In this episode of The Northbound Show, host Ken Villum Klausen sits down with Fredrik Hjelm, co-founder and CEO of Voi — and, as Ken puts it, if not the king of Swedish tech, then at least its crown prince.

The two go deep on the question Ken keeps circling back to: why is Sweden exploding right now, and can Stockholm really become Europe's Silicon Valley? Fredrik makes the case that it all starts with culture — a builder mindset that runs from Sweden's industrial past through Skype, Spotify, and Klarna to today's wave of AI companies — backed by network density, risk-willing capital, and a healthier relationship with both success and failure.

Along the way, Fredrik unpacks how Voi became one of the only scaled micro-mobility companies to make it through the brutal "scooter wars" without restructuring, bankruptcy, or wiping out its cap table — and why focus, frugality, and discipline are the boring details that compound. He also opens up about Pit, his new venture turning human business operations into digital labor, freshly backed by a $16M round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Plus a running campaign to reinstate the Kalmar Union.

🎙️ Why The Northbound Show?
Hosted by Ken Villum Klausen, CEO & founder of Lunar, The Northbound Show brings together Nordic founders and leaders for long-form conversations about how small nations consistently build companies with outsized global impact. Because the Nordics' greatest export isn't a product. It's a mindset.

This episode is powered by Lunar.

In this episode of The Northbound Show, host Ken Villum Klausen sits down with Oscar Höglund, co-founder of Epidemic Sound and Sander Janca-Jensen, co-founder of Flatpay.

After 18 years building Epidemic Sound into a company that soundtracks the internet, Oscar Höglund made one of the hardest calls a founder can make — stepping back. Sander is in a different chapter entirely, heads down building Flatpay toward 100,000 customers and on the verge of opening a new market outside of Europe.

Together, they go deep on the Nordic founder mindset, talking about why consensus isn't weakness, why under-promising and over-delivering is a philosophy worth living by, and how humility, when wielded right, becomes your sharpest competitive edge. And they get honest about what success truly demands: the responsibility to reach back, open doors, and make the path a little easier for whoever comes next.

This is what Nordic entrepreneurship looks like from the inside.

🎙️ Why The Northbound Show?
Hosted by Ken Villum Klausen, CEO & founder of Lunar, The Northbound Show brings together Nordic founders and leaders for long-form conversations about how small nations consistently build companies with outsized global impact. Because the Nordics’ greatest export isn’t a product. It’s a mindset. 

This episode is powered by Lunar.

In the first episode of The Northbound Show, host Ken Villum Klausen sits down with Anko van der Werff, President and CEO of SAS.

Anko shares how he led SAS through one of the most challenging periods in its history, and what it takes to drive bold, strategic transformation in a traditionally conservative industry. His leadership has helped secure SAS’s role in Nordic aviation while shaping a brand that truly feels like home across the Nordics.

This episode is powered by Lunar.

🎙️ Why The Northbound Show?
Ken Villum Klausen is a Nordic tech entrepreneur and CEO of Lunar who believes that true leadership reflects the region’s greatest export: its mindset. Through Northbound, Ken explores this mindset by listening to the stories and experiences of the guests.

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