Our guest today is Per Sjöstrand, the CEO and Co-Founder of Instalco, the leading industrial installation company in the Nordics. Born in a mining town 200KM north of the Arctic Circle, Per became independent and self-confident, walking through the mountains of Northern Sweden for weeks on end. After high school, he became a military airborne ranger before enrolling in Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg to study engineering. Recognizing his interest in construction and leadership, Per launched his career in the industry with global leader Skanska where he spent the next decade. Having quickly moved up the ranks and wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps, Per was given the opportunity to become CEO of a small family owned installation company, Midroc, then followed by private equity owned NEA Group. The owners were change resistant and heavy handed, giving Per the idea for a decentralized operating business. Before founding Instalco, he was asked to upgrade the major projects department within the Swedish Transportation Authority. Instantly recognizing the inherent difficulties of operating a bureaucracy, Per soon founded Instalco with the backing of FSN Capital in 2014. 100 acquisitions later, the group has a market value of nearly $3 billion and the stock has appreciated by almost 700% since listing in May of 2017. Per will relinquish the CEO role to current CFO Robin Boheman later this year, but he will continue to be heavily involved as Executive Chairman, planning to oversee geographic expansion into Denmark and eventually mainland Europe.

Lou Cooperhouse, the CEO and Co-Founder of BlueNalu, the world’s leading producer of cell-based seafood. With an early interest in microorganisms, Lou set out on an impressive 36-year career in the food industry, including roles at Campbell’s, Conagra, Nestle and startup MenuDirect. After deciding to give back, Lou joined the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, where he helped more than 1,000 entrepreneurs over a 15-year period, including Pat Brown, the founder of Impossible Foods. In 2013, Lou discovered the “Holy Grail” of cell-based food. And thanks to a chance encounter at a speaking engagement a few years later, Lou started BlueNalu in 2017. After attracting some of the smartest investors in food-tech, BlueNalu has enormous growth plans and the potential to drastically alter the seafood industry as well as our entire planet.

In this exclusive in-depth conversation, Steve talks about his family’s history in the insurance business, his early fascination with horse racing, how he came up with the idea to recreate Berkshire Hathaway and the future of the insurance industry. We dive deep into the group’s culture, the power of incentives, the profound effect triple bypass surgery had on Steve’s life and his thoughts on the future of Markel.