The Swisspreneur Show is a podcast series of in-depth, candid conversations with some of Switzerland’s most successful founders, business leaders and innovators. By getting to the heart of these leaders’ stories - their successes, their failures, their must-have advice and greatest regrets - we hope to both inspire and guide the next generation of Swiss entrepreneurs. Each episode deconstructs and showcases one person’s personal and professional background and provides advice and recommendations for existing and aspiring entrepreneurs in Switzerland.
S1 E477 · Sun, February 23, 2025
Timestamps: 7:55 - Is Ypsomed just an insulin company? 10:12 - Selling B2B and B2C simultaneously 18:33 - Doing an IPO in 2004 20:20 - How to make your stock 7x 22:47 - Getting into regional politics This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 14th 2025. Click here to purchase your ticket. About Simon Michel: Simon Michel is the CEO of Ypsomed , the leading developer and manufacturer of injection systems for self-medication. He is also the head of Swiss Startup Supporters , a new startup days initiative. Simon holds an MA in Media and Communications Management from HSG and worked for the consultancy Arthur D. Little and the telecommunications company Orange Communications SA before joining his father’s company, Ypsomed, in 2006. In 1984, a company named Disetronic was founded by the brothers Willy and Peter Michel (Willy being Simon’s father), in Burgdorf, Switzerland. Disetronic was the first company to introduce a micro insulin pump to the medtech/pharma market. Besides its infusion systems, Disetronic also specialised in injection systems. In 2003, co-founder and main shareholder Willy Michel sold Disetronic’s infusion business to Roche and kept the injection business — that’s how Ypsomed was born. Simon first joined Ypsomed as a Business Development Manager of Diabetes Care, and rose through the ranks until he became CEO in 2014. He credits this gradual rise, based on concrete achievements within the company, as the reason for his easy integration in its team. Nowadays Ypsomed focuses on the treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, polyarthritis, Alzheimer and migraines. On 22 September 2004, Ypsomed was registered on SIX Swiss Exchange under the ticket SWX:YPSN. Simon is also affiliated with FDP (The Liberals party) and is a member of Switzerland’s National Council. When asked about Switzerland’s political strengths and weaknesses, he identified the following strengths: Strong majority support: Switzerland takes an average of 6 years to get a new law approved. This makes its political system quite slow, but this slowness has the advantage of ensuring majority support for many of the laws approved. Strong R&D: The Swiss government invests CHF 10B per year in education and research, out of a CHF 90B budget. This results in a robust education system. Independence and neutrality, which give Switzerland international credibility. Simon also identified 2 weaknesses in Switzerland’s political system
S1 E476 · Wed, February 19, 2025
Timestamps: 5:15 - When tide ocean became a full-time project 14:50 - What happens to tide ocean when we run out of plastic? 28:26 - Plastic vs glass or paper recycling 32:36 - How tide ocean pays and incentives employees from developing countries 46:51 - Do startup competitions actually help startups? This episode was co-produced with SEF.Growth , the Swiss Economic Forum's Growth initiative to support Swiss startups and SMEs with growth plans free of charge. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. About Thomas Schori: Thomas Schori is the co-founder and CEO of tide ocean , a startup turning 100% ocean-bound plastic into safe, useful products. Thomas worked for his family’s business, Braloba Group, before co-founding tide ocean in 2018. Originally linked to the Swiss watch industry through its mother company, Braloba Group, tide ocean was founded when Thomas investigated the possibility of using recycled polyester yarn for watch straps. Nowadays, tide ocean has teamed up with multiple partner organizations to collect and reuse what already exists. The result is an award-winning material that comes in the form of recycled plastic pellets for plastic injection, recycled polyester yarn for textile applications, and recycled plastic filament for 3D printing. Already when founding the company, Thomas and his team realized that their business model could not be founded solely on fixing the damage of plastic pollution, but must also strive towards preventing it. This means they not only clean oceans and rivers, but they also prevent plastic from ending up in the ocean by employing plastic collectors in developing countries (like Mexico and Thailand) and paying them by the kilogram. This plastic is brought to tide ocean’s ecohubs, where salaried employees sort the plastic, so that it can then be shredded, washed and reshaped, resulting in a new plastic of 97% virgin quality — quality so high that consumers can’t tell the difference. These employees also get health insurance and support with language learning, IDs (which are not as common or as easy to obtain in developing countries) and education. tide ocean’s opportunity is huge: 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and if we recycled merely 1% of it, we would run a turnover of 300M. Not to mention, of course, the social and environmental impact. tide ocean currently counts among i
S1 E475 · Sun, February 16, 2025
Timestamps: 4:48 - What is ‘speed of trust’? 7:40 - Why AI is a trust-breaker 12:35 - Cultivating customer trust 23:15 - Hubspot taking market share 33:43 - Learning from other people’s mistakes This episode was co-produced by the SalesPlaybook , DACHs' leading B2B Sales & HubSpot agency for fast-growing 7-8 figure entrepreneurs to increase pipeline, revenue & sales efficiency. About Manuel Hartmann: Manuel Hartmann is the founder and CEO of SalesPlaybook , a sales agency with 7-figure annual revenue helping clients like bexio, Beekeeper, Skribble, Brame & Urban Connect. He holds an MA in Business Innovation from HSG and worked for companies such as Tesla, Accenture and Onedot before founding SalesPlaybook in 2019. During his chat with us, Manuel discussed “speed of trust”, a concept first developed by Stephen M.R. Covey in his book of the same name . Speed of trust is the speed at which trust is established with clients, employees, and all stakeholders. Manuel applies this concept specifically to sales, where, according to him, trust is currently rather broken, due to practices like sending mass AI-written cold emails and email-bombing prospects who have not opened a salesperson’s previous emails. It’s easy for us to understand and recognize trust in our personal lives: we do not need a 17 page contract to move in with our best friend — we simply trust that it will work out fine. But how can we scale this, especially in a field where trust needs to be restored? Manuel recommends doing things that don’t scale: send postcards, meet people in person. He is also a fan of the 4/7/11 framework, according to which salespeople need to meet a prospect in 4 different locations, spend 7h with the prospect in total (not necessarily consecutively) and have 11 touchpoints with them (email, whatsapp, etc). This framework has been proven to work at a neurobiological level when it comes to creating trust. Finally, Manuel urges salespeople to ask for referrals. Only 10% of salespeople do so, when 90% of happy customers would gladly give a referral — so there’s an 80% gap that is ours for the taking. <
S1 E474 · Wed, February 12, 2025
