05 | 2023 Olli Laine, Co-founder & CEO

The year 2022 was Kipinä Software's first full financial year and the turnover was 4,1M€ (0,4M€ in 2021). The whole year went very well.

Kipinä was founded in April 2021 and launched to the public in May 2021, with the aim of building something new right from the start. Kipinä wanted to build on the years of experience in software development and digitalisation that the founders had accumulated over their careers. They wanted to build something new, especially by believing in people and thinking about how to serve customers even better as a community.

Corona and the war in Europe have created quite a framework for the new business. Fortunately, you don't know everything, and you don't need to know everything in advance. We believe that there will continue to be a need for cutting-edge expertise in digital development, whatever happens in the world or in the economy.

At the start of the first full financial year, we had around 15 people working on customer projects. Now there are 31 of us. In addition, Kipinä has more than 10 known freaks and subcontractors. In the whole ecosystem, we are already more than 150 people.

In our first financial year in Kipinä, we had a turnover of 4,1 M€ in 2022. That is a figure that shows we have succeeded. I bet we are close to the Finnish record. It also shows that our customers are really happy with us.

Olli opens the Kipinä Symposium. — Olli opening the Kipinä symposium in Tampere.

The customer experience is excellent and we back it up with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Our projects always involve something particularly demanding or new and it's never easy. Inevitably, not every project will result in a new breakthrough, or may present other challenges. But the likelihood of success is high when client projects are carried out by experienced owner-operators.

Cash flow and equity at Kipinä has also always been in the black. On the other hand, these are all great figures in themselves, but they only tell you about the economy.

Traditionally, software developers - even experienced ones - are bought for client assignments with company references and CVs. In practice, experts are alone at the client site and identify themselves largely with the client team they are part of at any given time. This is further reinforced by the consultant's personal billing bonus. At the same time, many have jumped into freelancing.

What matters most to us is community. Our greatest contributions and successes have been in the community. We have invested in it from the beginning. The idea comes from the belief that difficult issues can be solved better by a team of experienced experts than by one person alone.

Kipinä experts at Niina Ahtiainen's birch school. — The Kipinä people in the birch school, taught by our sponsoring partner Niina Ahtiainen.

We believe that for many, there is an even better way to work with excellence. Together, we can help a friend. We have no personal incentive, but everyone gets a share in the success of our whole community - as owners. This encourages you to help your friend in a different way.

But even a building does not make a community alone. Community is created in encounters. It is this community and thriving community members that create our customer experience. Our community members act as highly experienced professionals in client environments, knowing that they also have the support of the entire Kipinä community.

It's always worth helping a friend.

Olli Laine