Nissue #37: Jenny Gyllander, Founder and CEO of Thingtesting.
While I am not always looking to take on more consulting projects, I do love hearing about new companies and ideas and helping out when I can, even if it’s just 30 minutes. That’s how I first heard about Thingtesting, which for simplicity’s sake is like Yelp for consumer products. Their head of partnerships, the awesome Hannah Say, reached out to see if I could talk to their team about community and user-generated reviews, which led to a wonderful discussion about that and more.
I felt that their team was already doing nearly everything right, and from my vantage had improved on Yelp’s own product and original philosophy. What’s more, Thingtesting felt fun, fresh, and social. I had to know more about who started this whole thing.
Hannah introduced me to founder and CEO Jenny Gyllander, who returned the favor by answering my usual Proust-like questions (even though I’m just a Thingtesting novice).
Nish: What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Jenny: A sunny summer evening in the Finnish archipelago. Best enjoyed post-sauna and with friends.
Nish: What was your worst job ever?
Jenny: From an outsider’s perspective it was probably when I worked nightshifts in a 24/7 deli serving paninis to drunk people. But honestly, nowadays I can get nostalgic about it. I loved the people working there and still think about the owner who once a week did a shift on the floor. He said, “It kept me grounded and I had the best ideas for the business when I worked behind the counter.”
Nish: What was your first job ever?
Jenny: That same 24/7 deli job. But the first money I earned was between the ages of 8-11, selling Mayflowers, a Swedish traditional flower pin, every spring. After school, I took the bus to the city center and strategically picked the location where most Swedish-speaking Finns shopped. One of my proudest achievements was crushing the sales leaderboard of the school… An entrepreneur was born ;)
Nish: What was your best job ever?
Jenny: If I have to pick I’ll take my current one. I am the founder of Thingtesting, a brand discovery and review platform. I accidentally started it in 2018 as a side-project on Instagram. Seeing it transform and grow over the years has been an invaluable experience.
Nish: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Jenny: I worry too much.
Nish: What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Jenny: Arrogance.
Nish: What’s some advice you’d give to yourself at 23?
Jenny: From a career perspective, optimize for people over location, titles, and “what looks good on a CV.” Great people = great things.
Nish: What is your greatest extravagance?
Jenny: Scrolling The RealReal. Can’t afford most of it but even scrolling it makes me feel fancy.
Nish: You have exclusive dinner reservations for 4, excluding family and close friends, who are the 3 people (alive, dead or imaginary) you’d invite?
Jenny: Yvon Chouinard from Patagonia, Tim Urban and Giorgia Lupi.
Nish: What is the theme song of your professional life?
Jenny: Jungle - Keep Moving.
Nish: What is your motto?
Jenny: I will borrow a quote that one of my mentors and friends always use: “Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.” It’s very true.
Nish: What is something you’re really excited about right now?
Jenny: Building a home and family with my fiancé!
End Interview.
Fun fact: Jenny’s first gig in the startup world was a university internship with the infamous Bragiel Brothers, featured in Nissue #28.
Two other founders that I interviewed are Peter Smith of Daneson and Ashley Sumner of Quilt. Oh, and this guy.