What drew Aapo to Co-founders is the inherent connection between brand and culture. Aapo loves connecting with people and getting to know them to find the deep, grassroots human insights about them as people, and not only as employees or customers. Combine that with the analytic mindset of an industrial engineer who majored in Strategy, and a can-do attitude absorbed from the startup ecosystem, and you’ve got a strategist ready to tackle anything from a high-level strategy project to a brand renewal or a cultural study.

From closing sales with Silicon Valley startups to helping the world’s most advanced digital advertisers to do better paid advertising, Aapo has managed to do a lot for his age. Prior to joining Co-founders, he served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Slush and worked on rebranding and renewing one of the most experienced Nordic venture capital firms, Inventure.

The best way to spark up an enthusiastic conversation with Aapo is to ask about one of the too many books he is in the middle of reading. Currently he’s into basics of semiotics and sociology, Haruki Murakami – and of course – branding.