Johannes Karjula is a familiar name to many in the world of Finnish entrepreneurship and sales. He is particularly known for his transition from traditional sales to the world of digital business, and for his brilliant success in doing so. This article summarises Johannes’ visit to the Caleido.io podcast.
You can listen to the episode on Spotify
Ali Omar already summarised the sections and timestamps in his LinkedIn update:
Sections:
00:00 Introduction
02:23 Beginning of a career
04:44 Education
06:10 Business experience: making a website
11:41 Learning to sell with professional salespeople
14:01 Board seats
15:27 Lessons from marketing
21:18 The problem with startups
22:22 Lessons on software development
25:37 Product is everything
29:01 Trustmary’s transformation: product-led-growth
31:25 VC: you know absolutely nothing
32:46 Product-led-growth: the learning path
35:54 What to do in practice?
40:34 What made you humble?
41:46 Concrete PLG example: Trustmary
54:16 Most painful practical lesson: billing page
55:50 Crystallisation: what is the deepest essence of PLG
59:19 Where do we go from here?
1:00:44 Why doesn’t everyone buy?
1:04:54 Iteration speed
1:09:25 Next step: product-market fit and go-to-market
Who is Johannes Karjula?
Johannes Karjula starts the debate by talking about his humility in the face of the new.
Although she was previously an active sales and marketing specialist, she explains how she has learned to appreciate silence and focus on what matters.
This insight has brought a new depth to both his thinking and his business.
Johannes is the founder and CEO of Trustmary, but has also co-founded the Satokausikalenteri. In addition to these, he sits on the board of a few other companies.
The impact of childhood on entrepreneurship
Originally from Raahe, Johannes grew up in a large family where entrepreneurship and the culture of work were strongly present. His father was a part-time entrepreneur, and this entrepreneurial spirit was passed on to Johannes.
The whole family has an entrepreneurial spirit, which has strongly influenced John’s values.
A new path and a turning point
Johannes originally planned to pursue a career in medicine, but during his final exams in chemistry he realised that this was not the career he wanted.
This moment led him to consider new directions and eventually to the decision to study computer science at the University of Jyväskylä. Studying computer science, especially programming courses, was a turning point in his career as it opened the door to the world of digital business.
Entrepreneurship and sales lessons
Johannes set up his own company in 2010, starting with the design and implementation of websites. He quickly realised that there was a market for mobile responsive websites and started selling these services to his network of entrepreneurs.
The business grew rapidly and Johannes learned the importance of understanding the customer’s problems and providing concrete solutions through hands-on sales.
He will also talk about the basic pillars of business, such as building trust and problem-solving, which are essential for successful sales.
The challenges of internationalisation
Johannes has been involved in expanding the business into international markets, particularly Sweden and Spain.
He has also been actively involved in stock exchange governance and many other business projects. While he emphasises the importance of sales and marketing, he also stresses that there is much more to a successful business, such as cash flow management and financial understanding.
PLG: Case Trustmary
Johannes Karjula mentions that Trustmary has moved more towards the PLG model.
He stresses that, in line with this strategy, the product must be the primary driver of growth. In practice, the product itself must be able to attract and engage users without a large sales organisation.
Johannes also mentions that Trustmary has been successful in this transition and that the PLG model has helped the company to develop a more user-friendly and efficient product.
This strategy has enabled Trustmary to compete with larger players, especially at a global level.
He also talks about Trustmary’s current situation, explaining that the company has achieved significant growth internationally, but has also focused strongly on improving the customer experience.
Johannes stresses that customer feedback has played an important role in the development of the product and the company will continue to develop the product based on this feedback.
Other topics covered
In the discussion, Johannes also raises many other issues, such as the challenges of marketing and the difficulties start-ups face.
He talks about the importance of focusing on concrete problems and avoiding too much abstraction, which can alienate customers.
Johannes also stresses the need to understand the real needs of the customer and translate this knowledge into successful marketing.
Trustmary in a nutshell
- Established: 2016
- Company focus: Helping companies to increase sales and improve the customer experience through customer reviews and testimonials.
- Services provided: Tool for collecting and publishing customer experiences on different platforms.
- Goal: To make genuine customer feedback a competitive advantage for businesses, increasing customer confidence and sales.
- The team: multidisciplinary professionals who are constantly developing better solutions to meet their customers’ needs.
More information about Trustmary can be found on our website.
