Actually, 32-year-old Niklas Laugesen has plenty to do just managing his business.

He is a co-owner and CEO of the software company Napp, which is behind an app that helps over 30,000 salespeople in 40 countries keep track of their sales materials. Last year, Napp raised a double-digit million amount with the backing of the investment fund Promentum Equity Partners to strengthen the staff and scale up the business.

Things are moving fast. 

But that doesn't stop Niklas Laugesen from sticking to a life philosophy he has practiced for the past ten years: namely, setting one new personal goal each year.

That's why Niklas Laugesen can now call himself a certified clay pigeon shooting instructor. That's why he is a trained lifeguard. That's why he taught himself to read music and play the piano. Last year, he traveled to Nepal, handed over his computer and phone for a whole week, and went on a retreat with, among others, a hippie from Hawaii and a bank director from Hong Kong.

“It can go in many different directions, but that's what I think is cool. We had a sales coach associated with us who operates with the concept of honey pots. If you have a honey pot, you have something to look forward to and a reserve you can draw on. My honey pot is to travel, experience, and try new things. At the same time, I learn a lot by getting out into completely different environments where different rules apply, which you can learn from. I believe that respect for differences has brought Napp a long way.”

Niklas Laugesen's lifestyle contrasts with parts of the entrepreneurial environments, where it seems to be an ideal to dedicate all your waking time year-round to your business. Not because Niklas Laugesen doesn't work a lot, but because he insists on prioritizing time for other interests.

“I don't think tunnel vision is the solution; rather, it can be part of the problem. If you're not open to new impulses, you can quickly get stuck in a rut. My willingness to take risks and ability to be agile with my business comes from my openness to trying myself out in completely different environments.”

Find the right energy balance

Niklas Laugesen has always had a large amount of energy. At 14, he declared to his parents that he wanted to move to the USA. “What about a boarding school stay?” they first asked, but supported their son in going.



In the USA, he got a taste for entrepreneurship. When he returned home, he started going out to Mr. and Mrs. Denmark to help set up their printers. The joy in their eyes and the joy of seeing an immediate result was the driving force. Later, it developed into commercial projects on a larger scale with his co-founder Mads Møller. First with websites, and later mobile apps for medium-sized, large national and international companies.

Niklas Laugesen is completely result-driven. To such an extent that when his girlfriend finally thinks they are just going to relax on a Sunday, he starts deep cleaning the kitchen.

“My girlfriend thinks I have an inexhaustible energy, bordering on something to be concerned about. I can tend to take up a lot of space, especially if you live with me. That's why I now focus on finding peace in everyday life. For me, it's not about work/life balance, but about energy balance. It's essential for me to figure out when to use my energy and on what things.”

He can easily see where his diligence and eagerness come from; his own mother, who is an office manager responsible for 75 employees, has a similar personality. “Some might call it ambitious, others would say she is ambitious and very present for others.”

Niklas Laugesen can recognize it in himself when he often too quickly suggests to his business partner that he can take on a task that his partner could just as well have handled. Therefore, he is now undergoing personal development towards being better at pacing his efforts and better at delegating to his employees, whom he hires based on the principle that they should be smarter than himself.

“My chairman of the board gave me a piece of advice: ‘Be skillfully lazy.’ That means you don't always have to offer to do everything yourself for others. You can let others take some of the load and be skillful about giving space. I am often very driving in the collaboration, but if I let the people around me become more involved and take a greater degree of responsibility, I believe they will experience better balance in the collaboration.”

 Niklas in The Founder

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 in common that they 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?