Every month we introduce to you new EstBAN members and warmly welcome to our investor community. Here is a sneak peak of what they are doing professionally as well as what was the reason why they chose to become EstBAN members.
Marek Laasik decided to join EstBAN to be better aware of early stage enterpreneurs in Estonia, especially as his own background and success has been driven mainly by bold people who were encouraged to change things that others didn’t. His background and passion is scaling up software solutions, especially in communications domain, so his main give is technical side of businesses, including engineering and product processes, scaling of systems and people.
Kristi Saare thinks it’s impossible to live in Estonia and not be(come) a fan of start-ups. For her it is important to become a better investor and also angel investor, she hopes to do it with the help of EstBAN’s network. Her core strength is communication – whether it’s writing copy, events/conferences or network/community building. Kristi’s work so far has been focused on investor education – someone has to motivate future angels to get started!
Peeter Kruusvall a founder of a few companies/startups – becoming an EstBAN member made perfect sense for him. He strongly believe in mutual power to help rocketing great ideas and is happy to become a part of some more inspiring journeys. Also, for Peeter learning from more experienced investors would be the asset to seek for. With a 15+ years of experience in the media and communications sphere, he would be happy to help with PR and marketing communications strategic approaches and relations in Estonia as well as in many other countries.
Liisi Kirch sums up why she wanted to be a part of EstBAN with quote from Darren LaCroix: “To be the best, learn from the best.” Liisi’s field is connected to financial literacy: consumer behavior, personal finances, education in all forms, communication. Her main “give” could be to promote (angel) investing and to help young companies understand their finances.
For Joosep Kõljalg EstBAN gives an opportunity to support and share benefits of the success of innovations happening in the Estonian startup scene. Having been twice part of fast growth companies going from startup to giants in their field, it has given him an unique opportunity to understand how to grow and scale the systems and organizations. Joosep can help out with challenges about payments, organization, product and engineering.
In 2014 Stepan Galaev invited Kristo Kaarmann to speak at Cranfield School of Management while studying for MBA. Also Stepan pushed the family office that he was working for at the time to invest in TransferWise. Unfortunately, they decided not to. There are many promising ventures in Estonia and he don’t want to miss an opportunity to meet and work with them. As an active venture capitalist in the UK, Stepan is happy to share his expertise and network with the Estonian companies looking to expand into the UK market.
If you are interested in joining EstBAN, read more about member benefits HERE.