Timestamps: 7:35 - The successful Contovista exit 12:30 - Contovista investors getting a 33x return 17:17 - How do you reach product market fit? 31:05 - Why Gian started NORM 42:10 - Energy efficiency and climate change Resources Mentioned: The 4 Levels of PMF, First Round Capital About Gian Reto à Porta: Gian Reto à Port a is a serial entrepreneur and business Angel. He co-founded and successfully exited Contovista, a 2013 fintech pioneer, and nowadays is active as a co-founder and CEO at Norm , a startup which wants to help drive the decarbonization in the building sector. Gian holds a MSc in Computer Science from UZH. Gian started Contovista in 2013, and the company quickly garnered so much success and media attention that he had to quit his corporate job. Despite its very small number of employees, Contovista began working with most of the banks in Switzerland. They were acquired by Aduno Group in 2017 for an undisclosed amount, and Contovista’s early investors received a 33x return on their investment. After working a few years solely as a business angel, Gian descended once more into the startup trenches by founding NORM, a company which assesses the energy efficiency, CO₂ emissions and renovation costs of buildings. They saw a need for this product not only because Swiss banks will soon have to mandatorily discuss energy efficiency with clients when issuing mortgages, but also because there was no “centralized” way to improve the energy efficiency of your home outside of finding an energy consultant, who may or may not be acting in their clients’ best interest. The NORM co-founders, of which there are 6, started their business because they wanted to work with tech which had a positive impact on society. They’ve certainly hit the nail on the head with NORM, considering that in Europe 30-40% of all CO₂ emissions come from the building sector. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter ,<a href="https://www.instagram.com/swisspreneur/" rel=
S1 E473 · Tue, February 11, 2025
Timestamps: 1:54 - Doing a master’s degree in China 17:25 - Is VC money right for every startup? 23:30 - How to get Alessandra’s attention as a startup 33:32 - What makes Alessandra invest 42:10 - Investment red flags This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 14th 2025. Click here to purchase your ticket. About Alessandra Agnello: Alessandra Agnello is the principal at ACE Ventures , a VC fund backing early stage Swiss tech founders across the globe. She holds a MSc in Energy and Nuclear Engineering from Politecnico di Torino and worked as an oil trader in Zug and Geneva before joining ACE in 2021. Looking back, Alessandra thinks many of the lessons she learned in oil trading have been useful to her as a VC investor, namely: Having a keen understanding of risk-reward profiles; Being comfortable with losing money; Moving with conviction. As an oil trader or a VC, you’ve got to be confident in your bets. During her chat with Silvan she stressed that VC money is not compatible with every company’s journey, but only with those companies who have a real shot at and are structured for achieving exponential growth, and can therefore deliver “fund returns”. Alessandra has also noticed that founders in Switzerland tend to focus too much on investors, and not enough on customers; she suggests doing the opposite, instead: delivering value, making customers happy and showing traction. If all of that is achieved, says Alessandra, investors will take it upon themselves to reach out to the founders, instead of it happening the other way around. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram ,
S1 E472 · Wed, February 05, 2025
Timestamps: 6:13 - Why culture can’t be copied 12:24 - Hiring fast and well 15:30 - Creating a sense of belonging 17:36 - Making tough decisions for the sake of culture 20:36 - Being clear about your values About Victoria Ransom: Victoria Ransom is the co-founder of Wildfire, a social marketing software-as-a-service company which was acquired by Google, and of Prisma , a global virtual school (grades 4-12). She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and worked as a Financial Analyst at Morgan Stanley before co-founding Access Trips, the travel startup that led her to creating Wildfire. During her chat with us, Victoria reflected back on the values which sustained Wildfire and which drive Prisma nowadays. She thinks they boil down to 5 characteristics: Being non-hierarchical (though this also created some problems further down the line at Wildfire); Being transparent, i.e. sharing both the good and the bad with your employees; Being scrappy, or resourceful: even though Wildfire’s biggest competitor raised about 10x more money, Wildfire still beat them, because they knew how to do more with less; Encouraging innovation and accepting failure, i.e. showing enthusiasm for employees who decide to try new things, and understanding that it’s okay if these experiments fail; Being humble and down to earth. Victoria is not surprised that the same culture reproduced itself at Prisma, since startup cultures are, in her opinion, a reflection of the founders’ values. When it comes to maintaining your culture, Victoria thinks this can be achieved by ensuring 4 things: That you hire the right people; That you often reward the people who live up to your values; That you are quick to fire those who don’t; That you yourself are seen upholding these values. This means making tough decisions at times, like when Victoria had to fire their top sales person at Wildfire. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter ,
S1 E471 · Wed, January 29, 2025
Timestamps: 13:18 - Splitting shares with your co-founders 24:42 - Have they hit product-market fit? 30:48 - Getting Alex Ilic as an advisor and investor 34:43 - Giving an advisor phantom stocks 38:20 - Getting acquired by BowFlex About Joel Roos & Ben Simon: Joel Roos and Ben Simon are the co-founders of VAY, a startup offering motion tracking technology for fitness and physical therapy. Joel holds a MSc in Robotics Systems and Control from ETH and worked at Rapyuta Robotics before co-founding VAY in 2018. Ben holds an MA in Accounting and Finance from HSG and worked for atfinity and EY before co-founding VAY with Joel. VAY digitizes human movements through human motion analysis, to make products more competitive, immersive, and intelligent. They provide real-time tracking and audio feedback from any device and camera. Their target industry is physical therapy, rehabilitation, and digital health apps. VAY was acquired by Nautilus (now called Bowflex ) in 2021 for an undisclosed amount. Alex Ilic is one of their board advisors. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E468 · Wed, January 22, 2025
Timestamps: 3:26 - Getting an MBA or building a startup? 8:44 - Guy’s irrational love for Apple 14:05 - Giving startups advice in exchange for stocks 22:00 - What makes a remarkable person? About Guy Kawasaki: Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva and the creator of the Remarkable People podcast . He is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), and adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales. He was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. He has written Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and eleven other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College. During his chat with Silvan, Guy recalled his “religious experience” witnessing Mac products at work for the first time, explained why he thinks MBAs may be a hindrance to your entrepreneurial success, and also reflected on why becoming remarkable means giving up a work-life balance. On his podcast, Remarkable People, he’s interviewed the likes of Tim Ferriss, Gary V, Jane Goodall and Neil Degrasse Tyson. He makes no advertising money on his podcast and in fact spends 1-2K on producing each episode, but is glad to do so: there’s no other hobby that could bring him as much joy as this one (except, perhaps, surfing). The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a hre
S1 E469 · Wed, January 15, 2025
Timestamps: 4:19 - Die Forschung nach einem Psoriasis Medikament 9:45 - Biogen beteiligt sich an der Forschung nach MS Medikament 32:22 - Das OYM - Ein wissenschaftlicher Approach zum Spitzensport 44:05 - Das Businessmodell hinter dem OYM 48:50 - Erfolg trotz Gegenwind - gestärkt durch die Kritiker Über Hans-Peter Strebel: Hans-Peter Strebel ist der Gründer von Fumapharm, einem Unternehmen, das ein bahnbrechendes Medikament zur Behandlung von Psoriasis und Multipler Sklerose (MS) entwickelt hat. Sein Weg führte von einer kleinen Apotheke im aargauischen Muri bis zum erfolgreichen Verkauf von Fumapharm an Biogen . Strebel gründete auch das OYM , ein hochmodernes Sportzentrum in der Schweiz, das seine Leidenschaft für Innovation und einen wissenschaftlich fundierten Ansatz für sportliche Leistungen widerspiegelt. Das Titelbild wurde von www.smartportrait.io bearbeitet. Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.
