Connector Subsea Solutions
(Direct Translation of Article)
“Building a tech company can be pure hell,” admits serial entrepreneur Kristian Karlsen.
Everything clicked when he put aside his founder dream and became a sales manager.
Original Author: Andreas Klemsdal, Finansavisen
Link to original article: Fra «sant helvete» til gjennombrudd
EXPORT: Connector Subsea Solutions has secured a contract with Petrobras.
Photo courtesy: Morten Sæle (fotografsaele)
He recently returned from Brazil with a contract worth NOK 160 million in his luggage.
Kristian Karlsen (51) from Vaksdal, east of Bergen, is succeeding with compact ball valves for the oil and gas industry. At the Oil & Gas Offshore Conference OTC Brasil at the end of October, he landed a contract valued at NOK 160 million.
Karlsen is the entrepreneur who succeeded only after stepping back from the founder role and letting others manage the company.
Starting something on your own is not always the path to success. Over the past 25 years, he has experienced countless ups and downs.
“Building a tech company can be pure hell”, Karlsen says today.
The Dog Food Mould Disaster
He began his career early, getting a summer job at Vaksdal Mølle at age 16. A few years later, he earned his journeyman certificate as a mechanic. Alongside his job, he often toyed with the idea of starting his own business.
He and a partner stumbled upon an opportunity along the coast: waste from aquaculture could be turned into new products. After all, dogs love dried fish, right?
This was the start of Pet Food, which produced dog snacks based on fish byproducts. “We could get the raw materials for free, and the idea was well received by stores. Things started happening quickly, but we eventually realized that volume had to come through grocery and discount chains.”
Over time, the products made it onto the shelves of Nille, Sparkjøp, and Europris.
Pet Food expanded its range and secured deals with importers in Belgium and the Netherlands. At one point, the company had 300 product lines in Europris stores.
“I had my father on board, and once the retailer agreements were in place, we were ready to roll out the products at Europris. Four fully loaded trucks came from Poland,” Karlsen recalls.
There was just one problem: the dog snacks weren’t dried enough. They contained too much moisture and moulded while on the shelves. This was catastrophic for a startup like Pet Food.
“It was the classic founder’s mistake. We went from small-scale to mass production. I had trusted the subcontractors and hadn’t supervised production closely. It turned out to be a blunder,”
Suddenly, the chains began to pull out. “It was extremely tough. We had spent money we didn’t have. We couldn’t move forward. I had lost around one million NOK and didn’t have the courage to continue, risking losing even more.”
A Job the Day After
A broke entrepreneur doesn’t waste time. The very next day, he had a new job to go to. “It was tough financially and a hit to my confidence, but there was no reason to lie down and cry.”
He got a job at Unitech Offshore and began product development for the oil industry.
Subsea Start
A few years later, the entrepreneurial itch returned. In 2012, he co-founded Fjell Subsea Products.
“The business idea was to offer modular equipment that could be produced and assembled more easily from standard components. The goal was to reduce engineering hours and material usage, simplify production, shorten procurement times, and save costs”, he explains.
When the managing director fell ill, Karlsen took over. But cooperation with the other units of Fjell Industries struggled, and eventually the subsea division became independent.
Fjell Subsea Products was founded in 2012 with Karlsen as the driving force and developer. The focus was on developing modular subsea equipment, which required risk capital.
By 2015, the company was acquired by Proventure. After the acquisition, Fjell Subsea received NOK 20 million. Shortly afterward, the big crash in the oil and offshore market hit.
“Proventure brought in people they thought were competent. I believe it worked poorly. These were people from larger companies used to burning a lot of money. They spent money on things that didn’t help us in the right direction.”
The following year, bankruptcy was a fact. “You can say what you want about entrepreneurs, but many of us are careful to build stone by stone. You can’t spend money without seeing results. A football team can’t just have strikers; you have to build a team.”
When Fjell Subsea went bankrupt, Connector Subsea Solutions (CSS) stepped in and purchased the estate from Innovation Norway. They knew they had to bring Karlsen on board. “In 2017, we became part of CSS, a company with solid owners and many skilled engineers.”
The Ball Valves
PART OF SOMETHING BIG: Kristian Karlsen (center) with CEO Ivar Kjærvik Hanson (left) and Chairman Pål Magne Hisdal (right), with the CSS’s connector used for injection and gas lift.
After the acquisition, things began moving in the right direction. At CSS, Karlsen and the team further developed compact valves that are lightweight and have fewer potential leak points.
“I’ve always focused on making our products smaller, lighter, and more production-friendly to save materials. With our unique manufacturing methods, we eliminate bolted solutions to remove potential leak points.”
An example of efficiency was a project in Africa, where CSS delivered 1 050 valves weighing 6.2 kg each, replacing 37 kg valves. This saved 30 tons of material and reduced potential leak points by 29 000 in total. Brazil will be the largest global market for subsea technology over the next ten years.
At the Underwater Technology Conference (UTC) in Bergen in June, CSS signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state-owned Brazilian oil company Petrobras. The agreement covers the development of new subsea technology for future field developments.
For Petrobras, the goal is to develop a new standard for fully welded compact valves for demanding applications.
At the recently held OTC exhibition in Rio, Brazil, Karlsen confirmed that the strategy is paying off.
“Simply put, the major players want us to deliver valves not only for Subsea Distribution Units (SDUs), meaning the ‘trees’ and manifolds on the seabed, but also into the heart of production wells. We are going to make that happen”, Karlsen says.
Even though Kristian Karlsen now has a permanent position and receives a salary like everyone else, he still feels like an entrepreneur.
“My strength is building relationships, getting in front of new customers, and outlining technical solutions they find interesting.”
That is why he is also a driving force in pushing CSS into new business areas.
One example is nuclear power. Little has happened in Norway, but internationally, a new era is emerging with modern technology.
“At a nuclear power plant, there are thousands of valves. We can deliver valves that are lightweight, have few potential leak points, and are produced in an environmentally friendly way”, says Karlsen, who sees similar opportunities in wind power, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen production.
“It is in our plans to work toward gaining a position in the renewable market.”
Karlsen is keen to cultivate the mindset of a long-term entrepreneur.
“Nothing happens by itself, or drops onto your head. Even to win in betting, you must take the trouble to submit the ticket. Building something from scratch, thinking differently than everyone else, created change in our industry. But it requires being goal-oriented every day at work. You can’t waver too much. And you have to believe in what you do”, he sums up.
A Classic Example
ADVANCED PRODUCTION: Kristian Karlsen at a new production facility at HTS Dynamics in Drammen, Norway.
CEO of Connector Subsea Solutions, Ivar Kjærvik Hanson, says about his colleague:
“Kristian Karlsen is an example of the classic West Norwegian entrepreneurial spirit: drive, mistakes, new attempts — and ultimately success. We are grateful for the role he plays as a driver and inspirer at CSS. His story shows how Norwegian industrial entrepreneurs can contribute both to the oil and gas adventure and to new solutions for a more sustainable future.”
