The Commodore 64 kid who turned play into innovation

It all began with a Christmas gift

Ask Marcus when it all began and he doesn’t hesitate. “I’m a programmer, that’s it,” he says, matter-of-factly. “I got a Commodore 64 for Christmas when I was a kid, and we had a very intense and loving relationship for a few years.”

Like most teenagers, other interests soon took over. But a decade later, while studying at a university in Sweden, Marcus stumbled into a programming course and rediscovered what he calls “instant love". "I knew straight away that this was what I wanted to do.”

To outsiders, programming can look like a cold, logical discipline. For Marcus, it was the opposite. “It’s creative, it’s fun, it solves problems, and it produces something useful. It just clicked for me,” he says. “After all these years, even though I don’t spend most of my days writing code anymore, I still love it.” That passion shows up in how he leads: championing developers, celebrating good code, and reminding everyone that curiosity never goes out of style.

Even after years in leadership, Marcus still talks about programming with the excitement of someone who has just written their first line of code.

Nine people, one wild bet

Marcus’s path to Signicat wasn’t a calculated career move. It was more of a leap of faith. At the time, he was living in Trondheim, Norway, and the company was a nine-person start-up. “It wasn’t obvious that Signicat was going to be a success,” he says. “But they had some good customers and plenty to do.”

A former colleague invited him for coffee and explained what the company was building. “Truth be told, I didn’t really understand it,” he admits. “But I met some of the founders, liked their style, and it felt right. It seemed stable enough to be sustainable and ambitious enough to grow, and I wanted to be part of that.”

He did not join because of a corporate plan. He joined because he liked the people, the energy and the ambition.

Fifteen years later, Signicat is fifty times bigger, and Marcus is still here. He smiles at the thought. “If someone had told me that back then, I wouldn’t have believed it. But I’m profoundly grateful. Signicat isn’t just a workplace for me, it’s part of my life story.”

He even remembers fondly bringing his daughter, then a baby, to the Trondheim office. “She’s sixteen now. It’s strange to think about how much has changed, both for her and for the company.”

Leading like he codes: With curiosity and trust

Marcus’s role has evolved alongside the company. He started out as a developer, but like many engineers, eventually found himself drawn into management. “If you’re a programmer, you’ll get dragged into management unless you actively fight it,” he jokes. “I didn’t fight it. I like that side of things, and I think I’m kind of good at it.”

He credits the people around him for making leadership rewarding. “I have the privilege of working with really nice and talented people. They make management enjoyable.”

That mix of humility and humour defines Marcus’s style. He doesn’t overcomplicate what drives him. “If it’s fun, people enjoy it, we get things done and make money doing it, I’m in.”

Simplicity shapes Marcus’s approach to leadership. He believes in creating an environment where people feel both trusted and inspired, and naturally take responsibility for what they build and the decisions they make.

The day reality hit: “We’ve made it”

One moment that stands out in his memory came during a visit to a large Dutch bank’s headquarters. “We were there to discuss partnerships and access to a bank-operated ID scheme,” he says. “The building was so slick and modern that I thought, we’ve made it, we’re playing with the big boys now.”

He laughs at the memory. “It wasn’t necessarily a turning point for Signicat’s financial evolution, and I wasn’t the one who closed the deal, but it felt like an important moment. We had worked for years to expand beyond our Scandinavian roots, and there we were, part of the conversation.”

The perfect blend of usefulness and spark: The birth of the Signicat Hackathon

If one thing captures Marcus’s approach to technology, it is the Signicat Hackathon. What began as a casual idea has become a defining tradition.

“The idea had been around for years,” he says, “but it was not until Mite, our CTO, said, Marcus, let’s do a hackathon, you fix it, that it finally happened.”

Marcus wanted it to feel different. Not another competition, but a celebration of creativity. His inspiration came from the demo scene of the Commodore 64 era, where programmers and artists showed off their craft just for the thrill of it. “It was not about utility, it was about art,” he explains.

That sense of play became the foundation. “Our hackathons are about usefulness, yes, but they also need that spark. The C64 and Amiga 500 vibe reminds us to enjoy what we build. It makes people smile and think differently.”

The Signicat Hackathon is more than an event. It is a live expression of how the company thinks about engineering: serious about impact, playful about process.

