In this interview, we had the chance to sit down with Mikko Suonenlahti – a business builder in his 5th decade of supporting early-stage tech founders. Mikko is the chairperson at various companies, having served on 100 boards in 10 countries and helped nurture two unicorns. He is also the Digital Security & Trust Group President and Mentor at the EIC Scaling Club.

In April, Mikko shared his invaluable knowledge and experience coaching participants at the Ignition Forum. He noted that companies are already doing better with each pitch, as the founders polish their presentations and work with mentors. 

Decades in the startup trenches have strengthened Mikko’s conviction that rock-solid boards are the very foundation upon which companies should build their businesses. He's thrilled to see this topic front and center at the EIC Scaling Club, as well as the participants' enthusiasm for exploring the ten best practices for crafting deeptech boards.

Having one unicorn in the US and one in Europe, Mikko now wants to “give back to Europe,” focusing on supporting Europe’s deep tech ecosystem. Mikko is confident the EIC Scaling Club will nurture companies with investor-ready presentations and robust financial plans. These companies will be primed to impress VCs, corporations, and family offices, securing the funding they need to conquer the next round.

Watch the full interview here or explore more expert interviews in the EIC Scaling Club’s YouTube channel. 

About the EIC Scaling Club

The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.

The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.

The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.

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