Joonas Ahola

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 The third point? Almost tragic. Since this casino had the potential to be now generating €2-3 million in monthly gaming revenue, but instead, it’s fading from the memory of the Finnish audience. Here are three opportunities that could have been seized: 1️⃣ 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝘀 Some of the newer Finnish market challenger operators are missing the chance to build trust by being fully transparent with their promotions. Key details, like wagering requirements, are often hidden or buried. What some might consider eye-catching bonuses would be far more meaningful if players had immediate clarity on the true value or cost. The % or the € don't hold meaning without the X. To be blunt, I recommend to most online casinos ditching wagering altogether. In the past few months, I haven't interviewed a single Finnish player who likes to wager. Market disruptors such as Kanuuna.com are thriving, and they have no wagering offering. 2️⃣ 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 In recent times, A-tier operators have opted to remove the Finnish language from their platforms. However, this decision alienated a significant portion of Finns. 3️⃣ 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 Perhaps the greatest missed opportunity was the chance to forge a unique connection between Finnish culture and casino gaming. The rebranding of KalevalaKasino.com—a site that once brilliantly tied into Finnish heritage—to justwow.com erased a valuable cultural link, leaving players feeling distanced from the brand. Seeing that made me say, “Just wow… but not in a good way.” 😬

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I’ve launched a Substack newsletter called Perhetoimisto, which means ‘family office’ in Finnish. In it, I share my personal insights on finance and investing. Q: Why start a newsletter in Finnish? A: I want to practice writing in my mother tongue, and a few investors in Finland share their learnings. Q: I don't understand Finnish. How can I read this? A: Right-click on the web page and select "Translate to English." Q: What will happen to Elite Game Developers? A: Nothing will change. I have so many plans and things cooking up for EGD 😊 Link in the comments.

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🚀 Discover the incredible support services Business Finland offers for deeptech startups! 🌍✨ Business Finland is committed to generating prosperity for Finland by accelerating sustainable growth globally. Their comprehensive support includes funding for research, development, and innovation, as well as promoting tourism, attracting investments, supporting exports, and creating strong networks and ecosystems. Key highlights for deeptech startups: ▪️ Funding Journey: From proof-of-concept R&D grants to commercialization and market entry support. ▪️ Deep Tech Accelerator: Tailored funding and support for startups with high technological and market entry risks but with breakthrough potential. ▪️ Leading Company Ecosystems: Platforms for growth, offering up to €20M in funding for R&D investments and ecosystem development. Business Finland is actively seeking innovative startups with competitive advantages, significant impact on Finland, and a commitment to international growth. If you're a deeptech startup with a strong IP, a balanced team of scientific and business talents, and high-risk high-reward potential, Business Finland is the partner you need! For more details, visit Business Finland Services and explore the opportunities! Thanks to Jaana Rantanen for such an insightful presentation. #Deeptech #Startups #Innovation #Funding #BusinessFinland #SustainableGrowth #GlobalExpansion

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9 Nordic soonicorns close to the $1bn valuation threshold Finnish space startup Iceye tops the Nordics’ soonicorn list The Nordic region, renowned for producing unicorns like Northvolt, Klarna, Pleo and Oura has recently seen several startups lose their unicorn status due to a challenging financial climate. However, the investment environment is improving, with Swedish scaleups Northvolt and H2 Green Steel securing the most capital in Europe for H1 2024, and Stockholm leading in funding with €10.8bn. Several Nordic startups are now nearing the $1bn valuation, indicating a positive shift in the region's investment landscape. The list include awesome brands like ICEYE, Swappie and Planhat . Check out the full list 👇 by Mimi Billing Sifted. Let's get it 🚀 #nordic #soonicorns #startups #investment https://lnkd.in/epumsXpe

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My number one tip for the Finnish online casino market? If you want to improve your online casino’s conversion rate in Finland, here’s a simple but powerful solution: Keep it straightforward. Converting a Finnish player into a depositing customer can be tough. I’ve seen it firsthand—launching a new welcome offer only to find the conversions fall short of tall expectations. The competition is fierce, and Finnish players are savvy. We can spot flashy numbers and complicated bonus structures a mile away. Instead of offering percentage-based deposit bonuses with confusing wagering requirements, consider this: free spins with no wagering. It’s easy for players to understand, straightforward to measure for success, and can’t be exploited the way deposit bonuses can. Is it stupid to think simplicity wins?

