# I co-founded one of the biggest behavioural analytics companies in the world

Let's rewind a bit and tell you a bit about  [Hotjar](https://www.hotjar.com), myself, and how I ended up where I am today.

**Moving to Malta**

I was born and raised in Sweden but moved to Malta in 2009, so I guess I should call myself Swed-tese by now. I had friends who did the move a few years ahead of me. After visiting just once I knew it was the place where I wanted to be. It had this great atmosphere, and a much more sensible and relaxed approach to life, at least in my opinion.

![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1616521847008/ec3nTYUkN.png)

While living in Sweden I felt trapped in the hamster wheel of life, running towards something I didn't necessarily even know why I was trying to get to. Was I making a significant enough difference? Did what I do really matter?

So eventually I packed my bags and moved to Malta. Being an English-speaking EU country made the move really easy, and in a few weeks I had an apartment contract signed, and ready to start working at this place that was called Uniblue.

**Co-founding Hotjar**

During the early part of 2014, I got the amazing opportunity to be a co-founder of Hotjar. The other four co-founders were people I got to know from Uniblue. I still don't feel I deserved the chance, but apparently I did something to impress them enough to offer me to be a co-founder.

We built the core product in about six months, and we were off to the races. What happened then is something that still amazes me to this day - we got this incredible traction and today more than 900 000(!) organizations are using Hotjar.

We eventually realized we needed to start hiring a lot of people, and today Hotjar have more than 150 employees.

![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1616523963925/sLWBP8j4J.png)

**That sounds like an amazing growth story!**

The first few years were super intense, and I think we all learned more than we ever had before about how to run a business.

However, recently I found myself thinking - am I back in the hamster wheel that I escaped from in the first place? After many sessions of discussing this with myself I realized that *"yeah, I'm kinda back in the hamster wheel"*.

I had helped build the coolest company I ever worked at - but personally, I wasn't really happy anymore. I recently realized 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.

> I don't really enjoy being a cog in a well-oiled machine. I thrive in the more chaotic environment you get in a tiny company, where you always have to wear multiple hats.
>
> // Erik, in one of his late-night conversations with himself

So let's bring out an old classic - *It's not you, it's me*. In the case of myself and Hotjar it's really how it is though. I had helped to grow an awesome company that I'm so incredibly proud of - but a company that wasn't a place where I did my best work anymore. 

**So what's next?**

I'm going back to doing what I love - *creating and running a tiny company from scratch*, but all by myself this time.

 [![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1616524858008/p7E8dzs1s.png)](https://www.amazon.com/Company-One-Staying-Small-Business/dp/1328972356) 

This book - "Company of One" actually helped me a lot. Much of what I read resonated so well with me, and I was finally able to realize what I wanted out of my work:

- Spend my time doing things that I think are a net positive for humanity.
- Build my work around my life and not the other way around.
- Say no to opportunities that would require the company to grow in a way that wouldn't fit with the life I want to live.

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!

**If you're up for it, subscribe to my blog and follow my adventure of founding a new company from scratch. If you're interested in doing the same one day you might get a good tip or two. If you just wanna see if I make it that's fine too :)**

I plan to write a new post about once a week. However, I'm going to start off by taking a couple of weeks of time off to recharge. The last seven years have been amazing, but demanding - I think I deserve a short break :p