5 questions with Jukka Holm

Ewa Banaś: Hi, welcome to another episode of IT Insights: 5 Questions to Tech and Business Leaders. Today my guest is Jukka Holm, Managing Director of Visma Enterprise Oy and board member of Visma Public. Jukka also holds board member roles at Visma Enterprise Latvia and Akubis in Denmark.

Together we will discuss the transition process from Managing Director (MD) to board member, as well as Jukka’s approach to implementing strategic changes in companies.

Jukka, great to have you here. Can you tell us a bit more about your professional background?

Jukka Holm: Thank you, it’s my pleasure. Before I joined the IT industry, I was doing labor jobs like delivering beers to stores – everything students normally do. But I decided to go for IT because it was my hobby as a child.

I joined a three-person startup while studying computer science, providing IT services for other companies. It was a good time to be in the industry, around 2003–2004, because the market was growing fast.

I had to learn leadership quickly because I had my first team to lead when I was around 25. That was my biggest school for IT business and leadership – getting to do things at a young age.

We built that company to around 100 people and sold it to a telephone company when we were at 50, but we kept growing even after the ownership changed. I’ve been on both sides of the table as an entrepreneur and now as a buyer of companies.

Ewa Banaś: Quite inspiring. What would you be doing professionally if you weren’t the MD of Visma Enterprise Oy?

Jukka Holm: My friends on Instagram think I should open a pizzeria because I love making pizza, but seriously, I love being in the software industry. I think there is a lot of value to create for society as everything digitalises.

I could be in a similar position in another software company, or I might even start my own company again to learn more, even though I’ve made many mistakes so far.

Ewa Banaś: Considering your experience, what advice would you give to someone managing a high-performance tech company?

Jukka Holm: Once you are past the startup phase and have a product and customers, it is crucial to cultivate a culture where people can really make things happen.

You need a growth mindset and ambitious goals, but you also need an environment of high trust and openness where everyone, from employees to management, can be honest about the problems and difficulties they face.

Secondly, you need the ability to find future talents and leaders and give them enough room to operate. While you need a good service and the right market, it is the people who make it happen; sometimes one new talent or perspective can make a big change for a company.

Ewa Banaś: What lessons did you learn from growing a company from 4 to 100 employees, especially regarding mistakes?

Jukka Holm: Because we were young and ambitious, we tried to do too many things at once, which can actually slow you down. We also went through a transition from a Professional Services business (selling hours) to a recurring SaaS model, which is a completely different business. We should have invested more time in productising the service and focusing on specific customer pain points.

To scale up and grow fast, you need focus. You must understand your current and future customers, identify their actual pain points, and find the ones they are truly willing to pay to solve.

Ewa Banaś: What hurdles have you faced in transitioning to a board professional?

Jukka Holm: This is a new phase for me. I started two years ago and now hold four chair positions and two board memberships. Being an MD in a large company like Visma Enterprise is actually somewhat similar to being a chair, because you have experienced leaders taking care of daily operations.

However, in a small company, the board is much more involved in daily issues and the MD might need help with various competencies. As a chair, you act as a bridge builder using your network. The biggest difference is that as a chair, you cannot go and do anything operational yourself. You must stay behind the management team and give them trust and help, whereas an MD is still responsible for daily “fires”.

Ewa Banaś: That’s a good approach.

Jukka Holm: I always try to build a company where I would not be needed. That is the key to creating a growth business; you need talented people around you who want responsibility so the MD doesn’t have to micromanage.

The board role is a bit more analytical and focused on numbers and the market, but it’s not as different as I initially thought it would be.

Ewa Banaś: It seems it is all connected to surrounding yourself with the right talent. What is your approach to managing strategic changes?

Jukka Holm: Strategy is about deciding which markets to serve and which ones not to serve. I have companies in my portfolio that achieved 100% growth (from 2 million to 4 million euros) just by acquiring 13 specific new customers in a specific segment.

Previously, they tried to acquire customers from various segments and weren’t profitable. Entrepreneurs often feel their product is fit for everyone, but to scale profitably, you must find your niche and decide who you will not serve.

Ewa Banaś: Thank you for these insights, Jukka. It was great to talk to you.

Jukka Holm: Thank you.

Ewa Banaś: And thank you to our audience. See you next time at IT Insights.