After moving to Malta in 2009, Sweden-born software engineer Erik Näslund – along with four other young co-founders – went on to found Hotjar, a behaviour analytics company that analyses website use.

The successful startup went from strength to strength, growing into one of the biggest behavioural analytics companies in the world. Today, the company – which is headquartered in Malta – boasts a team of over 150 employees and counts over 900,000 organisations as clients.

Erik Näslund

And now, seven years since its inception, Mr Näslund has announced his departure. In a blog post explaining his decision, he writes “I had helped build the coolest company I ever worked at – but personally, I wasn’t really happy anymore.”

“I recently realised that I haven’t been reflecting enough on important things in my life, and instead I kept myself busy with work. Once the gears started turning it became more and more obvious what I needed to do – leave the company I co-founded,” he continues, describing his desire to thrive within a smaller business setting.

The next step, the entrepreneur reveals, is “creating and running a tiny company from scratch, but all by myself this time.”

Referencing Paul Jarvis’ Company of One, Mr Näslund says it helped him realise what he wanted out of his work: to work on what he believes will positively benefit humanity, build work around his life (and not vice versa) and have complete control over company growth.

“I’m certain I wouldn’t be able to pull this off if I tried to before my years with Hotjar. I was simply too naive and lacked a lot of the skills I’ve gathered over the years. I’ll be forever thankful for what I learned at Hotjar, and all the special moments we shared,” he concludes.

Related

Mark Vassallo Cesareo / LinkedIn

Mark Vassallo Cesareo dubs P71 vessel delivery a ‘wonderful and momentous milestone’

27 March 2023
by Fabrizio Tabone

The Viroc International Limited Managing Director thanked Cantiere Navale Vittoria and the Armed Forces of Malta for making his dream ...

Why Malta? ‘The question is more: why not Malta?’

25 March 2023
by Jo Caruana

GO CEO Nikhil Patil explains why expats can expect to feel ‘welcomed, celebrated, and totally at home’.

‘The Maltese have been extremely open and friendly’ – Iniala CEO Mark Weingard

24 March 2023
by Jo Caruana

He says investment is made easier since ‘you can, at any point, speak directly with the decision makers in government ...

‘Progress was overshadowed by impairment of legacy positions’ – FIMBank CEO

24 March 2023
by Fabrizio Tabone

Adrian Alejandro Gostuski was commenting on the group’s performance in 2022, which saw it record a €23 million pre-tax loss.

Close Bitnami banner
Bitnami