If I can do it, you can do it!
Thank you so much for inviting me. this was fun.
Biography
Mari is a Principal at Icebreaker.vc with a portfolio boasting 100+ startups. As an ex-growth operator of a 15% profitable MoM startup, she brings a wealth of experience to the table. Additionally, she is the founder of Herizon.io, a non-profit dedicated to creating tech jobs for immigrant women. Notably, she was recognized as the Investor of the Year in NWITA.
A self-taught human-centric growth tech enthusiast, she embarked on her journey at the age of 12, earning her first affiliate marketing commission from her Fallout 2 game fan page.
Over her extensive 20+ year career, she has played a pivotal role in the growth of numerous clients and projects. With a decade in affiliate marketing and another decade as a consultant or in-house contributor at startups and a VC firm, her expertise spans various domains. Her specialization lies in early-stage ventures, ranging from zero to seed/series A.
Her professional journey has led her to thrive in the dynamic world of global tech startups, contributing to the success of companies like Freska, Paxful, Yousician, and her current role at Icebreaker.vc—a 140M€ early-stage VC firm with 100+ companies in Nordics and Baltics. Concurrently, she operates as a growth advisor at her growth hacking agency, Truly, and extends her expertise to immigrant women through growth hacking training at Herizon.
An early adopter of growth hacking, she considers it more than just a trendy term—it has been her pleasant hobby since the late ’90s and continues to be so.
Her mission is rooted in using her skills to assist startups genuinely dedicated to making a positive impact and becoming socially responsible entities. She staunchly believes in Nordic values, emphasizing work-life balance and equality in the workplace.
What she has achieved:
- Scaled early-stage startups from <1M€ ARR to 10M€ ARR with profitable acquisition
Raised funds from €50K angel rounds to €30M in ETH in ICO & seed and A rounds between €1M to €15M. - Built scalable and profitable go-to-market models for almost every continent.
- Had the uncountable amount of 1on1s with 100+ startup CEOs from companies between 1M€ to 100M€ ARR about growth models implementation.
- Created 1000+ meaningful jobs for people (especially for women, immigrants, and minorities).
- Won the Investor of the year 2022 title in the Nordic Women in Tech Awards for the work I’ve done to improve diversity in VC and tech.
Based on Spotify’s stats I belong in the top 0.5% of the listeners of the Finnish metal band Beast in Black.
Currently, she is a Principal in a 140M€ early-stage venture capital firm Icebreaker.vc with 100+ portfolio companies.
She is a partner and advisor of a growth hacking service agency Truly.
She is a keynote speaker, produces products, and writes about everything related to early-stage startup growth.
She runs a community of 100+ alumni of my growth hacking internship and other growth professionals to learn together.
She founded a non-profit Herizon.io which has helped to train and employ 100+ immigrant women in tech so far.