S1 E468 · Wed, January 08, 2025
Timestamps: 10:22 - Defining and testing the Ideal Customer Profile 13:11 - Does ICP vary from B2B to B2C? 20:40 - Metrics that prove you’ve hit PMF 30:29 - When is it time to start scaling? About Laurent Decrue & Boris Manhart: Laurent Decrue is the co-founder of the moving company MOVU and the software company Holycode , and the former CEO at Bexio . Currently he is active as CFO and co-CEO at Holycode. He holds an MBA from the University of Basel and previously worked at DeinDeal. Boris Manhart is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Growth Unltd , a company that helps scale your business. He was previously involved with CodeCheck and Numbrs, and studied for a couple of years at the Universität Zürich. During their chat with Silvan, they discussed how to achieve the all-coveted product-market fit. Naturally, this journey starts with defining and testing your ICP, i.e. your Ideal Customer Profile: You’ll create an ICP in your head based on assumptions, at the beginning. That’s normal. You might even be more or less right. But you can’t rely on your intuition alone; First of all, niche down. Go for a smaller market than the one you had in mind; Then conduct interviews to find out if it’s the right market. This is how you can actually test all your customer development assumptions. Once you’ve more or less figured out your ICP based on real customer data, you can start thinking about metrics. Which ones can tell you if you’re really selling your product/service to the right market? Boris and Laurent don’t like the common overreliance on figures like Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) or the 1M ARR benchmark. They both prefer to use the Sean Ellis test, which consists of asking people how disappointed they’d be if they could never use your product again. But don’t get too hung up on the “40% were very disappointed” metric one sometimes sees floating around: each company is its own unique case. It’s often considered that once PMF is reached (or, at least, once you reach it for the first of many times), that’s when you should start scaling your company. But you might want to think carefully about how to go about it: during his chat with us, Laurent shared his story of how Holycode made the mistake of hiring 2 new sales people in Sw
S1 E467 · Sun, January 05, 2025
Timestamps: 12:15 - Why expand to Germany first 16:19 - The differences between Germany and Switzerland 19:15 - The minimum budget for expanding to Germany 20:42 - Changing pricing for the German market 26:49 - The main challenge of expanding to Germany This episode was co-produced with Switzerland Global Enterprise . About Britta Thiele-Klapproth & Tobias Britt: Britta Thiele-Klapproth is the Head of Export and Investment Promotion at Swiss Business Hub Germany , helping Swiss companies do business in Germany. Tobias Britt is the founder and CEO of iunctum , which supports companies to create digital twins by running cloud solutions. During their chat with Silvan, Britta and Tobias discussed expanding to Germany. Although it makes total sense to start with your homemarket of Switzerland, to test the waters and iterate, if you want to scale your company up and grow sustainably, you need to go beyond Swiss borders. But why expand to Germany first? Germany is the only EU country which is 10x bigger than Switzerland, and also (obviously) a German-speaking nation. Testing the waters and optimizing your product never stops. You do it when you first build the product, and you do it every time you enter a new market. Testing your product within Europe is beneficial because of the cultural proximity. What are the differences between Germany and Switzerland? Switzerland is so small, everyone knows everyone. Potential business partners like to establish trust firmly before jumping on a venture together. The same can be said for Germany, despite its larger size. However, Germans are, stereotypically, louder, more self-confident, and more aggressive in regards to company acquisitions. The modest, shy Swiss mentality may mean you run the risk of not being heard. Definitely do not plan on expanding your Swiss company to Switzerland without first allocating a budget to explore the German market, but neither Britta nor Tobias can give you a minimum budget, because it highly depends on the industry. Swiss Business Hub Germany can help you tailor a solution to your specific industry needs. </
S1 E466 · Wed, January 01, 2025
Timestamps: 1:34 - Over 100 years of family entrepreneurship 11:40 - Why start foodyoung? 17:34 - Changes in the food industry 29:12 - Expanding to the US 35:42 - European and American investors About Abouzar Rahmani: Abouzar Rahmani is the co-founder and CEO of FoodYoung , a consumer food innovation company developing high-quality, clean, and sustainable food solutions. He is originally from Iran and holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from UBI Business School, Brussels. He worked for a few years at Mani Foods Industry LLC, his family’s business (which was founded in 1877), before starting FoodYoung in 2012. Abouzar created FoodYoung for two reasons: firstly, because he wanted to provide entrepreneurs with the resources and support that he thought were lacking, and secondly because Abouzar himself saw a significant improvement in his health through a change of lifestyle, having lost 35kg. FoodYoung develops and commercializes food solutions that are inflammatory oil-free, have no refined sugar, are additive free, non-GMO, gluten-free, organic, plant-rich, made with fairly traded ingredients, and packaged sustainably. Throughout his years at FoodYoung he has found that food trends tend to happen in reaction to overconsumption patterns: gluten-free is trendy in Italy, meat-free in Germany, dairy-free in Switzerland, and sugar-free in America. At FoodYoung Abouzar works with 3 types of customers: Big food retailers and large corporates looking for innovation, but without the inhouse capacity to develop it Scaleups in the food space New startups with revolutionary ideas In the case of this last group, FoodYoung takes equity through their venture studio and helps them build their business. With the first two groups, there is an amount paid for FoodYoung’s services. In no case do they take a cut from the sales of their customers. Resources Mentioned: Remarkable notepad Think again , Adam Grant Zero to one , Peter Thiel The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter
S1 E465 · Sun, December 29, 2024
