From freelancing to building a business

Fear has never steered Venla’s ship. In 2021, she followed her intuition and jumped straight into the deep end of entrepreneurship by quitting her day job and becoming a full-time freelancer—without a clear plan or even pre-agreed customers. Two months later, her business was fully operational, and she has been more or less fully booked ever since. Recently, the idea of scaling the business has begun to intrigue her.

After offering digital marketing consultancy for multiple companies, primarily in the B2B landscape, Venla identified the common denominators preventing these companies from reaching their full growth potential—the number one reason being siloing.

“My ambition is to change the entire tone of the word ‘marketing,’ especially in B2B. In my ideal world, sales and marketing would form a strong union, working hand-in-hand with the business towards common goals. Unfortunately, the reality is that in many cases when a company, no matter the size, has hired both marketing and sales directors, the wedge between marketing and sales starts to push these business functions into their own silos. I want to take the wedge and bury it for good.”

 

The first steps toward fulfilling Venla’s vision of changing marketing’s reputation from a cost to an investment have now been taken, as she recently founded a company called Momentum X—an idea that was born right before joining the Fusion Stellar program and refined during the program sessions.

The application period for Fusion Stellar opened at the most opportune moment for Venla. The program was exactly what she needed to advance her business idea, soon putting business development into full swing.

“If many companies’ growth blocker is siloing, mine is time. Therefore, allocating time from my calendar to refine my business idea was crucial for the inception of Momentum X. I applied for the Fusion Stellar program as the session descriptions deeply resonated with my needs—and the sessions exceeded my expectations. The program offered precisely what I was searching for: facilitated time to refine my business idea with truly top-notch growth professionals and to expand my network.”

 

The combination of keynotes from industry leaders and thought-provoking discussions with program participants led to insights far greater than the sum of their parts. Venla identifies the greatest benefit of the program as the chain reaction of thought processes initiated during the sessions and then further developed afterward. The keynotes by Verna Vuoripuro and Marco Mäkinen at the very first session made a lasting impact on her.

“After the first session, I was somewhat breathless; it provided me with numerous tools to clarify my company’s narrative and vision. Despite my experience in marketing communications, the detailed insights on creating an impactful story that resonates across all company communications touchpoints were extraordinary and provided much food for thought.”

 

During Marco’s session, an exercise required participants to envision a news headline about their company in five years. Marco stressed the importance of starting with a headline to crystallize the company’s mission and story. Venla’s headline was ‘Momentum X changes the B2B marketing industry from inside out.’ As someone who tends to live in the moment, Marco’s session reminded Venla of the significance of dreaming big.

Venla says that initially, walking into a room full of growth professionals with extensive knowledge and experience was a bit intimidating. However, this feeling quickly dissipated during the first group assignment, and she emphasizes that her sense of belonging strengthened with each session.

“I’m accustomed to being one of the youngest in the group, and I personally don’t measure business expertise solely by years of work. I was extremely pleased to be treated as an equal among the participants. It significantly boosted my confidence to discover that I share similar ideas with professionals who might have over 15 years more business experience than I do.”

 

The most valuable takeaways for Venla from the program were insights from Verna Vuoripuro’s and Marco Mäkinen’s keynotes, along with the realization that sometimes failing can be the biggest gift—even in business. Throughout the sessions, both program participants and keynote speakers openly discussed their fears and past failures, fostering a psychologically safe space essential for engaging in meaningful, deep conversations. This environment is where the best learning experiences occur, Venla states.

“When the individuals you look up to are open about their vulnerabilities, it reinforces that feeling insecure at times is a normal part of the process. For me, this was also a journey of personal growth, and I feel like I grew 10 centimeters taller during the program.”

 

This article is the first part of Stellar Stories, a blog series about the Fusion Stellar program participants. Stay tuned for more!