Introduction

My name is Mathilde. I’m originally from Denmark but have spent most of my life living abroad—I grew up in Switzerland and France, and subsequently lived in the UK, Sweden and US. I’m a very energetic person with a constant ‘go-go-go’ mentality, which has allowed me to experience some cool things early on in my career. Hopefully, you’ll find some inspiration in my journey!

A little bit about my educational and professional story: At 18, I moved to the UK for my studies and attended the University of Warwick for three years. Shortly after graduating, I was hired by a large global company called EF, where I worked as a trainee for the Danish market. Within a year, I was promoted three times and ended up leading the largest product for the Danish market with a team of 15—at just 22 years old (imagine the imposter syndrome!). After another year in that role, during which I grew the market by a whopping 19%, I decided to take a break from the professional world. Life had gotten a little too serious, a little too fast, and I wanted to take a gap year.

What was supposed to be a gap ‘year’ ended up being 3 months long. I spent the time travelling and suddenly got an unexpected call from a university friend who was running growth at BeReal—a sexy new social media app that was achieving the highest growth seen since TikTok. He told me he’d like to hire me for a global growth project. It wasn’t going to be easy, but the app had already shown incredible potential. I joined BeReal shortly after and stayed there until they were acquired in May 2024. I had an absolute blast—I fell in love with the startup world, the high impact of my work, and working in a small, ultra-efficient team.

Continuing on that path, I began marketing consulting for various startups before settling into my current role at Koodos Labs. We’re working towards changing the data economy by giving power back to the individual—a very technical and important mission that will fundamentally change how we view the internet over time.

In my current role as Growth Marketing Lead at Koodos, I spend a LOT of time testing various marketing strategies on a small scale, analyzing the ROI, and then deciding whether to iterate or scale them to a broader market. My focus is on converting as many people as possible into active users of our app (Shelf) while also developing a cool brand story for us. I don’t work alone—I’m fortunate to have a strong technical and creative team that helps me.

Working for a startup that’s pioneering its industry means there’s no status quo and no playbook for success. It makes my job both challenging and incredibly exciting. Every day is different, and I often say I show up to a new job every day. There’s a lot of whiteboarding and brainstorming, as well as growth modeling to ensure we focus our time on areas where we’ll yield the most growth in the shortest amount of time and at the lowest cost.

Business Management Fellow

career options

There are many interesting options for career paths within business management – it's an incredibly broad spectrum of knowledge and you can either work in a very specific area at an expert level or choose to cover a more general portion of a given business or project. I started in B2C sales, then was a product manager and later transitioned to growth marketing for products growing from 0-1.

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Digital Marketing Manager
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Sales Manager
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Market Research Analyst
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Product Manager
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Customer Relationship Manager
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PR Specialist

Business Management Fellow

 skills

What are the main hard skills you use on a daily basis in your current job?

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Strategy Development & Launch

I design and test small-scale marketing strategies, analyze ROI, and decide whether to iterate or scale efforts. My primary focus is on converting users into active app users and crafting a strong brand story. Working in fast-paced, unpredictable environments has sharpened my ability to think strategically and deliver results. I developed this skill through hands-on experience in high-impact startup environments, including my time at BeReal and now at Koodos Labs. In these roles, I’ve continuously tested and optimized marketing strategies, learning to adapt and pivot as needed.

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Data Analysis & Growth Modeling

I rely on data to model growth opportunities and identify high-impact areas. I prioritize strategies that deliver significant results in terms of ROI. This process involves blending quantitative analysis with creative problem-solving to ensure we’re making informed decisions.

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Cross functional team collaboration (engineering/product team vs. marketing)

I work closely with product teams to ensure our marketing strategies align with the product vision and user experience. This collaboration often involves overcoming challenges like balancing user acquisition goals with product development timelines or ensuring we communicate complex features in a simple and engaging way. By fostering constant communication and shared ownership, we’re able to develop strategies that resonate with users while supporting the product’s growth.

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What are the main soft skills you use on a daily basis in your current job?

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Adaptability

I thrive in dynamic situations where priorities can shift rapidly. Whether it’s experimenting with new marketing strategies, responding to unexpected data insights, or adjusting plans due to external changes, I embrace flexibility to find effective solutions and keep moving forward.

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Leadership and Team Motivation

I motivate cross-functional teams by creating a shared sense of purpose and fostering collaboration. I lead brainstorming sessions, encourage innovative thinking, and ensure everyone’s contributions are valued. In high-stakes environments like startups, I’ve learned how to keep my team energized and focused on our goals.


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Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking

I approach problems with a mix of analytical rigor and creativity. Whether it’s optimizing user acquisition strategies, resolving product-marketing misalignments, or addressing operational challenges, I break down complex issues and develop actionable solutions that drive results.

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Mathilde

’s personal path

Tell us about your personal journey in

Business Management Fellow

:

My first job has close to nothing to do with what I do now. I studied business at university—and to be completely honest, I didn’t enjoy it. I felt like I was learning theories on how businesses are run, rather than just going out there and learning it firsthand. However, I had immense respect for the number of doors a university degree would open for me, so I worked hard to achieve good results. But, to say the least, I was very excited to get a job and start working.

I completed two internships during the summers leading up to my graduation—one at the UN and one for a tech startup. Neither of them made my choice of career any clearer. I had ZERO idea what I wanted to do. Everyone around me dreamed of becoming a consultant or an investment banker—which I could never understand. In hindsight, it’s such a gift to not know what you want to do because it means anything is possible. But at the time, it felt like the end of the world to not have clarity, especially when it seemed like everyone else around me did.

