The sTARTUp Day NGO now has a CEO for the first time in its history. Why introduce one now, and what problem is this structural change meant to solve?

It was the NGO members’ decision, but after 10 years, it felt like the right milestone for a fresh perspective. The head organizer role has naturally been focused on delivering the festival, while also carrying the NGO’s broader responsibilities on the side – almost like a part-time CEO.

If the goal is to grow, become more sustainable, and build bigger impact, you need dedicated capacity to think wider, shape strategy, and take action. So for me, it feels like a natural next step.

You come from a mixed background in movement, health, leadership, and working in a scale-up. What made you say yes to leading a startup and tech-focused NGO?

My longest “through-line” is health and well-being – that will always come with me. At the same time, I’ve been in leadership roles, most recently 5.5 years at Wise, and I feel those experiences fit this kind of role-building work really well. Creating a CEO role from scratch takes self-awareness, self-management, and the ability to build culture, priorities, systems, and processes, and I genuinely enjoy that.

My past roles have taught me to test approaches, pivot, reassess, and find solutions, so I feel ready to focus on building something big with my whole heart and still keep my feet on the ground.

When you first looked at the sTARTUp Day NGO from the outside, what did you see that others perhaps didn't?

Most ideas aren’t completely new. I’m sure the team has thought of many of the same things. But everyone sees things through their own angle, and coming from outside helps you spot opportunities that can get invisible when something is very familiar.

I’ve actually tried to protect that “fresh eyes” phase by staying a bit in the unknown at first, so I can keep asking questions – even the ones people stop asking because the answers seem obvious. That outsider position has been surprisingly fun, and I think it can surface new possibilities.

Overall, I’ve mostly seen opportunities and a very exciting journey ahead.

You've rebuilt yourself from burnout. How has that experience shaped the way you lead teams?

Looking back, I’m grateful for it because it taught me what burnout really is and pushed me to understand its causes. For me, a big part was working in environments that didn’t match my values. It wasn’t about doing “too much,” but about doing things that weren’t aligned.

That experience made me calmer and clearer about what kind of people and environment I want around me, and it also made me trust even more when something feels like a real mission-and-values match.

Leadership-wise, it reinforced something I already believed: you have to see the human first, before any role or status. People should feel supported, valued, and cared for, and I think it’s made me a more compassionate lead.

NGOs often operate between passion and financial pressure. How will you ensure long-term sustainability across all events?

I’m still working out the details – that’s part of what I was hired to do – but I don’t want us to lose the passion. Financial pressure can also push creativity and help you find new ways to fund the mission.

A big shift for me is moving partnerships towards longer-term thinking and not treating events like one-off projects.

I want us to see them as year-round celebrations of what we do all year. Always planning and keeping the bigger mission in view. If we’re truly providing value the ecosystem is missing, the financial side has solutions, but content and value have to come first.

Digit and sTARTUp Day serve different audiences. Do you see them becoming more integrated strategically or more clearly differentiated?

They are very different events, and I expect them to remain different. But at the core, both exist to bring the community together.

One thing I noticed is that many people don’t even know Digit is organized by the sTARTUp Day NGO, so we’ve already started cross-referencing and improving that clarity. The goal this year is to bring the different parts more under one umbrella, so together they serve a bigger mission than they do separately.

Will we see more year-round initiatives beyond the main conferences?

Yes, that’s the plan! I want the NGO to feel like a year-round part of the ecosystem, not just something that shows up for one event. That can be in Tartu and across Estonia, and why not beyond Estonia too?

Innovation needs people to meet and talk, so we can create more opportunities for that throughout the year, with smaller events and maybe a few bigger ones in the summer. There are ideas, but we’ll share them when the timing is closer.

What will feel different internally for the core team and volunteers under your leadership?

I can’t fully compare because I haven’t been a volunteer or part of the core team before, but I know what I want people to feel: heard, seen, and safe to speak honestly. I want an environment where feedback is normal, nothing important gets left unsaid, and there’s room to dream big and share ideas.

