We’re wrapping up our She Shapes the Future series in celebration of International Women’s Day, highlighting inspiring female founders and their journeys in building startups.
The final story in the series is Mari Tenhunen, CEO and co-founder of Timegate Instruments.
Mari’s journey began in research, driven by curiosity and a desire to solve real-world problems. In the lab, she and her colleagues developed innovative technologies that were often published or patented, but rarely used in practice. “I realized that we had ideas and results that weren’t making the impact they could. I wanted to turn them into solutions people could actually use,” she explains.
That led to Timegate Instruments, a deep-tech company focused on transforming scientific insights into practical tools for industry. For Mari, purpose has always been a guiding principle. “Knowing that our technology helps industries work smarter and cleaner gives meaning to everything we do,” she says.
Deep tech moves slowly compared to software or consumer startups, requiring long development cycles, validation, and complex customer environments. Mari’s philosophy keeps the team grounded: “Plan like a scientist, perform like an athlete.”
- Plan like a scientist: treat strategies as hypotheses to test, experiment, measure, learn, and adjust. Every new application or customer pilot is a learning opportunity.
- Perform like an athlete: show up every day, maintain focus, stay resilient through delays and failures, and continuously build the right team for each growth stage.
For Mari, entrepreneurship is a journey of both business and personal growth. “Each stage requires new capabilities and processes. Being resilient means being willing to evolve as a company and as a person.”
Her advice to founders is simple: celebrate the small wins. “A first successful measurement, a pilot that clicks, a customer saying ‘this really helps us’, those small wins fuel the long road and remind you why you started.”
Mari’s story is a testament to the power of persistence, purpose, and discipline in deep tech and a reminder that impact comes from both careful planning and consistent execution.
This marks the final story in our She Shapes the Future series! Thank you for following along and celebrating these incredible founders with us!