Our people
Jul 12, 2023
Growing together with Wolt - Kristina’s story
Our data analyst Kristina will be celebrating her fifth anniversary — or ‘Woltaversary’ as we call them — later this year. Over the past four years, she’s been part of four different teams and seen Wolt grow from 200 to 8000+ people globally. Safe to say, it’s been quite a journey!
We encourage our team members to explore a variety of opportunities within Wolt and it’s quite common for our team members to switch teams, spend time exploring new technologies and join new business areas to build something completely new from scratch. As our business grows there are often lots of new areas, products, and domains to have an impact on and this also creates new growth opportunities within the company.
There are lots of chances to grow together with the business, and Kristina is a perfect example of this. Let’s hear what she has learned on the way.
Hi Kristina! 👋 Would you tell us a bit about yourself and your time at Wolt so far?
Of course. As a data analyst for the Wolt Market team, I currently focus on contributing to the success of our quick commerce stores. When I joined Wolt four years ago, we had just over 200 people globally and a very small product team. Over the years we’ve grown to over 8000 people globally and a big product development function of over 600 people. During my time at Wolt I've also relocated from Tallinn to Helsinki and back and gotten to work with four different teams, so safe to say there haven’t been dull days!
So far I’ve been part of Retail, Marketing & Growth, and Wolt Market teams, as well as worked closely with Consumer team at the start of my journey here. So it is safe to say that I’ve gotten to work with various different kinds of problem spaces. In the Retail team, it was an exciting time helping to develop the then new retail side of the business when Wolt started expanding from mainly food delivery to delivering retail items from a variety of stores. Originally neither the app nor our internal tools were built to handle thousands of products you commonly find in the store so there were a lot of things to figure out in order to change that.
On the Consumer side of things, I got to focus then more on the end users of our consumer app, so customers who order food or other items using the Wolt App. Now, I’m part of the Wolt Market team, which is all about building our own last-mile delivery stores and optimizing the processes for that. Our team deals with a completely different problem space, working on things like how to ensure optimized inventory, timely deliveries from vendors and so forth. Experiencing these different teams and sides of Wolt has been incredibly interesting and rewarding.
What’s your main takeaway from working in so many new teams?
I’m a person who can't work on the same thing for a long period of time. I'm quite restless in a way that I generally have a limit of one year, and then I'm like, "I need to do something else." Once I learn things to the point when everything feels comfortable, I know I need to change things up.
I’m very grateful for being given a lot of freedom in my job. Whenever I felt that I was working on something that didn’t give me as much excitement as it used to, I knew I could switch and contribute a lot more in some different areas. I’ve loved how at Wolt I’ve always been given the chance to go and do something else, as long as there’s help needed and impact to be delivered. It’s been a great way to learn a new domain and a new part of Wolt each time. It wouldn’t necessarily be like this in other companies.
“I’ve loved how at Wolt I’ve always been given the chance to go and do something new, as long as there’s help needed and impact to be delivered. It’s been a great way to learn a new domain and a new part of Wolt each time.”
That must be exciting, and it means you’ve seen a lot. What’s been the most memorable moment during your time here?
The most memorable moment for me so far has been joining the Retail team at the very beginning. As a company, we were moving from only delivering food to delivering items from stores as well. It was a very new thing and no one knew how it was going to go, but everyone was driven, and willing to learn and contribute. We learned a lot on the way and tackled problems that nobody had solved before at Wolt.The first year of retail was the most exciting time. I got to learn so much from my colleagues and peers. Now, retail is a core part of the business, and customers can order from venues ranging from pharmacies to pet stores and items ranging from flowers to board games using Wolt. It’s incredible to see how far we’ve come from the beginning.
What have you enjoyed the most about your journey at Wolt?
It’s been fascinating to see how Wolt has evolved as a company. When you join a company where there are not a lot of people, you have to be very hands-on. You’re helping with bits and pieces around the business and working with many different things. You don’t pay too much attention to documentation because a lot of people rely on you.
As the business grows, some things become more routine, automated, and documented. These processes allow us to see further and address the next level of challenges in the business. When something needs changing, this always opens up opportunities for personal growth. I’ve enjoyed seeing this journey and the resulting opportunities that have come with it.
For me, the biggest thing that keeps me to this day is our core values. As a company we aim to do the right things for our customers and partners.
What would be your advice to other women interested in the tech industry?
I studied mathematics at the university. I'm very used to numbers. So, after university, I joined a customer support team to gain some work experience and afterwards landed in operations. At one point, our analyst, who was working with the operations team, left the company to start his own startup, and since I was already doing some data work for my team, I was offered a job to help a department of more than 60 people. I was the only analyst, and I didn't have any sort of SQL knowledge or official training. It was a lot of learning at first. That was how I got into the field — pretty much by chance!
In the beginning of your tech career, there are many positions that provide opportunities to learn and grow within the company. One of the best ways is to start as an intern (we actually run an internship program for data, engineering, and product as well at Wolt). Besides, we have lots of inspiring professionals here to support and learn from on this exciting journey, so there is nothing to be afraid of!
Lastly, what’s your favorite Wolt product?
This is something I haven't thought of. I can say that I’m super excited about our subscription service Wolt+. Although I wasn’t a part of this particular project, it’s a really great initiative to retain customers. Since a lot of companies have subscription packages where you pay the fee to use the service in an unlimited way, it’s something very familiar for users and it’s exciting that we’re providing this option now, too.
In the last couple of years, our habits as a society have changed quite a bit - and so has Wolt. Wolt+ is the product that people were waiting for before actually realizing that they needed it. I use Wolt+ quite a lot myself. It will be interesting to see how it is going to evolve moving forward.
