Mika Peltola (#025)
If I could tell you just one thing, it would be the importance of reading books. Sure, I sound like your sixth-grade teacher. I’m down with that.
Company: Siffi
Stage: Seed
Headcount: 11
Warm intro from Andreas von Koskull (#021)
Tell us your story
As a boy, I lived in a small town in southern Finland. The city limit was the limit of my world.
At some point I started to realise that entirely different worlds lie in wait, just beyond the city limit. I was intrigued. Could I find my place in that wider world?
I’m still finding out. I’ve set up camp in many countries, only to up my sticks again. I’ve lived and worked in Germany, UK, Belgium, Estonia, US and Brazil. Usually I’ve worked either as a co-founder or as a consultant on all things internet and digital.
My sojourn in Brazil turned out to be a longer one. Eleven years ago, me and my Brazilian-born wife purchased a run-down coffee farm in the mountains of Rio de Janeiro.
We knew that buying a ramshackle property in Brazil is asking for trouble. But we didn’t realise quite how much trouble. Needless to say, we’re still fixing that place.
During the pandemic, we found ourselves back in my little hometown in Finland. It feels weird and not exactly what I was aiming for. It feels almost like I had moved back to my parents house.
Tell us a story that has really resonated with you
Many of my personal heroes are freedom fighters, of one kind or another. Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans had unimaginable courage and I often find myself thinking about them.
Sophie and Hans were students in Germany during the second world war. They founded a non-violent resistance group called The White Rose. The group printed and disseminated anti-nazi information.
They must have known that going after Hitler and his terror-machine meant almost certain death. They were executed shortly after being caught by the Gestapo in 1943.
What can't you stop thinking about?
I can’t stop thinking about how to democratise access to mental health services. I keep hearing that there’s a stigma attached to seeking mental help. Maybe that’s still true in some places. But the bigger problem is the artificial bottlenecks created by outdated care processes. I’m calling all innovators to join this work…this is your chance to save lives!
If I could tell you just one thing...
If I could tell you just one thing, it would be the importance of reading books. Sure, I sound like your sixth-grade teacher. I’m down with that. But for the love of god please read novels, fantasy, non-fantasy, fiction or nonfiction. As long as you're reading a book.
The author of a book has spent years crafting the story or researching the subject. It shows. Please drop google, wikipedia, social media and go to the goddamn library instead. No, seriously.
If you could get a warm intro to anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
I’d like to meet the Norwegian author Karl-Ove Knausgaard. I’m trying my hand at writing but I realise that I’m not very good at it. Maybe he could give me advice on how not to suck? Karl-Ove, if you’re reading this please hit me up.