Timestamps: 10:34 - What is high precision electronics manufacturing? 17:52 - How to understand the problems of potential customers 22:03 - Giving robots proximity sensors 26:55 - Inveel’s fundraising strategy 33:38 - The money candle and the motivation candle This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place next year on May 14th 2025. Click here to purchase your ticket. About Barbara Horvath: Barbara Horvath is the co-founder and CEO of Inveel , a startup providing technology for low-cost and high speed production of extreme-high resolution printed electronics. She holds a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and worked as a researcher at the National Institute for Materials Science (Japan), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) and the Paul Scherrer Institut (Zurich) before starting Inveel in 2024. Inveel fabricates 100 nm - 2 µm linewidth wires and electrodes with low resistivity — this what they term their “high precision electronics”. At first they struggled with finding a market, since the applications for their tech were very numerous, but eventually settled on robotics. Inveel adds value to a robot by basically giving it another layer of “skin”, full of “nerve endings”, which help the robot better understand how it is interacting with the world. For instance: If a robot is holding an egg, having an Inveel skin is useful to know how much pressure to apply in order to maintain grip but not crush the egg. If the egg starts slipping, the robot will know because it will feel the egg in different parts of their “hand”, and can adjust the movements of their “hand” to prevent the egg from escaping their grasp. If a robot bumps their knee, it is very easy for their whole balance to be thrown off and for them to fall over. If their knee is wearing an Inveel skin, the robot can react faster to the perception of having bumped it and more quickly readjust their body posture so as not to fall down. If a robot needs to go up and down stairs, or walk in terrain where there are voluminous rocks, having an Inveel skin on the soles of their “feet” will help them ascertain whether they’re placing their “feet” correctly on the steps of the stairs, and will help them quickly realize they’ve stepped on a rock, and again adapt their body posture so as not to fall over. Inveel skins also give robots proximity sensors, which allow them to sense if a person (or object) is nearby. Cu
S1 E464 · Wed, December 25, 2024
Timestamps: 2:08 - An infamous meeting with Japanese business people 12:13 - A sock subscription in the 90s? 19:50 - Getting raw materials from all over the globe 37:51 - Tracking customer metrics in the 90s 39:33 - Bootstrapping in e-commerce This episode was co-produced with EO Zürich . Check out their upcoming event, Entrepreneurs Summit 2025 . About Samy Liechti: Samy Liechti is a co-founder and the former CEO of BLACKSOCKS , the Swiss e-commerce sock company that invented the “sockscription” back in 1999. He holds a BA in Business Administration from HSG and worked for marketing agencies like Leo Burnett, Burson-Marsteller and Wirz before starting BLACKSOCKS in 1999. It all began when Samy found himself at a tea ceremony, after a business meeting with some Japanese clients, where he had to take off his shoes, and embarrassingly found he was wearing mismatched socks. The solution to the problem of forgetting to replace old socks was, in his mind, an online sock subscription — but it was 1999: if you sold socks, you did it on catalogs or through the phone; e-commerce was still called e-business back then, and vanishingly few people ever bought anything online. To make matters even more difficult, Samy’s co-founder quit after a few months. But none of these deterrents could stop Samy, and 6 months after the official launch of the company, BLACKSOCKS had already 1000 customers. 20 years in, some of their sock models have been sold millions of times. In 2023 BLACKSOCKS was acquired by Rohner Socks, and Samy left the company. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram ,<a href="https://www.facebook.com/swisspreneur/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"
S1 E463 · Sun, December 22, 2024
Timestamps: 4:35 - Similarities between entrepreneurship and academia 9:02 - What are photonic integrated circuits? 16:07 - Approaching customers from different industries 17:09 - Why Lightium is still in beta stage 18:51 - What business model do they plan on adopting? This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place next year on May 14th 2025. Click here to purchase your ticket. About Frédéric Loizeau: Frédéric Loizeau is the co-founder and CRO of Lightium , a Swiss startup enabling the next generation of photonic integrated circuits. He holds a PhD in Microsystems from EPFL and worked as a researcher at Stanford and as a key account manager at Sensirion and Business & Technology Development Manager at CSEM before starting Lightium in 2023. Lightium provides production-grade TFLN PIC foundry services to customers in the datacom, telecom, AI, Quantum, and aerospace industries. What does this mean? It means they manufacture photonic integrated circuits, which are essential to making the transfer of information faster. This is relevant for fiber optic internet, in the telecom industry, but also quite relevant for space satellites. Lastly, it’s crucial for AI: the recent developments in this field have increased our need not only for computing power (which NVIDIA solved by providing their GPUs to data centers), but also for greater bandwidth — that’s where Lightium’s tech comes in. They frame their technology as a service, through which people from different industries can design their own photonic integrated circuits that will then be manufactured by the Lightium team. Lightium has had great success since the very beginning: when they were still working on their idea at the CSEM research center and tentatively reaching out to customers asking for letters of recommendation, they got cheques instead. Nowadays their success continues: they recently raised a CHF 7M seed round. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter ,<a href="https://www.instagram.com/swisspreneur/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" targe
S1 E462 · Wed, December 18, 2024
Timestamps: 3:52 - Is Switzerland a better version of Germany? 20:55 - Choosing an industry out of many use cases 24:06 - A business model for robotics 26:28 - Doing software and hardware simultaneously 31:51 - Getting Jeff Bezos as an investor About Marko Bjelonic: Marko Bjelonic is the co-founder and CEO of Swiss-Mile , a deep tech ETH spin-off connecting AI with the physical world through autonomous machines. He holds a PhD in Robotics from ETH and worked as a researcher at NCCR Robotics, NCCR Digital Fabrication and the Robotic Systems Lab (ETH), before starting Swiss-Mile in 2023. Marko was born in Yugoslavia and left the country as a child, together with his family, to escape the Yugoslav wars, which started in 1990. Growing up as an immigrant in Germany, he helped his dad recover from job loss by encouraging him to start his own business and helping him with digitization and with the linguistic aspect. This company was eventually sold, giving Marko an advantageous small business experience. In 2023 he started Swiss-Mile with friends and colleagues he’d known since 2018. Their USP was simple: they were incorporating neural networks on wheeled-legged robots, helping them to navigate complex environments. Their robots can walk, drive, stand upright, open doors, and manipulate packages. Ever since launch, they’ve had a huge amount of success on social media — their videos have gotten a total of 100M