Luka
Nurmi

Kotivarakauppa.fi started from a simple observation: Finnish households are recommended to have a 72-hour home emergency supply, but for many people, collecting everything feels unclear, time-consuming and easy to postpone.

We wanted to make preparedness easier.

The idea was to turn a complicated recommendation into a product that people could understand quickly, buy easily and store at home without feeling like the brand was built on fear.

Kotivarakauppa.fi became a real business where I have learned e-commerce, sales, product development, branding, digital marketing and operations in practice.

I am an owner and founder of Kotivarakauppa.fi.

My role has been broad and hands-on. I have been involved in building the company from idea to product, from product to brand and from brand to a functioning e-commerce business.

I have worked especially with:

This project has been valuable because we did almost everything ourselves. We had to learn quickly, make decisions with limited resources and solve practical problems that affected sales, margin, customer experience and operations.

Preparedness is not an easy product category.

It is connected to safety, uncertainty and responsibility. The communication can easily become too frightening, too official or too dry.

We did not want to build the brand around fear. We wanted to build it around care, clarity and everyday safety.

Another challenge was productization. The product needed to be useful, trustworthy, reasonably priced, good-looking, understandable and possible to deliver. Every product decision affected the customer experience, logistics and margin.

We built a ready-made preparedness product and an e-commerce brand around it. The work included:

The biggest learning was understanding how everything connects. Brand affects ads. Ads affect the website. The website affects trust. Trust affects conversion. Packaging affects perceived value. Logistics affect customer experience. Customer feedback affects product development.

Kotivarakauppa.fi has been a practical school in how business actually works.

Through Kotivarakauppa.fi, I learned that a good idea is not enough. You need to create a product people understand, build a brand they trust, make buying easy and solve the practical details behind the scenes.

I learned:

This case shows my working style well: I learn quickly, take responsibility and move things into practice.

ProGeo was a customer project where we built the brand and launch of a new geothermal energy company from the ground up.

The company did not yet have a finished brand, website, marketing materials or sales-supporting materials. It also did not have an established way to present itself to its most important customers.

The goal was to create a professional and trustworthy foundation for the company's launch.

I led the branding and launch event project.

My role was to keep the direction clear, organize the work, understand the customer's needs and make sure the brand, website, materials and events supported the same commercial goal.

This project required both creative thinking and practical execution. It was not enough to think about what the company could look like. We had to build the materials, plan the events and create a launch experience that felt credible.

ProGeo was a new company. When a company has no established brand or sales yet, the first impression matters a lot.

Geothermal energy is also a major decision for the customer. The brand needed to communicate trust, expertise and clarity. If the message was too technical, it could feel distant. If it was too light, it would not build enough credibility.

We created a launch-ready commercial package for ProGeo. The project included:

This was not only a branding project. It was a full launch project. We had to think about how the company looks, how it speaks, how customers are welcomed and what kind of memory the company leaves behind.

The launch events were organized for ProGeo's most important customers.

In the events, the brand became a real experience. Customers did not only see a logo, website or brochure. They met the people, experienced the atmosphere and got a feeling of what kind of company ProGeo is.

Planning the events required thinking about:

ProGeo taught me that a brand is not only visual identity. A brand affects trust, sales and decision-making. It is built through the website, materials, events, communication and customer experience.

I also learned that launch projects are full of small details. If the website, materials, event, catering, invitation, schedule and customer experience all support the same message, the company feels much more professional.

I have participated in Proakatemia Sales Days twice.

Sales Days is an intensive sales event where around 190 students sell products and services through B2B sales, consumer sales, phone calls, direct sales and other channels.

Sales Days was intense. Three days of selling from morning to evening, leading a team and figuring out what actually works.

During my first Sales Days, I led a sales team, trained sellers and also sold myself for three days from morning until evening.

The role required both leadership and personal performance. I had to help others understand the product, clarify the sales pitch, build confidence in the team and at the same time do active sales myself.

The sales work included both B2B sales and consumer sales. I ended up being the second-best individual seller out of around 190 sellers, with approximately €6,000 in sales during three days.

