Michael Olsen has a boastful career in software and web development that spans over 15 years.
After completing his Computer Science degree (at the world-renowned Niels Brock business school in 2005, Michael took the world of software and web development by storm. He honed his developer skills at Lejebolig.dk (one of the biggest accommodation finder websites in Denmark) and Smartlaunch, the most prominent Internet and gaming center software provider globally.
Before Mailbird, Michael was Chief Architect at Room Service and built the front-end and back-end website. Before that, Michael took on the challenge of creating an entire order system for one of the largest restaurant chains in Copenhagen. The ordering system included unifying the customer experience from placing orders online, over the phone, or on a touch screen in the restaurant, to a delivery coordination system, to big screens in the kitchens to display orders to the chefs.
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Table of Contents
Share the journey that led you to co-found Mailbird. What inspired you?
Michael Olsen: I had just ended my involvement in Room Service, a food order and delivery company that I’d co-founded and where I worked as the sole engineer. Shortly after, I went to a startup event in Copenhagen, where I live, and I ran into an old friend and colleague, Michael Bodekaer. And we started talking about working together again.
Michael is an accomplished entrepreneur who has founded several businesses, including Smartlaunch, an international gaming center software provider. I’d worked with him there as a software developer, and so at that startup event, we started thinking about a new venture we could pursue.
Back then Michael used Sparrow as an email client on his Mac. And we realized there was no equivalent alternative for Windows. That’s how the idea for Mailbird was born. We envisioned a clean, clutter-free, simple-to-use email client to help Windows users save time on email management.
Just before we launched Mailbird, Sparrow was acquired by Google. It was a hot topic in the media at the time, and many big publications – like TechCrunch, PCWorld, and LifeHacker – introduced us as the “Sparrow for Windows”. That validated our idea. We knew we were going in the right direction, and the product took off.
On the personal level, share your origin story with us. As a serial entrepreneur, how did your previous experiences, such as building restaurant software and founding Room Service, influence your approach to developing Mailbird?
Michael Olsen: My experience at Room Service and Smartlaunch gave me the confidence to just go for it. So when the opportunity came up and the idea of Mailbird was born, I knew I had to jump on it.
At the same time, although an initial idea can get me very excited, I’m meticulous and love to build things from scratch. As a developer, instead of editing a piece of existing code, I much prefer to be the first one to write it. Seeing it turn into beautiful software gives me great satisfaction.
I’m the same in business. Building a team and then building a useful product together is so rewarding.
My previous experiences also equipped me with a very practical approach to business. Michael and I had known each other for years and knew our strengths and weaknesses. Based on that, it was easier to determine which roles to hire for first.
What’s more, our combined experience as founders allowed us to further refine our hiring process. We knew what traits to look for in people, especially at that stage. It’s helpful when you can find self-starters and hands-on, passion-driven professionals. And, of course, you want people who are a good culture fit – positive and friendly so you can avoid conflict as much as possible.
Some of our first hires are still on the team today – and that makes me happy.
Mailbird has been voted “the best email client for Windows” by PCWorld. What do you believe sets Mailbird apart from other email management tools in the market?
Michael Olsen: I’m a perfectionist, and that reflects both in my personal life and at work. At Mailbird, I treasure quality over quantity. Mailbird may have fewer feature options than Outlook, for example. But this has always been intentional. We want the platform to be clean and easy for everyone to use. Both my co-founder and I prefer simplicity and minimalism for sure, and it’s been a design decision from day one.
The main differentiators are in the details of our features and how we implement them. For example, the Unified Inbox feature in Mailbird lets you manage all your emails from all your accounts. The difference we implemented is that not just your inbox is unified. You can check all your emails in folders like drafts, sent, trash, snoozed, etc. In most other email clients, those folders are separate. You have to go to a specific email account and then navigate to a specific folder.
Many people told us they prefer the Mailbird way – where they have them in the unified account view and save time while navigating through their inboxes and other system folders.
Another main differentiator is that we provide 24/7 customer support. It’s a perk our users have appreciated greatly over the years, and they tell us about it in their reviews. Our Head of Support and his team have a great process in place and can get back to most inquiries within a few hours. It helps that we’re a remote company with experts all around the world.
Tell us about Mailbird’s upcoming expansion to Mac in October 2024.
Michael Olsen: We’ve been working tirelessly on Mailbird for Mac, and we’re already seeing the excitement build up. More than 10,000 people have signed up for our waiting list and are eager for the launch.
The release will be a major step towards a fully cross-platform email management solution.
