"Topaasia replaces all the stupid old-fashioned surveys, strategy rollouts and other things people in organisations hate!" Topaasia strengthens with new investors and board members
Topaasia has brought in new investors, and at the same time the company's board is strengthened with significant experience:
Marco Mäkinen is a long-standing business executive and brand strategist, known especially for his work in the Finnish advertising and marketing industry. He has served, among other roles, as Deputy CEO of TBWA\Helsinki and as CEO of SEK & Grey.
Merja Ranta-aho is an experienced HR executive and organisational developer. She worked at Elisa for over 20 years, from 2013 as Chief Human Resources Officer, and was involved in building the company's renewal and growth.
Mikko Kuitunen is the founder of the software company Vincit, its long-time CEO and chairman of the board. Under his leadership, Vincit grew into an international technology company of nearly a thousand experts, also known for its award-winning company culture.
Marco and Merja also begin as new board members, joining long-serving board members Janne Peltola and Juha Riippi, who continue on the board.
Topaasia's goal is to grow both in Finland and internationally, because the current employees and founders are starting to get fed up with "eternally scraping by". The arrival of the new investors and board members supports this next phase of growth.
Marco: "Topaasia solves real, genuine problems"
Marco says he came on board above all because Topaasia solves genuine working life challenges.
"Topaasia solves real problems. If companies adopt them, their reality improves significantly."
According to Marco, Topaasia's greatest strength is the way it renews organisations' conversation culture and engagement.
"It replaces all the stupid old-fashioned surveys, strategy rollouts and other things people in organisations hate."
As for the growth targets, Marco sees exceptionally high demand in the market.
"There is an absolutely explosive need for what Topaasia offers. It would grow even more, but humanly speaking, that much can be done with quality. There would be demand for 300% - 500%, but it has to be done so that we can keep up with taking the orders and getting the money in the bank."
Coming on board also offers a chance to learn.
"You get to learn in a hungry crew. You would learn more about how people behave. The hardest thing in the world: how do people feel more that they are involved in what the company does. That will surely be the return on the time spent."
Merja: "Topaasia is not a single-use trick"
Merja has followed Topaasia's development for a long time and sees the company standing on the threshold of a new growth phase.
"I have had the pleasure of following Topaasia's development for years. Its basic idea has stood the test of time, and at the same time the solution has developed continuously, also making use of the possibilities brought by advances in technology. I believe Topaasia is now at the beginning of a rise of significant growth and renewal."
According to Merja, Topaasia's strength is its simplicity combined with extremely broad uses.
"The Topaasia game is simple, but its uses are limitless. With the same logic, and especially now with AI-assisted deck creation, an organisation can hold a continuous conversation at the different stages of the planning and evaluation cycle."
In her view, it is not about a single tool or workshop, but a way of holding conversation in an organisation.
"It is not a single-use 'trick', but a way of holding a conversation in which the opportunity for genuine dialogue gets an extra boost from external stimuli and the alibi they provide for raising even difficult matters."
Merja sees the opportunities for growth especially in new uses and internationalisation.
"Two key growth drivers - expanding the uses and taking it into areas that have lacked a simple conversation tool, and through them expanding into new markets outside Finland."
For Merja too, being involved offers a chance to learn and to take part in building something significant.
"It is always a joy to get to work with people who are more skilled than yourself. It is also a privilege to be involved in a very interesting growth phase of an interesting company, which interests me in many ways."
Mikko: "Functioning communication is the key to success"
New investor Mikko also sees Topaasia as solving a very fundamental problem in organisations.
"I came on board because Topaasia combines ambition, expertise and a genuine desire to build something meaningful. Functioning communication is the key to success in all leadership and change, and unfortunately it is often broken. I believe Topaasia is capable of fixing it."
According to Mikko, Topaasia's strength is its combination of expertise, individuality and solution focus.
"Topaasia brings customers a combination of expertise, individuality and solution focus. Digging into meaningful challenges through insightful dialogue helps find solutions and commit to them."
As for growth, Mikko sees the market developing rapidly.
"I believe the goals are achievable, because the need is real, the market is developing strongly, and the company seems to have both the right direction and the energy that growth requires. Growth demands focus and systematic work, but the company has the potential."
Coming on board also offers the chance to take part in building better working life.
"I hope to get the opportunity to learn new things, to spar with a growth company on its journey, and to take part in building a better tomorrow through better-functioning dialogue."
"It is great that we got new people on board"
Topaasia's chairman of the board Janne Peltola sees the arrival of the new investors and board members as an important step in the company's growth.
"It is great that we got new people on board who believe in this."
Topaasia continues its growth with the goal of helping organisations build a better conversation culture, engagement and better-functioning collaboration in Finland and internationally.