Book I2017–2022Founder
FAIM
The mousepad that felt wrong, and the brand it became. Five years, one obsession: make the thing under your hand as good as the thing in your head.
It started with a mousepad that felt wrong.
Back then I played a lot, and the gear I cared most about was the one nobody talked about. Mousepads were an afterthought: thin quality, forgettable design, made to be replaced. For something your hand rests on for hours, that felt wrong.
So I did what I always do when something bugs me. I learned it down to the details: the surface, the stitching, the print, the feel. Then I built the one I wanted to buy.
If your hand lives on it, it should be worth looking at.
Founder means every job, at once.
I ran sales, strategy, partnerships and business development, and I managed the entire company: sixteen employees, alongside countless agencies, partners and freelance designers. My job was to make the product, the pictures and the pitch all tell the same story.
The pads got bigger and bolder. The Valorant-inspired design, at 90 × 50 cm, covered the whole desk: keyboard, mouse and a small fire-breathing story underneath. People didn’t buy a mat. They bought the scene.
The backbone was two hundred handshakes.
More than 200 partnerships.
FAIM was built on partnerships. More than two hundred of them, formed with creators, streamers, esports players and organisations. They weren’t logo deals. We co-created beautifully designed products together with our partners: their style, our craft, one pad with both names on it.
I negotiated, planned and followed up on every one of them, and kept the brand looking like itself in every one. Their audiences found us because our partners were proud to put the product on stream and on stage.
- Creators
- Streamers
- Esports players
- Organisations
Then I packed up and moved to the USA.
The biggest market was across the Atlantic, so that’s where I went. Moving to the US to scale was the most uncomfortable decision I made with FAIM, and the best one. Revenue grew to several million NOK.
It also taught me that a Tromsø kid can walk into a much bigger room and be fine. More than fine.
In 2022, I sold FAIM for $1.4 million.
| Founded | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Partnerships with creators, streamers, players & orgs | 200+ |
| Company managed | 16 employees |
| Revenue | Several million NOK |
| Moved to scale | USA |
| Sold to a private equity company, 2022 | $1.4M USD |
Selling something you built from a mousepad that bugged you is a strange feeling. Proud, a little empty, mostly curious about what’s next. The answer came quickly: build more of them.
Four things I’d tell 2017 me.
- i.
The detail is the product.
Nobody can explain why a pad feels right. Everybody notices when it doesn’t.
- ii.
Partners are people first.
Two hundred partnerships means two hundred relationships. Treat every one like it’s the only one.
- iii.
Go where the market is.
Even when it means packing a suitcase and starting over.
- iv.
Know when the book is finished.
Ending a chapter well is part of writing it.