It’s time to kick off the new season with big goals and a new team to catch them! Meet Veera, Aapo, Mirva and Laura – the brand new crew dead excited about the new adventure ahead as the expansion to Asia gets real and the Startuplifers’ community gains more global dimensions. Although coming from different backgrounds, there’s one thing these guys have in common for sure: to realize more and more opportunities for the ambitious by matching the best talent with the top startups.

Veera

After spending a year in the Startuplifers team, Veera still couldn’t get enough and craved for new responsibilities and adventures. Luckily she was given the possibility to take on as the program manager after Henni. During her past year with Startuplifers Veera for example planned the new visual identity and expansion with the team, met at least 300 new people from all over the world, sent countless emails, arranged events and even did a little bit of coding. Luckily she’s studying in the Information Networks program at Aalto University, which is known for its diverse and multidisciplinary studies.

As the manager Veera will be looking over the team and leading Startuplifers to new opportunities as a program. Right now Veera is super excited, a bit nervous (but in the good way!) but most importantly feeling confident in her team. If Veera were a startup she would be Yogaia – flexible, always online and ready for spontaneous yoga classes (or other adventures).

Laura

This newbie will be taking over Startuplifers’ marketing site for the upcoming season. Majoring in Media and Communications studies at the University of Helsinki, Laura believes in the power of message and that the best impact is made in the form of shared stories – from startuplifers, to startuplifers. Having seen the fuzz of a busy consultancy, participating in marketing processes of bigger corporations and universities as well as organizing internships and case nights as a member of the board for their student association, Laura has gained a sense of keeping organized in a fast-paced and hands-on working culture.

While out of office, this reserve second lieutenant can mostly be found breaking sweat at a CrossFit box, grinding in the library with her Bachelor’s thesis or teaching boys and girls to ski and snowboard in both Lapland and Southern Finland. If Laura was a startup, she’d go for 9gag: “I always aim to keep a twinkle in the eye and love to make people around me laugh and feel encouraged. There’s no bad timing for a good meme or joke.”

Aapo

Aapo is also a new addition to the team. With an academic background in Industrial Engineering and Management and working experience in a B2B environment, he’ll be taking care of the US operations with the startups in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Aapo enjoys meditating, reading books and studying the secrets in how to be as happy as possible each day. If Aapo would be a startup, he would be Palantir – nobody’s quite sure what he’s doing but expects some super cool agent stuff.

Mirva

Startuplifers’ new Asia coordinator Mirva is a fourth-year economics student who loves books, yoga and adventure parks.
Having lived in China for almost three years, she is ready to bring our operations in Tokyo and Shanghai to the next level.

Of all the cool startups out there, Mirva says she identifies most with HEI School, a Helsinki University-based startup which tries to make Finnish first-class early childhood education available globally. What Mirva and HEI School have in common is that they both have a strong focus on the Asian market but would love to expand to new areas using Finnish innovations to make the world a bit better a place to be.