Marko Ahtisaari is a Finnish technology entrepreneur and musician. Ahtisaari has been CEO and co-founder of two technology companies: Dopplr and Sync Project. After the acquisition of Dopplr, Ahtisaari was executive vice president of Design at Nokia and later a Director's Fellow at the MIT Media Lab. He is a composer, bassist and singer in the band Construction.
Ahtisaari's business career started at a new media company Satama Interactive in 1998. In 2002 Ahtisaari left the company to join its biggest client, Nokia. He was appointed Director of Design strategy in 2005. In 2006, he left Nokia and joined his former boss, Nokia CEO Pekka Ala-Pietilä to start an advertisement-supported mobile network Blyk. In 2007, Ahtisaari became the founding investor and CEO of online business travel startup Dopplr, which was acquired by Nokia in 2009. Between February 2009September 2013 Ahtisaari was Head of Product Design at Nokia. In January 2012, he was appointed as a member of the Nokia leadership team. Ahtisaari announced his resignation from Nokia when Microsoft acquired Nokia's devices business in September 2013. Ahtisaari is co-editor with Laura Houseley of Out of the Blue: The Essence and Ambition of Finnish Design a survey of Finnish Design. Ahtisaari and Finnish entrepreneur and journalist Jaakko Tapaninen co-authored the book 10x Finland for the Finnish-speaking audience on the impact of digitalisation on a country like Finland. The book is based on original interviews with international persons of interest in technology and media including Joi Ito, Stefana Broadbent, Tyler Brule, dana boyd, Joshua Cooper Ramo, and Brett Easton Ellis. In its review the Finnish National daily Helsingin Sanomat called 10x Finland "one of the most interesting books written in Finnish on the effects of digitalisation." Ahtisaari contributed the essay "Intelligent Travel" to the Freesouls project.
Music
Ahtisaari studied music theory and violin at Helsinki Conservatory and then violin and composition at Columbia University. He gigged as a bass player in New York and recorded with Michael Leonhart and Blake Morgan among other local artists. In an interview on the Tim Ferriss Show entrepreneur and musician Derek Sivers founder of CD Baby said that Marko “was technically the guy that gave me the idea for CD Baby” after a show they had played in New York. Ahtisaari's band Skizm - together with percussionist Mauro Refosco, trumpetist Michael Leonhart, bassist Dan Cooper, singer Carolyn Kelley, and drummer Tobias Gebb - received a NARAS Grammy Showcase Award for new artists. Skizm played on the New York club scene including The Knitting Factory and Irving Plaza.
