It is much simpler than that.

I get up at 5 a.m.

Not every day. Not fanatically. And not at any cost.

Early Morning Quiet

The time between 5:00 and 6:30, before the rest of the family wakes up, is something special. There are no emails. No notifications. No customers or employees. No kids. No meetings. No one who needs anything from me. The world is asleep, and for once, I am ahead.

And that is exactly the point.

Instead of starting the day with the familiar feeling of already being behind before it has even begun, I start the day with a clear sense of being ahead.

How I Use The Time

I do not necessarily use the first hour for deep focus or big strategic tasks, as many people recommend. That can come later. Most mornings, I use the time to knock out a few simple tasks and low-hanging fruit from my to-do list. It is a perfect way to start the day.

Sometimes it is also the annoying tasks, the ones that would otherwise sit in the back of my mind all day.

This follows the principle of "eat that frog", a concept popularized by Brian Tracy. The idea is simple: start your day with the most unpleasant, uncomfortable, or resisted task. If you know you have to do it anyway, do it first. Once the frog is gone, the rest of the day feels mentally lighter because the worst thing is no longer hanging over you.

Other mornings look different. Sometimes I start with a few simple tasks, then go for a run or do some strength training, and I am ready to wake up the family at 6:30. Other times, there is room for more uninterrupted work before the day really gets going.

Psychological Advantage

By 6:30, I have already accomplished something. That creates calm, mental surplus, and a sense of control that stays with me throughout the day. A feeling of being ahead instead of reactive. A bit like the idea of making your bed first thing in the morning. A small action that sends a signal to your brain: the day has started, and you have already completed one task.

That said, making the bed does not work particularly well at our home, since my wife is still sleeping when I get up 😉

There is even a book about this whole idea: "The 5 AM Club – Own Your Mornings" by Robin Sharma

Early Nights

Of course, there is a price that comes with this habit: giving up late nights.

Before we had kids, I was a night owl. I worked late, did my best thinking in the evenings, and had no problem staying up very late, often well past midnight. That worked fine back then. It obviously does not anymore as a parent.

Those late-night work sessions were part of my early entrepreneurial journey. I reflect on this more in 25 Years at Arnsbo Group.

Final Thoughts

Today, I prioritize my sleep very highly. So my "5 a.m. productivity hack" simply does not happen if I am not in bed and ready to sleep by 10 p.m. And that can be surprisingly difficult if you are not disciplined about your shutdown routine. That is also why it only works a couple of times a week for me. It must never come at the expense of my sleep, because then it just shows up as a problem somewhere else.

But when it does work, the feeling of already being ahead for the rest of the day is fantastic. It is indeed a concept I can recommend.

The concept originated in the 1960s among comedians at Lindy’s Deli in New York. They noticed a simple pattern: a Broadway show that had already been running for many years was more likely to continue running for many more years. Not because it was new or fashionable – but simply because it had survived.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb describes the Lindy Effect very precisely in his book, Antifragile:

“If a book has been in print for forty years, I can expect it to be in print for another forty years. If it survives another decade, then it can be expected to be in print for another fifty years. Things that survive over time do not age like people – they age in reverse. Each year without extinction increases their expected remaining lifespan.”

The Early Years Carry Most of the Risk

The Lindy Effect is particularly interesting in business because risk is extremely unevenly distributed over time.

The majority of the risk of failure lies in the early years of a company’s life. More than 40% of all business failure risk occurs in the first 3–4 years . After that, the risk drops significantly, with only an additional 15–20% of total failure risk occurring in the many years that follow . The same pattern is reflected in external research from sources such as the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A company that has existed for 8, 10, or 15 years is therefore not just “older.” It has survived the most dangerous phase of its life. It has lived through market shifts, customer losses, bad decisions, and likely at least one real crisis.

That makes it structurally more robust.

Companies that have survived for a long time typically have:

• built trust with customers and the market – in modern jargon, product/market fit
• demonstrated real willingness to pay
• found a stable role in the value chain

When AI Changes the Pace

With the rapid rise of AI, I’ve been thinking:

Does AI remove the very foundation of companies that have existed for a long time?

AI has made it extremely easy to build new products, copy functionality, and automate processes. This has led many to conclude that “old” businesses are now under threat.

But precisely because AI reduces friction and increases speed, it becomes clearer than ever which companies actually create real value. Companies that solve a concrete problem for customers in a real market – and that customers are willing to pay for. This is where the Lindy Effect still proves its strength, even as the processes surrounding a company’s core continue to change.

What Does This Mean for Investment and Strategy?

When we at Arnsbo Group look for new areas to invest in, it’s not only about cutting-edge technology.

We continue to invest in startups, new technologies, and new companies. At the same time, we see some of the greatest opportunities in applying new technology – including AI – to older companies that have already proven their value over time.

Often, the most interesting opportunities are companies that:

• have survived the most risk-heavy early years
• have customers, revenue, and documented demand
• but operate with outdated processes and tools

Here, AI cannot replace the business – but it can optimize it. Not by changing what the company is, but how it operates.

Market-Driven vs. Technology-Driven

From my own experience founding and running companies with very different orientations, one pattern is clear: companies that start with the market tend to perform better over time than those that start with technology. Not because technology is unimportant – quite the opposite – but because technology rarely creates value on its own.

Technology-driven companies often start with a what: a new solution, a new platform, a new capability. Market-driven companies start with a why: a concrete problem, a known pain point, and a documented willingness to pay.

