Elexive Year One: Rule 1 Start, Rule 2 Stay Alive

We made through first year with Henri Peltomäki. A year ago we signed the founding papers of Elexive with the promise that in one year we will assess our kill criteria, whether to walk away or push on.

That discussion happened. And I feel confident enough that we will head on to year two, because we surpassed the worst case scenarios with flying colors. We managed to gather decent revenue and we managed to turn profit. Not skyrocketing, but playing our long game at this point in time.

Kill Criteria: A Startup’s Best Friend

When we started Elexive, one of the first things we did was define our kill criteria. Not the exciting stuff like vision decks and product roadmaps - the uncomfortable stuff. Under what circumstances would we walk away? What would have to be true after twelve months for us to say “this isn’t working”?

It sounds morbid, but it’s actually liberating. Kill criteria remove the emotional trap of sunk cost. Instead of asking “should we keep going?” (which is biased toward yes because you’ve already invested so much), you ask “have we met the conditions we agreed would justify continuing?”

Our criteria were straightforward: demonstrate market demand, generate meaningful revenue, and maintain a path to profitability without requiring external funding. Simple. Measurable. Hard to rationalize away.

The Two Rules of the Startup Game

It has been a tough year, but also a rewarding one. We didn’t hit all the numbers, but others we did. And still, we managed to live by the two rules of the startup game:

Rule 1: Start.

Rule 2: Stay alive.

That’s it. Everything else is secondary. You can optimize, pivot, scale, iterate - but only if you’re still in the game. Too many startups optimize for growth before they’ve secured survival. We optimized for not dying.

Building from Nothing

We built something from nothing. And maybe the vision is not completely the one we started with, but in most parts, it still is. That’s an important nuance - we didn’t pivot dramatically. We refined. The core thesis held up, even as we adjusted the specifics based on what the market was actually telling us.

The initial idea was always about bringing AI-native consulting and product development to companies that were curious but stuck. What evolved was our understanding of what “stuck” actually looks like. It’s rarely about the technology. It’s almost always about how the organization thinks about technology.

What We Learned

The market was tougher than expected. Last autumn was quite a tough market for many, us included. The AI hype cycle created a peculiar dynamic where everyone was talking about AI but many were hesitant to actually invest in it. The gap between interest and action was wider than we anticipated.

Trust is everything. As a new company, your biggest asset is the trust people place in you as individuals. Every engagement is a reputation bet. We took that seriously - sometimes turning down work that didn’t feel right rather than chasing revenue.

Profitability is underrated. There’s a startup culture that glorifies burning money in pursuit of growth. We chose differently. Being profitable from (nearly) day one meant we never had to make decisions from a position of desperation. Every customer engagement was a choice, not a necessity.

The Nordics are our home turf, but not our ceiling. We’re already in talks with customers in Italy and Spain, for example, and of course the Nordics are always our home turf. The pipeline is looking much more solid compared to last autumn.

Looking at Year Two

We’re now expanding internationally. This week marks a special moment in Elexive’s path - our first assignment outside of Finland, with customer work on-site in Marseille, France.

The growth trajectory feels right. Not exponential, not hockey-stick - but steady, sustainable, and built on real value delivered to real customers.

Thank You

Thank you to all of the companies and people who have been part of our early journey. We won’t forget your help and support.

Starting a company is often described in heroic terms - the visionary founder, the disruptive innovation, the transformative idea. The reality is more mundane and more meaningful. It’s about showing up every day, delivering on promises, learning from mistakes, and having the honesty to evaluate whether what you’re building actually matters.

After one year, I can say: it does. And we’re just getting started.