I care a lot about transparency and assuming good intentions – especially when new people join from outside. I also want efficiency, clarity, and systems that make work easier and information accessible, so people don’t have to “hunt” for what they need.

And one big personal value: curiosity. I want us to challenge ideas, not people, respect different views, and stay curious because that keeps work human, collaborative, and actually enjoyable.

Looking 5 years ahead, what should the sTARTUp Day NGO represent in Estonia's innovation ecosystem?

I’m building the strategy for the coming year and the next few years, so I’m not living five years ahead yet. But directionally, I’d love sTARTUp Day to play a bigger role in helping science move from labs into the real world – bridging scientists and business people.

I don’t think we need to grow “as big as possible.” I care more about quality, about where we add the most value.

Also about being a constant presence – something that feels like a normal part of the ecosystem day-to-day, not just an event once a year.

What is one difficult or uncomfortable decision you believe the organization might have to face in the near future?

Change is uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to become difficult unless we make it difficult. I’m actually a fan of change, as long as it has meaning and isn’t done just for the sake of it. The CEO shift already triggers other changes – that was the point, to increase impact in Estonia and Tartu – and I believe it was the right decision.

The real risk is poor communication: when people don’t say what they’re afraid of, what they doubt, what they need. I’m open to conversations, and I also understand people may need time to get used to a new CEO.

Ideally, we don’t resist change – we celebrate it, stay adaptable and curious, and work as a team. We need discomfort to grow, but we also need balance, and discomfort isn’t automatically a bad sign.

You talk a lot about sustainability and alignment. How do you personally make decisions when values and financial realities clash?

For me, sustainability connects directly with efficiency. And when I’m making decisions, I lean on values. Skills can be learned, but values are much harder to change or align if they’re fundamentally different. If a financial offer clashes with my values, I don’t think I could live with myself choosing money over what I believe in.

And the same goes for partnerships: I want them to genuinely benefit both sides, more like real cooperation than anything else.

Startup culture often celebrates speed and hustle. Will you challenge that narrative within the organization or even on stage?

Yes, I really want to challenge it. With my health and well-being background, I keep thinking: can we build a startup culture in a way that people aren’t constantly burning out, but still do big, ambitious things? I’m not saying effort isn’t needed – sometimes you do go the extra mile. But does it always have to be stressful?

I think caring for health makes people more creative, more efficient, and less error-prone. And for startups with limited resources, that can actually be a competitive advantage. We’ll see if I can bring the right examples to prove it, or if I end up learning that hustle is the only way.

Fun one. If the sTARTUp Day NGO were a person, what kind of personality would it have today, and what would you like it to grow into?

Right now, I see it like someone who just graduated high school – growing up, looking around, being influenced by others to stay safe and familiar. And I’d want to tell that person: you don’t have to stay in a comfort zone. You can explore, dream big, and become whoever you want to be. Don’t compare or compete. Focus on your strengths and interests, learn from others, cooperate, and be your bold, unique self.

During festival week, are you the calm observer backstage, the energizer in the crowd, or the one reminding everyone to drink water and sleep?

Probably all three. I love the event-day intensity and fast problem-solving – that part is fun. But I also enjoy stepping back and observing. And I genuinely want to see if we can prepare so well that people don’t sacrifice sleep during the festival week.

I’ll absolutely be the person reminding people to eat and drink water – organizers always forget. And I’ll also remind myself to enjoy the event, even when it’s busy.

What kind of legacy do you want the sTARTUp Day NGO to build as an organization beyond the individual leaders and the event editions?

I want us to be able to look back and say we played a real role in making innovation happen. That we helped create a platform or environment where big things could start, where science and innovation reached the world and made it better.

There’s also an identity piece: sTARTUp Day has helped put Estonia and Tartu on the map for many people, and I love that. And underneath all of it is something simple: most success comes down to connections. Without the right network, nothing moves.

If we can be the place where the right people meet and build something meaningful together, that’s a legacy.