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 does it take to move from studying languages in Germany to business in Finland, and then build a career in Switzerland and Singapore across startup accelerators, a fintech scale-up, and a global bank? In this interview, Aalto alumna Lisa Schröder shares her journey from the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management programme to driving innovation in Asia’s financial hub.
I’m Lisa Schröder, currently based in Singapore. After finishing my master’s at Aalto, I started working with F10, a fintech accelerator, first in Switzerland and then in Singapore. That’s what brought me to the lion city in 2020, where I set up the startup incubator and co-developed the later-stage accelerator. After that, I joined a fintech company that was expanding from Switzerland to Singapore, where I oversaw client onboarding and marketing communications.
About two and a half years ago I joined UBS's innovation team. After some restructuring following the Credit Suisse acquisition, I moved into a product role where I executed early-stage AI product and process evaluations. This September, I have returned to venture building and joined a former manager to focus more on deep tech in Singapore and the region.
My background was originally in literature and linguistics, and then I shifted my direction towards business management. In Germany it was rather difficult to switch disciplines for a master’s, so I started exploring opportunities abroad and focused quite a lot on the Nordic countries. Aalto’s programme sounded very interesting to me because it was interdisciplinary in addition to being more practical than many of the other programmes I had seen.
My best friend had studied in Finland before, so I thought I would give it a try because she really enjoyed her time there. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was very positively surprised when I arrived. The welcome period and the orientation week were fantastic, and I still remember the Dean coming in and encouraging us to focus equally, if not more, on practical experiences alongside our studies. That stuck with me and really shaped my journey from then on.
What I really enjoyed was that our cohort was quite small, so we got to know each other very well. And then, of course, working together with students from other disciplines such as design, engineering and science was very exciting because it offered various perspectives during course work.
Also, I found the student culture in Finland to be quite special. I really enjoyed the first-week activities, and the unique culture of wearing student overalls at certain events as well as collecting different patches during events throughout the year. This experience made it very easy to meet people outside of class.
Another highlight was co-founding the Helsinki branch of 180 Degrees Consulting with friends. That was quite a memorable experience because we learned how to build a student organisation from scratch, how to find mentors and acquire client projects, and how to get some funding in place.
One that really stood out to me was the Venture Ideation course with Jukka-Pekka Heikkilä. I found the content and structure of it quite practical and also value the mentorship that continued afterwards. I also kept in touch with Ewald Kibler. Having these kinds of personal connections with professors was rather new to me, and it encouraged me to think about what path I wanted to take, whether to start a company, go deeper into industry, or maybe later also pursue a PhD.
Another course that stayed with me was a Corporate Innovation course that I took at Hanken School of Economics. We read the book Mindset by Carol Dweck there, which I still recommend reading today.
Finally, I’m also very grateful to Myrto Chliova, who guided my master’s thesis and was an excellent coach and mentor at the same time. My thesis was even recognised as the best M.Sc. thesis by Suomen Liikemiesyhdistys.
It was largely opportunity-driven. I started with an internship in Switzerland during my studies, which turned into a full-time role. I was especially proud to have contributed to F10 ‘s expansion to Singapore. So, it was not that I decided to leave Finland, but rather that I followed the opportunities as they came. I tried to stay open-minded and followed the paths that I enjoyed the most and then built on that.
Probably the biggest lesson is to surround yourself with people that you trust and learn from. When I had to make some important decisions, it helped to voice my ideas in a trusted environment and receive some guidance. I have kept in touch with different mentors in Switzerland and Singapore, and always found it very helpful to get these different perspectives, from banking, technology, to entrepreneurship.
Another piece of advice that sticks with me is that you’re not married to a job. If something doesn’t work out, you can try to shape your role and skillset accordingly, or switch to a new role altogether.
And the third point is that structured mentoring can be extremely valuable. A few years ago, I joined a mentorship programme through the Singapore FinTech Association, where I originally sought advice on marketing. Instead, I got the chance to reflect on my skills and areas I wanted to explore further. In my case this led me to pursue a new role. So, I think it’s important to ask for feedback and advice, so you can make your informed decision.
As I’m based in Singapore and my family and friends in Germany and Switzerland, I don’t visit Finland as often as I’d like. Therefore, I cannot participate in alumni activities regularly, but I do follow what’s happening via the newsletter. In Singapore, I connected with a small Aalto community and met some people from Aalto EE, which a lovely experience, because it made me feel reconnected. I try to keep in touch where I can, but of course the time zones and the distance make it a bit challenging.
I suggest to start building your network early on. Join communities that are based on your interests, whether that’s entrepreneurship, consulting, design, engineering, you name it. It’s a good start to self-teach and watch videos or read about a topic but really try to expand your horizon by learning from other people who are active in their industry. You may feel uncomfortable reaching out (I certainly did), but just do it anyway! You will see that people are usually equally curious and approachable once you introduce yourself.
And then, as your role evolves, keep connecting with peers in that specific function. For me, for example, I wanted to learn from more senior professionals about successfully building digital products, so I started connecting with different product management communities around me. Naturally, I always encourage others to be proactive in doing the same.
