Ted Valentin. Click on the picture

Introduction: When you think of IT in Sweden it is perhaps mostly of the major IT and consulting companies in Kista.

But Sweden also has a new generation of ambitious young IT entrepreneurs who exploit Web 2.0-technology to create exciting new social networking applications.

One of them is the extremely productive Ted Valentin. I wanted to learn a little about what Ted is working with and how he sees the Swedish Web 2.0-market. Here is the result of the e-mail interview:

Lennart: Tell me a little about yourself and your background. You have graduated from the prestigious Stockholm School of Economics and studied at the Royal Institute of Technology. What made you get into the Web 2.0 -space and why are you focusing on mapping applications? What is your take on social Web applications in general and Facebook, etc.?

Ted: I studied marketing at Stockholm School of Economics in Stockholm and started programming in 2003, after I took a few introductory programming courses in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

During my last year at the Stockholm School of Economics I began experimenting with online marketing, and I began to build a network of Nordic sites that dealt with the sale of magazines. I sold these sites in 2007 for approximately 10-15 million kronor, about $ 1.5 - 2 million (or so rumor has it …). I still have no staff and no office, just a laptop and a 3G modem.

For more, look at the article IT-millionaire with cafés as his office and Ted Valentin.

The reason I sold my site was that I wanted to have more time to program and continue to learn new things. I got into mapping applications because it is an extremely exciting and turbulent space, where anything can happen in the coming years. Moreover, it is easy to get started with Google Maps.

My plan is to launch a series of tightly focused niche map sites. I have so far released Kafekartan.se, Wifikartan.se, Badkartan.se, Sushikartan.se, Annonskartan.se and five additional sites. In principle I am the owner of all domain names in Sweden ending in -kartan.se and my goal is to try to launch a site a week over the next six months.

Lennart: What is your view of the entrepreneurial climate and the Web 2.0-market in Sweden today? Are you aiming only at Sweden and the Nordic countries or wider, at Europe or the whole world? How do you market your products? Do you have venture funding? Would you be able to get venture capital in Sweden or Europe if you wanted?

Ted: Web 2.0 came a little late to Sweden, but now it is really starts to move. I myself have only equity, and I do not think I will need any venture capital, because I am very cost-conscious. But in the next quarter or at least within a year, I will evaluate where I am and see if some of my ideas are good enough to develop further and perhaps spin off internationally.

Click on the picture.

Lennart: Do you work alone or with others? Do you write your own applications? How many hours do you spend on the average each week? What tools do you use to develop your products? Do you have any favorite tools?

Ted: I work by myself, in cafés with WIFI access. I work as many hours a week as I can. I love to work, but I also try to relax and not neglect my wife and my friends.

I use Linux / Apache / Mysql / Php. Not exactly Rocket science, and not the coolest technology.

Click on the picture.

Lennart: Which Web 2.0-technologies do you think are most interesting for the future?

Ted: Obviously it would be nice to work in the “cloud”, so that I can focus more on developing good services and less on server performance and scalability issues.

Lennart: Do you keep an eye on the IT market here in Silicon Valley? What blogs and news sources do you follow here in the U.S.?

Ted: I follow a lot of Swedish blogs who in turn report about what is happening in Silicon Valley. I also try to go to San Francisco once a year to get inspiration. I have said “hi” to Chris Andersson and had lunch with people at the Googleplex .

Lennart: What about Kista, are there Web 2.0.-startup companies there also or do the Web 2.0- entrepreneurs not care about Kista? If that is the case, where do Web 2.0 developers work in the Stockholm area today? Any favorite places? How many active Web 2.0 entrepreneurs do you think there are in Sweden today?

Ted: I don’t think Kista has very much to do with Web 2.0. I think most of today’s Web 2.0 entrepreneurs work in different places in the Stockholm inner city, or in cafés, as I do. Or else they move to Berlin, where living costs are lower.

Lennart: Can you say something about how successful your sites have been? Are you going to internationalize your websites? For example expand into the EU, U.S. or China?

Ted: My ten map sites are a little too new for me to evaluate that. I am hoping that my site Annonskartan.se (my search engine for local ads), will qualify in the top 100 in Sweden within six months. When I have 100,000 visitors a day I should start thinking about Plan B, but I try to take one step at a time, and adapt myself how things develop.

The terrain changes constantly, so it does not make sense to have a plan for more than a few months into the future.

Lennart: Last but not least, what do you think of your chances to make enough to live on your web sites? Do you perhaps do that already?

Ted:: Right now I am devoting all my efforts at product development so revenues will have to wait a bit. On the other hand, my expenses are minimal. This recession will actually be quite timely for me, it gives me the opportunity to build volume while all my competitors must focus on cost cutting.