An “As Told To” interview by Kristaps Kovalonoks, Research Coordinator at Aalto School of Business.
This interview is part of a first-person storytelling series highlighting the personal journeys, ideas, and insights of members of Aalto University’s Entrepreneurship Unit (ENTU). Real stories, told in their own words.
What happens when a motivated design student discovers the world of entrepreneurship through a single lecture? In this interview, Mathilda von Hahn, a student in the Sustainable Entrepreneurship master’s programme, shares how she came to Aalto University from Germany, why she moved from design into strategic thinking, and how she sees entrepreneurship as a natural extension of design. Reflecting on hands-on learning, collaboration, and community, she describes how these experiences have shaped her journey. She believes that sustainability should be a given, and that “every entrepreneur is a designer in some way.” Click on each question below to explore her story in her own words.
I'm Mathilda, originally from Germany. I came to Finland four years ago for my bachelor’s. Back then, I just googled the best universities for design worldwide, and Aalto came up in the top ten in the QS rankings, so I applied. I didn’t think I’d get in, but I did. I started in the School of Arts, and later switched to the School of Business for my master’s.
Before coming here, I didn’t really know much about Finland. People just kept telling me it would be really dark, cold, and that I should bring a lot of vitamin D.
It actually started with a lecture we had in my second year at Aalto. A designer came in and talked about her work as an entrepreneur, and that really caught my attention. Up to that point, I had thought entrepreneurship was mostly for tech or business students, not really something design students did.
After the lecture, a friend and I started brainstorming ideas. Since I was organising events for our student organisation NuDe (Nuoret Designerit ry) at the time, we came up with an event-related concept and applied to the Ignite programme at Aaltoes. That kind of kickstarted everything.
Now that I’ve been doing this for a while, I honestly think that every entrepreneur is a designer in some way. Both identify problems and try to solve them. The mindset is very similar, so it just made sense to me.
It actually started with a rumour. A friend told me about a new master’s in Sustainable Entrepreneurship, and I hadn’t heard anything about it. So I asked one of the teachers during my AVP minor if it was true, and they said yes, they were building it.
In December, I started looking at the website since it was application season. I couldn’t transfer internally, so I had to apply as an external candidate. I knew I wanted to do something with entrepreneurship and strategic design, and take a step away from more traditional design work.
What I really loved about the programme was how multidisciplinary it is. Aalto is one of the few universities where you can apply to a Master of Science without having a business bachelor’s. In our class, everyone comes from different backgrounds, and we can really build on each other’s knowledge.
I loved it. We entered with an idea for an event platform, something that would simplify the event management process, because that’s what we knew. But over the ten weeks, the idea changed a lot. We ended up with something closer to mystery shopping for events, where we’d figure out why an event had failed and then help improve it.
What really stood out were the lectures, the guest speakers, and the founders who came to share their stories. There was also pitching coaching, which helped a lot. The whole programme created this kind of hype: it made you want to work, and you really enjoyed doing it. We also received 10 ECTS credits and a small financial grant, which helped cover rent during the summer. That made it possible to fully focus on the experience instead of taking on a summer job.
You never know what’s going to happen, everything changes so quickly. You have to be able to re-evaluate and push yourself through. One thing they told us during Ignite really stuck with me: as a founder, you need to believe 100% in your idea. Otherwise, you won’t have the motivation to get through the hard times.
What I learned about myself is that I love to “kill my darlings” a bit too much. I tend to jump from one idea to the next. Luckily, my co-founder helped keep me on track, and we grounded each other really well.
I love the Otaniemi campus, especially as an international student. Everything is in one place, it’s just the university and the students. You really feel like you’re in this bubble with all these people around you. In other cities I’ve visited, student life feels more scattered and disconnected, but here at Aalto it’s different. People see each other and talk to each other all the time.
During my bachelor’s, I was part of the board of NuDe, and that’s actually how I met my Ignite co-founder. You also have things like Ignite itself, where you meet and connect with people. And then there’s Startup Sauna, if you want to meet motivated people, just go there and grab a coffee with someone. It’s such a great place to be.
I joined NuDe in my first year of my bachelor’s because I was really motivated and wanted to do something. I loved planning events, and that’s where I met my Ignite co-founder. We were both event planners, and we worked really well together.
During Ignite, we met this really nice guy who was super motivated and also into events. He liked our idea and energy, and later reached out to ask if we could help organise a book launch and an event around AI and art. We said yes, and the three of us ended up managing that event together. He had worked at Slush before, so he was very much in the startup scene too.
As I said earlier, I believe every designer is an entrepreneur in some way. Both are solving problems. And when it comes to sustainability, I don’t think we should even have to advertise it anymore. It should be built into the process from the start. It should be the default, part of every design and every venture. I don’t really understand why it’s not.
Definitely the student culture. The overalls, the sense of being together, and how open people are to talking to each other, that really surprised me. In Germany, people tend to stay within their own group. Though I’ve never studied there, so maybe I’m stereotyping a bit based on what I’ve seen.
One thing I really appreciate is how helpful people are here in Finland. It feels like I can just call up anyone and ask for help, even if they don’t know me, and they’ll actually help.
For me, it’s two things. First, it’s the multidisciplinary environment. I’m not sitting in a room full of people who all studied the same thing. We have people from engineering, design, and business backgrounds, and that makes for really interesting discussions.
Second, I really love the hands-on approach. Even in smaller, more theoretical courses, there’s always some kind of task where you have to think for yourself, come up with your own ideas, and not just copy what you’ve read in a paper.
Keep your eyes open. Look left and right. Talk to the people who are standing next to you. Especially if you’re coming to Finland just for your master’s and haven’t done your bachelor’s here, try to join a board in one of the student associations. I know Aaltoes has a lot of subgroups you can join. I think that’s the best way to integrate, to have fun, and to meet interesting people.