views. This, of course, resulted in over 150 companies reaching out to them to inquire about their product, with leads coming in on a daily basis. With such an innovative and useful product, Marko and his team had trouble picking the best industries to focus on. After much reflection and many feedback loops with their leads, they decided on security and logistics. When it comes to the security industry, Swiss-Mile robots are useful for maintaining critical infrastructure which must be checked 24/7, since this is a boring, repetitive job for which it is harder and harder to find human workers. In the logistics field, the operations which take place inside warehouses are already quite automated, but the transportation of merchandise from warehouses to the outside world is not, because that is a much more complex environment for a robot to navigate — but not too complex for Swiss-Mile robots! Swiss-Mile has had astounding fundraising success. They raised a $3.5M pre-seed round in 2023, and then a $22M seed round in 2024, co-led by Jeff Bezos and the Chinese fund HongShan. The cover portrait was edited by www
S1 E461 · Wed, December 11, 2024
Timestamps: 8:48 - Building a startup in tissue engineering 11:23 - Building a foodtech venture studio 15:49 - The underrated challenge of making phone calls every day 23:44 - Why having an analytical mind is crucial 26:41 - The importance of mentorship This episode was co-produced with the Female Founders Initiative . The conversation originally took place at the Rise Up Summit 2024 . Answer our quick questionnaire about entrepreneurial skills here . About Lida Ahmadi & Adam Korczak: Lida Ahmadi is the founder of Sproutd , a foodtech venture studio partnering with corporates to tackle current food system challenges. She holds an MA in Accounting and Finance from HSG and co-founded Snäx in 2018 (acquired by FELFEL in 2023) before beginning her new venture in 2024. Adam Korczak is the co-founder and CEO at Treeless , an ETH Zurich Spin-off developing microorganism-based cellulose materials with the goal to end plastic pollution. He obtained his education in Biomedical/Medical Engineering at ETH and incorporated the company in 2023. During their chat with Merle, Lida and Adam reflected on the skills which have bolstered their unique founder journeys. The abilities needed to build a successful startup were not always what this pair of founders expected: Lida recalls being surprised and feeling challenged by the need to develop her analytical mind and to gain the habit of making data-based decisions, and Adam remembered how difficult it was at first to have to make such a inordinate amount of phone calls every single day. Both founders value the technical skills they learned in school, but most of all they appreciate how their education taught them resilience — the ability to cope with stress. Adam continues to scale Treeless successfully and Lida is currently working on a new project that is still in stealth mode. Resources Mentioned: <a href="https://www.amazon.de/Thinking-Fast-International-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/03745
S1 E460 · Sun, December 08, 2024
Timestamps: 8:43 - Aligning co-founder incentives with company success 18:21 - How can radars track our breathing? 25:45 - Partnering up with Innosuisse 30:25 - B2B selling to hospitals 33:47 - Selling to an industry in crisis This episode was co-produced with Innosuisse . About Cyrill Gyger: Cyrill Gyger is the co-founder and CEO of QUMEA , a company that offers digital mobility monitoring for patient safety. Cyrill holds an MSc in Engineering from Berner Fachhochschule BFH and worked for Zühlke Group and Xovis before starting QUMEA in 2019. QUMEA uses a one-of-a-kind sensor and companion software to continuously monitor the activity and mobility of every patient inside a hospital or care facility, and is able to automatically call for help, depending on the individual needs of each patient. This prevents falls, makes therapy success measurable, improves patient outcomes and noticeably relieves the burden on care. Their radar is capable of sending signals of extremely different wavelengths in very quick succession, which allows them to measure whether the patient is walking about the room, but also whether the patient is even breathing. The fact that their product is a radar, and not computer vision, enables the assurance of data protection. QUMEA sells mostly to public hospitals in Switzerland, Germany and Sweden. Their usual first point of contact are nurses, who are also the product’s users. QUMEA’s very clear ROI is what gets them the attention of these institutions, but they still have to bear with rather long sale cycles (due to the nature of public sector constraints, and to the amount of stakeholders within each hospital), and they almost always have to go through a pilot phase with their prospective customers first. Cyrill is a strong believer in aligning co-founder incentives with the success of their company, which is why all 4 co-founders have invested their own money to buy shares from QUMEA. Other employees have also done so. This way, everyone rows in the same direction and gives it their all, because if the company tanks, it’s their money that’s gone forever, too. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter
S1 E459 · Wed, December 04, 2024
Timestamps: 04:02 - Die Integration der Credit Suisse – ein Mammutprojekt 06:27 - Vom Fussballtraum zum Banker 19:32 - Leadership bei UBS: Strategie und Glaubwürdigkeit 29:36 - Verantwortung für die Schweiz und die Gesellschaft 35:23 - Sacrifice for Success: Ermottis Rat an junge Talente Über Sergio P. Ermotti: Sergio P. Ermotti , Group CEO der UBS , ist eine der prägendsten Persönlichkeiten der globalen Finanzwelt. Geboren und aufgewachsen im Tessin, träumte er zunächst von einer Karriere als Fussballprofi, bevor er im Banking seine wahre Leidenschaft fand. Seine beeindruckende Laufbahn führte ihn von der lokalen Corner Bank über Stationen in London und New York bis an die Spitze der UBS. Besonders bekannt ist Ermotti für seine Führungsrolle bei der Integration der Credit Suisse, ein Meilenstein, der ihn sowohl beruflich als auch persönlich herausgefordert hat. Mit klarer Vision und unermüdlichem Einsatz steht er für Leadership, Nachhaltigkeit und soziale Verantwortung – Werte, die er in der globalen Finanzbranche eindrucksvoll vorlebt. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, week
S1 E458 · Sun, December 01, 2024
