Helene Auramo started her career as an entrepreneur at TaiK’s Arabus incubator

Helene Auramo founded her first company, Zipipop Oy, in Arabus, together with Richard von Kaufmann and Taro Morimotto. Founded in 2007, Zipipop was one of the first companies to focus on social media. 

Helene Auramo reminisces about how the founders had a bunch of ideas when they came to the incubator.

“We saw lots of opportunities in Facebook and social media. However, instead of having a single brilliant idea, we had lots of different concepts related to social media,” says Auramo, at the time finishing her studies at the Helsinki School of Business, about the company’s origins. 

The company was given premises at the Arabus incubator and received help and support from business advisors. 

"Having premises of our own made us feel that we’re a real business. At Arabus, Bengt Forsström had the right attitude: he pointed us towards the right people, and we were left with a feeling that we can do this.”

Helene Auramo, a graduate with a Master of Science (Economics and Business Administration) who has also completed the Medialab Master’s Programme at the University of Art and Design Helsinki, considers that the time spent at Arabus gave her a good feel for entrepreneurship. She believes that bringing together experts from creative industries, business and technology is still important for creating new business ideas and innovations. 

“I felt that, in the incubator, I was between two worlds by knowing the worlds of creatives, business students and tech students, which allowed me to serve as an interpreter who could explain why people in creative fields solve things differently and use different terminology, for example. After all, many experts in the creative field do not know how to create commercially viable products when they are getting started. A meaningful lesson for us all is that we should learn to listen to and understand others.”

Zipipop was a success. The company was initially sold to become part of Freud and is part of Vapa Media today.

“As a company offering social media consultations, a corporate acquisition felt more natural to us than looking for a major investor.”

Swept away by entrepreneurship

Over the years, Helene Auramo has flexibly moved between being an entrepreneur and working in managerial positions in employment relationships. She has written columns related to entrepreneurship, and was involved in establishing the Slush event, the Movement Now party and several companies. She contributed to developing the Indiedays blogging platform (currently known as Indieplace), the communications and marketing service provider Okimo Clinic Oy, and the Listeds hub that brings together an extensive network of experts. 

Listeds Oy offers a platform, tools and media solutions, especially for the leaders of listed and growth companies. The company also carries out board executive searches, and organises the Nordic Listed Leaders gala for awarding the best leaders and businesses of the year.   

"I’m in the right place now. My focus and passion lie in Listeds, which I want to turn into a large global business, a listed company.”

Auramo has served as a professional board member in start-ups, listed companies and growth companies alike. 

“Currently, I’m a member of the boards of the Finnish Business School Graduates and Finnpark. I feel that there is a lot to be gained from board work, and you can also contribute a lot to it. It’s an opportunity to learn. I feel that you could also express your interest in serving on boards of directors in public, and start-up companies are a good place to start.”

In 2022, Helene Auramo joined another business incubator, the Kiuas business accelerator, after which she joined the Tech Nordic Advocates programme. 

“We were brewing a new business idea, and there were people in our team who were unfamiliar with the incubator concept. I wanted them to have the meaningful experience and support you get from an incubator. Personally, my main reason to get involved was the community. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I moved to Pirkanmaa, and I kind of miss the start-up community. In Listeds, we resolve issues quickly and are located around the world, which makes me wish to be surrounded by the sort of community that is typical in the start-up world.”

New things emerge from co-development

During her twenty-year career as an entrepreneur, Auramo has noticed that there are still many obstacles to companies’ growth. Financing can emerge as a challenge. There is also room for improvement in the prevailing attitudes. 

“We don’t have many investors, getting a loan may be difficult, and start-ups may even struggle with YEL contributions. You often also encounter pessimism here when you present new ideas. Instead of people telling you what a great idea you have, you face resistance.”

She also has a concrete tip. Entrepreneurs could take some time together to consider how service needs and service supply could better meet.

"We could also be more open. When a new company comes to offer its services, we could reflect together what are the customer company’s needs and how the service range could be changed to make sure the customer might at some point buy the product or service. Bringing new things to the market is always challenging. I would like to see a change in attitudes in this area.”

This article is part of a series on different growth stories from over the years compiled on Aalto Startup Center’s alumni companies. For more information about Aalto Startup Center, see: www.startupcenter.aalto.fi