What is your biggest pet peeve?

Pessimism.

A book that changed your life?

Life-changing is a stretch, but "Mindset" by Carol Dweck has been an inspiration.

What could you talk about all day?

Football, user experience in financial services for SMEs - and beer (find me on the app Untappd!).

One thing about yourself that your Linkedin profile doesn't tell us

I’m quite an introvert and need my personal time to relax, think and recharge. Preferably walking or running.

Guilty Pleasures?

Pepsi Max and licorice (not together!).

Name something on your bucket list

To scale a Norwegian fintech internationally.

What do you think about the opportunities in Western Norway for innovating in the fintech space?

Radical innovation does not happen in a vacuum nor on the inside of large organizations. Through strong teams in the likes of NCE Finance Innovation and its members, studios like New and Fueled, and a growing investor network we’re well-positioned. If we manage to take risks, collaborate and deploy capital - we’re definitely able to build and scale internationally from Western Norway.

What do you think will be the most important drivers for change in banking and finance going forward?

I focus on the SME-space, and from my perspective, the most important drivers are the migration to the cloud which is rapidly accelerating more integrated value-chains, and more extensive use of data and analytics.

What previously required tedious and local integration now happens seamlessly through APIs, which enables new service distribution opportunities and instant access to large amounts of both historical and real-time data. This has opened up a whole new set of opportunities for innovation through e.g the entire order to cash value-chain.

What is the most exciting part of working at Kravia?

Our core mission is to make sure that liquidity problems do not negatively impact value creation for SMEs. 99 % of Norwegian companies are SMEs, they employ 60 % of our total workforce and account for 50 % of our total yearly value creation. Making a difference for companies like this, and building cutting-edge products and services with a high degree of customer involvement that gives instant feedback, is extremely motivating.

What separates Kravia from other debt collection companies?

We build everything API first, are highly automated, data-driven, sharply focused on delivering value to and through our accounting partners (agencies and ERPs), and are extremely transparent. We mirror everything we do in the debt collection process to our partners and customers, and while we always use our knowledge to give advice and suggest action - our customers always have the final call. We do not forget that we represent them to their customers.

We also aim to challenge the whole order to cash value-chain and extend our offering far beyond traditional debt collection.

What will debt collection look like 10 years from now?

It will be the end of debt collection as we know it. The whole collection process will be highly automated, data-driven, and algorithm-based. The fee structure will also change so that the creditor will cover more of the cost of the collection - while the cost of collecting also will be heavily reduced.

How does sustainability fit into your business model and what does Kravia do within this space?

A well-functioning economy is a foundation for sustainable development, whether it is about reducing environmental impact or combating increasing social disparities. To be able to trust that one will receive payment in a timely manner is absolutely central to this.

Any exciting fintech that you could tell us about?

I may not be totally unbiased, but one of my favorite fintechs is Folio. Dag Olav and Wilhelm have built an incredible team and a product that solves everyday problems for small businesses and holding companies. I’m a happy customer myself! Apart from that, Tillit looks very exciting. For me, they are interesting because they challenge a space I know well, and the team seems very strong.

Will we see Kravia go global?

You will at least see us go international.

Who do you want to nominate next?

Kjartan Brurås Solvi from Uni Micro / SoftRig.