Fractional AI Product & Growth Leader
Ship and grow with AI
before you hire full time.
I embed with leadership, product, and growth teams to turn AI pressure into clear priorities, shipped workflows, sharper customer understanding, and revenue leverage. I'm Ville Ylläsjärvi — ex-Nokia, co-founder of Haltian, and now building Herman Foundry as an AI venture platform from the Arctic.
When to bring me in
When AI has become a product, growth, and leadership problem.
Most companies do not need another AI presentation. They need an experienced operator who can decide what matters, align the team, connect AI to customers and revenue, and get the first useful systems into production.
Your CEO, board, or customers are asking what your AI strategy actually is.
You have pilots and tools, but no accountable senior owner turning them into shipped outcomes.
You need AI to improve products, customer experience, sales, marketing, or operating leverage.
You need momentum before you can justify or find a full-time AI executive.
About
A product, growth, and business transformation leader who works across every layer.
I started in industrial design at BMW Designworks, then spent years leading products at Nokia that landed in hundreds of millions of pockets. In 2012 I co-founded Haltian — work that helped bring the Oura Ring to market and built the pioneering Thingsee IoT Data Platform. We grew Haltian from zero to 100+ people and €19M in revenue, and later I grew strategic accounts to €5M+ revenue.
My work history is all about the first of kinds.
In 2025 I launched Herman Foundry, my solo AI venture studio in Finnish Lapland. I'm building three live AI products — including Feedsquad, an AI growth platform — shipping daily from a desk above the Arctic Circle. When I'm not building, I help companies get their AI initiatives rolling — defining company-wide value opportunities, choosing the right approach, and even building the first solution with the team.
When companies bring me in, they're hiring 15+ years of cross-layer leadership experience — hardware, design, software, IoT, growth, board work, and now AI — from someone who is in the trenches with these tools every single day, not advising from the sidelines.
Currently building
Three B2B SaaS products in the making. Agentic solutions with leverage to business.
Working with AI is about leadership, customer understanding, distribution, and holding the big picture while guiding the smallest detail with precision.
What you get
Fractional AI Leader.
Four ways to move the needle. Pick Sprint, Fractional, Growth, or Interim.
2-4 weeks
AI Impact Sprint
Diagnose the business, product, data, customer journey, and team reality. Leave with a clear opportunity map, first AI use cases, growth bets, risk calls, and the roadmap worth executing.
1-2 days per week
Fractional AI Product & Growth Leader
Embedded senior leadership for teams that need product direction, growth systems, operating rhythm, vendor/tool choices, and shipped AI work without a full-time executive hire.
4-8 weeks or ongoing
Grow with AI
Turn AI into revenue leverage: sharper positioning, content and distribution systems, sales enablement, customer intelligence, and workflows that help the company learn and grow faster.
3-6 months
Interim AI Executive
Own the AI agenda during transition, hiring, or acceleration. Align leadership, guide delivery, build team capability, connect AI to growth, and give the board a credible execution story.
Let's see if there's a fit.
30 minutes. No pitch. Just a conversation about your product and whether I can help.