Mahdi Sayyadi
I know AI through the lens of technology, entrepreneurship and business.
I'm Mahdi Sayyadi, an AI consultant, a doctoral researcher in Business Administration (applying AI in business) and a startup mentor. My background combines IT engineering and management, business analysis, entrepreneurship, and consulting for businesses and startups: more than eleven years of work in these fields, and studies at leading European universities of economics and business.
I help executives, founders and teams bring AI into their business carefully and properly: redesigning their business model and putting AI where it can deliver the greatest return. The result should show up in the day-to-day work: repetitive tasks, like answering messages and preparing reports, take less time; decisions rest on data instead of guesswork; sales grow and customer satisfaction rises.
From understanding technology to creating value
- Where it started
My path began in IT engineering and continued with a master's degree in IT management (Business Informatics) at Turku School of Economics and the Swedish-speaking Hanken School of Economics in Finland. That connected my technical foundation to information systems, data analysis and managerial decision-making.
- Professional work
In my professional work I have served as a business analyst and consultant, a systems specialist and a project management consultant. Those roles taught me that the quality of a solution depends on how well it fits the organisation's needs, its existing processes and the team's capacity to execute.
- Nokia · 2016–2017
At Nokia, I worked on a project on the structures and processes behind strategic decision-making and proposed ways to make greater use of data and analytics in strategic decisions. I also worked in the COO's team on projects and initiatives related to organisational development.
Nokia, Espoo · 2017Nokia · 2017Nokia studio · 2016–2017 - A startup inside Nokia
Another part of my time at Nokia was building and leading an internal team set up like a startup. We focused on applications of augmented and virtual reality (AR/XR). Working with Aalto University, we went from studying the industry's needs to developing an idea and a business solution. It gave me hands-on experience of connecting an emerging technology to a customer problem.
Nokia internal startup team · 2017
AI, entrepreneurship and the future of business models
I am currently a doctoral researcher at Åbo Akademi University, where my research is on applying AI in business. Its central question is how AI is changing entrepreneurship, startups and business models.
I focus in particular on generative AI, intelligent agents and the workflows built on them. I work with entrepreneurs and startups to understand how these technologies shape how ideas form, how a business is run, and how it grows and competes.
Teaching, coaching and mentoring startup teams
- University teaching
At Åbo Akademi University, a Swedish-speaking university in Finland, I have designed and taught the courses “Business Models and Revenue Logic” and “Startup Funding and Valuation”. Designing value propositions, revenue streams, innovating and redesigning business models with AI, finding ideas and launching a startup, and understanding financing options are among the topics I have taught.
Teaching business model innovation · 2024 - Mentoring & advising startups
Alongside teaching at university, I have worked closely with startup teams in incubators and accelerators: I have advised startups and served as a mentor and coach to their teams. I have helped founders validate their idea, assess their business model, design their value proposition, reach product-market fit, use AI as a co-founder to turn their idea into a business, and get ready for the next steps.
Startup mentoring · 2023
These experiences shaped how I work: clear explanations, attention to the team's real situation, and turning complex ideas into steps people can decide on and carry out.
How I help your business
My focus is the practical, strategic use of AI in small and medium-sized businesses and startups. Depending on what you need, our work together can cover:
Finding opportunities and assessing readiness
Where AI applies in your business, and what infrastructure, data or skills you need to get started.
Setting priorities and a path to execution
Choosing the use cases that fit your goals, resources and the real conditions of your business.
Designing workflows and automation
Using generative AI and intelligent agents to improve day-to-day work and repetitive processes.
Training executives and teams
Understanding what the tools can and can't do, and how to use them well at work.
Exploring entrepreneurship and innovation
Assessing the role of AI in your value proposition, services, customer experience and revenue model.
That perspective carries into my teaching and consulting. When I look at an AI use case, my questions go beyond what the tool can do:
What value does it create for the customer?
What does it change in cost and in how the work gets done?
What opportunity does it open for offering a new product and service, and for innovation in the business model?
And what has to change in the organisation to use it well?
That takes understanding both the technology and the logic of the business: what the customer needs, how value is created, where revenue comes from, and how a team can actually execute an idea.
My work took shape at the point where these questions meet.
Let's start with one specific problem.
You may already know which part of your work needs improving, or you may still be exploring what AI can do. Either way, our starting point is understanding your business, its main problems and the result you want to reach.
I bring experience from technology, industry, research and teaching to that conversation, so you can see the opportunities more precisely and the path to using AI becomes clearer.
Let's see what opportunity AI can create for your business.