Sólon Sverrisson

I started Þrídí in 2023, when I was 15. I registered it as a company, Þrídí ehf. (LLC), in December 2025, two days after I turned 18, so official records such as the annual accounts only go back to then. It started with one product idea and one printer, and has grown to 20 printers and over 5,000 products sold. Today, it is my full-time job and main source of income. I run it from a rented industrial space where I have the printers, my office, and a workbench.

One of my main products is a laufabrauð cutting wheel, used to cut decorative patterns into traditional Icelandic Christmas bread. It taught me a hard lesson about testing. The first version I sold wasn’t good enough, and I hadn’t tested it thoroughly enough before selling it.

By the time a defect became apparent, I had already sold hundreds. I spent my evenings going from house to house, replacing customers’ wheels. It was a lot of work, but I had sold them the product, so fixing it was my responsibility.

Since then, I’ve substantially developed the design. The current version uses a steel pin, and assembling it involves heating the plastic to fit the components together. For that process, I designed a self-regulating heating device controlled by an Arduino board, which I programmed myself.

I also supply the wheels to a Soroptimist club in Iceland at a heavily discounted price. The club resells them to raise money for charitable causes, and the wheels have become its largest source of fundraising sales income.

Because demand for the wheels peaks around Christmas, I looked for other products to keep the printers busy throughout the year. I developed height-adjustable light brackets for tradespeople and became the main bracket supplier to a large Icelandic company, fulfilling regular custom orders for resale.

I also take on custom manufacturing projects for businesses, including a pelvic measuring device for an orthopaedic application. I manufacture the Icelandic game PinGame as well.

As production grew, I began needing filament in quantities of hundreds of kilograms. I contacted suppliers in China and started importing it directly. The prices I could obtain were low enough that I saw another opportunity: supplying filament wholesale to shops in Iceland.

One of the biggest reasons I have been able to scale Þrídí is that I’ve built AI into how the company operates. Bookkeeping is a good example. I set up a system where an AI agent collects receipts and invoices from my email, enters them into our accounting software, and matches them against bank and card transactions. I taught it how to handle Icelandic VAT rules and categorize expenses, while I review anything that needs attention. What used to take me an entire day now takes about an hour. I’ve taken a similar approach to daily operations, using AI to help manage customer emails, process Shopify orders, and coordinate print jobs across my 20 3D printers. This allows me to run a growing manufacturing business on my own while focusing my time on what matters the most, designing new products, solving problems, and finding ways to grow.

Þrídí has taught me how to turn ideas into products, build manufacturing processes, find new business opportunities, and take responsibility when things go wrong. More importantly, it has taught me to constantly look for ways to build better systems rather than simply work more hours.

Visit my website thridi.is ↗

I launched TærTunna in the summer of 2026. A previous bin-cleaning service in Akureyri had transported bins to an industrial facility for cleaning, but had shut down by the time I started. I saw an opportunity to offer a more convenient service at a lower price by cleaning bins directly at customers’ homes.

Commercial mobile cleaning systems cost around $41,000 to import to Iceland. Inspired by Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup, I decided to test the idea by designing and building a minimum viable system myself. I modelled it in CAD, welded the frame, and repaired a used petrol-powered pressure washer. The equipment cost approximately $3,300, plus $7,400 for the vehicle, all funded by me.

Alongside the equipment, I built the company’s web-based systems using AI-assisted coding. Customers sign up for recurring cleaning subscriptions, while AI and automated workflows handle much of the administrative work, including customer emails, invoicing, and scheduling. The scheduling system uses the town’s waste collection calendar to determine when and where our staff need to visit customers.

Since I already run Þrídí full-time, I brought in a friend to manage the cleaning operations in exchange for 40% ownership. Another employee helps during busy periods. In our first summer, we gained several hundred subscribing customers.

Our current equipment is still the original minimum viable product. It has allowed us to validate the service with paying customers before investing in more advanced machinery. My next job is to design and build a system that automates as much of the cleaning, drying and lifting process as possible, including an upgraded lifting mechanism. I plan to build it in January, after Þrídí’s Christmas production peak. From there, the goal is to hire a full-time operator in Akureyri and expand the service to Reykjavík, Iceland’s capital.

Visit my website taertunna.is ↗