In the global startup ecosystem, some founders chase scale. Others chase valuation.
Anna Juusela is chasing something far more complex – awareness, dignity, and early intervention in interpersonal violence.
As Founder and CEO of We Encourage Oy, the Finland-based social impact venture behind the AinoAid™ service, Anna and her team are building a technology-enabled support layer for people experiencing domestic and gender-based violence – often before they even recognise themselves as victims.
In this candid conversation with StartupGuru venture advisor and host Kunal Pandya, she reflects on purpose-driven entrepreneurship, building tech without a technical background, navigating funding realities in social innovation, and why founders must learn to separate opinions from real advice.
In this post, we'll cover:
- 0.1 Understanding the Problem Before Building the Product
- 0.2 From Retail Entrepreneurship to Social Impact Founder
- 0.3 Building a Tech Product Without a Tech Background
- 0.4 Expanding Impact Across Borders
- 0.5 Funding Realities in Social Impact Startups
- 0.6 The Role of Mentorship and Remote Incubation
- 0.7 Advice for First-Time Founders
- 1 Founder Bio
- 2 Interview Host
- 3 About StartupGuru
Understanding the Problem Before Building the Product
For Anna, the starting point was not technology. It was a deeply human insight.
Interpersonal violence, she explains, creates massive societal costs – running into hundreds of billions globally – but the more invisible damage lies in long-term physical, mental, and social consequences that victims carry for years.
“Many people experiencing violence don’t identify themselves as victims. They delay seeking help because they feel support services are not meant for them. What they need first is reliable knowledge about their own situation.”
Anna Juusela, Founder – AinoAid™ service
AinoAid™ was designed specifically to bridge this gap. The platform offers anonymous access to structured knowledge and an AI chatbot that helps users reflect privately and gradually – without pressure.
Importantly, Anna emphasises that AI is not meant to replace human support systems. Instead, it acts as a complementary layer that lowers the barrier to first engagement. It can be a powerful complementary tool – but empathy and professional care remain irreplaceable.
Anna believes this early awareness layer is where technology can create meaningful impact.
Anna’s founder journey did not begin in tech or public policy. Her background was in retail entrepreneurship, where she advised visual merchandisers and shop owners on measuring the effectiveness of store displays.
The turning point came in 2016 after watching a documentary about Sonita, an Afghan girl nearly forced into marriage. The filmmaker eventually intervened, helping her pursue education and music in the United States.
Having recently become a mother herself, Anna says the story affected her profoundly.
“It made me realise how many girls around the world are treated as commodities,” she recalls.
The idea did not become a startup overnight. It took years to build the courage to transition from a stable business into a purpose-driven venture.
By 2019, she made the decisive commitment – founding We Encourage Oy and stepping fully into the mission.
Building a Tech Product Without a Tech Background
AinoAid combines a professionally curated knowledge base with an AI chatbot that retrieves contextually relevant information.
More than thirty experts – including therapists, police professionals, healthcare workers, and social sector specialists – have contributed to shaping the platform’s content and user pathways.
User validation came through conversations with both professionals and potential users, alongside structured research in multiple European countries through EU-backed projects.
Still, execution has not been easy.
“The biggest product challenge,” Anna notes, “is simply the pace at which technology evolves. Keeping up requires constant learning and adaptation.”
Her experience also highlights a recurring founder dilemma – how to build tech credibly without deep technical training.
Her advice to non-technical founders is practical and grounded: stay curious, continuously educate yourself, and build strong partnerships with people who understand the technology landscape.
Expanding Impact Across Borders
While victims were the initial primary audience, AinoAid’s user base has broadened to include family members, perpetrators seeking help, and professionals working in intervention systems.
Measuring impact remains one of the venture’s toughest challenges. The platform is intentionally anonymous, which protects users but limits visibility into outcomes after they leave the service.
Anna is actively seeking collaborations with healthcare, law enforcement, and social sector organisations to develop meaningful impact metrics.
Partnerships have played a crucial role in scaling awareness. Participation in European innovation programs, cross-sector research initiatives, and recognition from the European Commission have helped the venture expand into multiple countries.
Today, the service operates in five markets, with localisation partnerships forming the core of its international growth strategy.
Looking ahead, Anna plans to introduce a “human-in-the-loop” chat layer that enables users to access paid professional support quickly – blending scalable technology with deeper intervention pathways.
Unlike high-growth SaaS ventures that dominate investor headlines, social impact startups often face a more complex funding landscape.
We Encourage has primarily been bootstrapped, supplemented by European Union grants.
Anna observes that despite the enormous societal cost of violence, attracting private investment remains difficult.
She challenges what she sees as a misleading startup narrative – the glorification of large funding rounds as the primary marker of success.
“Bootstrapping as long as possible can be valuable,” she says. “There are many ways to fund a venture beyond traditional investors.”
The Role of Mentorship and Remote Incubation
Like many purpose-driven founders, Anna’s early journey involved navigating uncertainty without a clear playbook. Translating a deeply emotional problem into a structured, scalable venture required not only conviction but also external perspective.
She reflects that structured guidance during the initial stages could have accelerated decision-making and reduced the feeling of being overwhelmed by competing priorities.
A turning point came when she began engaging more actively with startup ecosystems and advisory environments that helped her refine both execution strategy and founder mindset.
“Getting started with your idea is hard and overwhelming. Getting help from incubators such as StartupGuru is very valuable. Especially for non-tech founders it is crucial to get validation and support from the beginning.”
Anna Juusela, Founder – We Encourage
Anna believes remote incubation models are becoming increasingly relevant for modern founders building across borders. However, she also notes that access to mentorship alone is not enough. Founders must develop discipline around time management, prioritisation, and emotional resilience.
In her experience, the real value of incubation support lies not in shortcuts, but in helping founders build clarity faster – about their market, their product direction, and themselves.
“Almost no one naturally has these skills in the beginning,” she notes. “Programs must focus on helping founders build stamina for setbacks and learn how to pivot.”
Advice for First-Time Founders
Anna’s closing reflections are refreshingly simple.
Start building your network from day one.
Learn to distinguish between opinions and genuine advice.
And focus less on startup hype – more on doing meaningful work consistently.
Her own journey is a reminder that impactful ventures are not always loud.
Sometimes they grow quietly – one insight, one partnership, one courageous decision at a time.
Founder Bio
Anna Juusela
Founder & CEO, We Encourage Oy
Anna Juusela is a Finnish social impact entrepreneur focused on developing digital solutions for interpersonal violence awareness and prevention. Through AinoAid™, she combines expert-curated knowledge with AI-driven conversational support to help individuals understand and act on early signs of abuse. Her work has been recognised in multiple European innovation programs and social impact initiatives.
Connect with Anna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annajuusela/
Interview Host
Kunal Pandya
Venture Advisor, StartupGuru
Kunal Pandya is a venture advisor and startup ecosystem builder working with early-stage founders globally. Through StartupGuru, he supports entrepreneurs in validating ideas, refining execution strategy, and navigating growth challenges across markets.
Connect with Kunal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunalism/
About StartupGuru
StartupGuru is a global venture advisory platform supporting founders in idea validation, execution strategy, funding readiness, and growth navigation through expert mentorship and ecosystem access.
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