This blog post is part of The Founder Files series, exploring the human side of entrepreneurship, where the distinction between success and failure is often a fine line. From founding and scaling, all the way to the exit, we reveal the unfiltered, authentic stories behind entrepreneurial journeys. Ready to hear the truth?

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Among inspiring startup stories, Rovio’s journey is one of a kind. By focusing on a strong brand right from the start, they created Angry Birds, now recognized as one of the most successful mobile games in history. However, even with Rovio’s established market position, Mikael Hed, the co-founder and long-time CEO of Rovio, could never shake off the gnawing insecurity that their hard-earned success might vanish away in a split second.

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“The success of Rovio came so swiftly that we feared losing it just as quickly. The constant influx of new mobile games into the market made us anxious about maintaining our market position”, Hed recounts.

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However, the more Rovio grew, the more Hed’s own interest in the mobile gaming business began to wane. As the company shifted its focus towards game monetization, for him, the process of developing mobile games began to resemble the creation of insurance products.

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“When the game development became calculated and data-oriented, I felt my expertise was no longer needed. I never believed this was the right way to create amazing games. It’s all about how it looks, feels, and whether it’s original enough.”

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“For us, it meant that regardless of future outcomes, we had already succeeded – no more sleepless nights and nightmares of losing it all.”

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Rovio’s story is exceptional in that, since the company's founding, Mikael Hed and his co-founders invested all the company profits back into the business over the years – taking the risk and hoping for the best. Unlike the current trend, venture capital funding entered the picture only after Rovio had already achieved profitability.

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In 2011, Hed and his co-founders achieved their first proper, partial exit while still retaining their main shareholding and control of the company. The multi-million euro deal not only secured financial freedom for the founders but also provided the security to take more risks.

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“After the first exit, we finally had peace of mind. For us, it meant that regardless of future outcomes, we had already succeeded – no more sleepless nights and nightmares of losing it all”, Hed says. “Investors may believe founders should be kept ‘hungry’, meaning poor, to ensure that they keep taking risks, but I see it differently. Risk-taking doesn’t end with the first success.”

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With the backing of new investment, the Rovio team placed all their bets on building the Angry Birds brand. Venturing into a full-length, self-funded movie was a huge risk for the company, but fortunately, it ended up becoming a worldwide hit. 

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“The Angry Birds movie is an important part of Rovio's story because, despite being an established player, making this massive investment and taking the risk was necessary for the brand's future”, Hed notes.

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However, as Rovio grew and expanded beyond mobile games, the rapid scaling became challenging to manage. New initiatives sprouted everywhere, leading to a lack of clear strategic direction. This prompted Rovio’s first significant layoffs after the scaling period. Hed believed that in this situation, his responsibility was to step down as CEO.

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“In hindsight, no leader would have acted like that. Taking responsibility would have meant that everything would continue as usual. I went a different way because I felt it was the right decision. But I don't regret it since it all worked out in the end,” Hed admits. 

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“I guess I should’ve just bitten the bullet instead.”

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The tough job of a CEO is to carry the weight of responsibility on their shoulders, as they sometimes have to prioritize business decisions over people. In the business world, one is often told to not ‘fall in love with people’, a principle Hed sometimes found challenging. 

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When Rovio expanded into animation, new projects led several Finnish families to relocate to Vancouver, Canada. But as Rovio’s board of directors soon decided to shut down all animation operations in 2016, Hed found himself in one of the most difficult situations of his career. 

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“While I was still a CEO, I had personally promised these families that moving to Canada would be a great opportunity for them. So, I felt I betrayed them, making promises I couldn’t keep.”

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Due to local employment laws, the Finnish employees in Canada were given only two weeks’ notice. Hed couldn’t leave the families with nothing, so I tried to fix the situation by founding a new animation company in Vancouver. 

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“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, and I personally lost millions of euros in the process. I guess I should’ve just bitten the bullet instead.”

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The notion of an exit, with all its perks, had always lingered in Hed’s mind. For him, exits are part of an entrepreneur’s job description and the end-game to which all decisions should lead. 

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“Especially during those more uncertain times, I’d think about how relieving it would be if someone just bought the company away and lifted the weight off my shoulders. I rarely wished for someone to buy Rovio solely for financial gain, as money never was my main driver. Nevertheless, achieving financial freedom has always been somewhere there, in the back of my mind”, Hed says.

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A new chapter in Hed’s personal life began when Rovio was eventually acquired by Sega in 2023. For Hed, it meant a greater sense of freedom, as he was no longer financially tied to the company. 

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Since Rovio’s IPO in 2017, Hed has been backing other entrepreneurs in the growth and scaling of their ventures at Evli Growth Partners. He is an active international investor, being a part of several promising growth companies, such as LoupeDeck and QuietOn. Moreover, Hed is currently dedicating time to his newfound passion projects, working on his Karjalohja and Heponiemi residencies in the Finnish countryside.

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While Hed enjoys advising well-established companies, where he believes he can make the most impact, he is not planning to start another venture any time soon.

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“I think Rovio was enough for one lifetime”, he laughs.

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