Recap of the Maki House Summit 2024

The Maki House Summit 2024 was a spectacular gathering of our portfolio founders and team members, investors, and industry leaders. This year we combined our two favorite events; Maki Portfolio Day and our annual Birthday Party, putting together an event packed with insights and excitement. The Summit welcomed a record-high number of attendees, creating the perfect setup for our founders to meet European investors for follow-on funding, our LPs to meet our founders, and provide them support in different fields.

The host for the Summit Maki's own Venla Väänänen kicked off the show

The program featured inspirational and educating lightning talks and panels, including discussions on scaling up product organizations, entering new markets with a PR splash, and attracting and retaining top-tier talent. Notable speakers included Kaisa Salakka from Wolt, Sten Tamkivi one of the first early executives at Skype & co-founder of Teleport, Heini Vesander from Wolt, Nikolai Kabatsikov one of the first employees & former Head of Talent at Bolt, Julia Hämäläinen a mastermind behind People, HR and Culture at companies like Supercell and Smartly.io, and Hanna Maria Asmussen from Localyze. Additionally, Mikael Silvanto shared insights on design-driven companies and the role of design in driving growth in a conversation with Maki’s Partner, Pauliina Martikainen.

Julia Hämäläinen and Nikolai Kabatsikov

Mikael Silvanto and Pauliina Martikainen

Here are a few deep dives focusing on some of the higlights from the Summit presentations:

VC panel: What investors are not telling you in 2024

Moderated by Katariina Helaniemi from Illusian family office, the panel featured Sten Tamkivi, one of the first Skype executives and Plural VC founding partner, Risto Siilasmaa, F-Secure founder and Nokia's former chairman, now actively investing through his family office, and Ilkka Kivimäki, serial entrepreneur, Wolt’s first investor and the founding partner of Maki.vc. Together, they delved into the pulse of venture capital today, tackling some of the industry’s most daring questions.

Straight from the panel, here’s what you need to know:

• Tech’s value is surging. Over the past decade, tech has generated a 400% increase in value, far outstripping other sectors—a critical factor for investors to consider.
• There is optimism in funding. Despite challenges, there's a strong sense of optimism about raising funds, especially in Europe, where ambitious founders and talent who’ve been building companies before are making a comeback.
• Funding dynamics are evolving. Early-stage funding, from seed to Series A, is more accessible compared to later stages. On a general note, it’s healthy for funding to be ‘not too easy to get’, indicating more competition for the best companies. Founders should benchmark themselves against the competition to evaluate their funding readiness and positioning.
• AI’s impact is growing. AI, like the internet, will be everywhere, reshaping industries and driving investment trends.

Lightning talk: The outsized benefits of “minimalist” leadership

Frank Martela captivated the audience with his talk on minimalist leadership. He shared insights on how simplifying leadership approaches can lead to more engaged and innovative employees. Martela is an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Aalto University and the author of A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding a Meaningful Existence, which has been translated into 29 languages.

Here’s a short recap of this truly insightful talk:

• Inspire & serve model: Employees can be highly motivated by an inspiring goal. So, move beyond the traditional command & conquer model to set inspiring goals and build the conditions that enable your employees to reach them, leveraging their shared brainpower.
• Servant leadership works: Studies show that 'best profitability = proactive employees + introverted leadership'. Focus on serving your employees, or as Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen put it, “my goal is to be the world's least powerful CEO”.
• Quality (of leaders) matters more than quantity: Managers can get more done by doing less (in certain situations), especially when leading experts. Remember, minimalist leadership is not about the absence of leadership, but the distribution of leadership and the right amount of leadership from the manager.

Maki – Making history

Lightning talk: The unknown and how to capitalize it

Risto Siilasmaa, founder of F-Secure and former chairman of Nokia, shared his insights on using data-based scenario thinking to prepare for future uncertainties – a crowd favorite session that received high praise from our founders. He emphasized how leaders can make wiser decisions by understanding both known and unknown factors.

Here are three key takeaways from this fascinating talk packed with practical tips and insights:

• Prepare for the unknowable and knowable unknowns. Investors and founders must anticipate both unforeseeable events and those that could have been predicted with better information.
• Use tools and techniques to enhance your foresight. Employ structured analytic techniques like scenario planning, assumption checks, and red team analysis to foresee trends and make informed decisions.
• Technology drives value. Invest in accelerating technologies rather than those slowing down, and consider ancillary opportunities like selling essential tools in emerging fields such as AI—“Sometimes it’s good to sell shovels to the gold diggers”.

Risto Siilasmaa

Investor dinner and birthday celebration

As the summit wound down, the night continued with an exclusive investor dinner, where our founders and European VC friends enjoyed some great conversations over a delicious meal. The day ended with a birthday bash to remember, celebrating our milestones and looking forward to future successes.

The Maki House Summit 2024 blew us away with its wealth of insights, sparking new and strengthening old connections, and celebration of the startup ecosystem. Huge thanks to our speakers, attendees, and everyone who helped make this event a success. We can’t wait to keep this tradition going with you!