Smarter products.
Find where AI makes the product your customers pay for more useful: new features, better service, data the product already collects. Prototype quickly, decide on evidence, and ship with your team.
Fractional Chief AI Officer for product, growth and new business.
Many AI leaders come from IT, data or strategy. I come from building products and companies. I help CEOs put AI where it changes the business: in the products customers pay for, in how the company grows, and in new offerings that weren’t possible before.
Ville Ylläsjärvi · Nokia · BMW Designworks · Haltian co-founder · Thingsee founder
Ville YlläsjärviFractional Chief AI Officer
€19M+Revenue reached at Haltian
8xLead volume as Haltian’s CMO
€5M+Strategic accounts grown
1M+ linesof code built with AI agents
Where AI moves
your business.
Faster growth.
Use AI where it moves revenue: sharper positioning, content and distribution, sales enablement, customer intelligence, and the workflows behind them.
New products and business.
Explore the offerings AI makes possible: new services, new pricing, new categories. Test ideas with working prototypes before committing serious budget.
What I bring to your
leadership team.
Twenty years of turning ideas into products people buy, and growing the companies behind them. Now I do the same work with AI agents.
Product and design judgement.
Industrial design at BMW Designworks. Product and portfolio planning at Nokia, from global phones to new category concepts. Product, design and new business at Haltian, from the first hardware team to a global IoT company. I start from the customer and the product, not the technology.
Growth that shows in revenue.
As Haltian’s CMO, I rebuilt marketing around content and automation; lead volume grew 8x and IoT revenue 10x. Later I grew strategic accounts to €5M+. I connect AI to positioning, sales and customer value.
A founder’s and board member’s view.
I co-founded Haltian and helped grow it past €19M in revenue and 100 people, and founded Thingsee, its IoT platform. Six years on Haltian’s board. I know the trade-offs a leadership team makes between ambition, cash and focus.
Hands on the tools, every day.
At Herman Foundry I build products with AI agents: over a million lines of code, and Strategist, which researches a company from its website. I know what agents can do, what they cost, and where they break.
The full story
From Lapland hotels to Nokia, Haltian and Herman Foundry.
How a fractional
engagement works.
First month: choose.
Interviews with leadership, product, growth and customer teams. A reality check of products, data and tools. Quarterly priorities agreed with you.
Every week: decide and ship.
I join your leadership rhythm one to two days a week, own the agreed AI priorities, make the product, vendor and build calls, and keep delivery moving with your team.
Every quarter: show the result.
Review what shipped against the measures we agreed: adoption, time saved, cost, quality or revenue. Decide what scales, what changes and what stops.
Need to establish the direction first?
The four-week AI Impact Sprint scopes the opportunities, priorities and roadmap.
See how I work before we talk.
Share your website. Strategist researches your company and develops an AI opportunity analysis with a recommended starting point. It is built with the same agents I work with every day.
Explore my company’s opportunities An AI-generated starting point for a leadership conversation.Working with a fractional Chief AI Officer
What does a fractional Chief AI Officer do?
A fractional Chief AI Officer (CAIO) is a senior executive who owns your AI agenda part-time, typically one to two days a week. I join your leadership rhythm, own the agreed AI priorities, guide product, investment and vendor decisions, and keep delivery moving with your team, without the cost of a full-time executive hire.
How is your approach different?
My background is building products and companies: Nokia, BMW Designworks, and co-founding Haltian. So I focus AI where it changes the business: the products customers pay for, how the company grows, and new offerings. I also build with AI agents every day, so my advice comes from hands-on work, not only from reading about it.
Fractional or interim: which do I need?
Fractional fits when your team is in place and needs a senior owner for AI every week. An interim mandate, typically three to six months, fits when an executive gap or a critical change needs full-time ownership. If you are unsure, the four-week AI Impact Sprint sets the direction first.
How many companies do you work with at once?
A few. I take on a small number of focused collaborations, and we agree the remit, decision rights, time commitment and success measures before starting. When the company is ready for a full-time AI leader, I help hire and onboard them and hand over the operating rhythm.
Do you work outside Finland?
Yes. I am based in Levi, Finnish Lapland, and work remote-first with companies globally. On-site collaboration is agreed around the mandate.
Where should AI change
your business first?
Tell me about your products, your growth and what’s getting stuck. We’ll discuss whether a fractional role fits, or whether an interim mandate or a focused sprint would serve you better.