The Leap
After 20 years in technology and business development — including roles at Telenor and co-founding Migenic.com — I started Bakke & Co and co-founded PortLink AS. The transition from enterprise to startup was both easier and harder than I expected.
What Doesn't Change
1. People Skills Matter Most
In enterprise, I spent 70% of my time on people: stakeholders, teams, clients. In startup, it's the same — just different people. Investors, co-founders, early customers. The skill of reading a room and communicating complex ideas simply? That transfers directly.
2. Process Thinking
Enterprise taught me to think in systems and processes. When I built Bakke & Co, I set up proper workflows from day one: project management, client communication, invoicing. Many first-time founders skip this and pay for it later.
3. Quality Standards
Working at companies like Telenor instills a quality mindset. You learn that cutting corners creates compound problems. This served me well — our technical architecture at PortLink is enterprise-grade from the start.
What Changes
1. Speed vs. Certainty
In enterprise: analyze for weeks, decide once, execute over months. In startup: decide in hours, execute in days, iterate continuously.
The hardest adjustment was accepting that 80% certainty is enough to ship. In enterprise, 95% was the minimum.
2. Resource Constraints
At Telenor, I could requisition tools, teams, and budgets. At Bakke & Co, every tool subscription is a conscious decision. This constraint is actually liberating — it forces creative problem-solving.
We use AI extensively to compensate for team size. Where a consultancy might hire 5 developers, we use AI pair-programming to achieve similar output with 1-2 people.
3. Emotional Investment
When a project fails in enterprise, it's disappointing. When YOUR product fails, it's personal. Learning to separate identity from outcomes is an ongoing practice.
The MIT Factor
My Executive Education at MIT (AI Implementation in Business) was the bridge between enterprise thinking and startup execution. It gave me frameworks for evaluating AI opportunities that I use daily at both Bakke & Co and PortLink.
The most valuable lesson: AI is a capability multiplier, not a capability replacement. This shapes everything we build.
Advice for Corporate Refugees
- Start building before you leave. Side projects, client work, prototypes — build your muscle before going full-time.
- Keep your enterprise network. Those connections become your first clients, advisors, and referral sources.
- Embrace the discomfort. The uncertainty never goes away — you just get better at operating within it.
- Partner wisely. My co-founder at PortLink brings complementary skills (cruise industry expertise). Equal partnerships with aligned values are everything.
David Bakke is the founder of Bakke & Co and co-founder of PortLink AS, based in Oslo, Norway.