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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