Tarun Sharma rejoins Aalto to give back and make change

After creating a long and wide-ranging career in tech, innovation, business and venture building, Tarun Sharma looks back fondly on his time as a student at Aalto University. However, there is one thing he wishes he’d known at the time.

‘I’d say to my younger self: dream bigger, be bolder,’ he tells. ‘We often underestimate ourselves, however we are far more capable than what we think. 

This – amongst many other things – he wishes to convey to the current Aalto community as Executive in Residence. For him, working at and with the university is nothing new; throughout his professional years, he’s been collaborating with Aalto University at various levels: supporting university entrepreneurship activities and programs, as mentor and advisor to early-stage venture companies, as business partner for university collaboration, as keynote speaker and panellist across topics related to entrepreneurship. The new post is, in his words, a way to formalise that existing relationship and give back to the university and a new generation of entrepreneurs and changemakers.

Road to Finland

Sharma, then a software engineer, moved to Finland by accident over 20 years ago. Initially with IBM Global Services, his employer at the time, was selected after much competition for a Silicon Valley project, which would’ve been a childhood dream come true. When the US project got delayed due to slowdown caused by dot com crash, that plan fell through, and Sharma was disappointed. 

He then got the opportunity for a project with Nokia, and he naively assumed Nokia was a Japanese company (since many consumer electronics companies back then were) and he was going to Japan. He realised later that he was heading to Finland.

‘I knew people across many places in the world, but not Finland. It was an entirely new world for me.’

Yet he made the move – and met his now-wife during early days. Now, he’s given up his Indian citizenship to become a naturalised Finnish citizen, and despite plentiful international opportunities, the couple has chosen to stay and raise their children in Finland.

Tech alone is not enough

Sharma realised early on that being just a technologist isn’t enough to change the world and make the impact he wanted to make. ‘I wanted to understand business, finance, strategy, venturing, too. That’s how I ended up studying an MBA at Aalto, then the Helsinki School of Economics.”

He believes that it’s a given that ventures and startups need to have the right product and technology for the opportunity at hand. However, he has seen that many do not reach their full potential due to not paying sufficient attention to these business topics as well as they do the technology. Hence, he says these are important and can break or make the venture.

This is where advisors, mentors, board members come in to help guide the entrepreneurs – which he happily loves to do in his free time.

A perpetual optimist

On top of working for companies like IBM, Microsoft, Nokia, and various startups, Sharma embraces promoting Finland at any given opportunity. He’s happy to be able to share his Finnish experience with international Aalto students and others, as well as build bridges between Finland and his global network in general.

When asked about his take on current government policy regarding international talent acquisition, Sharma places his words carefully. On the one hand, he says, he understands that striking a balance on immigration policy is a delicate matter, but on the other, attracting the right kind of talent requires unambiguous messaging.

‘Sometimes there appears to be a bit of a communication problem. We could do better by clarifying policies and making qualified international talent feel welcomed here.’

On top of sharing his expertise and the dos and don’ts of entrepreneurship, innovation, and venture capital, Sharma hopes to give students something that seems to be increasingly scarce today: hope.

‘I’m a perpetual optimist,’ he admits laughingly. ‘There are always ups and downs, good and bad days, successful and not so successful ventures. The important thing is to keep going, experimenting, the Finnish SISU way. Sometimes we fail, and that’s OK. Those who thrive aren’t the ones who never fall; they’re the ones who rise, again and again. Important thing is to learn quickly, adapt, pivot and come back stronger'.

Tarun Sharma joined Aalto University as Executive in Residence on October 1. He will co-teach a course on corporate venturing with Professor Markku Maula and support the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management as well as the university in a number of initiatives, such as entrepreneurship education, research commercialization, bringing corporates closer to the startup world, as well as building bridges to his homeland India.