Kristian and Darina's Story

400 per cent year-on-year growth, doubled their workforce in a year... Business is sizzling for Vistage members, Darina Garland and Kristian Tapaninaho, who launched Ooni pizza ovens in 2012 after a successful Kickstarter campaign. Here the entrepreneurial couple from Scotland and Finland tell us how joining Vistage has been a recipe for success.

“Starting Ooni came from a place of love. At the time, we ran an education business in London and were working with schools and NGOs to build innovation and creativity, which involved a lot of creative problem solving. Meanwhile, Kristian had become obsessed with making the best pizza and wanted to buy a small pizza oven to level up his own pizza game. Unable to find one that wasn’t too expensive or bulky for our own garden, he set about using his practical problem-solving skills to create his own. There was a lot of creativity involved in the initial design.

We tested the first Ooni oven on Kickstarter in 2012 with incredible success. The feedback was invaluable, as it instantly told us we’d won over people’s hearts and minds with the idea of making great pizza at home at a price point that was right. It also gave us a global customer base from the outset, with a big leaning towards north America. Shortly after the campaign, our ecommerce business took off, and our first retail customer, Selfridges, got in touch.

We left London for Scotland a few years later, just as Ooni was scaling up. We had a few employees in London and needed to hire more staff. Employing more staff in London would’ve tied us there, so we decided to relocate to Scotland where we increased our workforce. Being nestled between Glasgow and Edinburgh is a great location for an outdoor cooking product company.

Scaling-Up in Scotland

We first heard about Vistage in Scotland. Although we were doing really well and growing year-on-year, we could see the value in being part of a business network, professionally and personally. We got involved in groups including Entrepreneurial Scotland and their Scale-Up Scotland programme in collaboration with the Hunter Foundation, which helps ambitious companies grow. Through this we got to talk to a lot of business leaders, and benefit from peer-to-peer learning and business speakers. We also met Vistage member, Marie, who said: ‘If you love this, especially the peer-to-peer part, you should check out Vistage because it’s like this, except even better!’

“We’ve been able to draw on the group’s experience for help in scaling and funding for growth.”

As our sponsored Scale-Up programme came to an end, it was now a case of ‘should we invest in this as a regular thing?’ We’d gained so much from the experience but didn’t want to be part of an executive coaching group where we’d be told ‘well done, you’re nailing it,’ which we’d previously had. We wanted what Vistage Chair, Paul Pinson, and the rest of group were about to offer: a community of direct, honest, expert advice.

One of our first experiences of Vistage was the annual retreat, held in Barra in the Outer Hebrides. It was an extreme journey of driving to Oban, then five hours on a ferry but it was an incredible bonding experience. It was clear from the start that being part of the Vistage community, with its one-to-one sessions, speakers, peer group meetings and WhatsApp groups would be beneficial, both personally and professionally. We probably spend 50% of our time talking about personal challenges, which makes sense - a business leader or entrepreneur’s personal and working life is invariably intertwined.

"Being an ecommerce business we’re not limited by geography.”

Being with a group of leaders from such diverse backgrounds has big benefits. Many of our peers’ businesses couldn’t be more different to our own, but we’re often battling the same or similar issues. Their lived and learned experiences also bring fresh perspective, expertise and an objective eye to the business, which can sometimes help us identify gaps, e.g. ‘What are the things we’re not asking ourselves?’ ‘What are the challenges we might have ahead as we’re trying to grow’. We also love it that the group has such a growth mindset. Currently, our biggest focus is selling to the US, and not once has anyone said: ‘You’re doing great already’. They get the ambition, and they want to stretch us as leaders. It’s a safe and trusting environment where everyone’s got your back.

Culture & Covid-19

Culture is another area of focus we’ve been able to explore with the rest of the group. Because we had an education business before, we’re very much focused on empowering staff. We don’t want to just help people make the best pizzas, we want Ooni to be the best place to work. As such, we’re continually asking ourselves questions such as ‘What makes an amazing workplace?’ ‘What will make people excited to come back to work after their holidays?’ ‘How can we help people feel even more passionate about what they do?’ Culture is the one constant in a business that you’re able to build that can be there for decades to come, and it’s absolutely central to Ooni’s future.

We’ve been in a really fortunate place throughout Covid. We’re one of those few businesses that have profited from the pandemic as people look for really great things to do at home. Consequently, our challenges have been quite different to some of the other businesses in our group, but we’ve been able to draw on the group’s experience for help in scaling and funding for growth.

Being an ecommerce business, we’re not limited by geography, and we’ve been able to scale up in the US where there is a massive consumer market with big buying power. We’ve been able to hire people on the ground to connect with retailers there and build authentic connections. Our Chief Marketing Officer is also in the US. Pre-pandemic, we would never have imagined senior members working from such remote locations, but it’s working really well.

Of course, there have been challenges on every level, especially during Covid. We’ve had to work out how you get pallets of products made in Finland over to the US, and we’ve had pandemic and Brexit-related shipping challenges, as well as employee issues, such as how to keep safety and morale high. Vistage has been invaluable during this period, and our regular Zoom meetings, WhatsApp calls and check-ins are an opportunity to step back from the business, and gain the insights and perspectives we need to work on our challenges, as well as plan for the future. In 20 years’ time we want to wake up happy with what we’ve achieved.”