Ian McKinnon, Head of Marketing at TESTA, sits down with Jenny Ramstedt to discuss her first three months as Head of Sales. Jenny shares her experiences transitioning into the role, the challenges of managing a global team, and her excitement for upcoming industry events. Check out their check-in conversation to learn how Jenny’s background in software development and iGaming operations has uniquely prepared her for this pivotal role at TESTA, and get a glimpse of what’s ahead for the team at SBC Lisbon.
Ian McKinnon: Good day to everyone on LinkedIn. Hello, Jenny!
Jenny Ramstedt: Hey there, Ian.
Ian McKinnon: I’m just going to introduce myself and introduce you, and we’ll get going here. I’m Ian McKinnon, the Head of Marketing with TESTA, and today I’m checking in with my friend Jenny Ramstedt, who joined TESTA about three months ago on May 9th. We’re just over three months in now. How are you liking your work as our new Head of Sales, Jenny?
Jenny Ramstedt: It’s strange to think it’s only been three months because it feels like I know the team really well, and I’ve been doing this for a very long time. I really, really like it. It’s probably that feeling you have when you find someplace where everyone thinks like you and shares the same motivation. I’ve been really well welcomed by everyone on the team. It’s amazing.
Ian McKinnon: That’s great! You’ve had a lot of work to do right away. There’s been a lot of leads coming in, it seems. How are you finding it? There’s a lot to do.
Jenny Ramstedt: Yeah, it was more surfing in, but I think that’s the best way of starting something. It might be that you need to ask for a lot of help, and some things don’t turn out exactly as you imagined because there’s just been a lot to handle. We’re in different time zones as well, so I was already taking a lot of sales meetings in the first week because we have a lot of leads coming in all the time from the website. We’re also working with the Taipei office and, of course, the Vancouver office, which are in different time zones. I was just getting in and gliding, and that’s a good way of learning as well. Making mistakes is okay, but just sitting and twiddling your thumbs while things are being built up—that’s a bit of a scary way to start a new role.
Ian McKinnon: Yeah, better to be busy and learn everything quickly at the beginning than have nothing to do, for sure. I wanted to talk a little bit about your background because it was really interesting to us, and I’ve made a few notes here. We made a press release when you onboarded, and one of the things we highlighted was that you’ve got a really strong background in both software development and iGaming operations. This made you uniquely qualified for working with TESTA. Can you go through your background a little bit for us and explain why that set you up so well to work for TESTA?
Jenny Ramstedt: Absolutely. I think a lot of people are the same as me and the same as many at TESTA. A lot of people in iGaming remember that early on, the idea was taking something online that already existed. A lot of founders and everyone involved had that mindset, which warms my heart because I come from the product side—the innovation, taking something and transforming it. Even if you look at the bigger companies today, they often don’t see themselves from the commercial angle; they see themselves as inventing something and making it available.
I’m an engineer and software developer by training, and I started working in different industries. I quickly realized that I wanted to work where there were lots of users, so I found my way to Betsson and their platform. It was there that I encountered TESTA. As soon as I heard about it—and this happens when people hear about TESTA now—they start searching for us because they want to know how their site looks in different countries. As soon as I discovered TESTA, I wanted to use it myself. Many companies are developed in one market, but with confidence in the internet, they believe they can be everywhere. They enter markets without even having a presence there. The industry is more mature now, but back then, it was more like, “We speak English, we’re Swedish, so let’s just translate the site and enter the UK. I’m sure it will work.” That might have worked then, but now it’s much better to really think about what you’re doing because it’s more competitive, and people are much pickier with products today. That’s a bit of my background story. It was very easy for me to see that TESTA is somewhere I could belong and have a lot to offer.
Ian McKinnon: Your background really makes a lot of sense with your new role here. Another part of what you do is being based in Malta. You’ve been to a few events over the last three months, and the most recent was iGB Live in Amsterdam. I looked that up, and there was a lot of participation this year compared to previous years. I think there were 12,000 attendees this year, as opposed to 5,000 last year and 3,800 the year before that. It’s a growing conference. Did you sense that when you were there? What were your main takeaways from iGB Live in Amsterdam?
Jenny Ramstedt: It was a great conference, but it’s sad that this was the last year in Amsterdam. A lot of people tend to go to Amsterdam—not necessarily because of the city, but because it’s centrally located in Europe and has an airport that’s easy to fly into from many other continents. It brings a lot of people to that conference. It grew out of a somewhat messy affiliation type of event, but it has grown, and you can see that there are a lot of side events. People take the chance to meet up, and some even have offices in Holland, so they meet outside and create their own events. You see a lot more of that now, rather than just the expo floor. The expo floor isn’t as huge as what you’d see at SBC, but you still get a lot of business done. It’s July, and it’s Amsterdam, so everyone is in a good mood and takes the time to speak to you. It was a good conference for that. As a takeaway, I noticed a lot of people talking about Brazil and traffic from certain countries. Many are looking for crypto traffic from Brazil, which was something I picked up on, along with discussions about crash games.
Ian McKinnon: That sounds like it was a good conference. We’re all looking forward to another conference coming up in September—SBC in Lisbon, where TESTA will be exhibiting. You’re going to be there, and it’ll be the first time we’ve met you in person. What are you looking forward to at SBC in Lisbon this September?
Jenny Ramstedt: I’m very excited about the conference itself, and of course, I’m excited to meet the team. We’re lucky to have some days before the event to prepare together, and that’s going to be such a nice experience. SBC is really a great conference for me because it combines content-driven discussions, like iGaming Next, with a really decent exhibit floor. I’m thrilled to be exhibiting with you guys and to have a home for TESTA where we can invite people. I can already see that there are a lot of people coming, and we have a lot of bookings from people who want to meet us and take the chance to meet the whole team. It’s a fantastic opportunity to connect with both existing customers and new prospects. I’m also looking forward to being part of the production for the sorte svin, which you did last time. That’s something I’m excited about.
Ian McKinnon: I didn’t want to have to pronounce that—it’s sorte svin? Is that how you say it?
Jenny Ramstedt: I think that’s the term, but it’s a little bid dated, so let’s not get into that. It’s not that easy for me to pronounce either, but it’s easy for me to drink.
Ian McKinnon: Basically, it’s a vodka with licorice—a salty licorice. It’s easy to drink, and we’ll be mixing it up and bottling it to hand out at the booth at SBC. It’s going to be fun.
Jenny Ramstedt: Yes, that’s going to be nice. You practiced it at SiGMA in Manila, so now I’m coming for the perfected version. It was such a nice team-building exercise as well.
Ian McKinnon: Yeah, it was great. We mixed it in the hotel room in Manila the night before and brought it onto the floor the next day. People loved it; it was super fun.
Jenny Ramstedt: It’s really nice to do something that you’ve done yourself—DIY,
Ian McKinnon: It’s the name of the game.
Jenny Ramstedt: Exactly.
Ian McKinnon: All right, cool, Jenny. Always good to talk to you, and we’ll check in again soon.
Jenny Ramstedt: Definitely! And how many weeks is it now until we meet in person?
Ian McKinnon: Just over a month—maybe six weeks.
Jenny Ramstedt: Fantastic.
About the author
Ian McKinnon
TESTA Head of Marketing