Frederik Byskov stands alone on the floor of the Royal Arena.

He is not large in stature, but he seems rock-solid. Perhaps his pulse is calmer, more assured, and slower than others. If so, it would be a direct counterbalance to the life 32-year-old Frederik Byskov leads. A life where he consistently seeks challenges.

He looks around at the spectator seats and recalls the days in 2017 when, as part of the Counter-Strike tournament series BLAST Pro Series, he was to host the first major international e-sports event in Denmark. Over 12,000 tickets were sold. But when Friday came, and the tournament was supposed to start as planned, they experienced technical problems with the game servers. On the front page of bt.dk, one could read Friday evening: "Scandal in Royal Arena." The tournament was postponed from Friday evening to Saturday morning, giving BLAST Pro Series time to solve the problems and hold the matches before the Royal Arena would be filled with spectators.

"We sat until a quarter before the start on Saturday to get it to work. There were nerves," recalls Frederik Byskov.

But he never lost faith in it. Fortunately. Because they just managed to get the system to work, and the weekend ended as a great spectator and viewer success.

"It went well in the end. I have a very clear approach to life that no matter what, everything will work out. And I've learned over time that I don't need security and safety. On the contrary."

Moved on when everyone finally understood it

Frederik Byskov's career path paints the same distinctive picture. Of a man who was ahead of his time with his passion and entrepreneurial spirit around e-sports, and when he was finally caught up by the zeitgeist, he has now stepped out of the great successes he helped nurture.

Frederik Byskov has literally taken the journey with e-sports from gym halls and sleeping mats to million-dollar prize money and large arenas. In his early teenage years as a player, then a writer, then a tournament organizer, and finally a team founder, manager, and director.

In recent years, he has several times at family gatherings tried to explain what he does. It hasn't always been easy, but Frederik Byskov has seen it as "a fun aspect" of his career that it required such a pedagogical explanation. He has had plenty to tell: At the end of 2015, he co-founded the professional Counter-Strike team Astralis, which today is the world's best, and in 2018 he was appointed director of the e-sports division of the worldwide Counter-Strike tournament BLAST Pro Series.

But just as his work finally became clear in the eyes of his family, and the recognition and money reached a level never seen before, Frederik Byskov first withdrew from the daily operations of Astralis, and then BLAST Pro Series at the end of last year.

"In my personal journey, I've found that you have to be good at asking yourself: When have I reached my goal? And when can I do my best? When I ended up resigning, it was because it was no longer passion, but had become work. I got up in the morning and thought 'okay, yes, I'll do it, but it's not because I want to.'

"My best is not operation and continuous work. What excites me is developing and getting a business up and running. In December 2018, we held a BLAST Pro Series tournament in Lisbon, where the stage arrived 24 hours late due to the Yellow Vests Movement in France, but we executed everything without any problems. The tournament had the worst stress test, and we passed it. That was my sign. So I resigned without knowing what the next step would be."

That's why you find Frederik Byskov again in Spartan surroundings in Kødbyen in Copenhagen, where he is based with his new startup. So far, he has been sitting with his employees in one cramped room, but now they are moving one floor down to larger premises, where tables and chairs are scattered, and where Frederik Byskov has to clean the floor before potential investors visit tomorrow.

The business project is secret until the beginning of next year. However, it can be said that Frederik Byskov will remain within the e-sports universe. He already has a small staff around him. None of them have any experience with or knowledge of e-sports. But Frederik Byskov believes in them.

He is one of those people who believes in the people he is on a team with. One of those who instills confidence in the people he is on a team with. And therein lies very well the answer to how he has been able to help build such great successes, despite his young age.

"The biggest lesson for me in my career so far has been to delegate responsibility and trust that people know their stuff. Not to take their role and double-check, but actually trust people," he says.

Where Frederik Byskov will be in five years, he is not able to answer at all.

That's how he feels best.

Frederik in The Consultant

MAN IN THE SHIRT

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood" - quote by Theodore Roosevelt in Paris, 1910. In the portrait series "Man in the Shirt," BARONS meets business people who have put themselves in play - and at stake. Where do they find courage? What is the most important thing they have learned along the way? And what can the rest of us learn from them?