I had said yes the day before.
First flight out. Minimal preparation. A bit too little sleep. And a decision that, in hindsight, felt slightly more ambitious than it did in the moment.
Most of the prep had gone into the technical side. The message itself was clear. But everything around it — the setting, the room, the context — that part was still unknown.
Sitting in the taxi in Copenhagen, somewhere between anticipation and “this might be a terrible idea”, the adrenaline started to kick in.
Then we pulled up.
And that’s when I realized where I actually was.
Microsoft.
In Denmark.
And just like that, the setting changed.
Few things match the feeling of standing on stage and talking about something you genuinely believe in.
In this case, why we need to take back control of our own data. Why infrastructure matters, why data locality matters, and why open source matters. And perhaps most importantly, why blindly relying on large external cloud providers comes with trade-offs we don’t always fully understand.
That was the message. In front of a room filled with Azure engineers, many of them wearing matching blue t-shirts.
Let’s just say the irony wasn’t lost on me. Standing there, talking about digital sovereignty, reduced dependency and independent infrastructure — on a stage hosted by one of the very platforms you’re challenging — requires a certain level of composure. And yes, a slightly elevated heart rate.
But here’s the interesting part.
The room didn’t push back. They listened. There were good questions, real conversations, and a level of openness that honestly stood out. Because this isn’t actually a binary discussion. It’s not about being for or against any particular provider. It’s about understanding dependency, and making deliberate choices about where data lives, how systems are built, and who ultimately controls them.
What also became clear is that Denmark is paying attention.
In recent years, there’s been a noticeable increase in focus on data sovereignty, regulatory control, and long-term resilience in digital infrastructure — across both public and private sectors. Not as ideology, but as a practical question of risk, control and responsibility. Where does data actually reside, and under which jurisdiction? What happens when assumptions about access, availability or governance change?
Those are no longer theoretical questions.
At one point, I caught myself looking past the front rows and towards the back of the room. Standing there were the engineers. Azure shirts. Arms crossed. Observing.
And honestly, that might have been the most interesting audience in the room.
Because regardless of platform, vendor or positioning, engineers understand trade-offs. They know where complexity hides, where dependencies accumulate, and how decisions made early in a system tend to define its constraints later. You don’t need to convince them that architecture matters — they already know.
In the end, I walked out the same way I walked in. No dramatic moments, no friction — just better conversations, a handful of strong new connections, and a clearer sense that this discussion is only getting started.
From a headquarters I can only dream of — for now.
So yes — a bit unexpected. Slightly ironic. But ultimately, exactly the kind of setting where these conversations should happen.
And for that, thanks for the stage, Microsoft.
A big thanks as well to CVX Ventures, and to Louis Wolff-Pedersen, Malthe Valbjørn and Oscar Thybo — for the opportunity, the network, and for opening doors in Denmark. It’s a market we’re taking seriously, and after this, even more so.