Timestamps: 6:17 - Why go into medicine 11:24 - How to be a doctor and an entrepreneur 14:49 - Being a successful leader 31:11 - Staying healthy and stress-free 34:30 - Being an influencer doctor Resources Mentioned: Homo Faber, Max Frisch This episode was co-produced with smzh , your independent go-to partner in all matters relating to finance. About Florim Cuculi: Florim Cuculi is a Swiss cardiologist and chief of the cardiology department at Luzerner Kantonsspital . He was born in the Republic of North Macedonia in 1976 and moved to Switzerland when he was 14. He initially had a difficult time in Switzerland, having no friends and speaking no German, but eventually worked his way to fluency and was moved from Realschule to Sekundarschule by an observant teacher, who realized his potential. In 2019 Florim established the Cardio Center Luzern , a new cardiology practice in the city center of Lucerne. He is also active on social media , where he often gives health advice. During his chat with Silvan, he discussed his rules for good leadership: Fairness: value the people who work harder and achieve better results; Humility: realize that you are not perfect, and be willing to listen to criticism (which is only possible if you have cultivated the kind of psychological safety that naturally allows your underlings to speak up); Understanding: be willing to support and go easy on team members who are experiencing personal crises; Know that there is no golden rule. Often you’ll have to rely on your intuition. SMZH: tailor-made .holistic. for you. smzh is an independent financial services provider who is assisting both pr
S1 E457 · Wed, November 27, 2024
Timestamps: 13:40 - The rental car industry 20:16 - Why rent a car? 22:00 - Do people wreck FINN cars? 26:25 - The FINN car insurance 37:42 - Equity vs debt financing About Nikolai Schröder: Nikolai Schröder is the co-founder and COO of FINN , a German car subscription startup. He holds a MSc in Industrial Engineering from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and previously worked as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group before starting FINN in 2019. FINN offers a car subscription which includes everything: the vehicle, insurance and maintenance. With traditional car purchases, you receive the financing (if you require a loan) from one person, insure the car with another person, send it to be repaired by a third person, etc., whereas with FINN you pay the same amount each month and can safely budget for it. FINN is aiming to become profitable by the end of 2024. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E456 · Sun, November 24, 2024
Timestamps: 5:19 - Helvetia Insurance teams up with ETH Juniors 7:22 - Accessing the Swiss luxury watch market 10:45 - A business model for luxury watch NFTs 14:47 - Acquiring customers 20:15 - Why Leonie wanted her business to be acquired This episode was co-produced with the Female Founders Initiative . About Leonie Flückiger: Leonie Flückiger is a co-founder of Adresta , a company which creates digital certificates for luxury watches. She holds a MSc in Micro- and Nanosystems from ETH and previously worked for ETH Juniors and BCG before starting Adresta in 2019. Adresta is a Swiss tech company redefining the ownership experience by creating digital certificates or NFTs for physical products purchased and owned by end consumers. The Adresta ecosystem embeds an end2end digital watch insurance process, enabling owners to get insurance for their watch in under 90 seconds. The NFT proves the product's authenticity and represents a tamperproof, scarce, and tradable asset. The company was acquired in Autumn 2022 by Bucherer, one of the world's largest retailers of luxury watches and jewelry. While the Adresta CEO, Mathew Chittazhathu, stayed on, Leonie preferred to take a new consulting job at McKinsey. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin
S1 E455 · Wed, November 20, 2024
Timestamps: 10:13 - Deep Tech Nation’s ambitious goals for Switzerland 13:48 - Venture Hub Switzerland 19:07 - What’s the Scaleup Booster? 27:35 - How is Deep Tech Nation financed? 38:12 - Do all Swiss startups need to make it big? This episode was co-produced with the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation . About Joanne Sieber: Joanne Sieber is the CEO of the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation , which acts as a catalyst for the Swiss innovation ecosystem. She holds an MA in International Management from HSG. Prior to joining the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation in 2023, Joanne worked in a number of industries, from microcredit to consultancies, and even ran her own sandstone business. The Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation is financed in part by their founding partners, UBS and Swisscom, and in part by their corporate partners, like SwissRe, Rolex and SIX. Their mission is to help Switzerland successfully commercialize Swiss innovation, through growth financing (covered by their Venture Hub Switzerland, which collaborates with Swiss pension funds) and by working to change the regulatory framework surrounding these questions. They want to make Switzerland the number 1 deeptech nation worldwide, and have committed themselves to help raise CHF 50B in VC capital for Swiss startups and to help create 100K jobs in Switzerland within the next 10 years. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/10531767/admin/" rel="ugc no
S1 E454 · Sun, November 17, 2024
Timestamps: 3:31 - Athletes are their own entrepreneurs 10:01 - Upfront investments for tourism infrastructure 15:44 - How to host a good event 21:29 - What does sustainability mean in business? 26:30 - Sustainability is not a marketing topic This episode was co-produced by smzh , your independent go-to partner in all matters relating to finance. About Pascal Jenny: Pascal Jenny is the former managing director and current president at Arosa Tourismus . He holds a BA in business administration from UZH and worked in Swiss sports television before founding Arosa Tourismus in 2008. He’s also the founder of tfy-consult, a company offering sustainability checks for other businesses, and is active as a board member at smzh. Pascal’s connection to the Arosa region is long-standing: he vacationed there every single Summer until he was 25, and his great-great-grandfather used to be a priest there, as well. As a young person, he always enjoyed Arosa, but found its tourism industry lacking in certain respects, which motivated him to create a business which not only functioned as a hotel but also hosted events and offered experiences, and, most importantly, which measured its results and iterated accordingly. Sustainability is a very important topic for Pascal, not only ecologically but also socially and economically. Arosa’s investors are aware that they’re unlikely to get back their investment, but still they offer their money because they want to build something beautiful. And when it comes to the relationship between Pascal’s business and the local Arosa population, clear and constant communication is key — and it served Pascal and his team well both when they came up with the idea to create a bear sanctuary, and when they thought of doing a gay ski week. Arosa Tourismus very intentionally does not invest much on social media marketing in order to avoid swaths of mass tourism coming their way. Pascal stepped down from his managing director role in 2020 and is nowadays involved solely as president. SMZH: tailor-made .holistic. for you. smzh is an independent financial services provider who is assisting both private and corporate clients with individual advice in the areas of finance & investments, pensions, mortgages, insurance, real estate and tax & law. Through a 360° Check-Up, smzh ensures that you receive customized and comprehensive financial planning according to your initial situation and with a view to achieving your