This is where the Lindy Effect and AI intersect. AI makes it possible to optimize, automate, and scale faster than ever before. But it does not change the fact that market understanding – not technology – determines whether a company has a core that can survive over time.

That is why Lindy still makes sense as a filter: not to find what is most groundbreaking, but to identify companies where the market has already voted yes – and where technology can make what already works significantly better.

• 

  25 Years at Arnsbo Group

  Apr 1, 2022

  Today I had the privilege of celebrating a milestone that feels both surreal and deeply…

, there’s one truth I keep coming back to: if I let my “Founder Momentum” slip, the company loses the energy that sparks anything new. And the hardest part? It’s still a daily battle for me.

The Founder Momentum

The “Founder Momentum” is the force that kicks things off and carries them across the finish line. It’s not the middle work, the operations or the administration. It’s clarity, creativity, direction and drive. It’s the part of my contribution that’s hardest for anyone else to replicate.

Founder Momentum vs Operational Tasks

In my

• 

  My Best Productivity Hack

  Jan 16, 2026

  My best productivity hack has nothing to do with fancy apps, advanced systems, or color-coded…

, there are two types of work:

• Founder Momentum: the unique, irreplaceable contributions where my involvement actually lifts the outcome – ideas, direction, energy, vision, initiation, completion and decisive action.
• Operational Tasks: everything that can be described, repeated or delegated: emails, coordination, updates, fixes, admin, status follow-ups. Necessary – but not transformative.

And here’s the trap: Operational Tasks give me the illusion of productivity. It’s easy to walk away from a day of tasks thinking: “Today I did real work.” But that kind of work slowly kills my Founder Momentum. Momentum requires space, clarity, courage and presence – all things that disappear when I bury myself in operations.

More Than Strategy, Tactics and Operations

It’s tempting to map this onto strategy vs tactics vs operations. But Founder Momentum doesn’t fit inside those categories. Strategy can be co-created. Tactics can be executed by others. Operations can be automated. Founder Momentum sits outside those definitions. It’s the force that:

• initiates something before a strategy even exists
• maintains momentum when processes slow down
• finishes with quality when everyone else is ready to move on
• takes the personal risk that no one else can or will take — the risk of making the big call, moving first, and owning the consequences

AI Makes the Contrast Clearer

AI is taking over more Operational Tasks every month. That’s a gift – but it also exposes something: My value as a founder doesn’t come from doing more tasks. It comes from doing the right kind of work. Work AI can’t replace:

• starting new ideas
• sensing patterns and timing
• navigating uncertainty
• making bold decisions without perfect data
• energising people
• raising ambition and standards

These are Founder Momentum moments.

My Role Across the Companies

Across most of our companies in Arnsbo Group, we have strong CEOs, directors and partners who run the businesses day-to-day. They are the operational engines. My role is different. I try to contribute through Founder Momentum – by stepping into specific projects, challenges and opportunities where I can make a meaningful difference. Not by inserting myself into daily operations, but by bringing perspective, energy, ideas and direction. That’s where I hope to move the needle.

A Natural Fit With EOS

We use the EOS framework across most of our companies, and Founder Momentum fits naturally with the Visionary role. The Visionary is the person who sees opportunities, sets direction, shapes culture, connects dots and pushes the organisation forward. That’s precisely where my Founder Momentum belongs. Not inside the operational machinery, but above it – energising, challenging and accelerating it.

Conclusion

Founder Momentum is the difference between being busy and being valuable. Operational Tasks can be handled by a strong team – and/or by AI. Founder Momentum can only be delivered by a founder. And even though I fight to protect it every single day, it remains one of my most important responsibilities.

Keep reading below for more information on this nomination.

Arnsbo Group

At Arnsbo Group, we really just do what we think is fun and exciting: we start, buy and invest in companies, and help them grow through shared services, business development and a strong focus on people and culture.

We are ambitious, but we are not into “rapid hockey stick growth while burning cash and people”. Instead, we will run and invest in profitable companies that can grow long-term, create real value for customers and employees, and at the same time make room for us to see our families along the way.

Conclusion

The fact that someone has noticed it, and that I have now been nominated for Investor of the Year 2025, makes me both happy and humble, and I see the nomination as a recognition of the long, persistent work of developing companies, and of the many talented teams and partners we have been lucky to work with.

Thank you to INCUBA A/S for focusing on the startup and investor environment in Central Jutland, and congratulations to all the other nominees.

I was 21, studying economics in Aarhus, and full of curiosity about what could be built with the right mix of ideas, people, and energy.

A lot has happened since then. The company has changed, grown, and reinvented itself more times than I can count. But at the heart of it all has been the same entrepreneurial spirit that originally inspired me to get started.

I have always been driven by the thrill of building, learning, and exploring new possibilities with talented people. Seeing the team celebrate this anniversary made me realize how far we have come together.

Over the years we have built a strong and united group with a unique culture. It truly feels like a family. The sense of belonging and the way people support each other is one of the things I am most proud of.

Combined with the professional skills and creativity across the group, it has allowed us to create innovative products, long-term companies, and a workplace people enjoy being part of.

This morning the team surprised me with confetti, a king’s chair, and a lot of love. Moments like this remind me why I love what we do and why the journey matters just as much as the outcome.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of Arnsbo Group over the past 25 years. Building this together has been the adventure of a lifetime, and I am as excited for the next chapter as I was on day one.