#votingaid

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MEET THE STARTUP CEO

MARCH 2016

To say that Jaakko Alasaarela is determined to succeed would be an understatement. The CEO of ZEF calls his 32 employees “warriors” and identifies his corporate values as passion and bravery.

ZEF’s customers include Al Jazeera, MTV, IMF, Reuters, ITV, Vianor, Marimekko and Disney. Rovio, another customer, sits on ZEF’s board.

Mike Mullane: Describe your job in as close as possible to 10 words. 

JA: Help people to achieve their goals and dreams in life!

MM: How would your colleagues describe you?

JA: I made a poll in ZEF and here is the conclusion of the answers: ”An enthusiastic, passionate and brave fellow ZEF Warrior fighting for our common goals and dreams!”

MM: What is your best quality and worst habit?

JA: My best quality is my ability to visualize great things and the best outcome in any situation. My worst habit is to smoke cigars when I feel I have achieved something great.

MM: What’s your biggest challenge - what keeps you awake at night?

JA: The promises I have made for achieving something great. During the night I stay awake finding ways to make it happen!

MM: Which social networks do you use the most and how important is social media in your life outside the office?

JA: I am mostly using WhatsApp. It is the most effective way of staying in close real-time contact with all the people I love and to share highs and challenges of life. Still my most important ”social network” is face to face meetings with the people close to me.

MM: What is the best advice you have ever received?

JA: ”You can achieve anything in life when you are willing to work for it with strong purpose!”

MM: What lesson have you learned the hard way?

JA: Humility, I have learnt the hard way how to treat people well and how to hire the right ones. I am proud and grateful that ZEF was awarded the Best Place to Work in Finland in 2016.

MM: If you could have dinner with any person alive or dead, who would it be?

JA: I would love to meet Elon Musk. I want to learn his way of thinking, especially how to set up ”right questions to answer”, which has been his way of getting answers and solving any challenge.

MM: How will people consume media 10 years from now?

JA: All media is brought automatically to people based on their needs, desires and values. This is done through social media, big data and algorithms which predict the right media to consume without the need for searching the information. This is actually what we are doing in ZEF!

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Ensimmäinen kaupunki: Madrid

(My city videos will mostly be in Finnish!)

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[Turn on subtitles if you cannot understand my finglish]

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Our kind of way of doing international business

This Sunday, I am flying to Madrid for a business trip. There’s nothing unusual in that: we are a growing Finnish software company that has been in business with numerous media houses beyond the borders of Finland. We have helped their readers and online visitors find the best candidate to vote for with our VotingAid service. However, this time my trip will not last for a couple of days. It will extend over almost three months, as I tour capitals of European countries that are expecting elections within the next year.

“Business trip” rings a bit false, though. It will be closer to backpacking. Inexpensive flights and train rides, AirBNB rooms, lots of walking and phonework. Let’s see about the backpack - the idea is romantic, but trying to stuff in both business attire, the casual stuff and running equipment poses a true challenge for me! In any case, this is our kind of way of doing international business: hands in the dirt, cold calls to meetings, quick victories. Not extensive business plans, exhausting bureaucracy or fancy hotels.

Our company ZEF is unique in other ways as well: we are Finland’s #2 Great Place to Work. More important than rankings, however, is that we share a common dream of supporting democracy and transparency worldwide. Dreaming is what we do well, taking action is what we do best. Each of us is also encouraged to have their own dream, and as long the dream is in line with taking us closer to our common goal, the company will do everything possible to make it become reality. For example, send a 28-year old democracy enthusiast to tour Europe and meet all the media houses that have not heard about us yet.

Follow me to stay on track of this adventure! I guarantee it will be exciting.

Love always,

Minna