# Lars Kirste

> Operator, commercial leader, builder. Based in Oslo, Norway.

I've run a Nordic health-tech software company, led business transformations as a strategy consultant and sold enterprise software and data science projects at IBM. These days I also build with AI, hands on.

## Selected work

- Opus Systemer, CEO, 2024–2026: modernized the market leader in Nordic dental software (3,000+ clinics, ~90% market share, NOK 75M revenue, 40 people, Norway, Sweden, Iceland). Rebuilt the leadership, commercial, technical and product teams, replacing about a third of the company over two years; re-established key customer relationships, cutting churn in Sweden; kept P&L on budget throughout. Delivery throughput, product stability, security, customer satisfaction and profitability all rose substantially.
- Beyond Strategy, Engagement Manager, 2020–2023: designed the transformation of a NOK 1.4bn, 2,000-person company, which went on to turn revenue decline into growth; pricing strategy for a raw materials client whose profitability rose 16x in four years; integration of a four-company merger in oil & gas; ran sales for the firm's four partners.
- IBM, Senior Sales Specialist, Cloud and Analytics, 2014–2019: 200%+ of quota in 2017 and 2018; largest stand-alone IBM Cloud deal in Norway in 2018 (USD 1.8M); spearheaded IBM's Big Data portfolio in the Nordics in 2016.

## Projects

- [Min forsikring](https://minforsikring.uthav.com): prototype. Collect, benchmark and compare coverage for all a household's insurance in one place.
- Orden: prototype. Get your personal IT security sorted, with a guide so simple your grandmother can follow.

## Off screen

- Travel: 68 countries on six continents; has lived in four.
- Outdoors: hikes 2,000-metre summits in Jotunheimen, Norway; dives wrecks and coral reefs; sails oceans and fjords.
- Reading: memorable books on strategy, leadership, markets, risk and true stories, including Good Strategy Bad Strategy, Zero to One, The Black Swan and Shoe Dog.

## Background

- Skillsessions, co-founder and CEO, 2014–2016
- ESADE, MSc International Management, 2013–2014
- Gründerskolen, UiO and National University of Singapore, 2013
- Drive.SG, business development intern, 2013
- Storebrand, analyst, 2012–2013
- OsloMet, BSc Economics and Administration, 2009–2012

## Contact

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-kirste/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lars_andrew/