Bokadirekt is currently investing heavily in AI and new ways of working. We sat down with CEO Niklas and CTO Anton to understand what it actually means to build a company where AI isn't a buzzword - but a part of how you think, build, and make decisions every day.

Niklas, most companies say they work with AI - how do you know when it's actually a competitive advantage and not just noise?
The test I use: does it change the math? It's easy to talk about AI. It's harder to point to a number you couldn't have reached without it. For us, the test is whether AI takes us from where we are today to our goals. Does it solve important, measurable challenges and opportunities for us? It can't become vague productivity targets. When AI actually becomes a competitive advantage, three things tend to be true at the same time: it forces a genuine change in ways of working, it changes the unit economics, and it makes you a little nervous about how quickly competitors can close the gap. If none of those three things happen, it's probably still noise - including much of what today gets called "AI strategy" or "we're already working with AI."

Anton, Bokadirekt sits on data from millions of bookings - what makes that data unique to work with compared to other companies?
Our dataset is unique because it combines transactional and calendar data from over two million monthly bookings and nine million written reviews. Unlike traditional e-commerce, which often involves one-off purchases, our data maps people's recurring lifestyle routines and personal relationships with their service providers. This allows us to anticipate booking needs and drive personalised recommendations at an entirely new level in the industry.

But a strong position also demands courage, culture, and a genuine willingness to change how you work. Niklas on what that looks like in practice.

How do you, as CEO, create a culture where the team dares to test new ideas, experiment, and sometimes fail?
Courage isn't in starting experiments - it's in owning and learning from things that don't work, and in daring to truly prioritise. As a leader, I have to show that I'm willing to prioritise and accept the consequences when initiatives are taken towards positive change and progress. No one at Bokadirekt will dare to do that themselves or push their ideas forward if I don't do it myself. Right now, our entire product and tech organisation is pausing production for two weeks to rebuild its ways of working around AI. That's expensive. That's also what "we mean it" actually looks like - that we're willing to take on the investment and the consequences of daring.

Anton, where do you draw the line for what AI should actually make decisions about in Bokadirekt's product - and who decides that?
AI should be used as an accelerator to optimise, analyse, generate drafts, and provide recommendations. But humans always own the decision. It's the management team and responsible leaders who are accountable for ensuring these frameworks are followed.

Anton, where is AI still not good enough for what you want to build?
AI already helps us extensively today by efficiently handling simpler, repetitive support cases and standard responses. The challenge lies in the advanced cases and more complex problems, where the solution requires sophisticated policy interpretation, cross-functional logic, and handling unique exceptions. Today's AI models aren't sufficient for these, which means human judgement and the expertise of our staff remain absolutely indispensable for resolving them correctly.

Despite that - or perhaps precisely because of it - this is an area that currently has Anton's full attention.

Anton, which AI project are you most excited about right now?
I'm hugely excited about the launch of our new AI assistant that helps our businesses with insights and will also suggest actions to help them run their operations. This means our business owners can spend even more time with their customers while we help them manage and grow their business.

Seeing initiatives like that take shape in real time - that's part of what Niklas highlights when he describes what makes this job unique.

Niklas, what's the most enjoyable part of leading a company where the technology actually is the product?
The feedback loop. In most industries, you make a decision and wait months to find out if it was right. With a product like ours, the data usually tells you within weeks. Sometimes within days. We sit between two sides of a marketplace - merchants who want predictable revenue and a simple business system, consumers who want a great booking experience - and we see how decisions move between the sides in real time. When something works on one side, you can often see the effect on the other within a release cycle. The other thing right now is how strange and exciting AI makes the work itself. Tools that didn't exist eighteen months ago are reshaping how we build, how our product managers think, and what our designers can prototype in an afternoon. Leading through that is the most interesting thing I've done as a CEO.

Curious about being part of what Niklas and Anton describe? At Bokadirekt, we're not just building with AI - we're rebuilding how we work, think, and deliver value. Take a look at our open roles and see if there's something for you.