That experience taught me about sales intensity, preparation, team energy and how important it is to make the offer simple enough for people to actually sell it.

In the next Sales Days, I brought my own product from Kotivarakauppa.fi into the event.

This changed my role. I was no longer only selling or leading a smaller team. I was responsible for helping a much larger group understand the product and sell it.

I trained over 190 people on the product, the value proposition and how to communicate it to customers.

This was a different challenge. The product had to be explained clearly enough that people who had not built the business themselves could still understand it, believe in it and sell it confidently.

Sales is not only about charisma. It is preparation, clarity and repetition. A strong sales project needs:

Sales Days connected many skills for me: selling, training, leadership, product understanding, customer communication and performance.

I have worked as the CEO of Valaja OSK, a 22-person cooperative company at Proakatemia.

This has been one of my most important leadership experiences because it has involved real people, real responsibilities, real conflicts and real decisions.

Leading a cooperative is different from leading a normal top-down organization. People are owners, students, teammates and friends at the same time. That makes leadership more complex. You need direction and accountability, but also trust, psychological safety and room for people to find their own path.

As CEO, my role has been to help the team move forward, create structure, support the leadership team and build a culture where people can take responsibility for their own projects while still being part of one company. The role has included:

As CEO, I have also led our six-person leadership team. This has been an important part of the role because many decisions and difficult topics could not be handled alone.

Leadership team work has taught me how important it is to create clarity inside the leadership group first. If the leadership team is not aligned, it becomes much harder to lead the wider cooperative.

In practice, this has included:

This taught me that leadership is not only about leading the whole team directly. It is also about building a leadership group that can carry responsibility together.

One of the biggest challenges has been building a real team from a group of individuals. At the beginning, people may know each other, but that does not automatically mean they operate as a team.

In a cooperative, everyone wants freedom. But freedom without responsibility can easily create confusion, passivity or unfairness. At the same time, too much structure can make people feel controlled.

A big part of my learning has been finding the balance between freedom and direction. We have also had to handle difficult topics: commitment, communication, unclear expectations, different levels of ambition, responsibility, psychological safety and how directly things can be said without damaging trust.

One of the most valuable leadership lessons in Valaja has been learning to handle difficult conversations. In a cooperative, everyone has freedom, but freedom also requires responsibility. When someone has not contributed enough or has not taken care of their responsibilities, the issue cannot simply be ignored.

As CEO, I have had to give direct and sometimes stronger feedback, while still trying to keep the conversation fair and constructive. These situations have often required discussion with the leadership team: what has happened, what is reasonable to expect, what feedback needs to be given and what the next steps should be if the situation does not improve.

This has taught me that accountability is not about blaming people. It is about protecting the team, the culture and the people who are doing their part. Avoiding difficult conversations may feel easier in the moment, but it usually creates more frustration and unfairness later.

Good leadership means combining honesty and respect. Sometimes it means encouraging people. Sometimes it means setting clearer expectations. And sometimes it means saying directly that something is not enough and that the situation needs to change.

One of my biggest leadership lessons has been the idea of guided freedom. I believe people should have freedom to build their own projects and choose their own direction, but that freedom needs a frame around it.

Without shared expectations, freedom can turn into passivity or disconnection. Good leadership does not mean controlling everything. It means creating enough clarity that people can move independently without the whole team falling apart.

Valaja has taught me that leadership is not only about making decisions. It is about reading people, energy and situations.

I have learned that every person cannot be led in the same way. Some people need more freedom, some need clearer structure, some need encouragement and some need direct feedback. Leading a team means understanding individuals, not only managing tasks.

I have also learned that culture is built through small repeated actions. It is built through how meetings are run, how people are spoken to, how feedback is given, how conflicts are handled and whether people feel that they are expected to contribute.

In a cooperative, you cannot lead by authority alone. You have to earn trust, communicate clearly and build direction in a team where everyone has their own goals and motivations.

Leadership is daily decisions, difficult conversations, structure and responsibility — not a title.

