Startup Interview with Niels Klitsgaard, CEO & co-founder, FortKnoxster, Gibraltar

(Welcome Startup Founders! See example interviews -→ here)

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background.

I have been an entrepreneur for many years - I like to “fix” things by trying to solve problems with technology. Originally I am educated in a bank, but that was honestly way too boring, but I guess it was a good basic education. Later on, I did an MBA and read 1000s of pages in large books. But to me, the best way to learn is to get started in real life, the experience you get cannot be read in books.

What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do?

Our company is called FortKnoxster. We are a cybersecurity company focused on the crypto space. Our platform offers private communications, digital wallets, DeFi features, etc - all in one secure encrypted app. A one-stop crypto platform.

What is the origin story?

We wondered why nobody had built a one-stop super-secure encrypted platform, which contained ALL you need in terms of default encrypted communications, calling, storage, etc. So we decided to fix the problem. Later on, we added non-custodial wallet, crypto onboarding, and other DeFi stuff - and we have a few other cool features coming up soon.

What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem?

What’s not to love?! We are working in many time zones and there is always something going on. Our team consists of some of the best cybersecurity engineers available and we have so many things on the drawing board we are looking to develop in the future. Unfortunately, cybercrimes, hacks, and online crimes are exploding daily, so we are for sure going to be busy in the years to come.

If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing?

I would be building something else. I love to innovate and get ideas into action. For me, it's more of a hobby/lifestyle than work. There are so many options out there to change/disrupt what is. I guess it has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur than now.

At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics?

We have managed to build a platform from scratch, which our users like and appreciate. Every day we get nice messages from happy users, that’s really rewarding and motivating - that’s a success in our book.

What’s most exciting about your traction to date?

Great question - we are super happy that we have users in over 180 countries and growing. Also, daily we see more and more usage of our platform. With the wallet and DeFi features to be launched very soon, we are confident that our traction will get a solid boost.

What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why?

Blockchain and the many advantages it brings are the most exciting to us right now. Blockchain technologies - and related spin-offs will change a lot for the better and it will disrupt almost any industry in the future. Other technologies like AI, Robotics, and quantum computing are for sure also interesting and will be part of our future lives.

What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform?

We have been happy users of HackerNoon and find your articles and fresh approach really inspiring - great job!

What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself?

Follow your passion and do not listen too much to others. Everything is possible with the right mindset and hard work. Just do it!

What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing?

What tends to surprise me is the speed of new technologies emerging, it’s hard to keep up with all the possibilities it brings :)