I have a habit of choosing the complicated thing

I have a bit of a rule when it comes to my career: I don’t like doing the same thing twice.

I’ve worked across several startups and industries, and each time I’ve moved, I’ve deliberately chosen something new. Usually, something slightly more complicated.

My career didn’t actually start in marketing. I originally worked in education before moving into the startup world around ten years ago. My first startup role was a mixture of operations, sales, customer success, marketing and whatever else needed doing.

Over time, I kept gravitating towards marketing and towards products that were increasingly scientific, abstract or difficult to explain.

Eventually, that logic led me to quantum computing.

I joined IQM right as we were renewing the website, which meant I was almost immediately speaking with scientists and product owners and figuring out how to turn incredibly complex technology into something people could understand.

There wasn’t really a period where I could sit quietly for six months and absorb everything first.

I started running and learned along the way.

“And I think I’ve finally found an industry complicated enough that I may never run out of things to learn.”

 

There’s always another layer to learn

Almost two years later, that hasn’t changed.

One week I might be writing about quantum error correction. The next, I’m trying to understand cryogenic systems, HPC integration or QPU entanglement.

Recently, I found myself about to dive into time crystals, which sounds more like something from Rick and Morty than a normal Monday at work.
That’s fairly representative.

My job isn’t to become the scientist in the room. It’s to understand enough to find the story.

Scientists naturally go deep. Marketing often needs to zoom out.

I sometimes think of it as gold mining.

There is an enormous amount of knowledge inside IQM. My job is to find the nuggets that help someone outside that specific field understand:

Why does this matter?

Where does it fit?

What does it change?

And why should anyone care?

 

Quantum is challenging to market

We’re commercialising a technology whose full potential is still ahead of us.

There are unanswered questions, breakthroughs happening constantly and fascinating things happening inside IQM that, for intellectual property reasons, we simply can’t talk about publicly.

For someone in marketing, that can be wonderfully frustrating.

You know something extremely interesting is happening.

And you can’t tell anyone.

It also means being careful with hype. Communicating quantum responsibly requires understanding what is possible today, what is still being developed and where the industry is heading.

That balance between excitement and scientific accuracy is one of the things I enjoy most.

 

I joined for content. Now I’m building a team.

When I joined IQM, my remit was focused on content development and SEO.

My team was essentially me.

Then I kept finding interesting things.

My role expanded into product marketing, thought leadership, partner communications, sales enablement and content strategy. Now I’m building a team around those areas.

That’s one of the interesting things about joining a company at this stage.

Many roles are still being shaped. You might join to do one thing and discover that your strongest contribution eventually sits somewhere slightly different.

There is room to shape your path.

But you have to be willing to shape it.

 

There’s no such thing as a quantum marketing unicorn

One thing I really believe is that you’re never going to find one person who is a brilliant marketer, understands quantum perfectly, is a scientist, a strategist, a creative and a leader.

That’s what the team is for.

My part of the marketing team looks after what I think of as the full content funnel: product marketing, thought leadership, executive content, partner communications, sales enablement and how we distribute that content, so it reaches the people it was designed for.

Around us, we have specialists in events, design and web development, PR and communications, and marketing analytics. We’re spread across Finland, Munich and the US, so we’re very much a global team.

People are expected to be the expert in their area and take ownership of it, but that doesn’t mean working in a silo. We brainstorm, challenge each other and ask for input constantly.

The people who thrive in our team are strong specialists who can make recommendations and say, “This is how I think we should approach it.” Then you need the curiosity to apply that expertise to something completely new.

That means asking questions. A lot of them.

IQM moves quickly. The industry moves quickly. Our role is to find people, dig into topics, connect information and accept that the documentation may never be quite as current as the technology itself.

Basically, you bring what you’re good at. Then you learn how to apply it to quantum.

And despite the fact that our work involves some very serious science, as a team, we laugh a lot.

Maybe that’s exactly why.

 

I sometimes wish I could multiply myself by ten

There is an almost ridiculous amount to learn here.

My current obsession is quantum error correction.

Ask me again in six months and it may be something completely different.

That’s the appeal.

I like going deep. I like autonomy. I like being surrounded by people who know extraordinary amounts about very specific things.

There is also a certain directness at IQM that I appreciate. People are comfortable with constructive feedback. You can disagree. You can say something isn’t working. You can suggest a better way.

Outside work, I deliberately choose hobbies that require considerably less quantum mechanics.

I have two young children, a very young cat, and I like doing things with my hands. I do pottery. I sew. I bake. I’ve recently started reformer Pilates and, perhaps against my better judgement, I’m starting CrossFit.

At work, I want my brain fully switched on.

Afterwards, sometimes I just want to make something out of clay.