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And here it is. 📱 In the new version of Teamogy, we've launched a new mobile application among other great features. Teamogy users can now download the Teamogy app from the App Store or Google Play. 🗣 With additional improvements to chat and internal discussions, Teamogy can now comfortably become the sole communication platform within your company. You can communicate one-on-one, in created rooms, on projects, and tasks, replacing Slack, WhatsApp, internal emails, and various other channels where information flows (and often gets lost). ⌚ The app also allows you to easily log time, manage tasks, and much more. 📅 Next time, I’ll share information about the many project management improvements we have also delivered in the new version, such as recurring tasks, task creation from templates, and more. Now, let's get to work on the next version! 🙂 #TheStoryDoesNotEndHere #SimplifyYourBusiness #CloudSystem #Teamogy #Communication #Collaboration #Technology #ProjectManagement #MobileApp #Business

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What It's Like to Work in a Gazelle Company Did you know that less than 1% of companies in Estonia qualify as gazelles? 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♀️ Fienta was awarded for the third time as a gazelle company by Äripäev, and I'm excited to share what it's like to work at Fienta. 🌟 Building Something Bigger  It's truly motivating to be part of a company that's actively changing the world. Each day brings new challenges and opportunities, making every week different from the last. While we maintain certain routines and discipline for essential tasks, our primary focus is on trying new things, being open-minded, and living life to the fullest. ⚡Speed Over Bureaucracy  We waste no time on unnecessary bureaucracy. Every ounce of energy is devoted to activities that drive real impact. We focus on what truly matters and we are able to adapt quickly. Our product development goes hand-in-hand with our customers' needs. And we're truly happy to see that our growth is a good example of the power of word-of-mouth. 💻 Remote-First Culture  Our team embraces a remote-first culture, working from homes across Estonia. We have a Monday morning team meeting to share mostly personal updates, like what we did on the weekend. And to be honest, on Monday mornings it's sometimes really hard to remember what was going on on Friday evening 🤷‍♀️ 🌱 Dynamic Work Environment  We are learning continuously to revolutionize the ticketing and event industry. The feeling of being on the cutting edge of business growth is indescribable, and being there with awesome teammates - well, it's just the best. 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ Here’s to team Fienta and reaching for the next stars together! 🌟 🚀 💙 Read more about the gazelle award for Fienta — link in the comments!

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Not just a buzz, but biz: Growth Multipliers event in collaboration with #BoardmanGrow, Springvest Oyj, Teknologiateollisuus - Technology Industries of Finland, Business Finland and PwC Finland. Yesterday, we discussed scaling #growth and learned about its key factors, the growth multipliers. 🌎 Market: Identify different segments and distribution channels, be selective with whom you cooperate, but go to market quickly. 💶 Funding: Dual-use companies have potential, but the timing for funding needs to be planned well in advance. It's important to build funding packages from all the potential and relevant sources. 📊 Product: Love, respect and utilise your data, follow your NPS, but also refine and pivot the product and marketing. 😊 Team: To build company culture and retain talent, earn the trust, create bonds between the employees and communicate a lot! Thank you all, it's always a pleasure to work with you and meet the growth entrepreneurs! Samppa Vilkuna, Jussi Luhtasela, Ben Selby, Riku Mäkelä, Jarkko Antila, Aki Soudunsaari, Antti Ujainen, Teemu Polo, Kaisa Hutton, Anastasia Strandberg to name a few of the experts of the event and the production team of Taina Brandstack, Julia Ruotsi, and Karoliina Kuhalampi 😀.

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Excited to be back at Slush for the third year, where Selfly Store continues to serve investors, startups, and attendees with fast and healthy options! While the main venue can have food queues up to 45 minutes long, our smart cabinets let you grab what you need in just seconds. #Slush2024 is more than an event for us – it’s a chance to test and refine our products and services in a live environment. Over the past years, we’ve optimized operations based on real-time data and previous learnings, and we’re introducing bold new ideas to elevate the experience even further. This year, we’re prepared to serve 1,000+ customers in just a few hours! If you’re attending Slush, come by and test it out. You’ll be surprised at how quick and seamless grabbing a bite can be! What innovations are you excited to see at Slush this year? And if you've tried our Selfly Store, what did you think? Or will you try out us first the first time? Comment below.

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THE BEST ONLINE CASINOS ON THE FINNISH MARKET. (No filter, and no commission either. 😄 ) Here are my honest insights on the current top Finnish online casino brands. Wildz.com  Founded by a few Finnish wizards five years ago, Wildz is still the benchmark for the Finnish market. + Wide payment coverage: Apple Pay, Brite and Siru Mobile to name a few.  + Well executed on-site Source of Wealth questionnaire + Gamification + Sportsbook is coming soon - Content could feel more local crafted - Complicated bonus terms - Name not Finnish Lataamo.com The company behind this casino has risen to be one of the top 5 largest gambling operators of Estonia. A testament to how well the brand and product work. + Gamification  + 1x wagering + Feels Finnish - Low RTP on Play’n GO games Kanuuna.com Feels so good it must be the esteemed iGaming investor HappyHour's cash cow. + Fully wager free + Level systems + Enticing casino lobby - Also low RTP on Play’n GO games - Anti-user product features (“Are you sure you want to close this tab?”) Buustikasino.com + Big and valuable welcome offer + Superb live casino coverage - Would benefit from bolder and better localized content Best newcomers: Jokeri.com + Exciting proprietary bonus game + Regular tournaments Pelikaani.com Has impressed me with a quick entry to the market. + Nice cultural reference, feels local + Exciting landing page, campaigns - Site seems on the slower side Do you have a casino to share? I've done hundreds of reviews and audits. 🙇🏼‍♂️