S1 E453 · Wed, November 13, 2024
Timestamps: 5:22 - From the UK to Switzerland 11:29 - The dark genome and chronic diseases 17:35 - HTX001 and heart failure 26:44 - Sticking to grants at first 34:32 - Managing two separate teams This episode was sponsored by smzh , your independent go-to partner in all matters relating to finance. About Samir Ounzain: Samir Ounzain is the co-founder and CEO of HAYA Therapeutics , a precision medicines company targeting the regulatory genome for cardiovascular diseases, fibrosis and cancer. He holds a PhD from the University of Leicester and was previously a researcher at Imperial College London, University College London and CHUV Lausanne University Hospital before starting HAYA in 2019, together with his co-founder Daniel Blessing. Early on in his academic career Samir studied the so-called “dark genome” (also known as the “regulatory genome”), which at the time of discovery (2001) was considered “junk DNA”, i.e. the 98% of our DNA that apparently did not make or in any way affect our genes. More recent scientific research has discovered that this regulatory genome is key to understanding how our genes interact with our environment, and can therefore be useful in targeting environment-caused diseases like heart failure and cancer. HAYA’s lead therapeutic candidate is HTX-001, an antisense oligonucleotide targeting Wisper, which is a tissue and cell-specific cardiac lncRNA known to play a role in heart failure. The company is also developing a pipeline of lncRNA-targeting candidates for the cell-specific treatment of diseases in other tissues, including the lungs and the microenvironment of solid tumor cancers. The added benefit of their drugs is that by targeting the “dark” 98%, instead of the 2%, they result in zero side effects: conventional drugs help patients treat their diseases but they also produce secondary unwanted effects because the proteins that they are targeting (in our 2%) are also responsible for other functions — this same issue does not exist when it comes to drugs which interact with the dark genome. HAYA Therapeutics is headquartered at the life sciences park Biopôle, in Lausanne, with additional laboratory facilities at JLABS, San Diego. They have raised a total of $25M in funding backed by a strong consortium of investors, including Broadview Ventures, Apollo Health Ventures, 4SeeVentures, BioInnovator, Bernina Bioinvest, Humboldt and Schroder Adveq. This cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io <br /
S1 E452 · Sun, November 10, 2024
Timestamps: 1:53 - Accidentally inventing neural networks 7:19 - What does “manukai” mean? 19:44 - Competition in the AI industry 27:35 - Fundraising for AI 32:34 - Does being a spin-off pay off? This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place next year on May 14th 2025. Click here to purchase your ticket. About Pascal Weber: Pascal Weber is the co-founder and CEO of Manukai , an ETH spin-off automating repetitive programming tasks by leveraging available production data. He holds a PhD in Computational Science and Engineering from ETH and worked at Harvard and the ETH AI Center before starting Manukai in 2023. The Manukai name comes from the agglutination of “manu”, short for “manufacturing”, and “kaizen”, a Japanese term often used to refer to the principle of continuous improvement in manufacturing. Manukai’s goal is to take each and every task that a polymechanic may be responsible for and automate them, while still requiring confirmation from the technician — think of it like AI playing autocomplete, and you telling it “yes” or “no”. This technology will help improve quality in these processes and increase their speed. It will also free the polymechanic to spend more of his or her time doing creative work, instead of repetitive, manual drudgery. This cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and
S1 E451 · Thu, November 07, 2024
Timestamps: 8:20 - The current state of the lab meat industry 14:10 - Does lab meat have the same nutritional value & taste? 15:40 - Sallea’s go-to-market strategy 17:45 - When all your partners are also startups 20:30 - What happens to the farmers? This episode was sponsored by NordPass . Use code “swisspreneur” at checkout to get 30% off Business and Teams plans. About Nicole Kleger: Nicole Kleger is the co-founder and CTO at sallea, a biotech startup enabling the cultivation of high-value, textured whole cuts of (lab) meat and fish. She holds a PhD in Materials Science from ETH and has been a Sports Instructor at Akademischer Sportverband Zürich since 2015. She started sallea in 2022. sallea’s propriety scaffolds enable the cultivation of whole cuts of meat and fish, as opposed to the thin layers currently being produced. This in turn will enable the sale and consumption of these products in a non-processed way: we’ll be able to eat a lean fillet of lab meat, instead of eating lab meat sausage or ground lab meat. Furthermore, sallea’s scaffolding platform allows each of their customers to pre-define the texture, nutritional value, taste, and other key attributes of the end product. They are currently raising CHF 2.2M in external funds. This cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s
S1 E450 · Sun, November 03, 2024
Timestamps: 2:14 - Why go into banking in 2008? 10:52 - Working with college students and retirees 20:00 - How does smzh make money? 24:41 - Sponsoring events to acquire new clients 44:20 - Getting to 60K clients This episode was co-produced with smzh . About Gzim Hasani: Gzim Hasani is the CEO of and a partner at smzh , an independent financial advisory company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. He holds a MSc in Banking and Finance and started his career working for Credit Suisse and Julius Baer, before venturing into entrepreneurship. In 2018, Hasani left the bank and founded Impegno & Partners, before then taking over smzh in 2019. smzh’s goal is to join all types of financial advisory in one, thereby truly putting the customer in the driving seat, by allowing him or her to make holistic decisions. They offer advice in the areas of finance and investments, pensions, mortgages, insurance, real estate, and tax and law. smzh’s vision is to offer the best possible advice to all clients. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E449 · Wed, October 30, 2024
Timestamps: 8:03 - Time-of-flight technology 15:43 - Whom do semiconductor companies sell to? 19:14 - Changing from CEO to CTO 29:54 - Managing investor expectations 32:54 - Going to the moon Check out our FREE go-to-market masterclass with Ankita Mehta and Soumya Dash. About Jürg Jost: Jürg Jost is the founder, former CEO and current CTO of the semiconductor manufacturer Spacetek Technology . He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Berner Fachhochschule BFH. Prior to starting Spacetek, Jürg worked as Head of Electrical Engineering Space Research & Planetary Sciences at the University of Bern. Spacetek designs and builds time-of-flight mass spectrometers (TOF-MS), bringing space technology to Earth. Their focus is semiconductor manufacturing and the issues of process engineers, end-users (foundries) and OEMs (wafer fab equipment). In 2023, Spacetek closed its seed financing round with Swisscom Ventures and the Moonshot Fund (from Spectrum Value Management), and they also accelerated their commercial developments with leading semiconductor manufacturers. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E448 · Wed, October 23, 2024
