By the early 2000s, Komartek had successfully solidified its presence in both national and international markets. However, the idea of an exit had never been strongly considered within the company. Ari Korhonen, the co-founder of Komartek, had pondered the idea of passing the company to the next generation, but it was a rather serendipitous twist of fate that eventually led him to exit.
The late 1980s and early 1990s marked a period of new product development and rapid market expansion for Komartek. However, as the severe economic depression of the 1990s hit Finland, similar to many companies, Komartek soon found itself grappling with a debt burden. But how did Korhonen’s decision to sell his company car rescue Komartek from the brink of bankruptcy?
Growing up in a farming family, Ari Korhonen became accustomed to hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit from an early age. Now, Korhonen shares how the energy crisis of the 1970s kick-started his career and what led him from the sugar beet fields to the helm of Komartek, a Finnish vertical software company that would soon become an international success story.
From the perspective of the founders, two exits are occurring at the same time. One of them is all about the business, while the other one is more personal. After Vincit's IPO in 2016, it became clear to Mikko Kuitunen that he wouldn't be the right person to grow the business in the near future.
In software consulting firms, people can make or break the company. To make successful scaling possible, Vincit prioritized people and culture from early on.
The hospitality industry stands on the brink of a transformative era - we are thrilled to lead the €40 million Series B funding round for Bob W. Together with us we excited to be joined by some of the iconical entrepreneurs of our region including Taavet Hinrikus, Sten Tamkivi, Mikko Kodisoja, and our own Growth Partner, Mikael Hed.
In 2007, 26-year-old Mikko Kuitunen quit his previous job and founded a software consultancy company. There was no problem to solve, no ready-made vision – just the hope to go to work every morning without feeling sick of it.
For founders, the transition from making all the decisions to having almost no control after an exit is always challenging. This transition wasn't easy for Kim Väisänen, either.
Kim Väisänen emphasizes one rule that every fast-growing company should live by when starting up: do not fall in love with people. He repeats this advice for scaling.
Startups are usually built around solving specific problems. For Kim Väisänen, the problem was that he wanted to get out of university.