Work Experience

Work Experience

On this page you will find details of my work experience.

Short summary

  • - 10+ years in growth, commercialization, and digital business leadership.
  • - Full business unit ownership and multiple transformation programs delivered.
  • - Entrepreneurial background with proof of building a company to exit.
  • - Active AI business practitioner: research + practical development.
Portrait of Matti Ikäläinen outdoors in a winter forest

Experience timeline

04/2026-

Head of Growth

Suomen Kasvurahoitus Oy

  • - Responsible for developing marketing and sales to support the company's growth and commercial goals.
  • - Driving the use of data, automation, and AI in marketing, sales, and growth execution.

03/2024-12/2024

Management Team Member

Oikio Oy

  • - Worked as part of the management team to design a new strategy.
  • - Contributed to redesigning the organizational structure to support growth in a challenging market.

05/2023-12/2024

Business Unit Director, E-commerce

Fonecta Oy

  • - Led the e-commerce business unit and achieved over 30% efficiency improvement.
  • - Raised the unit to become the top-performing business unit in the company.
  • - After a strategy shift, led a controlled business unit ramp-down fully within budget.
  • - Managed stakeholder impact across organization, customers, partners, and employees.

04/2022-04/2023

Sales and Marketing Manager

Fonecta Oy

  • - Led, coached, and developed the sales team in the e-commerce unit.
  • - Introduced new operating models during integration after the acquisition of Eeco Oy.
  • - Integrated the sales model into a new CRM system (Salesforce).
  • - Built cross-unit sales collaboration.

01/2020-03/2022

Sales and Marketing Director

Eeco Oy

  • - Led sales and marketing during the company's scaling phase.
  • - Built sales models and led daily sales execution.
  • - Designed and implemented the CRM system.

02/2014-12/2019

CEO and Founder

Eeco Oy

  • - Led Eeco Oy from a general digital agency into one of Finland's leading e-commerce agencies.
  • - Owned finance, board reporting, recruitment, and operating model design.
  • - The company was acquired by Fonecta in April 2022.

2015-2017

E-commerce and Salon Owner

Hiuksillesi.fi

  • - Scaled hiuksillesi.fi into one of Finland's largest hair-industry e-commerce stores.
  • - Expanded sales internationally through Amazon and our own online store.

2013-2014

Entrepreneur

Timer Group Oy

  • - Built a SaaS-based online booking software product.
  • - Solution was used by over 400 customers in service industries.

2005-2012

Entrepreneur

Camping Nyyssanniemi

  • - Increased annual overnight stays from approximately 2,500 to approximately 8,000.
  • - Developed new event concepts, including Entisten Nuorten Bileet, which ran for over 10 years.

Leadership & transformation highlights

  • Full business unit leadership: P&L, teams, prioritization, and risk management.
  • Transformation initiatives: efficiency improvement, operating model redesign, controlled ramp-down.
  • Stakeholder alignment: leadership, sales, product/technology, customers, and partners around common goals.
  • Program delivery from idea to production and measurable business outcomes.