At Slush 2025, I worked as a Volunteer Lead. Slush is a high-level international startup and investor event, and working inside the organization taught me a lot about leadership, recruiting, communication and operating in a fully English-speaking environment.

For my team, I recruited 10 drivers from around 3,000 applicants. I intentionally selected people from different cultures and backgrounds because I wanted to build a diverse team and learn how to lead people who do not all think or communicate in the same way.

The organization was fully English-speaking, which made the experience especially valuable. I had to lead, communicate, solve problems and support the team in English in a fast-moving event environment.

What the role required:

I learned that international leadership is not only about speaking English. It is about understanding people, adapting communication and building trust intentionally.

When people come from different backgrounds, they may communicate differently, make decisions differently and expect different things from leadership. That taught me to listen better, explain things more clearly and pay more attention to how people experience the situation.

Slush was fast-moving and fully English-speaking. It confirmed that working in international environments is something I enjoy and want more of.

It also deepened my interest in startups, growth companies and ambitious teams.

I have raced internationally since I was young, including with Ferrari GT3 machinery in the Italian GT Championship.

Motorsport has been one of the most important environments in my life. It has taught me how to perform under pressure, accept feedback, work with a team and keep improving even when the progress is slow. But motorsport has also taught me business.

In racing, feedback is immediate. Every lap, sector time, mistake and decision shows in the result.

That has shaped how I think about work and business as well. You prepare, perform, analyze, learn and improve. You do not become better by guessing. You become better by looking honestly at what happened and changing something.

Motorsport has taught me:

A big part of building a racing career has been selling sponsorships and partnerships. That meant learning how to create value for companies, explain why they should partner with me and build long-term relationships with people who believe in the journey.

Motorsport taught me sales before I even fully understood that I was learning sales. I had to learn how to present myself, communicate professionally, build trust and connect personal brand with company value.

Social media has also been an important part of my racing career. I have built an audience around my journey, reaching over 22,000 followers on TikTok at one point and over 6,000 followers on Instagram.

This taught me:

Learning this at a young age helped me understand marketing, numbers and audience behavior earlier than I would have otherwise.

One example of my willingness to learn through practice was my time at X-Parts, an auto dismantling and parts business, when I was 15 years old.

I worked there without a salary as part of a partnership arrangement. The goal was not only to maintain a good relationship with an important partner, but also to learn more about cars, car parts and the practical side of the automotive world.

At that age, I was still very early in my own development, so I would not say that this experience alone made me highly technical. But it shows something important about how I think: when I want to understand something, I try to get close to it in practice.

I wanted to learn more about cars because I believed that understanding the technical side better could also help me as a racing driver.

The biggest personal growth came later, especially around the ages of 17–18 when I was traveling and racing around Europe more independently, but X-Parts was one of the early examples of my mindset: I was willing to work, learn and build relationships around motorsport before it was easy or comfortable.

Racing taught me that results come from preparation, team performance, communication and constant improvement.

It also taught me that nothing meaningful happens alone. The driver may be visible, but behind every result there is a team of engineers, mechanics, coaches, partners and people who make the performance possible. That same understanding applies to companies and projects.

Motorsport has not only been my sport. It has also been an environment where I have learned to build customer experiences, sell a personal brand and create memorable events for companies.

Over the years, I have been involved in corporate events where motorsport has been used as a way to bring people together, create excitement and offer customers something different from a normal business event. These events have included simulator competitions, customer activations, driving experiences, ride-along events, catering, event planning and practical coordination.

My role has often been a combination of driver, host, salesperson and event builder. I have used my background as a racing driver to create value for companies and their guests.

That has meant presenting myself and my story professionally, helping companies use motorsport as part of their customer relationships and making sure the experience feels exciting, smooth and well organized. In practice, I have been involved in:

Simulator competitions are a practical way to bring motorsport into company events without needing a racetrack. They create competition, energy and conversation quickly, even for people who have never followed racing before.

In these events, my role has been to make the experience feel easy and exciting for the customer. That means explaining the format clearly, helping participants get started, creating a competitive but relaxed atmosphere and making sure the event flows well.

