keep the Team Aligned While Allowing Freedom and Accountability?

This episode was recorded live on video March 11th 2025

https://youtube.com/live/hbXHp98ZjFs

Links to pieces of content relevant to this topic:https://www.howwe.io/blog/ulf-arnetz-entrepreneur-making-history/https://www.howwe.io/insights/unfreezing-the-middle-to-accelerate-growth/Ulf Arnetz

Transcript from Establishing Solutions-Driven Companies - Fastlane Founders with Ulf Arnetz

[00:00:00] Narrator: Fastlane Founders and Legacy with Jason Barnard. Each week, Jason sits down with successful entrepreneurs, CEOs and executives, and get them to share how they mastered the delicate balance between rapid growth and enduring success in the business world. How can we quickly build a profitable business that stands a test of time and becomes our legacy.

A legacy we're proud of. Fastlane Founders and Legacy with Jason Barnard. 

[00:00:31] Jason Barnard: Hi everybody and welcome to another Fastlane Founders and Legacy. I'm Jason Barnard and a quick hello and we're good to go. Welcome to the show, Ulf Arnetz.

[00:00:40] Ulf Arnetz: Thank you, Jason. 

[00:00:45] Jason Barnard: Brilliant, wonderful. Delightful to have you here. We're gonna be talking about Establishing Solutions-Driven Companies.

I believe Kalicube is a solutions-driven company, but just by reading your bio and the description of the episode, I realize we're not hitting outta the park like I thought we were and you're gonna help me . Before we do that, really quickly, I'm gonna show you your, presence in search and AI. That's your Knowledge Panel.

Looks really good. you look like a superstar. 

[00:01:13] Ulf Arnetz: I am. 

[00:01:13] Jason Barnard: Your digital footprint is super well organized. 

[00:01:16] Ulf Arnetz: What you have put together there makes me very proud. 

[00:01:20] Jason Barnard: Yeah. that's Google putting it together, that's automatic by Google. More and more people are looking like this, and that's what we do at Kalicube. We make people look like this.

If they don't yet look like this, so obviously you don't need us. Then I look you up and ChatGPT, which now uses search results and we see that it's using your website as the source of information for a lot of what it's showing. And this is ChatGPT that used to just site from memory. Now it uses Bing search results.

So mastering Bing and Google is name necessary. And this is the really interesting one for me. This is Google Learn About, which a lot of people haven't seen. it's gonna kill ChatGPT or it's going to be the next stage where it mixes together Google search results. it's Gemini model and the Knowledge Graph.

And unfortunately here, it's misunderstood who you are. there's a professor who dominates here. So I couldn't get it to tell me about you without being specifically, asking about you and your company of how. So you're doing a great job. The next stage is gonna be AI. How do you feel about that?

[00:02:25] Ulf Arnetz: Oh, I feel, excited actually. I'm a little bit scared as well, but based on what my software or company's doing, AI is really . It's great for us. It helps us, to do more business and it helps us a lot when it comes to the product development. So we're using AI a lot. 

[00:02:50] Jason Barnard: Tell me a little bit about your company then.

[00:02:54] Ulf Arnetz: To tell you about our company, I have to tell you about the, business problem a little bit. And maybe I should start with my background. So I'm a Swedish entrepreneur. I start software companies in Sweden solving a business problem that hasn't been solved before. So 10 years ago I saw that it was a lot of strategies or plans done.

Either by the company or McKinsey or other consultants. But the execution was really bad because, I wanted to develop a software, solving this business problem. When it comes to execution, it was a software for the CEO. It could be also for the COO or CFO. So when you have a plan, you have decided that we need to do a small shift than you as a CEO.

Needs to get the whole organization aligned and focused on whatever you need to do. 

[00:03:49] Jason Barnard: there's a huge failure rate, I think you said. 

[00:03:52] Ulf Arnetz: Sorry. 

[00:03:53] Jason Barnard: There's a huge failure rate of those pivots. 

[00:03:55] Ulf Arnetz: Yes, exactly. So, we develop a software which helps the CEO with strategy, execution, and transformation. And it's absolutely how, to get down to managers and all employees. And what have happened since then is just an explosion especially the last couple of years. So the disruption after COVID and based on, that the world have changed, the business world have changed a lot. So the disruption, the impacts from the market or from competitors or, A lot of, bad things happening in the world right now, that disruption is about, has an impact on companies. It's about $4 trillion, needed in transformation. So nothing is bigger for the companies right now that this transformation need. And in the same time. AI is coming in a rapid speed with about $3 trillion per year, right?

So if you're the CEO on the top of this company, and you had the problems, we have solved our customers before when it comes to strategy, execution, or transformation, that was before down maybe every fifth year, every 10th year, right? But now you have an environment where the CEO needs to do a lot of things based on

AI driven business models or, this type of disruption. and our product is very much making sure that the CEO could get those changes done in a constant way. So it's about constant or continuous transformation in the company. That's what we are working with. 

[00:05:46] Jason Barnard: Because right now transformation is happening and it's very much an ongoing process.

Whereas before it would be every five or six years. Now it's ongoing. And so have you lucked in or did you plan this? 

[00:06:00] Ulf Arnetz: I planned that. companies must much, must be. Become much, much better in execution. So that was my plan for being honest. And I saw that the CEO was driving the digitalization of the whole company was still using new computer or maybe Excel.

but, I didn't see that this transformation the AI, was coming so fast. Of course not when I started the company 10 years ago. And, so I saw, the need for the CEO and the CEO needs to change and McKinsey, for example, which are doing a lot for boards and executives. They start to talk about the need for change from, for CEOs, just a year ago. And that helps us a lot, of course. 

[00:06:55] Jason Barnard: Okay, brilliant. we've actually got quite a lot in common 'cause I started Kalicube exactly 10 years ago and I've found a gap in the market and I've solved that problem. And AI is helping us because the demand is gonna get bigger and bigger as people realize that their representation on AI is going to be key to their current business, to their career, and to their legacy.

Now, we'll assume somebody's found a gap in the market. They built their company, how do we manage to create that sustainable competitive advantage because everyone else is gonna start copying us ? 

[00:07:27] Ulf Arnetz: Yes. I think that it's very,