Our portfolio company Supermetrics, best known for its next-generation integration solutions for marketing data, announced in early 2023 that it is moving to a shared CEO model – a practice used by roaringly successful companies like Netflix, Atlassian and Workday.
We at OpenOcean, an early investor in Supermetrics, are excited to welcome Anssi Rusi to the team as the new co-CEO. Anssi previously worked as the COO of two other Finnish powerhouses, Yousician and Smartly.io. Anssi also acts as the Chairperson of the Startup Foundation, the backbone of many Finnish startup ecosystem initiatives, such as Slush and Maria 01.
This exciting news marks the first time an OpenOcean portfolio company will operate with a shared CEO model. To introduce the model, Anssi and Supermetrics better, we asked him a few crisp questions on the topic.
What sparked your interest in joining the Supermetrics team as a co-CEO?
During the last nine years, Mikael and the team have succeeded in creating an excellent company and product that has achieved market leader status. The company has grown profitably since its inception. For me, this was a unique opportunity to apply my skillset in a new environment and work alongside Mikael – and together lead Supermetrics towards even greater global success.
Supermetrics has grown fast since its inception and by approximately 40% last year. How does a shared CEO model work for such a high-growth company?
The model of shared CEO management, which is still rare in Finland, enables CEOs to focus on the core areas of the business according to their own strengths and experience. Through the new model, Mikael will be able to focus on leading the company's product development – an area he, as the founder of the company, excels in. I will take ownership of building a global business; sales, marketing and operations.
Supermetric’s work culture is widely renowned and admired across the startup ecosystem. How will the co-CEO model impact the culture?
The numbers speak for themselves on our growth: Supermetric’s data platform currently accounts for 15% of the world’s online ad spend. With global growth always comes considerations about keeping up the work culture. Open communications and transparency, as well as team play and equality, are the cornerstones of our success. We feel that these values will further benefit from the new model, where instead of one, we have two enthusiastic, value-driven people captaining the boat.
About Supermetrics
Supermetrics is a data integration platform that helps you get the exact marketing data that matters to you: when you need it, where you need it. It helps you make data-informed decisions to grow your business. Over half a million people, including marketers, data analysts, and data engineers, use Supermetrics to move data from popular marketing platforms (such as Facebook, Google Ads, and HubSpot) to destinations like Google Sheets, Google Data Studio, Excel, BI tools, data warehouses, and data lakes. Supermetrics has 17,000+ customers in over 120 countries and 15% of global online ad spend is reported through their products.
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