I began applying for jobs about six months before my graduation. Because I had no idea what I wanted to do, I applied to everything—and I mean everything! Everything on LinkedIn, which, in my opinion, is the worst place to try to get a job. You apply to hundreds of jobs where you meet the qualifications, get excited about them, and never hear back.

As I said, I didn’t know which industry or area of work I was interested in, so I decided to focus on the things I did have preferences for—like the work environment. I wanted a fun work environment with a great culture, where it felt like you could go for a beer with your colleagues after work. I graduated during COVID-19, and my biggest nightmare was for my first job to be online, so I started researching which cities around the world allowed in-office work. I landed on Stockholm, Sweden. Sweden is home to a lot of global companies and is incredibly entrepreneurial. Companies like Spotify, IKEA, H&M Group, and Netflix have very large offices in Stockholm.

After being rejected from all of those after a few interviews, I received an email from a company I had forgotten I applied to—EF Education First, the largest provider of language education globally. I participated in an online assessment day during my interview process, and it was so clear to me that the people working there were having the time of their lives. About two months later, I signed the contract to become a sales trainee—an incredibly underpaid role... but I was just happy to be employed.

All this to say, finding my first job was not easy—and not knowing what you want to do doesn’t make it easier.

I learned an incredible amount in my first job and ended up spending two years there. After feeling like I had achieved all I had hoped to in that company, I decided it was time for a new challenge. So, I walked into my boss’s office and told him I quit. I had no idea what I would do, but I had a gut feeling I shouldn’t be there anymore.

I chose not to stress myself out about finding a new job but instead to challenge myself in a different way—traveling on my own, which felt really scary to me. After three months of travel, I decided to go home and get my life together again. I spent two weeks applying for jobs when a friend of mine called me, saying he might have a job for me at BeReal. We had previously worked together in university planning events. I jumped at the opportunity and fell in love with a fast-paced, high-impact workplace.

After BeReal got acquired by Voodoo, I got the boot. I started researching jobs and companies that seemed interesting and did cold outreach to them via LinkedIn and email when I could find their contact info. To me, this is the most efficient way of getting in touch with people you care about. Most people I have hired have come from them reaching out to me—it shows excitement and dedication. I got some offers, but nothing that got me excited enough. Thankfully, I was in a position where I could be picky and say no to contracts—my achievements from EF and BeReal had been enough to prove I was worth investing in.

Shortly after, I got a message from the ex-head of marketing at BeReal, who wanted to introduce me to the CEO of a data company. Two calls later, I was on a plane to London to expand their consumer app in the UK.

Three months passed, and they offered me a role on their founding team as the first marketing hire—and that’s the job I’m in now.

Anxiety, pressure, doubt, and luck are how I’d describe job searching. The pieces tend to fall into place by themselves, but you need to do the outreach, the networking, and loudmouth your results to be noticed.

What would you tell your younger you regarding building your current career?

I’m a big believer in learning by doing – as much as I can tell you about mistakes I’ve made and things I wish I’d known, I wouldn’t change anything about the way I’ve approached my career, so there’s likely not much I’d like to tell my younger self.

However, here’s what I’ll tell you.

Something I tell everyone on my team is to always have arrogance of imagination. What I mean by that is that you should remain arrogant when you approach your abilities ie. Imagine you are able to do anything – we're often much more capable than we think. I’ve surprised myself more times than I can count and have achieved things my younger self would never believe. A lot of it has come from ‘acting as if’ I was capable and just jumping in the deep end with both feet. I will never catch myself saying no to something because I don’t believe I can do it – I think that’s a very dangerous mentality.  You learn by doing - if you do nothing, you never learn.

Final thoughts & tips

Rejections, uncertainty, and imposter syndrome? They’re all part of the package. The trick is to not let them hold you back. Instead, see every experience—good or bad—as an opportunity to grow. Don’t stress about having a perfect plan or knowing exactly where you’ll end up. Just focus on the next step, and trust that the pieces will come together. Spoiler: they will.

If there’s one piece of advice I can give you, it’s this: have the arrogance of imagination. Pretend you’re capable of anything, even if you’re not sure you are yet. Most of the time, you’ll surprise yourself. I’ve learned more from jumping into things I wasn’t 100% ready for than from waiting until I felt perfectly prepared. Don’t let self-doubt be the reason you say no to something. The truth is, you’ll figure it out as you go.

You don’t have to have it all figured out today. What matters is showing up, trying things, and staying curious. At the end of the day, you learn by doing—and if you keep putting yourself out there, you’ll go further than you ever imagined.

Mathilde Øllgaard-Ussing

Mathilde Øllgaard-Ussing

Business Management Fellow
Open Avenues Foundation
Open Avenues Foundation

Mathilde Øllgaard-Ussing is a Business Management Build Fellow at Open Avenues Foundation, where she works with students leading projects in business management.

Mathilde is the Head of Marketing at koodos labs, where she focuses on designing, launching and executing growth marketing strategies alongside her team.

Mathilde has over 5 years of experience in the marketing field. She has previously worked at BeReal (most downloaded app in 2021) and at EF Education First.

She holds a Bachelor degree in Business Management from the University of Warwick.

A fun fact about Mathilde is that she loves to travel - in 2024, she was on a plane every 4 days in average.

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