The first version of our Mailbird for Mac will have a lighter feature set compared to our Windows version. But people’s favorite features – like Unified Inbox, Email Tracking, Folders, selected app integrations, Advanced Search, and Signatures – will all be available.
Just like Mailbird for Windows, Mailbird for Mac will be a clean, easy-to-use email client that will save people time and energy when managing their inboxes and other apps. It’s been in the works for a while, and we can’t wait to share it with everyone!
As someone who has built successful businesses in various sectors, what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Michael Olsen: I love this topic and, although I’ve been an entrepreneur for more than 15 years now, I continue to learn and educate myself. As with most things, you learn the most by doing, so here are a few things I’d keep in mind if I were launching a business now.
Have a business plan and do your market research. I know this is nothing original and that it takes time. A lot of time. I’ve seen many people fail because they underestimated the power of a business plan and the research that goes into it. A business plan will not only help you go in the right direction; it will also help you recognize early warning signs when things aren’t going the right way.
Align your goals with your business partner’s. If you have a business partner, make sure you agree with them on the most important matters. Are you planning to raise money? How much? Or will you be investing your own money instead? Where do you see the business in five or 10 years? Also, have a plan for what happens if you can’t agree on a particular matter. Better to have that settled before you get to that point as emotions may not help you make the right decisions.
Set up a vesting schema of shares for key stakeholders. Try to align the interests of everyone involved in the business you’re building. Implementing a vesting schedule for shares can incentivize key team members to stay committed to the company’s long-term success. This also helps to retain talent. It fosters a shared ownership mentality and encourages the team to work towards the same goals.
Work on building recurring revenue, should you plan to sell your company someday. To build exit potential for your company, you need to have predictable and consistent income streams. It increases your company’s valuation and it will make it more attractive for potential buyers. Focus on building a subscription-based or contract-driven business model as a strong foundation for long-term growth.
Grow smart, at the right pace. The bigger the company, the more responsibilities. As your company grows, you’ll have more challenges and stress, and you’ll have to put in more effort. Make sure you, your business partner, and your team share the same expectations. At the same time, don’t try to find excuses not to grow.
Don’t be discouraged if similar businesses already exist. It means there’s a market for your idea. If there’s no competition, be careful and think well about the business idea you’re about to pursue.
What trends do you foresee shaping the future of email management and productivity software?
Michael Olsen: I think some of the trends defining email management and productivity software are emerging as a response to our hectic digital lives.
Artificial intelligence if implemented correctly, it will help people spend less time on email management and be more productive. With the help of AI, many features and services connected to your email program will be able to identify and anticipate your needs – and learn what’s important to you. For example, it will help you reply to your emails faster so you can move on to the next thing on your list. Also, it may be able to sort through your emails and pinpoint the ones that matter to you most, similar to a smart inbox feature.
Reducing mental overload. We’ve all become more aware of the impact that stress has on our psychological and physical well-being. People are overwhelmed with the amount of emails and other notifications they need to cater to. This shapes the future of email management and other tools – the awareness of mental overload and the stress associated with it.
By integrating more AI into Mailbird’s email management flow, we want to find more ways to take off some of that load. Our goal is to make your day-to-day communication easier to handle. That way, you can focus on doing more deep, meaningful work.
Another aspect that will become even more important is email data protection and security. As people are sharing more sensitive information online, the risk of breaches and data theft is higher than ever. We’ll see companies adopting more advanced security measures – like end-to-end encryption and multi-factor authentication. Stronger security protocols make an organization much less vulnerable to these threats, aside from helping it comply with laws like GDPR or CCPA.
What are your next plans for Mailbird? How do you seek to continue innovating and meeting the needs of your consumers as the world rapidly evolves?
Michael Olsen: Whenever we think of the future of Mailbird, we like to go back to our original promise, which we put right in the tagline: “Email just the way you like it.” With everything we do, the goal is to make email better for people. That means easier and faster to manage so they can feel less overwhelmed and more confident when they go into their inboxes.
Mailbird will have more features working towards this goal. And to build these extra features, we’ll continue to make the most of AI.
An exciting upcoming feature is AI replies. These are contextual answers that Mailbird’s AI can generate for you. You can almost see it as your email assistant that will learn how you reply to certain emails and can suggest an answer that’s readily available for you to use.
And of course, being the perfectionist that I am, we’re working towards a “perfect” cross-platform product and experience. Our customers should have the same Mailbird experience on all their different platforms and devices. The Mailbird for Mac launch in October puts us a step closer to that goal.
Brook Young, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Michael Olsen for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Michael Olsen or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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