Aki Soudunsaari

As a Venture Architect and Serial Entrepreneur, I’m driven to co-create meaningful projects and build impactful companies. That is, to drive ideas into action, discover new opportunities and lead global scaling.Why am I doing this? To follow my mission to improve people’s health, happiness, and performance in a planet-positive way. I believe fostering healthy environments (human-, venture- and planet-wise) has great power to motivate change for more vibrant growth and balanced life. That, in fact, is the core theme I talk about: healthy environments. For me, it all comes down to sustainability in and around buildings, fit leadership, high-performing yet happy start-ups, biology-first thinking, intrinsic motivation, optimism, and continuous learning fueled by a growth mindset. Above all, I know entrepreneurship. I’m a serial entrepreneur and CEO, with +15 years of experience in global business. In addition to running, advising, and investing in several companies, I’m a Ph.D. Candidate in Growth Ventures (entrepreneurship, economics) and spent several years teaching and researching in academia. Moreover, I’m a certified Head of School and have a 1,99 x MSc. I write for Forbes USA and my insights have been featured in +400 media articles, including Bloomberg, CNN, Inc, Monocle, Wallpaper, Thrive, Red Herring, and Business Insider.As a keynote speaker, I’ve held +50 keynote speeches on health, entrepreneurship, and growth. The stages have varied from London Design Week, TATA Global CEO Summit London, Reflect (Business & Tech Festival in Cyprus), CoreNet Global Summit Amsterdam to M Moser NYC Well Event, and more. Grateful for my Awards & Recognitions: Recipient of the Aarre M. Mattinen Award, the biggest built environment innovation award. Nominated in Finland as EY's Entrepreneur of the Year (2017), PWC's Most Valuable Entrepreneur (2015) & Young Academic Entrepreneur (2014). I am the Finnish Champion in Startup Pitching (2018) and proudly a Certified Leader in Climate Action. As a person, I’m often described as an optimistic, action-oriented leader who faces challenges fearlessly and people genuinely. Currently, I’m based in Helsinki, Finland. “To create a significant halo effect on people’s learning and founders’ daring, and to evolve inventive means to sustain our globe’s and all its residents’ vitality. By the end of the day, to proudly say – I’ve done good.”