Simo Ahava

Hi, I’m Simo Ahava. I’m partner and co-founder at 8-bit-sheep. I’m also co-founder (together with my wife, Mari Ahava) of an online course platform for technical marketers: Simmer.

I have also been a Google Developer Expert for Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager since 2014.

I hail from Espoo, neighboring Helsinki, the capital of Finland. I have a background in academics (English language and linguistics), in IT, in digital marketing, and in web development. I’ve been programming actively since 1997, and I built my first website the same year. Marketing, IT disciplines, and web analytics all fell into my sphere of interest shortly after.

My blog has a singular purpose: To tell complicated stories in a simple, understandable, and actionable way.

Most often, I talk about web analytics, but I also have soft spots for digital marketing in general, for SEO, for web development, and for working with the Google Cloud Platform.

I believe in the power of data and technology. I’m also a strong advocate for altruistic knowledge sharing. You won’t find a mailing list on this site (there’s an RSS feed for you), nor will you find me trying to peddle my wares or trying to push a commercial agenda. This blog is for transferring knowledge between me, my guest writers, and the community participating in the article comments (thank you!).

But enough about me. What about you? You’ve come to the right place if you’re:

Contact me

You can contact me through all the means listed in the header / sidebar. I’m active all over the place: in Google Tag Manager’s subreddit, in Measure Slack, the Facebook Google Tag Manager community, and the official product forums. I also try to use Twitter as much as possible.

In my spare time I play the ukulele, and I enjoy beer & board games. I also have a beautiful and wonderful wife, who makes everything worth it, and a son and a daughter for whom I would drop everything else in a heartbeat.