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🚀OULU STARTUPS🚀- from this link https://lnkd.in/eQnfSKKK you can find a data base of startups from Oulu sorted alphabetically. You can open each company’s profile to read a short description. Take a look! There are several tags in the companies, and you can use them for filtering and sorting. You can also switch the tabs to see companies presorted by year, development stage and source. #startup #starups #oulu #finland

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🗺 How to tackle vacation policies in a multi-cultural company? We celebrate the myriad of cultural and religious diversity within our team at Moder.app. We cherish the value that diversity brings to our team dynamics and creativity. While Finnish law provides certain holidays, we recognize the importance of accommodating the diverse needs of our employees. Recently, I came across an inspiring example from If Insurance, who addressed a similar challenge through comprehensive research and collaboration with trade unions. While we may not yet have the same level of influence, we are committed to finding meaningful solutions within our capacity. Putting our money where our mouth is, we announced a new approach to vacation policies. In addition to our standard six weeks of vacation, we encourage all employees to utilize their vacation days to observe and celebrate important cultural and religious holidays. We will prioritize these requests to ensure that every team member feels empowered to honor their traditions and beliefs without hesitation. I believe this is just the beginning of our journey toward greater inclusivity. I'd love to hear from you about how your organization promotes inclusivity in its vacation policies? #Inclusion #Diversity #EmployeeWellness

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How to work with company data - Pietari Suvanto 📊 🚀 Listen to when Pietari Suvanto - CEO & Co-founder at Vainu - joined Josef in B2B SaaS CEOs 🎙️ 💡 They talked about: - How to work with contact data - Social selling as their best lead-generator - The extreme advantage of being a data-focused company - And much more...💡 Listen to the interview by searching for" B2B SaaS CEOs" where you listen to podcasts. 🎧 #CompanyData #ContactData #Sales #B2BSaaSCEOs

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Last week Studisco produced the Care About IT national Hackathon and Livestream event. 63 students from Turun ammatti-instituutti and Tredu Tampereen seudun ammattiopisto participated in the hackathon and solved challenges in health tech what they pitched in the Care About IT Finland Livestream. This production is something that we developed at Studisco in co-operation with our stakeholders and volunteers in 2020 when we needed to find a solution to participate youngsters in our game production and share awareness about mental health and substance problems. After doing the event for the last 4 years in Project Kantti we were asked to participate in the Care about IT project to facilitate the Hackathon event for the project. I'm thankful for the trust that our partners have given to us! 🩷🇪🇺🇫🇮 The main value in Studisco Events is always to have students partisipating in the production and give them opportunities and platforms to shine, test, and challenge their skills to grow towards worklife. What the Care About IT project is about: https://careaboutit.eu/ "With a growing shortage of healthcare workers and a large gap between the health industry, education, and IT, the healthcare system in the EU is facing a big challenge. In the Care about IT project, we look at the opportunities and challenges in VET education within the care and IT domains in our regions. By combining our knowledge and experiences, we want to ensure future-proof education in the care sector." #hackathon #edtech #healthtech #wellness #startup #education #work #awarnes #studies

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🎃 Exactly my face when trying to get some relevant info on lead generation tools or sales automation these days. So many options. Impossible to know what's good! I can't use LinkedIn much for my leads, as Estonian repair workshop owners are not present there. Facebook, maybe yes!? Any ideas welcome! Maybe Taavi Lindmaa ⚡or Priit Kallas can point me in very good direction? Thanks! #leadgeneration #salesautomation #SaaS #B2BSaaS #Trumpauto

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About last week... Recorded another episode of "Mikä on tärkeää?" podcast for marketers. What did we discuss? - Do we need to know the difference of AI generated content in marketing? - Make Black Friday great again! - How are marketing agencies in Finland REALLY doing Easy Finnish for those still learning 🙌 Thanks for the fun morning talk Santtu Kottila and Tapio Haaja. #marketing #salesandmarketing #digitalmarketing #marketingpodcast

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"Starting today is much harder than it was before. There are more opportunities, but everything seems much more expensive." This was one of the things Miljan and Branko talked about in front of the startup community, and as someone who works with startups, I agree that scaling growth requires both skills and large budgets. What I say now might sound controversial, but I firmly believe that NOW we need those skills more than the funding 🙀 These two segments should grow together, in parallel. And Serbia's funding situation is much better now. In just three years, we went from: - 2 to 4 VC Funds - A business angels network that invested in 10+ startups - The grants available to startups also improved significantly with larger budgets of existing programs, and new ones created All this while the global startup investment marked a 38% YoY decline. So, getting international investors has become more competitive, which means that our startups need to show relevant growth to be even considered for an investment. At the same time, this growth could keep them afloat even without the funding. And this is the hardest thing to achieve. Everyone is talking about it — we need to teach our startups sales and marketing, which drives revenue growth. Only with it will the funding drive results.

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Check out our latest Sauna blog post! 😎 💡

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