Skip to main content Accessibility Help
Open menu

Getting started on startups

Aleksi studied engineering at the University of Cambridge, specialising in control systems, machine learning and robotics. He joined the university’s solar-powered car team, where a friend told him about the ELS programme.

Aleksi spent some of the funding on “getting up and going” as an entrepreneur. “This was themed around building some contacts, going to events and getting exposure.” He also visited Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology to look at their startup ecosystems and visit their solar car teams.

How the ELS helped...

Training: “The fact that you have to think about what you want is super valuable,” Aleksi says. He made a 10-year career plan, which proved remarkably accurate. “It was helpful to look at how you want to build your skillset, network and abilities so that you can travel in the direction you want to go,” he says.

Network: Aleksi says it was amazing to spend time with people with similar interests and ambitions. “The ELS programme network is a really powerful tool to understand where you are and where you want to go to in your career.”

Funding: “The cash allows you to do the things you might otherwise not be able to. It goes remarkably far".

“The cohort that you’re in becomes a peer group you keep for life.”

Aleksi Tukiainen

Thinking about a sustainable future

After graduating, Aleksi co-founded Secondmind (formerly Prowler.io), a technology startup that uses machine learning for decision making, with applications in automotive, logistics and finance. He led the development of the finance application and helped grow the startup to 100 employees, before deciding to found another company, Sylvera, and then again, a few years later, ClimateAligned. 

Aleksi has held various roles in startups both as a co-founder or in the leadership team, mostly in areas relating to product development or technology. “One of the great things about being an entrepreneur is the opportunity to work in so many different roles in a company while it grows, as well as working in many industries and applications over the course of one’s career,” he says. “There is never a boring day in the life of a founder.”

Advice

“Part of the process, which involves writing down your interests and core strengths, forces you to think about what you want to be, and that’s good. Even if you don’t get in, you get many of those benefits from the interview process”

Interested in participating in the Engineering Leaders Scholarship?

Visit the programme pages to find out more about how it could benefit you and your career.

Explore the scholarship