Happy 5th birthday, Amino

Amino turns 5, and I’m bloody happy to see how many entrepreneurs are getting help. What started as a way to answer fewer emails has grown into a community with hundreds of thousands of posts and lots of people sharing their experiences.

The video is from 1 April 2010. The birthday was actually just over a week earlier, while I was in Denmark, and I had missed it. Amino was launched at Easter in 2005.

Amino turns 5: From emails to a community

Back then, I was thinking about all the emails I’d received from lovely entrepreneurs that I simply didn’t have time to answer. That’s why I created Amino. The idea was to get fewer questions sent straight to my inbox. I tell my own story as an entrepreneur in Iværksætter til jeg dør.

And what the hell have I got out of it? I’m answering more emails from entrepreneurs than ever before. But fuck it. Lots of people are getting help, and it’s fantastic to see their enthusiasm.

Almost half a million posts in five years

In the video, I say that 487,000 posts have been written over those five years. Almost half a million. We have 50,000 registered users and around 13,000 visitors a day. We’re above 10,000 visitors on almost every day.

There are around one and a half million page views a month, and we have more than 100,000 unique visitors a month. Those are the figures I’m talking about at the fifth birthday in 2010.

Those might sound like dry numbers. But behind them are people. More than 100,000 different entrepreneurs and people who want to become entrepreneurs come by. They get help in some way, or they help others. I think that’s so fucking wonderful you wouldn’t believe it.

A team building on Amino

I feel incredibly lucky. Nikolaj Frisch has taken over as CEO and put together a fantastic team working on lots of exciting things.

Then there are the lovely people in Manila, led by Peter Skårhus, who develop our software. Many new services have been added, with more on the way.

At the time, I talk about two new services on the way. I guess one will arrive in a week or a fortnight, while the other is probably two or three months away. Those are my expectations at that point, and the idea is to bring Danish entrepreneurs even closer together.

I also make a cheeky remark about beating our competitors in Asia and quickly apologise to Peter. But I don’t want the birthday greeting to get sidetracked into politics. It’s meant to be a celebration.

Thank you to everyone who brings the community to life

So thank you so much, all of you. Thank you to Nikolaj and the entire Amino team. Thank you to everyone who supports our events. Thank you to those who write and those who read.

Thank you to the advertisers and everyone who helps make Amino what it is. In the video, I call it the biggest and most positive place on the Danish internet. That’s certainly how I experience it.

Happy fifth birthday, Amino. Let’s hope you make it to at least a hundred.