Axel Henriksen
Earlier · Track record 2019–2025 Three projects · two exits · one learning project

What I
built.

Two projects before NORTH and one private learning project alongside. None of them large, all of them instructive. A short, honest chronology of where it actually began and how each chapter ended.

Listed in the order they were started. Dates are precise; numbers are rounded.

Monthly revenue
0 Projects
0yr Active period
0 Exits
20192025 Period
Timeline Start · Exit

From start
to exit.

Each project as a line. Filled circles mark dates where something actually became money, was shut down, or, for the learning project, was quietly packed up once the question behind it had been answered.

  1. Game server LaunchJul 2019Danish game server set up from a home rig in Copenhagen. 50k DanesMar 2020Over 50,000 unique Danish players passed through, 2–3,000 daily. Exit · 35k DKKOct 2020Sold to another community operator for 35,000 DKK cash. 2019 → 2020
  2. RangeReady LaunchMay 2023Webshop run from the boarding-school dorm in Minnesota, organic marketing only. 60k DKK MRRJul 2023Monthly recurring revenue peaks after three months. Exit · 300k DKKAug 2023Sold in cash to a larger competitor for 300,000 DKK. May → Aug 2023
  3. Humanoid Robotics StartFeb 2025Private study of artificial muscles for humanoid robots, run alongside NORTH. 8 muscle typesJul 2025All eight actuator families prototyped and benchmarked side by side. ClosedDec 2025Notes archived. Pure learning project, no product came out of it. Feb → Dec 2025

Idea / start Milestone along the way Exit or closure Hover for date and detail

The projects One by one

What I
took with me.

01

Jul 2019Oct 202015 mo

Game server

Gaming · Community server · Operator

Outcome Exit · sold for 35k DKK Handed over to another community operator
Peak MRR ~0DKK
Daily players 2–0k
Unique Danes 0k+
Exit price 0DKK

Danish game server run from a home rig in Copenhagen. Grew through Discord and word of mouth in Danish gaming communities; roughly 2–3,000 players on the server daily and over 50,000 unique Danes passing through across the fifteen months. Recurring revenue stabilised around 3,000 DKK per month from donations and rank purchases before I sold the server to another community operator in October 2020 for 35,000 DKK cash.

MRR · per month · DKK
Sector
Gaming · community
Daily players
~2–3,000
Role
Sole operator
Location
Copenhagen
02

May 2023Aug 20233 mo

RangeReady

E-commerce · Run from the boarding school in Minnesota · Founder

Outcome Exit · sold to competitor 300,000 DKK cash, three months after launch
Peak MRR 0DKK
Exit price 0DKK
Marketing budget 0DKK
Runtime 0mo

A small webshop I started from my boarding-school dorm in Minnesota in the summer of 2023. Launched in May and run purely on organic marketing in the breaks between classes; hit 60,000 DKK in monthly recurring revenue at peak after three months and was sold in cash to a larger competitor for 300,000 DKK in August. Three months from first order to exit.

MRR · per month · DKK
Sector
E-commerce
Location
Minnesota · boarding school
Role
Founder
Outcome
Exit · 300k DKK
03

Feb 2025Dec 202511 mo

Humanoid Robotics

Research · Artificial muscles for humanoid robots · Solo

Outcome Learning project No company, no product, pure self-education
Muscle types 0
Desk prototypes 0
Best contraction 0%
Duration 0mo

A private learning project, not a venture. The idea was to understand what the muscles of a humanoid robot actually look like up close, by emulating the human body as faithfully as possible. Eight different artificial muscle types studied and prototyped on the workbench, from nitinol strands that contract under electric heat to HASEL actuators and carbon-nanotube yarns. No company, no product, no investors. Just a serious nerd session on how biological motion translates into hardware.

Muscle families studied 8 / 8
  1. 01Nitinol · shape-memory strandSMA
  2. 02HASEL · hydraulic electrostaticsoft
  3. 03TCPA · twisted coiled nylon49% Δ
  4. 04McKibben · braided pneumaticPAM
  5. 05Dielectric elastomer · stretch capacitorDEA
  6. 06IPMC · ionic polymer–metallow-V
  7. 07CNT yarn · carbon-nanotube fibres40× pwr
  8. 08MR fluid · magneto­rheological tonusMRF
Field
Soft robotics
Inspiration
Human anatomy
Role
Solo · self-taught
Outcome
Notes closed
A note Written 2026

What the three
taught me.

The first two were started because I wanted to see if a concrete idea could stand on its own. Both ended in exits. The third, Humanoid Robotics, was never meant to stand on its own; it was a private study of what the muscles of a humanoid robot actually look like up close. None of them was the right place to stay. That is still the shortest explanation of why NORTH, Tableone and Varn Industries exist.

Questions about a specific period, a number, or a contact who remembers it from back then are answered directly. Write to axel@axelhenriksen.dk.

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