Joy of Finland highlights Finland’s strengths and areas of improvement from the perspectives of tech entrepreneurs.
Johanna Småros transitioned from supply chain researcher to SaaS unicorn Co-founder of RELEX Solutions. RELEX is one of Finland’s prominent startup success stories and most recently closed a €500M funding round led by Blackstone Growth at a €5B valuation.
In this episode, we discuss:
(0:00) About me and introduction
(3:12) Transitioning from researcher to SaaS Co-founder
(11:46) Founder before the startup hype
(14:31) Being shy, gaining confidence through research, and cold-calling
(21:04) Finnish value of trust
(25:20) Weather, seasons, and nature
(30:50) Ease of starting a business and rules and regulations
(35:37) Finnish social culture
(41:19) Finland as a closed society and welcoming international talent
(44:26) Starting RELEX as an international English-speaking company
(50:33) Finnish language preservation and internationalization
(54:16) Swedish as an official language of Finland
(57:13) The value of learning languages
(1:01:56) The challenge of international students finding employment
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