Radical trust is the engine behind Slush. For Aino Bergius, the 26-year-old CEO of the Helsinki startup gathering, it is not a slogan but “the operating system” that powers Europe’s most influential tech event. 

“Slush runs on radical trust. We even have this value called ‘trust by default,’ saying that from day one, Slush trusts you more than you trust yourself”, Bergius says.

That principle is not abstract. It shaped her own journey.

“Slush taught me to take responsibility before I was ready.

I didn’t have a CV. I had a bit of broken English, but Slush saw a chance in me and a capability to learn and grow. To figure things out as you go.”

It’s a model that challenges corporate orthodoxy – one where responsibility comes before experience, and leadership grows from trust rather than control.

The Slush way

Besides trust, there is a clear purpose. Slush’s mission is to help and create founders to change the world. The two-day main event hosts over 25,000 meetings, in addition to over 500 side events and content designed to help early-stage startups build and scale.

For Bergius, success isn’t about scale. “We are not trying to be the biggest event on earth, but the most meaningful and impactful for the ones we truly care about, the early-stage startup community.”

According to Bergius, the Slush way of trust is telling transparently about the organization, its values, and its purpose. “The clearer you can create that clarity for a volunteer joining us or a person coming to work full-time, the better the team performs. Once you’ve set the direction and designed the frameworks and routines, that’s when the team shines the most.”

She believes that clarity, combined with autonomy, creates momentum. “We give young people a great amount of responsibility because we believe they can do what’s best for Slush,” she says. 

Nordic leadership in action

This philosophy echoes a broader cultural pattern.

“The Nordic leadership style is quiet but strong. It’s built on trust, low ego, shared responsibility, and ownership in general. It’s less top-down and more team-driven."

Bergius contrasts this with the speed and boldness of Silicon Valley’s founder-driven style. “Maybe the sweet spot is somewhere combining these two: Nordic trust and humility paired with global ambition and pace.”

Research supports her view. Studies from the Møller Institute at the University of Cambridge describe it as combining trust, responsibility, and ethical reflection — qualities that thrive when paired with speed and experimentation in a digital economy (Møller Institute, 2024).

Moreover, Paul J. Zak writes in Harvard Business Review that field experiments (including measuring brain activity & oxytocin responses) and surveys of several thousand companies show that employees in high-trust organizations report 50% higher productivity and that trust boosts “productivity and innovation” in task performance (HBR, 2017).

What established companies can learn

“No innovation is born in a silo,” Bergius says. “It’s very important to bring different stakeholders together — not just to listen, but to be interactive and to share advice.”

That openness, she adds, also applies to risk. “Startups need to take risks every single day. It’s part of their DNA. Be willing to take risks, move fast, and don’t be too afraid of the new technology at hand. High risk can lead to high reward. Sometimes failing, but sometimes succeeding. That can lead to a great result.”

Her advice to established leaders is simple: borrow the startup mindset.

“Nordic countries and Europe can leverage their strengths in trust, values, ethics, and long-term thinking. Combined with more speed and a willingness to take risks, that can make us globally competitive.”

Some Nordic giants are already experimenting. Wärtsilä and Ericsson are already re-shaping their internal innovation models to mimic startup-style autonomy within the larger organization. Wärtsilä’s Sustainable Technology Hub in Vaasa fosters co-creation with startups and academia to accelerate sustainable innovation. Ericsson ONE, the Swedish group’s internal venture unit, allows small teams to pursue experimental business models without bureaucratic drag. Both efforts mirror Slush’s logic — trust people, then let them act.

Pairing trust with ambition

Trust may be the foundation, but Bergius believes ambition is the missing piece.

“Here in Finland, especially, we need to be more ambitious.” Many Nordic startups have been built to exit, not to actually become world-changing companies.”

Her critique is backed by data. According to the ScaleUp Institute’s European ScaleUp Report 2024, Nordic countries, particularly Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, led Europe in the number of high-growth firms per capita. However, access to funding is tight. Forbes reports that in 2023, European startups raised less than half the funding of those in the United States ($52bn vs $138bn). 

The structural side matters. “How do we help companies scale beyond Series A? Especially with more local growth capital, which we’ve been lacking,” she says. But change is on its way. Bergius gives a promising example of the recent announcement from Lifeline Ventures — a major new fund totaling over 400 million euros for Finnish and Nordic companies.

She sees the region’s strengths in fields “where trust and infrastructure matter – climate tech, deep tech, digital health, and AI with real-world applications.” Yet she admits improvement is needed. “We have incredible engineering talent and the ability to build long-term innovations. The challenge is how we tell stories, how bold we are, and how fast we commercialize and scale.”

The global mindset

Bergius dismisses the idea that the Nordics are too small to matter. “One of our competitive advantages is that we have to think global from day one,” she says.

“Just being the best in Finland or the Nordics isn’t enough.”

Looking ahead, she hopes Nordic companies will “solve hard, global problems with technical depth, human values, and ethics – whether in climate, deep tech, health, energy, or AI.”

And her personal measure of success remains deeply human. “Whenever it’s about helping a founder at the main event meet an investor that becomes a turning point, or someone who once volunteered at Slush ends up founding a company, that’s what success looks like. It’s about staying deeply curious, keep learning, keep evolving, and making space for others to do the same.”