Innovation lives in everyone

The first hackathon was meant for the technology department. “We just wanted people to meet, collaborate and build anything related to our business,” Marcus recalls. “It was an instant hit.”

The next year, they opened it to everyone. Designers, product people, sales, support, anyone with an idea. “We realised innovation does not live only with developers. Everyone has something to contribute.”

They introduced ideation sessions and team matchmaking. Viewing parties were organised in every office, so people could watch the live demos and awards together. “People loved it,” Marcus says. “It turned into a company-wide celebration.”

The projects ranged from practical to delightfully absurd. One team even built a robot that entered PIN codes on Swedish BankID. “Not the most useful idea,” he admits, smiling, “but pure genius in spirit.”

For Marcus, that was the point. “The hackathon is not just a playground for ideas,” he says. “It is proof that we trust our people to explore. That is what culture should feel like.”

Mad ideas, brilliant builds

Not every project makes it into production, but many do. Several hackathon projects have made their way into real Signicat products, from a composable customer demo portal to conversational AI tools and analytics features for fraud detection. Others have served as prototypes that evolved later into production features.

But Marcus believes the hackathon’s real value lies elsewhere. “I’m biased, but I think the hackathons are celebrations of our culture,” he says. “We build things together, we have fun doing it, and the teams that form during these events create bonds that last. It’s the ultimate win-win.”

He adds, “Let’s not forget the value of play. Curiosity and exploration are what keep us sharp. It might sound a bit cliché, but it’s true.”

Behind the curtain of controlled chaos

For Marcus, the highlight of each hackathon is the award ceremony. “The energy is sky high, and seeing the winners celebrate is fantastic,” he says. “For me and my co-host Kristine, it’s also a release after weeks of preparation, and the boost lasts for days.”

Organising the event isn’t without challenges. “At first, it was hard to get people to sign up. They didn’t know what to expect or who to team up with,” he says. “Now, it’s part of our rhythm.”

The hardest part these days? “Getting the votes and jury decisions sorted between the demos and the ceremony,” he says. “We’ve only got about fifteen minutes to finalise everything, and we can’t prepare it in advance because we don’t know who’s going to win.” He smiles. “But that chaos is part of the fun.”

He compares it to coding. “There’s always that moment where you think, this might not come together, and then it does,” he laughs.

Building is just half of the hackathon story

Marcus describes organising the hackathon as “the gift that keeps on giving”. It inspires him, fuels friendly competition, and strengthens the sense of community across Signicat. “It creates connections that make collaboration easier in other parts of our work,” he says. “There are zero drawbacks. It’s just a huge privilege.”

He believes the hackathon has become something much bigger than a tech event. “It’s a reflection of who we are,” he says. “Curious, creative, and proud of what we build together.”

And as for the future? “Never change a winning team,” Marcus says. “We’ve found a formula that works. It’s like Christmas, you don’t reinvent it every year, you embrace the tradition.”

Asked how he feels at the end of each hackathon, he doesn’t pause. “Boosted,” he says. “Proud, grateful, and maybe a bit tired, in the best way.” That same balance of energy and gratitude runs through everything he does. 

Once a coder, always a coder

When he’s not working, Marcus still enjoys the kind of tinkering that first drew him to technology. “If it’s something visual, vanilla JavaScript is the right tool for the job. It’s both frustrating and rewarding to work with. I love it, instant feedback. If it’s something running on a single machine that needs more processing, I would go for Python.”

From his first Commodore 64 to leading teams and building traditions, Marcus has never stopped seeing programming as something joyful, a way to connect, create and make things better.

He likes to keep things simple, even when he’s just coding for fun. “I prefer working with languages that don’t have complex build steps or too many rules. It keeps the energy high and the ideas flowing.”

There is always something left to hack

When asked what he would hack if he could hack anything, Marcus doesn’t have to think for long. “I actually get to do this quite often,” he says. “Whenever I find myself doing the same task more than once, I start wondering how I can automate it. Most of the time, I’ll end up hacking together something to make it work.”

He smiles. “Sixty per cent of the time, it works every time. As it should be.”

That answer sums Marcus up perfectly. Whether he is writing code, organising a hackathon or finding a smarter way to get things done, his instinct is always the same: explore, improve and enjoy the process.