"It feels good to be part of something bigger"
A strong desire to change the world, green values and a global organization were the key elements that drove Veera Aalto’s decision to join Maas Global a year ago – a rapidly growing startup. And the journey has been full of novelty ever since.
“There is always something new and exciting happening at MaaS. Whether it is a launch to a new market, introducing new features or thinking of ways to engage new stakeholders”, says Veera Aalto, communications coordinator at MaaS Global.
A rapidly changing environment is definitely something that Veera appreciates in her work. She describes her role as, “a one-lady communications department”, which includes a lot of different responsibilities, from internal communications to social media and crisis communication. Since MaaS Global is currently a hot topic all over the world, she is contacted, globally, by journalists on an almost weekly basis. “We are like a new neighbor, about whom people are curious and interested to learn more.” Veera believes that building up a confidential relationship with the press from the start with will bear fruit in the future and that the importance of good media relations can’t be overemphasized.
Since Veera was the first employee in the MaaS Global communication unit, she had had the privilege to establish their communication unit. During the first year, Veera has built a good foundation on which is they can build more and more, with the team she desires to have in the future. When launching into new markets, the role of communications is extremely important: “We have to take into account both the media and consumers, and also the municipality, decision-makers and partners.” Communication needs to be carefully planned so that it serves each stakeholder in the best possible way. MaaS Global’s goal is to communicate clearly and to be transparent about who they are, what they are doing next and what their plans are in the future.
Values guiding career decisions
Values have always been a high priority on Veera’s list. Before MaaS Global, she worked at Ikea’s communications department where she was taking care of the media relations, social media and internal communications. Her decision to join a fairly new startup a year ago was very value-based and purpose-driven.
“Green values have always been a big part of my life. It is important to me that I can have the same values at work that I have at home.” She also feels empowered and proud to be a part of MaaS Global’ journey: “It feels great to be part of something bigger. It’s not only that we are building a product. We are building a service that will change the whole world in the future. We are creating new ways of everyday travel and affecting how cities will be designed and built in the future. This truly is the next big disruption for you and me.”
“I can genuinely feel proud to say that I’m involved in changing the world in a cleaner way – Pretty amazing feeling!”
In addition to having a inspiring mission, the company is packed with great colleagues – a good combination of professionalism, result orientation and laughter. As communications coordinator, she is integrated in the MaaS Global marketing team which is responsible for building the brand of the Whim app and preparing the launches in new cities. “My colleagues are awesome. For a small company, there is a huge diversity among the people. We have around 15 different nationalities and even more different personalities and everybody feels at home here, so I feel really entitled to work here.”
Plans for the future are really big and Veera looks forward to the moment when these plans become reality. The aim for next year is to open new markets around the world. For instance, Asia will be extremely interesting market, and there are still many potential cities in Finland where they will expand into in 2019.
Ambition combined with ability to deal with incompleteness
Veera considers MaaS Global as a great place for those who gain strength from creating a new and constantly forward-looking atmosphere. She feels that the most important criteria are that you share this same mindset, have ambition to drive change in the transportation sector and you can deal with incompleteness. Since there are no ready-made models and practices, and the plans and situations are constantly changing, you must be able to tolerate uncertainties. But this is also one of the absolute best sides to working at MaaS Global, in Veera’s opinion. “When everything is not ready, you can be part of creating a dream company!”
Whether it is a cliché or not, MaaS Global is perfect for those who truly want to keep the customer at the center of everything. They have ambitious plans to reduce emissions and get a wide range of partners in their service, but behind everything is the customer. “Customers are the biggest driver, why we work hard day after day and stretch to the utmost. Because of our customers, we want to get the best partners and we want to contribute towards climate change”, summarizes Veera.