"Once you have hardware, software becomes the easy part"
What if turning off a light or flipping a music sheet could be done with a single press? No app, no friction, That’s the simplicity Joacim Westlund Prändel set out to build with Flic. More than a decade later, that early prototype from Stockholm has grown into a profitable global hardware company—scaled on revenue, not rounds.
Flic’s core product, a Bluetooth-enabled smart button, might look simple on the surface. But under the hood, it’s powered by a robust software stack, sophisticated integrations, and a growing ecosystem of hardware variations.
– We claimed to have invented the smart button. It’s wireless, small, and can be configured to do just about anything, says Joacim.
From smart homes to healthcare panic buttons, Flic has found traction in both B2C and B2B markets. The company now operates with a lean 17-person team and reported about SEK 50 million in revenue last year. Without taking on venture capital.
– We’ve raised very little external capital, about 15 million SEK in total. Most of our growth has been from crowdfunding and customer revenue, says Joacim.
Flic's global journey began with a record-breaking Indiegogo campaign and a pivotal stint at the Highway1 incubator in San Francisco. That experience gave the team tools and mindset for manufacturing, logistics, and customer onboarding at scale.
– We learned how to think like a consumer hardware company. Everything from logistics to how a landing page should look. That knowledge was hard to find in Sweden back then.
While most of the team are software engineers, manufacturing is handled via trusted partners in Southeast Asia. The IP lies in making the Bluetooth connection ultra-reliable, managing smart integrations, and ensuring compliance across dozens of markets.
– Logistics is a b*tch. There are countless regional requirements, from battery rules to wireless certifications. You can’t just drop 15,000 packages in the mail and hope for the best, says Joacim.
And even though the product looks like “just a button,” it’s the underlying platform that creates real stickiness. Flic has started layering services for enterprise customers, such as device management, messaging systems and more. These are now enabled by rapid development, thanks to modern no-code and AI tools.
– Suddenly we can build polished messaging systems in two weeks. Once you have hardware, software becomes the easy part, Joacim explains.
Still, Joacim is quick to point out that it’s the physical product that provides a real moat in an increasingly software-saturated world.
– Sure, someone can copy the hardware. But it won’t work without our encrypted software stack.
Looking forward, Flic is balancing its two customer legs—B2C and B2B—while continuing to evolve the product. A recent launch, Flic Duo, adds gesture control and accelerometers into the mix, and interest from industries like hospitality, healthcare, and construction is growing fast.
– It’s incredibly rewarding to hold something you made, see people use it, and know every micrometer of its design. I love my job, and I’m not going anywhere, Joacim concludes.