#2 Johanna Småros, Co-founder of RELEX Solutions - Trust as a value, Finnish social culture, and Finland as a closed society

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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