ABOUT ME

I had an incredibly diverse experience in my first real job at Músíknet ehf. Within the company, I had the opportunity to work in customer service, marketing, and accounting. Just a few weeks after joining, we successfully launched Tonlist.is, the third music streaming service in Europe.

The year 2004 brought us the honor of winning the Icelandic Web Awards, and we celebrated by unveiling Tonlist.com through a sensational concert event in New York, featuring appearances by Bjork and the Icelandic Minister of Foreign Affairs.

During its peak, the platform boasted approximately 30 thousand active users. However, with the introduction of Spotify in Iceland in 2013, the usage began to decline steadily, leading to the eventual discontinuation of the service in 2019.

During my time at Nova, which spanned two fantastic years, my passion for UI/UX design and the entire web development process truly ignited. It was within this environment that I had the opportunity to collaborate with the exceptionally talented designer, Dagur Hilmarsson (pictured above on the right), from whom I gained invaluable knowledge and insights.

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Together, we embarked on the redesign of Nova.is, a project that earned us the prestigious Icelandic Web Awards for the best Sales Web in 2010. Working alongside an amazing team of marketing and web development professionals at Nova, we achieved remarkable success, including being recognized as Imark's Marketing Company of the Year in 2009. Those were truly exhilarating times filled with remarkable accomplishments.

Within the initial few weeks, the app witnessed a remarkable influx of downloads, with tens of thousands of users eagerly embracing its features. These users actively began applying for jobs and, intriguingly, would inform the companies that they had come across the advertisements within the Alfreð app.

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The companies, in turn, began expressing curiosity and reaching out to inquire about this enigmatic Alfreð figure. Meetings were scheduled, connections were forged, and the rest, as they say, is history. Fast forward eight years, and Alfreð has undeniably become the largest job platform in the country, boasting a staggering user base exceeding 100,000 individuals and attracting thousands of advertisers annually.

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However, my journey with Alfreð came to a close in July 2020 when I made the decision to sell all my shares, marking a significant transition in my career.

In 2021, my business and development partner, Andri, and I embarked on an exciting journey as we founded Púls Media, an Ad Tech company. Púls Media's cutting-edge platform revolutionizes the process of producing, distributing, and publishing ads across online media, social media, and billboards, introducing a new and smarter approach.

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At the forefront of our offerings is our flagship product, SmartBanners. These automated ads are seamlessly connected to our clients' websites or APIs, delivering unparalleled convenience. Through our innovative technology, clients gain the ability to effortlessly create rules and manage the display of specific products within the ads, precisely tailoring their content to reach their intended audience. Púls Media empowers businesses to maximize their advertising potential with ease and precision

While working at Tonlist.is, I was given the green light to establish an independent record label called Cod Music. Over the course of two years, I successfully released five studio albums, one of which became a best-seller by Lay Low. Additionally, I had the pleasure of launching outstanding albums by Dr. Mister & Mister Handsome, Jet Black Joe, Benny Crespo's Gang, and Wulfgang.

Having embarked on international tours with various bands and orchestrating countless concerts, I eventually made the decision to bid farewell to the music industry and set my sights on an entirely new path.

In 2011, I made the decision to part ways with Nova and embark on a new venture alongside two of my colleagues from the company. Together, we founded Stokkur, an app development company. Three years prior, my colleagues had successfully launched the mobile parking service Leggja and approached me in late 2010 to design an app for them. This marked my first foray into app design, and from that point onward, I was captivated by the possibilities.

Our initial projects at Stokkur included creating the N1 app and the Domino's app, which revolutionized Domino's sales channels during that period. Similar to the success we witnessed with the Leggja app, the client base expanded significantly after the app's release. Throughout my tenure at Stokkur, I had the opportunity to design apps and websites for notable clients such as Strætó, Össur, Nova, CCP Games, Vodafone, Verifone, ASÍ (Klukk), Novomatic, and many others.

However, in July 2020, I made the decision to sell all my shares in Stokkur, concluding a chapter in my entrepreneurial journey.

In 2015, an exciting partnership unfolded between our team and Nova, which had ascended to become the largest mobile provider in Iceland. Collaborating closely with Liv, Nova's CEO at the time (pictured above), we embarked on a journey to design a groundbreaking innovation—the first-ever Mobile Payment app in Iceland, Aur.

Aur astounded the financial market, catching everyone off guard with its novelty and freshness. We were able to develop a product utilizing the existing banking infrastructure and payment facilitators without their knowledge or anticipation.

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The introduction of Aur sparked a wave of FinTech solutions from both start-ups and banks, aiming to challenge its success. However, to this day, Aur remains the most sought-after peer-to-peer payment solution in Iceland. In March 2021, I made the decision to sell all my shares in Aur to Kvika Bank, who subsequently acquired full ownership of the company.

With a deep fascination for marketing and sales, I ventured into the advertising realm and joined "The Vatican" (Vatikanið), an advertising agency. During my time there, I actively participated in a range of projects involving advertising, promotions, and sales. However, in 2008, amidst the banking crisis and following the dismantling of The Vatican, I made a bold decision to establish my own business, offering services that were previously absent from the Icelandic market.

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My entrepreneurial journey led me to delve into areas such as Social Media Marketing, SEO, YouTube Viral Marketing, and more. I undertook projects for prominent companies like Elko, Advania, the City of Reykjavik, and Nova. Eventually, Nova recognized my capabilities and offered me a full-time position in the autumn of 2009.

One night in September 2012, sleep eluded me as a persistent idea had been brewing within me for quite some time. I yearned to create an app that embodied a person, its app icon taking the form of a whimsical, cartoony face. That fateful night, that person materialized in my mind, refusing to depart. It was on that very night that Alfred came to life.

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Engrossed in the creative process, I fervently wrote, planned, and envisioned. The name, the color scheme for the user interface, the font selection, the logo, the business plan—every aspect from A to Z took shape during that magical night. Four months later, the initial version of the Alfred app and the Alfred Job Platform emerged. Users could activate a job watch feature, monitoring specific job tags and locations, and receive push notifications whenever new job opportunities were published.

The app swiftly captivated audiences, becoming an instant sensation.

Amidst the initial Covid "lockdown" in Iceland, I found myself sitting down at my MacBook, embarking on an exciting new project called Frágangur. Frágangur is a remarkable cloud-based software solution designed to streamline the entire process of vehicle trading. With its advanced capabilities, Frágangur efficiently handles all the necessary documents, car financing, and signatures, transforming the experience into a fully electronic process that takes just a few minutes to complete.

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In 2022, Arion Banki, one of Iceland's major banks, recognized the immense potential of Frágangur and purchased a third of the company's shares. This strategic partnership with Arion Banki served as a catalyst for accelerated growth, enabling Frágangur to expand its operations and reach even greater heights. Furthermore, the company received a grant from the Technology Development Fund in Iceland, providing valuable support and resources to fuel its development and innovation.