“At Aalto Startup Center we are excited for having Tiina Kossila in our team. Her expertise gives us a great benefit together with our other Business Advisors to serve our startups and develop our own services and collaboration globally.”, says Marika Paakkala, head of Aalto Startup Center.
To help our startups learn a bit more about Tiina, we held a brief interview with her, called “10 questions to Tiina”.
Aalto Startup Center: Tell us a little bit about yourself 👋
Tiina: At work, I’m a hands-on thinker, doer and leader with a growth. I like to focus my energy on business, people and making sense of systems.
Aalto Startup Center: What do you do in your spare time? 🤿 🏹 🪁
Tiina: Normally I like to socialise, travel, enjoy cultural events and daily activities.
Aalto Startup Center: What’s your professional background?
Tiina: I started my career in the bank industry 20 years ago, first in Nordea which during that time was called Merita-Nordbanken and the money back then was Markka. Then, I spent 14 years in Evli Bank and in the last six years there I was leading the digital development and its customer experience. Before that I was responsible for Investor Services and creating marketing and sales activities. I also had an experience working inside of a creative agency, Hasan&partners, where I was a business leader and responsible for digital projects and development.
Aalto Startup Center: Why did you want to work at Aalto Startup Centre?
Tiina: This is a great opportunity to meet the various scales of (tech) startups, learn how the startup ecosystem works, not only in Finland, but also world-wide, as well as get to know more about the commercialisation of inventions at Aalto community.
Aalto Startup Center: What is your role in Aalto Startup Center?
Tiina: I’m a Business Advisor and I will help the startups to grow.
Aalto Startup Center: What made you want to be a business advisor?
Tiina: I got my spark to coach startups during my MBA studies. The studies gave me a lot of tools and methods to build a business. After my 20-year career in the private sector, I have been coaching and helping startups to grow and ‘glow’ since 2019.
Aalto Startup Center: What is your first impression of Aalto Startup Center？
Tiina: It is a very innovative environment with highly talented people and startups.
Aalto Startup Center: What’s your work style?
Tiina: I’m an empathic, systems thinker. I’m able to perceive the big picture very quickly and I see how everything connects. I also have a good ability to prioritise, I have the energy to make things happen, and I have the courage to speak out in a tough situation, but in a diplomatic way.
Bonus Question: What would you say our startups?
Tiina: Go for it!
Email: tiina.kossila@aalto.fi