Education

• BS in Electronics from Ava College in Sweden.

• BS in Business Administration from Ava College in Sweden

• MBA in Marketing from Stockholm University

Atenga Inc.
2005 — present
Founder & CEO

I conceptualized and developed the services Atenga sells. These services have helped turn around the operations of over 500 businesses. We have helped CEOs and investors often to double their companies’ growth rates (and in the process sometimes even doubling or tripling revenues), doubling gross margins and in the process, quadrupling shareholder value.

An Atenga turnaround consists of:

• Aligning market messages with what your customers are most receptive to

• Optimizing prices to your customers’ willingness to pay

• Segmenting your customer along their decision criteria and willingness to pay

• Providing and leveraging deep insight into what your competitors’ customers are dissatisfied with

• Re-engineering and training the sales force and sales management to minimize discounting, control the sales conversation and close the deal at the highest possible price

I have been frequently quoted in the financial press, including in Fortune Magazine, Inc, Industry Week and the Financial Times. I regularly speak at conferences.

In order to accelerate the business growth, and international expansion, I set up two joint venture companies with partners. First PriceBeam based in the UK, and Sales4Profit, later renamed Atenga Insights, based in Sweden. Neither of these companies worked out and instead turned out to be a drain or resources while not adding any value. Thus, I withdrew from these joint venture firms. 

Atenga Inc.
2003 — 2005
Founder & CEO

I ran the company as a one-man-band consulting organization, helping to establish European and Asian companies in the US. This included developing go-to-market strategies, marketing and sales strategies as well as making the necessary introductions. 

Companies serviced during this time included:

• Exanet - an Israel-based manufacturer of enterprise class data storage. The company was eventually sold to Dell Computer for $10m.

• PopWire - a Swedish based manufacturer of transcoding software. The company was sold to Apple for $56m.

• Konan Technology - a Korean manufacture of enterprise class infrastructure software.

• Agent 25 - information monitoring services

• Plus a myriad of smaller engagements

G-SAM
2003 — 2005
Co-founder & EVP, Woodland Hills, CA

This non-profit trade association aimed, and succeeded, in helping companies in the DAM (Digital Asset Management) industry to grow and become established. We held conferences, developed and published best practice documents and influenced the development of industry standards.

Blue Order Inc
CEO
February 2000 — April 2003, Calabasas, CA

Blue Order was a German provider of enterprise software to the M&E industries. I founded Blue Order Inc. as their US subsidiary, catering for US clients that included NBC, ABC, CBS, Turner Broadcasting, CNN and other broadcasters. Grew revenues from zero to $5m. The company was eventually sold to Avid Technology. 

MediaSite Inc
VP Business Development
1998 — 2000, Pittsburgh, PA

Mediasite sold software for the media industry. I set up JVs in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Established subsidiaries in Europe and generated 80% of company's revenues from these activities. The company is still active, albeit in a different industry. 

AXXS Technology
VP Marketing & Consulting Services
1997 — 1998, Pasadena, CA

We conceptualized the very first internet kiosks and installed them at airports and hotels nationwide. In addition, we consulted for various vendors in the data storage space, enhancing and executing their marketing and go-to-market strategies.

StreamLogic Corporation
Head of VSD (Video Systems Division)
1995 — 1997 Chatsworth, CA

The company was a spin-off from Micropolis. I completed the work begun at Micropolis, including signing a $32m OEM contract with Philips, as well as smaller ($3m - $5m - $8m etc.) contracts with other customers. Combined Micropolis and StreamLogic, I generated in excess of $70m in revenue during my tenure.

Micropolis Corporation
Head of VSD (Video Systems Division)
1994 — 1995 Chatsworth, CA

The company was a $450m public company and I brought the company's innovative professional video products to market including a $30m contract for the first commercially available video servers sold to 101 Hyatt hotels. From zero revenues when I joined the company.

For-A Ltd
CEO
1990 — 1994 London, United Kingdom

FOR-A is a manufacturer of professional video equipment. I turned around the fledgling European subsidiary and during my tenure quadrupled revenues from around $8m to $35m.

Ercolab AG
CEO
1985 — 1990 Zurich, Switzerland

I established the company as a European-wide distributor for multiple lines of professional electronic products. Most of these where sourced from the US, but some were from the Far East and others sourced in Europe. We built a strong dealer network, and many of the products became the market leading product in its category. Revenues grew from zero to about $14m.