Meet Ikius, Startups of the Year Winner in Finland, Misc.

This interview series celebrates all the phenomenal Startups of the Year Winners. Congratulations! Well-Deserved, Champion.The HackerNoon community is excited to learn more about you!

What follows is an interview with Max Ikaheimo, CEO and Founder at Ikius.

What does it mean for you to win this title?

I am honored to receive the Startup of the Year 2023 award for Ikius. Winning is not just a personal achievement but also an acknowledgment of all the hard work that everyone involved with Ikius and I have poured into building Ikius from absolutely nothing to one of the pioneering companies in modern web development.

What sets you apart from the competition?

Although next-generation technology is at the core of what we do, people are our biggest asset. We have always valued human-to-human interaction in every part of our operations. We provide highly personalized service combined with an obsessive approach to modern technology. This has enabled us to stand out in the highly competitive web development market.

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

I love that we have such a talented team I can rely on. Many of us have a university background in Computer Science - which helps a lot in solving complex technical problems for our clients.

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

Haha, that’s a great question! I would probably be a Venture Capitalist or a Founder of another company. Building Ikius has been a good combination of both lines of work.

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

For Ikius; success is seeing our clients succeed. A remarkable roster of happy clients from Helsinki to San Francisco is something we value a lot. Of course, financial metrics are also key indicators of our success. We have been profitable with increasing earnings and revenue ever since I founded Ikius in 2019.

Tell us how your startup is changing the world.

When Ikius was founded, the stuff we did was pretty obscure and esoteric, however now, it’s all the de-facto standard. I see that we have already changed the world as one of the pioneering agencies in Modern Web Development and continue doing so by utilizing emerging technologies successfully, way ahead of anyone else.

How do you or your company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2024?

We continue to work with modern technology and methods to minimize our internal environmental impact and build sustainable solutions for our clients.

What goals are you looking forward to accomplishing in 2024?

We continue to grow and expand in the US and EU.

Which trend(s) are you most excited about in 2024? Share your reasons.

I’m excited to see where modern web technologies evolve in 2024 and forward.

2023 had been another crazy year, especially in tech, with layoffs and the Generative AI takeover! Which trend are you most concerned about? Be as brief or as detailed as you like.

I’m worried about the global security and world politics.

Share your biggest success so far and/or your biggest failure so far.

My biggest success is building Ikius to the point where we are today. It all started from my bedroom in a shared apartment, with just me and my PC. I had just quit my job as a web developer and dropped out of the university. I can’t say it was easy, but it’s the most successful thing I’ve done.

We would love your feedback on HackerNoon as a tech publication! How has your experience been with us?

HackerNoon has always been a very interesting publication, and I’ve been a reader for a long time. Keep up the good work.

Any words of wisdom you’d like to share with us?

Keep on grinding.