How to Move from Employee Mindset to Founder Mindset?
This summer was different.
I spent long days in the Finnish sunshine, training hard, swimming in lakes, and letting my mind wander. In between sauna sessions and workouts, I wrote.
I published blog posts about my spring highlights from delivering a Revenue Architecture project with Nokia RXRM to co-hosting the AI Hackathon at Oddest 2025.
I also went deep into product development, mapping how I can help leaders and companies grow from 0 to 100M€ ARR. The result? A clear framework of 3 growth phases powered by 3 systems: Founder OS, Revenue OS, and Dealmaker OS. These reflect my unique strengths, experience, and vision.
And I finished my new eBook — Founder’s Freedom Blueprint — for experienced corporate professionals ready to build their next career chapter as entrepreneurs.
That’s progress, right?
The World is Shifting Fast
Right now, three forces are reshaping the future of work and creating the conditions for more founders to emerge:
1. AI Transformation
Artificial Intelligence is rewriting the rules of business. It’s automating white-collar work, reshaping industries, and creating entirely new opportunities for lean, scalable ventures.
2. Deglobalisation
Geopolitical tensions between West and East, USA and China, Europe and Russia, are shifting supply chains, trade flows, and growth priorities. Uncertainty rewards those who can adapt quickly.
3. Mental Chaos
Post-pandemic life, paired with constant social media noise, has left many feeling anxious, restless, and craving more control over their lives and work.
The Mindset Shifts You Need to Make
The founder journey doesn’t start with a complex business plan — it starts with a mindset reset. In corporate life, you’ve been trained to execute within your role, follow rules, and meet deadlines. As a founder, you create without limits.
From my Founder’s Freedom Blueprint, here are the two mindset shifts that make the difference between staying stuck and building a thriving business:
Fixed Mindset → Growth Mindset
A fixed mindset believes your skills are set — you’re either good or you’re not. Corporate life rewards this because it keeps you safely in execution mode within your current role, but it also keeps your potential limited.
A growth mindset sees all abilities as learnable. Challenges are opportunities, and failures are lessons. As a founder, this lets you take risks, learn fast, and keep moving forward.
Expert Mind → Beginner’s Mind
The concept of Beginner’s Mind, or Shoshin in Japanese Zen philosophy, is about approaching challenges with curiosity and openness, believing that everything is possible.
An expert often sees only a few options, limited by their knowledge and experience. In corporate life, you’ve likely developed an expert mind. As a founder, you must let it go. Get curious, adapt quickly, connect the dots and spot opportunities others miss.
It’s Perfect Time to Start a Business
If you’ve ever dreamed of building something of your own, this momentum is your call to action. But can’t think like an average employee anymore.
Employees focus on security, titles, and tasks. Founders need to focus on creating value with others, and staying in the game. Build something that’s scalable, profitable, and driven by systems, not just your time.
That is why I recommend big enough goal, like 1M€ ARR, to force this mindset shift and learn to think like a founder.
Grateful for the Journey
The best years are still ahead, but the past 3–5 years have been a complete transformation for me. From enterprise sales professional to full time tech business coach and entrepreneur.
I wouldn’t have made it to this point without the customers who trusted me, the partners who collaborated with me, and the friends who encouraged me along the way.
Your support has been fuel for my vision, and I’m deeply grateful.
I’m Ready to Help
I’ve made the leap myself, and I’ve coached other leaders through it.
If you’re interested in starting your next chapter in 2025/2026 and building a real business, read my personal story and download the eBook below.
New eBook Released 8/2025
Transform your corporate experience into a thriving 1M€ business with this actionable eBook by Mika Pyhämäki, offering a proven 8-step framework to overcome limiting beliefs, leverage AI, and achieve entrepreneurial freedom. This is your roadmap to breaking free from the golden cage and building a profitable, scalable venture on your own terms.
