Guest: Miki Kuusi, head of international at Doordash + CEO & co-founder of Wolt + co-founder of Slush tech conference

Before Miki Kuusi launched the Finnish delivery startup Wolt, which DoorDash acquired in 2022, he wasn’t just another startup entrepreneur. From 2011 to 2015, Miki was the CEO of the hugely influential European tech conference Slush, which brings thousands of founders and VCs to Helsinki every winter.

“You could argue that Slush was my university for things leading up to Wolt, and what I do today,” Miki says. “That's where I learned most of the core lessons that I put into action.”

One thing he remembers thinking in those early days: Everything was going to be redefined by the internet.

“I just wanted to get a shot at building one of these services of the next hundred years,” he says. “And that was the driving motivator for me. If the driving motivator had been money, I don't think we would be here today.”

Chapters:

(01:14) - Act 3
(03:36) - Unlocking local commerce
(06:13) - Selling Wolt
(09:27) - The competition
(14:20) - DoorDash’s and Wolt’s origins
(17:50) - “Maybe we’re the idiots in the room”
(22:44) - Difficult years
(25:13) - Startups in Europe vs. U.S.
(28:56) - Learning from DoorDash
(31:51) - Market correction
(35:24) - Delivery around the world
(39:17) - “ Glorified recruiting companies”
(42:31) - Convincing restaurants
(44:11) - Slush
(48:21) - The next mountain
(54:13) - Ambition and concentration
(59:58) - Family and distractions
(01:04:34) - Email overload
(01:07:07) - Time as currency
(01:09:25) - Priorities and onboarding
(01:15:49) - The power of culture
(01:19:32) - Who Wolt and DoorDash are hiring
(01:20:39) - What “grit” means to Miki

Mentioned in this episode: Tony Xu, Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, Postmates, Delivery Hero, GrubHub, DeepSeek, OpenAI, Anthropic, Kees Koolen and Booking.com, 83North, Supercell, DashPass, Wolt+, Microsoft Excel, Amazon, Parker Conrad and Rippling, Andreeseen Horowitz, Fortnite, WhatsApp, Barry’s Bootcamp, and Slack.

Links:

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This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm