News release: May 3, 2021
This is a story about how the founders of Advance B2B step down from their positions, and new leaders will take up the charge.
TL;DR: Mikko Seppä & Paavo Laaksonen, the founders of Advance B2B, will leave the company after seven years of running the business.
From the 3rd of May onwards, Sari Venäläinen and Hanna Harjula, former business unit leads at Advance B2B, will take over as CEO and COO.
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Now the same news, but with the full story. 👇
Over the last one and a half years, we've noticed that...
In 2020, we were able to grow despite the challenging times and luckily did not have to consider any hard cost-saving actions or personnel reductions. Moreover, we have had a great start to 2021!
We strongly believe it is our culture that enables all of this. We work hard (but not too seriously!) and always strive to do things 10x better than the last time.
Advance B2B was founded to be a growth company—a company that would seek success not only in Finland but all over the world.
Because of all these reasons, now is the perfect time for this change.
"When we founded Advance B2B, we decided this would be a company where everyone has the opportunity to grow. This decision has enabled our success and made it possible to grow our own leaders. Living up to our own standards has enabled us to create the culture and the workplace we dreamed of.
During the past year, we’ve been working hard to elevate our new leaders. The times have been tough, but our team has proven to be even tougher.
In order for the people to grow, we need to let them take the next steps in their careers. This means that we are stepping down from our positions, and new leaders will take up the charge and run Advance B2B."
– Mikko Seppä & Paavo Laaksonen
"We both joined this crazy ride years ago when we only had a few people and Mikko and Paavo with their vision of making Advance B2B something to be proud of.
In the beginning, we only operated in Finland and only had Finnish people working with us. Fast forward to today: 40 people, 7 nationalities, and many super interesting SaaS, Subscription, and Tech companies as customers both from Finland all around the world… well, it feels quite awesome.
Of course, a lot of things have happened between our starting dates and today. During these years, we have seen the company grow, and we have been able to grow with it.
For us, this has always been a growth company. And that's (one of the oh-so-many reasons) why we're more than happy, honored, and READY to take the next leap of faith. The future will be epic. 🤘"
– Hanna Harjula & Sari Venäläinen
For me, it was always the culture.
In December 2016, I decided to join Advance B2B because the culture seemed like a perfect fit for me.
Years passed, some outside opportunities were offered. Most of them were not interesting; and some of them seemed quite good. But regardless of that, I always said no and decided to stay— because of the culture.
There were ups, and there were downs (that’s life, you know), but in the end… I enjoyed the ride. I also fell in love with the people.
Then came the day when our founders told us they had decided to leave —and that they needed someone to take care of the Advance B2B people, culture, and business after they were gone.
Shit, I just knew I wanted to do that. Not alone, but with Hanna, my dearest partner in Malmi, just as well as my other dear co-workers at Advance B2B. I'm very much looking forward to all of this. 🤩
Sari Venäläinen
CEO, Advance B2B
To me, Advance B2B is like an equation that is more than the sum of its parts. Our people, our customers, our partners, and ways of working all enable each others' growth.
I think leadership should be like that, too. Instead of individual heroes, companies need leaders who work together in a way that 1 + 1 becomes much more than two. This is exactly how I feel when I work with Sari.
I am excited and honored to be able to continue our growth story with all of our people (who just happen to be the best in the world!).
Hanna Harjula
COO, Advance B2B
Service Lead, Growth Marketing
Charlotte Jaakola, who has been successfully leading a team and acting as a growth marketing strategist at Advance B2B for over three years, joins our management team. Challe is responsible for growth marketing services and the smooth everyday operations of our growth marketing teams.
Service Lead, MarTech & Sisältökauppa
Jenna Hölttä, who has also been working as a growth marketing strategist and team lead at Advance B2B, takes over our marketing technology services. She is also responsible for the development of Sisältökauppa (our content marketing e-store).
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Head of Sales
Samuli Salonen, the first salesperson in Advance's history, was hired 1,5 years ago. During that time, he has developed our sales and our sales processes in a way that he deserves his place in the management team, too. Samuli is responsible (you guessed that already!) for Advance B2B's sales and the sales team.
