Nordic startups like to say they “build for the long term.” The real test is whether that conviction survives the pressures of the seed stage: scarce resources, technical debt, shifting product bets. A Finnish case study by Laura Hakanen cuts through the slogans and shows what operational sustainability looks like in the earliest weeks of a software company, and why it matters.
The study follows a three‑founder IT startup developing a SaaS product in MVP and pilot use. Rather than bolt sustainability on later, the team ran a facilitated workshop to define concrete sustainability principles, select UN Agenda 2030 SDGs they would own, and set pragmatic metrics that could be tracked without a sustainability department. The output wasn’t a glossy PDF. It was a working PowerPoint the startup could lift into sales decks, tenders, and onboarding.
“Sustainability was framed as a strategic edge and an values‑based commitment, not a separate project.”
What the workshop unlocked
Hakanen chose a 1.5‑hour facilitated workshop (lightweight by design: all three founders juggle families and day jobs). Using a simple pre‑task about personal values and everyday choices, the session then moved to sector‑specific questions: What does sustainability look like in software? What kind of employer do we want to be? Which SDGs actually fit our product and resourcing reality?
The result: a values‑to‑operations bridge that most early‑stage firms lack.
- Social, ecological, and economic pillars, each with 2–3 specific actions the company can take now (e.g., renewable energy in hosting; code optimisation to reduce compute load; transparent pay principles; employee wellbeing as a first‑order goal; responsible procurement).
- A concise sustainability commitment for external use: “Our services run on renewable energy; our people have fair, wellbeing‑centred working conditions; our customers can trust our environmentally responsible solutions.”
- A starter metric pack realistic for a team of three: % renewable energy, eNPS, NPS, profitability, and an annual responsibility note, a smart rehearsal for future CSRD‑era reporting even if they’re not yet in scope.
“Founders selected SDGs they could actually operationalise, notably 12 (Responsible Consumption & Production), 13 (Climate Action), 3 (Health & Well‑being), 8 (Decent Work & Growth), and 17 (Partnerships).”
Accessibility as sustainability: a Nordic‑grade insight
One of the most interesting reframing’s was digital accessibility as a sustainability lever. The product itself helps organisations find and fix accessibility issues on their websites, advancing digital equity (a social outcome), while also aligning with evolving legislation (a governance and market reality). For a small team, this is elegant: make the productcarry part of the sustainability load.
“Accessibility isn’t a side‑quest; it’s central to reducing inequality online.”
Hakanen also benchmarked two category players. One had a clearly articulated CSR page anchored to a narrow SDG selection; the other signalled accessibility as core but had no public sustainability plan. The takeaway for founders: quality beats quantity, pick few goals, do them well, and let your core product do visible good.
The tension every founder feels: money, time, and measurement
The study is candid about constraints. The top blockers: resource scarcity and carbon accounting complexity. When every euro is earmarked for hosting, pilots, and shipping features, even well‑intentioned teams defer lifecycle assessments and supplier audits. The answer here wasn’t wishful thinking but sequencing: start with renewable energy choices, optimise code to tame compute, and track a handful of human‑centred and customer‑trust metrics; push deeper footprints analysis later or via an external partner when revenues allow.
“Sustainability is not a mood board; it’s a backlog.”
From principles to practice – what other startups can copy tomorrow
1) Run a 90‑minute values‑to‑operations workshop
Keep it participatory. Use a light personal pre‑task; ask sector‑specific questions; force a short list of 2–3 actions per ESG pillar. Timebox discussion and end with one public‑facing commitment sentence. It’s more useful than a 40‑page policy.
2) Make your product carry sustainability weight
If you’re in software, accessibility, performance, and security all have sustainability signatures. This team framed accessibility as reducing inequality (SDG 10 via SDG 3/8/17 linkages) and performance optimisation as lower energy use (SDG 12/13).
3) Instrument a “starter five” metrics set
- % Renewable energy in hosting/office
- eNPS (employee voice and wellbeing proxy)
- NPS (customer trust)
- Profitability (keep the business alive)
- A simple annual responsibility note (your pre‑CSRD muscle)
All five were chosen for clarity, founder comprehension, and minimal overhead.
4) Treat constraints as design features
The team acknowledged they couldn’t track Scope 3 yet, so they focused on purchasing only what’s needed, picking long‑lived tech, and coding for efficiency. This is what good sustainability looks like under early‑stage stress.
What this tells us about the real state of startup sustainability
Three big truths emerge:
- Sustainability boosts founder discipline. Teams that name the few things they’ll do now tend to ship faster and more coherently; the workshop format created psychological ownership and execution bias.
- Signals beat certifications (at first). A concise public commitment, renewable‑powered infrastructure, and visible accessibility features signal seriousness to customers and public buyers, useful in Nordic tenders where responsibility questions increasingly appear.
- You can be opinionated without being over‑promising. The best line in the case is an implicit one: don’t set goals you can’t resource. The founders rejected a sprawling SDG wish list; they chose five and mapped specific actions to each. That credibility will matter more than hype as the company scales.
The founder’s employer brand, in practice, not posters
The workshop surfaced a very Nordic employer ideal: de‑hierarchised decision‑making, transparent pay, and wellbeing over outputs. This wasn’t rhetorical; it shaped policies such as mental‑health support, control over personal workload, and “only the tools we actually need” procurement. These are powerful retention levers in a tight dev market and cheaper than a recruitment crisis.
“They want to be a modern, humane workplace, where free time is a first‑order priority.”
The ForumNordic view – a better blueprint for the next cohort
The Nordic startup scene doesn’t need another manifesto; it needs operational recipes. Hakanen’s study is valuable because it’s eminently copyable: a 90‑minute workshop, a short list of actions, a one‑line pledge, and a handful of metrics that fit in a founder’s head. For ecosystems, accelerators, and public buyers, this is the lever: normalise small, verifiable sustainability loads baked into the first quarter of a company’s life.
Practical next steps (for founders, investors, and public buyers)
- Founders: Schedule the workshop within the next 30 days; publish your one‑line commitment and starter metrics on your website and in every tender response.
- Investors: Ask for “starter five” evidence at pre‑seed; reward code efficiency, renewable‑powered hosting, and accessibility baked into the product.
- Public buyers: In RFPs, score for verifiable operational signals (renewable hosting, accessibility features, eNPS/NPS transparency) rather than costly certifications early‑stage firms can’t justifiably hold.
Credits & source
This article draws on: Laura Hakanen, “Kestävän kehityksen periaatteet startup‑yrityksessä,” Laurea University of Applied Sciences, May 2025 (with an English abstract).
