Second part of the story of Bo and Kristina, leaders and founders of Viking Software.
Today, Viking Software is a well-established company with employees in Denmark and several other European countries. Having been a leadership team for many years has made Bo and Kristina very aware of their role distribution at the top of the company.
Very characteristically it is Bo, who initially had the grand dreams of starting something himself, who is the one with the grandest gestures and most ambitious visions for the company. He’s still a technician at heart and has also been a significant part of the production over the years, but has recently taken a step back from development to focus more on growing the company. He knows everything about the development the company offers to customers and is therefore also the primary contact for new and existing clients regarding ongoing or upcoming projects.
In contrast to Bo’s express train, Kristina acts as the conductor whose primary focus is to make the day-to-day operations run smoothly. As Bo explains: “While I’m always 5 years ahead and hurrying to grow the company, Kristina maintains a good focus on making Viking Software a great place to be today. She simply makes sure that things work.” Kristina frequently draws on her experience as a childcare worker, ensuring that the many developers from diverse backgrounds and nationalities feel heard and acknowledged. In addition, she handles the more practical aspects of running the business, such as budget management, office administration, and logistics. As she describes it, her tasks are “primarily internal within the company; for me, it’s about operations and employees. Aside from that I partake in a lot of networking, where I do my part to get Viking Software’s name out in the industry.”
And how do they handle being both business partners and spouses? “I actually think that working together as business owners has strengthened our marriage,” Bo says. “We obviously have some rules about not talking about daily work at home; we need to unwind. But when you sit in the evening with a work-related dilemma on your mind, it’s a gift to be able to discuss it with your partner right away to get it off your mind.”
Kristina fully agrees but notes that it does bring some concerns about being financially dependent on the same company. “All our eggs are in one basket,” she explains. “We’ve bet the whole shop on Viking Software, so if things go south, it goes really south for us. So, you could say it’s a risk that we both draw salaries from here, but it also means we have each other to lean on and consult about the tough issues.”
