BLOG
Meet the Team: Timo Valsi
Meet our CTO and Co-Founder – join us for the next edition of our “Meet the Team” series featuring an interview with Timo Valsi.
After graduating as Master of Science in Energy Technology, Timo started out as a consultant working in energy planning. Some years later, Timo set up SkenarioLabs with co-founders Topi and Hannu
An engineering wiz and self-professed history buff – get to know our Timo in this interview.
1. How has SkenarioLabs’ technology evolved, from day 1 to now?
Well… *laughs* quite a lot – substantially actually as you may have guessed. We started as a web-based Java application that estimated building energy consumption and demand, and that part is still true of the core functionality to an extent.
Initially, we didn’t have a proper database – just a Google sheet with tables that the application read from in the early days. Today we have a very extensive environmental database which logs all the data from the built environment. We’ve also moved towards a microservice architecture and deployed integrated machine learning models there. We have APIs for internal and external use, which allow us to pull in information from other sources and let clients receive data from our application too.
2. What did your customers do/use before your product?
This depends on what it is specifically that is being addressed, but generally, it would have come down to one of three alternatives; guesswork, point data or consultants.
With point data, if you are assessing property values and don’t have a sophisticated model like ours available, you would compare values and selling prices from similar properties and locations. Of course, this is not an ideal method, especially in low-liquid areas with limited transaction data. On the other hand, if you employ a consultant with ESG, energy or valuation expertise, they can outperform us in a way – but if you are analysing 10, 100 or 1,000 buildings, then the price per building becomes so substantial that you will soon run out of funds.
3. What has been the biggest learning curve for the business?
Real estate is the largest asset class in the world, with a total value of around €400 trillion – and one of the most eye-opening things was realising how little data is used to actually manage all this wealth.
It’s not rocket science what we do (although perhaps some of our data scientist colleagues may disagree!). The true value of our offering lies in enabling people to not only have the data itself but also to have confidence in the modelling when there is no data available.
There is so little data currently used to actually run properties and manage real estate, but even if you had all the data in the world – that’s not really the point. In theory, anyone could do what we do, but how we dig into different data sources and apply advanced methodologies such as image recognition or statistical/machine learning approaches sets us apart. A lot of the open data out there in the world isn’t always the most reliable, so the way we manage data ingestion is key to the service we provide.
4. What are you most proud of, from both a business and personal perspective?
Since we started, what I’d always wanted was to be able to click anywhere on a map to select part of a city for example, and see how much energy that area is using and how it could be improved. We have this capability reliably now in the UK. I’m extremely proud to have been involved in developing this since in my previous assignments as a consultant, I always dreamed of having this information just a click away – plus it is something that helps the local authorities and hopefully the environment too.
On a personal level, I’d have to go with the classic answer – my kids of course. They are just lovely! They bring me great joy every day and give a different meaning to life.
5. Where do you see the company in the next 5 years?
To date, we have always managed to stay ahead of the curve in an operating environment where business regulations change rapidly, particularly for banks and climate targets – so aspire to continue in this way. However, I do hope the landscape may settle somewhat to allow us to build more on previous successes. Currently, the dynamics create so much work for our customers to keep up with different policies, whilst more continuity would make for more streamlined efforts overall.
Across markets, we’re aiming to continue growth in Finland, consolidate our position in the UK market and establish a growing foothold in central Europe. In terms of the customer base we attract, I can see this remaining weighted towards financial institutions.
6. What does a day in life as a CTO look like?
Some people like a routine and some people like things to be different every day. I am on the fence, so I’m lucky in that I manage my own days and often get a bit of both.
In the mornings, I’ll participate in the daily standups with the different technical teams which is the the more routine part. The rest of the day is a mixture of different things, from calls with project members or team leads, trying to do “actual work” related to any projects I am involved in, speaking with the management team, external partners or occasionally the client.
In the afternoon, I’ll collect my children from daycare and spend a little family time. If there are any outstanding tasks from the day, I’ll tackle these first in the evening, manage the backlog and JIRA boards then prepare for the following day. The rest of the time is reserved for myself, often spent reading articles or learning about new technologies.
7. Outside of work/this industry, what are you passionate about?
It’s no secret that I am very fond of aeroplanes and history. I find researching historical topics interesting, especially comparing first-hand experiences from memoirs and primary sources with the expert analysis of key events. This also gives more insight into the human element and enables exploration of the different experiences of opposing sides.
I also enjoy cycling – I got a gravel bike last year which is a hybrid between a road and mountain bike. Whilst I don’t always have time to do super long distances, I like to take it out to visit new places and take in the scenery. I’m also very keen on classical music, mainly Baroque. Handel is probably my favourite composer of that era.
–
Thank you Timo for the interview!