This has taught me a lot about customer experience. A good event is not only about the activity itself. It is about how people are welcomed, how clearly the concept is explained, how the schedule works, how the atmosphere feels and what kind of memory the customer takes with them.

I have also been involved in organizing motorsport-related driving and ride-along events. These events require more planning because safety, timing, customer expectations and the overall experience all matter.

A good driving event needs to feel premium, exciting and safe at the same time. Customers want adrenaline, but they also need to feel that the event is professionally managed.

In these projects, I have learned how important the small details are: arrival, briefing, equipment, schedule, catering, communication, safety instructions and the way customers are guided through the experience.

Driving coaching has become one of my biggest passions. In coaching, the goal is not just to tell someone how to drive faster. The goal is to understand their current level, explain technique clearly and help them improve step by step.

This has taught me to simplify complex performance topics and adapt my communication to different people. Driving coaching has strengthened my skills in:

I am currently developing a collaboration with Shakedown Park in Jyväskylä. You will hear more about this soon.

The idea is to build motorsport-related events around a simulator environment and combine racing, competition, coaching and customer experience into a clear event concept.

For me, this is a natural next step. It combines many things I already know: motorsport, customer events, sales, hosting, coaching, simulator driving and event production.

The goal is not only to offer companies and their guests something entertaining, but to create a real, premium experience of the racing world.

In 2024, I worked in the crane and equipment rental industry in a role that was much broader than just sales. It was a practical business experience where I had real responsibility, long hours, and direct connection with customers, pricing, offers, and operations.

I lived on my brother's couch in Espoo during the summer and worked many 10-12 hour days. The role taught me what taking responsibility, discipline, and keeping things moving in practice actually mean.

I managed my own sales work: offers, pricing, customer meetings, follow-ups, and lead tracking.

The role included:

This gave a practical view of how sales, operations, and management connect in a real company.

What made this experience valuable was that I did not only sit behind a desk selling. I also helped with many practical things in the company's daily life.

I washed equipment, organized the yard, learned to drive and use a forklift, assembled furniture, and helped management with different tasks whenever help was needed.

It gave a much broader understanding of business than a standard sales role would have. I learned that in a busy or developing company, value is created by people who take responsibility outside their official title.

This experience taught me a lot about work ethic, ownership, and practical business. I learned that sales is not an isolated part of a company. If an offer is unclear, customer communication is slow, or operations do not work, sales suffers.

At the same time, I learned that a clear sales process and a customer kept up to date make the whole company more trustworthy. I also learned the importance of follow-up. Many deals are not closed in the first conversation. They are closed because you stay organized, keep in touch, and make the customer's decision easier.

I worked long days and did a lot of things that were not written in any job description. That was not a problem for me. I often act that way when I am fully involved in something.

The bigger lesson was to understand how strongly sales, operations, and management are connected. A slow offer or unclear communication does not only hurt sales. It affects the whole company.

I have always believed in learning tools through real needs rather than courses.

When I wanted to understand how to build a website, how to setup e-commerce, or how to connect tools with automations, I did not start with books. I started with a project.

This website itself is an example of that. It is built using Claude, Next.js, Vercel and GitHub — tools that I have learned to use to bring my commercial ideas into reality faster.

My journey with digital tools has been progressive:

I am not a software developer. I am a business builder who wants to understand the technology behind modern companies.

Understanding these tools allows me to communicate better with developers, make changes myself when needed, and build prototypes quickly to test new ideas with real users.

Fieldmark is an early-stage defense technology concept that aims to improve the feedback loop between military end users and defense equipment manufacturers.

In defense procurement, equipment is used in extreme conditions, but the data about wear, failure points, and user experience often takes years to reach the product development teams.

Fieldmark proposes a simple solution: scan a QR code or metal plate on a piece of equipment, fill a quick structured feedback form, and send the data directly to a secure analysis pipeline.

I have been developing this concept independently. The work has included:

Fieldmark is not a company yet. It is a concept I have been developing — working on the problem, the user groups, the data flows and what it would take to actually build it.