The Story of CEO Juha Harju and Woolman

The founding team of Woolman – myself, Tero Junttila, and Miika Malinen – had worked together for years before officially starting the company. Tero and I were partners at Descom, a company focused on e-commerce. Miika, on the other hand, was our client – giving him first-hand experience of what technology and partnership looked like from the customer side.

We shared a clear vision: e-commerce was evolving rapidly, yet too many companies remained stuck in technological dependencies. We saw something exceptional in Shopify – a global SaaS platform that offered businesses the chance to break free from technology’s grip and focus on what really matters: their business. That’s how Woolman’s mission was born – to make commerce freer, and help companies concentrate on creating value.

Our roles were naturally defined from the start: I brought leadership experience from multiple growth companies, Tero had deep technological expertise, and Miika contributed the customer’s perspective. Surprisingly, the hardest part was finding the name. Eventually, “Woolman” felt perfect. It carried two powerful stories: John Woolman, an 18th-century merchant who opposed slavery, and C.E. Woolman, Delta Airlines’ CEO in the 1950s who made customer-centricity his legacy. Those stories aligned beautifully with the mission we were building.

Building our core team was the next priority. We were lucky to bring in incredibly passionate people like Teemu Tolonen, Joonas Toroi and Kaisu Piisilä.

Reaktor joined us a few years later. I already knew their founders and immediately recognized a cultural fit – autonomy, trust, ambition. It was clear this partnership would take us even further.

By far the most challenging time in my CEO journey was 2022. Until then, we had grown steadily at about 40% each year, and the future looked bright. But when the war in Ukraine escalated, our sales pipeline collapsed almost overnight. Customers we had been in talks with for six to nine months disappeared or put their plans on indefinite hold.

We didn’t just adapt – we reimagined the business. We moved from one-off projects to recurring services and scalable products. Today, 70% of our revenue comes from those recurring models. We’re profitable and truly global: serving clients in Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, the UK – and working with American brands across Europe and beyond.

Internally and in client work, we implemented the OKR (Objectives & Key Results) method – a critical turning point. We also built a data-driven business forecasting model, which now includes AI-powered automation and analytics. It doesn’t just tell us what might happen – it actively guides us toward actions that make our goals happen.

This role requires you to live in constant incompletion. No one hands you a manual, and you’ll never fully control the outcome. But if you’re curious, persistent, and a good listener – you’re already well on your way.

For me, trust has been key: in my team, in our partners, in our processes – and in my own intuition. The biggest surprise has been just how much emotional leadership the job demands. It’s not just about strategy – it’s about giving people meaning, direction, and security.

My advice? Don’t fear uncertainty. Build both financial and emotional resilience. Be a paranoid optimist.

I’ve always been competitive. I love winning – really winning. But over time, I’ve learned that losing doesn’t always mean defeat. Sometimes the moments when you miss the mark teach you the most and move you the furthest.

What excites me the most today is building the team. I could name every Woolman team member and point out the superpower each one brings – and together, those strengths create a winning team.

And I’m deeply inspired when our team and our clients succeed together. When we create meaningful, tangible changes and outcomes – not just ideas, but real impact. When our work brings true value to the customer, and our people get to shine.

The hardest part? People and the decisions that affect them – especially the tough ones. Building a strong culture takes time and constant care. But in the end, it’s the people who make this meaningful.

We’re now building the next phase of Woolman. We’re a global service company, but we want to be more. We’ve built a data-driven culture – and now we’re scaling that with AI. Our goal is to give our clients not just visibility into their goals, but the ability to make them real.

At the same time, we’re witnessing how AI is changing everything in our domain. It’s transforming every Woolman employee’s job – and fundamentally reshaping how our clients operate. AI won’t just be a tool; it will be embedded in our products and services. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and agentic automation will be central to the future of e-commerce and customer success.

I’m convinced we don’t yet fully understand what’s coming. I saw a similar moment when the internet emerged from the 90’s. What we thought it would become and what it actually became were two very different things. AI will follow the same path – but the timeline will surprise us. At first, we’ll expect things to happen faster than they do. But once change starts, it accelerates exponentially.

This is a game of timing. How I, the company, our team and our clients embrace these technologies – at the right moment and in the right way – will be decisive.

As Finnish hockey coach Tami famously said: “This is a momentum game.”

As a leader, I now see my role as an enabler. I want to create the conditions where people can do their best work, customers can succeed – and technology becomes an ally, not a barrier.

If this story resonates with you, let’s keep the conversation going. Leading growth is never a solo journey – but it’s one worth taking.

– Juha Harju, CEO & Co-founder, Woolman

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