Stuff Meets… Readly’s Philip Lindqvist

Readly is a digital subscription service that offers unlimited access to thousands of magazines and newspapers in one app. An “all-you-can-read” buffet if you like and the good news is the Stuff is one of the7,700 titles you can access with an account. With users in more than 50 markets, Readly is digitizing the magazine and newspaper industry, and we were keen to meet the 33-year-old who has just taken over at the helm… 

I live in central Stockholm, which is vastly different to where I’m from

I’ve lived in Stockholm for half of my life, but I’m from the southern part of Sweden. I grew up in a small town by the coast, so Stockholm still feels like a rather big city. I do miss west coast Sweden and the proper saltwater ocean. Stockholm is also by the coast, but to west-coasters it sometimes feels more like a big lake than the sea. Stockholm is a beautiful city, it’s easy to get around, you don’t spend too much time in transit, which is great for me – I don’t like wasting time. If you live centrally, you can walk to most places – I walk my son to pre-school and then walk to the Readly HQ – it’s a great place to live.

I became Readly CEO aged 33

I started working when I was 20, after I graduated in Business and Economics. My first real job was at The Boston Consulting Group as a Consultant in media and tech and then worked in a big media group as Chief of Strategy and Head of M&A. Then I was the MD of a TV streaming broadcaster called C More. Next, I was part of starting a small venture capital investor and I did some advisory in the film and entertainment space before starting this job. Perhaps it’s a bit like the difference of biological and chronological age – I’ve managed to do quite a lot of things already, even though there are areas where I’m not as experienced.

We’re about to make Readly better for smartphone users

Up until now, the Readly app offers an excellent tablet/iPad user experience for over 7,600 magazine and newspaper titles and although we do have a iOS and Android apps, they are not as great as our tablet experience – so that’s a big focus. Another is to make Readly a robustly profitable business. Historically, Readly has been more focused on growth more than on profitability, We are already a leader in all-you-can-read subscriptions for magazine and news in Europe, but now we intend to both.

Travelling is in my blood  

Our last holiday was to Tanzania, which was beautiful with great weather, but I got sick, so it wasn’t my best trip. In a couple of weeks, we are going skiing though, here in Sweden – a five-hour drive from Stockholm. For work, I travel regularly between our headquarters here in Stockholm and our offices in Paris, London, Berlin, and another office we have in Växjö, Sweden. 

I have always loved travelling and did a lot growing up, so now I’m travelling with my own family. My son is two years old and has a busy travel schedule already! Trips are a little more scaled down now, but I do try to combine them with something adrenalin orientated like skiing, kite surfing, or diving. Sometimes though I just play tennis with my partner – she’s teaching me.

I think INEOS should make an electric Grenadier

Next time I get a car, I’d love to get an electric one. I’m not a big fan of Tesla’s design language, but I like offroad cars and I’m curious about the Jeep Recon. Ideally though, INEOS should make an all-electric Grenadier. 

I love my Kindle but don’t own a robot hoover

We’re looking into getting a robot hoover but waiting until our son is old enough to understand it’s not a car for him to ride! We’ve moved into a new place and I recently got locked out, so we need to get smart lock, too. 

The best gadget I got recently is the Oura ring – it’s a great smart tracker and it has improved my sleep. I love music and the Teenage Engineering OD11 speakers, which are great – especially since they upgraded to AirPlay2. Kindle isn’t a huge product here in Sweden but I love mine – I upgraded a while back and to get the nightshift backlight. I would be nice to see Readly on Kindle someday. 

I play tennis and practice Ashtanga yoga every week 

I play tennis every week and have been taking a few lessons – it really excites me. I also practise Ashtanga yoga, which I aim to do twice a week. I’m a curious person, so I like reading both fiction and non-fiction and I also listen to a lot of podcasts. That’s as much as I manage to fit in outside of work with a two-year-old…

My own Readly account is a bit of a mix… 

I like to read Time Magazine and The Hollywood Reporter is nice to flip and deep dive, since I have a background in that space. You’d also find a few cooking, baking and gossip magazine as my mother has one of the family profiles on my account! You’d also find some ski titles popping up, along with some of the big Swedish dailies. 

Find out more about Readly at readly.com