Name: Jonas N Olsen
Title: VP Strategic Partnerships
Company: On-Ramp Wireless, Inc.
Abroad hometown: San Diego, USA
Denmark hometown: Roskilde
Years abroad: 10 (8 in the US)

Description of background, education and how you ended up abroad:
I finished my MS in Business Administration and Computer Science at Copenhagen Business School in 1998 and immediately went to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers. One of my first weeks there, I was sent on a training course to St. Louis, MO here in the US. That is where I met my wife, who had also just joined the company. After some long-distance romance, we moved to Palo Alto near San Francisco in the fall of 2000 and later to San Diego.

Description of job role, responsibility and challenges:
After nearly six years building a company in the satellite communication space, I recently sold my share of the company. After some, in my humble opinion well deserved, time off I joined On-Ramp wireless in the summer of 2008. The company was founded in early 2008 and is developing a disruptive new wireless communication system for sensor networking and location tracking. Our engineers has found a way to get 25x range and capacity, given the same power consumption, compared with existing technology in the space. My responsibilities lie within business development with a special focus on partnership search, positioning and vetting.

An example of your professional success
Since this is not a job application, I will stay away from the usual platitudes. I think my professional success materializes in an ability to focus on the day-to-day grind with a positive attitude, and to always try to put the people around me in the best possible position to succeed. America is a very individualistic culture compared with Denmark, so it takes some patience and faith to believe in that approach. It probably also costs in terms of advancement opportunities, but it is what personally works best for me. Not entirely platitude-free, I guess.

People I would like to network with?
I am not a “natural” when it comes to networking, so I relish the opportunity to work with DABGO and meet its members. I enjoy meeting “new” Danes in the San Diego area, and I have also met quite a few good business contacts. In my experience, you can get something out of networking with almost anybody.

What can other DABGO members do to support my business?
In my current capacity at On-Ramp Wireless I am looking for OEM/ODM partnership opportunities. Danish companies are typically on the forefront of new technology implementations. If you work for, or know of, a company that could see the potential for enhancing their product or service through integration of our truly revolutionary wireless solution, I would be very interested in hearing from you.

What can I help other DABGO members with?
Adapting to life in the US. Job search (to some degree). Networking.

Any good advice for DABGO?
Hmmm, don’t know if it belongs here, but I think we should try to simplify our web-presence. Right now we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and dabgo.net. Some City Managers are even using eVite as well.

Linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonasnolsen

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