UpWave launched in 2016, and spent the remainder of the year finding product/market fit and a proper business model. With paying users now in 30 countries, 2017 will be all about growth, scaling and streamlining operations.
This entails that marketing will be driving the business. To expand that effort, we have already hired Lina Torres as Marketing Chief for Latin America. Doubling down on marketing, Dan Hesketh will also devote 100% of his time to our expanding community in a new role as Chief Community Officer.
Kjetil Moløkken-Østvold takes over as CEO. He joined UpWave as part-time CFO in March 2016, coming from a role as Director at PwC Consulting. He has extensive experience from software engineering, research and project management. Previously roles include senior partner at Conceptos Consulting and assistant director at Simula Research Laboratory.
Kjetil holds PhD- and MSc-degrees in Software Engineering from the University of Oslo (Norway). In 2013, he graduated from the Executive MBA program at Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management (USA) and WHU – Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management (Germany).
The combination of new hiring and restructuring will hopefully enable UpWave to reach our ambitious growth targets set for 2017.