“When you’re with international people, you start thinking differently” — Kalle Tiihonen
Kalle Tiihonen, originally from Kuopio, lived in Stockholm during an exchange semester and graduated from IDBM (International Design Business Management) from Aalto University in 2012. Kalle, entrepreneur by heart, has managed his own business from the age of 14, worked in IBM and joined Smartly during its early stages. At the moment, Kalle is working with the Nordic customers and is responsible for sales and account management in Smartly. Kalle also held a workshop on Facebook Advertising at School of Startups in spring.
“Working in a startup is a very efficient way to develop your skills — from sales to tech, as you have to do everything by yourself in the beginning. It’s a multidisciplinary way to develop yourself.”
Kalle started working in Smartly almost 4 years ago as the eighth employee. Now there are more than 160 smartlies globally, mainly thanks to the successful product and team development.
If you want to work with startups, most important is to meet similar-minded people and build your networks.
“At Smartly, we want to be the Humble Hungry Hunters. Everyone is treated the same regardless on who you are. We always aim for the most challenging and biggest customers from the market. We value proactive mindset. Smartly wants to keep being startup-minded, although we’re a bit bigger. What I love is that you can take leadership from any topic that you feel is broken and fix it by yourself. You are the owner.”
On sales
“My advice is to be very humble in relation to customers and help them even if they don’t use your product (yet) or are not your paying customers (yet). For example, I have been giving personal advice or sharing articles (which might even not be related to Smartly) by e-mail. I try to be helpful and add value. Then people start to trust you even though they are not working with you yet. The most important thing is to build trust and relationships with potential and current customers.”
On Helsinki
“I really love Finland and Helsinki as a city. It’s clean, safe, peaceful, infrastructure works well. Finland is startup-friendly. Business Insider released a report that Helsinki is one of the most friendly city for startup entrepreneurs. More than Berlin or San Francisco. It’s fascinating!”
On the secret of innovation
“International people are important for success of a project. It’s hard to innovate if you have similar mindsets. But, when you’re with people from different countries, cultures, disciplines, you start thinking differently. Sometimes it could be challenging, but the end result is better.
If you want to work with startups, most important thing is to constantly meet similar-minded people and build your networks. Attend startup events by Aaltoes and other startup ecosystem organizations. Meet people and network proactively. Then you can start building your startup career. For example, I met Kristo (CEO of Smartly) at the startup event at Aaltoes and that’s also part of the reasons why I’m working in Smartly right now. Be curious to know more — that’s a good mindset for startup people.”
