Posts by BalaInIceland

Investor, Entrepreneur, Speaker, Startup Coach, Startup Community Hacker, 8 Marathons, 1 Icelandic Financial Collapse, Principle Centered & working hard to do the Right thing

What is Venture Investing?

I think Venture Investing is misunderstood. There are a lot of people who wanna be VCs and then there is Fred Wilson. I share my own experience of working with founders and share what I think VC investing is all about

Haraldur Diego (Haddi) – Pilot, a good friend and human

Haraldur Diego (Haddi) my good friend, pilot and Volcano Pilot passed away last week in a bizarre accident. I will always remember him as a warm and generous friend. Rest in Peace my friend, I know you will always be flying over Iceland!

How to have an open mind

Thoughts and ideas are based on what we expose our senses to, original thought is quite rare. If you are …

Mussila – Decentralized Music Education

Iceland Venture Studio is leading an investment syndicate in Mussila, the award winning decentralized music learning app. We are doing a deep dive into showing how we make decisions on a team we chose to back. The Mussila team answered the 7 questions that gives you an idea of how they are thinking and where they plan to take Mussila.

Atherosclerosis and Coronary Heart Disease

Last week was eventful to say the least. I apparently had a heart attack. Had an angioplasty and was in the hospital for 4 days. I had no big pain but the blocks in my arteries were fixed. Looking forward to getting back to rehabilitation and getting fitter and stronger after the first metal installation on the path to being HomoDeus.

#FutureCast: Episode 5, Thor Sigfusson, Founder of Iceland Ocean Cluster House

The 5th episode of FutureCast is out. I speak to Thor Sigfusson the founder of Iceland Ocean Cluster House. We talk about Circular Economy, utilization of fish a.k.a 100% Fish, innovation in the seafood sector, how this all started. This episode is part of a series of talks we will have about the Circular Economy.

What will happen in 2021

It is good to have a perspective of how the world will evolve when you operate in a world of uncertainty and low data as I do. I am starting a new tradition to write about what will happen in the near future.

FutureCast Episode 4 – David Gunnarsson, CEO of Dohop

The 4th Episode of FutureCast is a conversation with David Gunnarsson the CEO of Dohop the Flight Meta Search company which just closed a $12m round of funding. A Christmas miracle where a travel company raises funding during a pandemic.

A Promised Land

America is an idea of a Promise Land. I always had that image of the country that I enjoyed while I lived there. President Barack Obama shares is path that shows why I always had that feeling. This book is an inspiration and I hope everyone read it.

Investing in Immigrants

Immigration is a hot topic all over the world. I have been an immigrant and I know the challenges of being an immigrant founder. My wife and I are setting up a fund to invest in immigrant founders who want to start in Iceland. We founded Startup Iceland with a vision to build a vibrant startup ecosystem and Founders are at the core of this vision. We know that only diversity of ideas and people can lead to a better world and future.

Starlink

Starlink will decentralize internet access and disrupt the broadband services again. Starlink combined with Greenvolt Nanomaterial Battery can fundamentally change how we think about building infrastructure to support our access to the internet or how we build power infrastructures.

Voice Assisted Personalized Learning/Teaching Assistant

How do we enable anyone to learn anything, anywhere at their own pace? Our education system is not broken it is just evolving. We invested in Atlas Primer to allow learners to take their learning material anywhere and learn at their own pace.

Bring your work to Iceland

The Government of Iceland announced that non-EEA citizens can bring their work to Iceland. They just need to show proof of work and health insurance. This is fantastic news for the Startup Community in Iceland and for Founders.

Decoding the World – How the genetic era will change the world

Arvind Gupta and Po Bronson have written a book on Biology, Technology and Founders solving hard problems that is going to impact all of us. I highly recommend the book – Decoding the World – How the Genetic era will change the world. You will never see biology and human ingenuity the same way again.