Blackbeaks Blog….All things Analytics

Well I got back from my honeymoon at Bora Bora this week to return to work to the news that Kalle was leaving Satama.

I’ve known for some time that he wasn’t exactly happy in a consultant/sales role. In my view Satama has done right by him in letting him go amicably rather than forcing him to stay till April 2009 which is when his commitment to the company ended, previous to the decision this week.

The commitment was due to the 2006 acquisition of Aboavista the first web analytics consultancy company in Finland that Kalle and I founded together. Having worked with him since 2002 it doesn’t seem right to let 6 years go by without public comment.

Kalle has always been highly energetic. I believe his strengths are his networking abilities, his public speaking and his ability to run from the germ of an idea to a tactical process to make the idea become reality. These skills make him an excellent business development manager or director. The was what I recognized in him in the early days and Kalle was in that role when Satama acquired us.

I still remember in 2004 when we attended a Search Engine Strategies event in Stockholm the guy was running around and getting people over to our tables to chat. Two of us brought over 150 business cards back from that event attended by only 250 people! These days he was voted one of the top 100 influential people in Finland two years running, something that no-one else in Satama has managed, sits on various boards, most recently Naviatech, counts as friends and acquaintances some highly influential people in the telecoms industry, the media industry, the advertising industry and government.

Being his friend as well as his ex-partner & colleague I know at least some of the many options he has now and have a fair idea of what will come next in the Kalle Heinonen story. However I know there will be a lot of interest in hiring his talents so it maybe he changes direction. That wouldn’t surprise me either. Whatever happens I know the man well enough to know that whatever he does he is likely to be successful at it.