Timestamps: 4:38 - Gaëlle’s craziest year 9:56 - Turning metal into foam 16:34 - High innovative customers 25:23 - Hiring people as a 6 month year old company 29:03 - Having the team be 2/3s women Check out our FREE go-to-market masterclass . About Gaëlle Andreatta: Gaëlle Andreatta is the co-founder and CTO of apheros , a startup manufacturing metal foams for thermal, catalysis, and battery applications. She holds a PhD in Physics from Pierre and Marie Curie University and an MBA from ETH/HSG. Gaëlle worked for companies like Oxford Nanopore Technologies and CSEM before co-founding apheros in 2023. apheros’ novel metal foams offer unprecedented properties due to their extremely high surface area and low density. The best way Gaëlle has of explaining how metal gets turned into a foam to people with little scientific background is through the metaphor of making meringue. apheros makes metal foams in a way that is “similar” to how you would froth your egg white. They foam their metal, shape it, and then use very high temperatures to set the shape. Their metal foam is useful for cooling down certain materials (in a similar way to how liquid cooling works), for kickstarting certain chemical reactions, and for ensuring the current collectors in lithium ion batteries work optimally. apheros is currently working closely with between 60 to 70 customers, and in talks with a dozen more. Their team is 2/3s women, which Gaëlle attributes not to any conscious decision on their part but to the fact that both co-founders are women, which probably encourages female applicants to apply. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/10531767/admi
S1 E447 · Sun, October 20, 2024
Timestamps: 3:57 - From neuportal to Houzy 10:20 - Building up new revenue streams over time 13:18 - Is Switzerland too small a market? 20:45 - Getting acquired by UBS and Baloise 32:43 - Did they make money out of the deal? This episode was co-produced with smzh , your independent go-to partner in all matters relating to finance. About Stefan Schärer: Stefan Schärer is the co-founder and former CEO of the proptech startup Houzy . Stefan previously founded the software company Fairgate and the real estate project management company Neubau Portal, and was briefly the CEO of Moneyhouse AG, before founding Houzy in 2017. Houzy offers services like property search, mortgage comparison, a renovation costs check and energy efficiency optimization. In the beginning they chose not to overspend on complex marketing tools and instead worked hard to optimize their SEO, which gradually became easier as they drew more users to the platform. Stefan credits Houzy’s great marketing and product teams, as well as their smart money investors, with the success of the company. In 2022 UBS and Baloise acquired a joint majority stake in Houzy, and one year later Stefan stepped down from his CEO role. Nowadays he’s the President of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation. SMZH: tailor-made .holistic. for you. smzh is an independent financial services provider who is assisting both private and corporate clients with individual advice in the areas of finance & investments, pensions, mortgages, insurance, real estate and tax & law. Through a 360° Check-Up, smzh ensures that you receive customized and comprehensive financial planning according to your initial situation and with a view to achieving your wishes and goals, as well as being accompanied by our experts during implementation.
S1 E446 · Wed, October 16, 2024
Timestamps: 5:20 - Workaholics having fun 15:35 - Market validation 33:33 - Why Switzerland is the best headquarters 46:19 - Instilling company values 54:30 - Selling 100% of your shares About Fabio Ronga: Fabio Ronga is the co-founder and CEO of beqom , a cloud-based compensation management solution. He holds a master's degree in Business Information Systems from HEC Lausanne and previously worked at Hyperion (bought by Oracle) and Outlooksoft (bought by SAP) before starting beqom in 2008. Together with his co-founders (including Tanya Jansen and Stephan Pohl, who are still active in the company), Fabio built beqom to solve HR problems he himself had encountered earlier in his career. Serendipitously enough, someone Fabio used to know from Hyperion was on the board of a French company who had built the exact tech that Fabio and his co-founders needed, but was using it for different purposes. beqom was born out of a partnership with that company. Later on, when beqom was coming into its own, it merged with this French company. beqom started out with Swiss headquarters and maintains them to this day. Fabio thinks this helped them be global-minded about their product building from day one: since Switzerland is such a linguistically and culturally fragmented country, Swiss founders cannot rely on their domestic market to keep them in business, like US companies can. In 2022 beqom received a strategic investment of USD 300M from Sumeru Equity Partners. A few years prior, beqom had received another investment from Goldman Sachs, in exchange of which they promised a favorable exit scenario — this was their motivation for the 2022 Sumeru investment. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook
S1 E445 · Sun, October 13, 2024
Timestamps: 9:05 - Chantal’s current startups 13:19 - Why Chantal joined Rheazymes 14:28 - Recycling textiles with enzymes 22:06 - Knowing it was the end 30:59 - Seeing signals early on This episode was co-produced with the Female Founders Initiative . About Chantal Schmelz: Chantal Schmelz is the Chairwoman of the Board, CFO and now also one of the liquidators of Rheiazymes , a cleantech startup that was aiming to leverage the power of molecular recycling. She holds an MA in Marketing, Services and Communication Management and a teaching degree in higher education for economics and law from HSG, and worked for companies like DALI DISCOUNT AG and Netlive IT AG before starting Rheiazymes in 2022. With its proprietary platform technology, Rheiazymes was looking to harness the power of fungi for a wide range of applications and industries, such as making textiles, electronics, and compound packaging recyclable. They were backed by the Migros Pioneer Fund. According to Chantal, Rheiazymes failed because they needed another 3-5 years to get their technology to a point where investors could immediately trust it, and in the meantime they ran out of money to support their core team and hire specialists. In Chantal’s opinion, there are not enough grants and awards in Switzerland for a project of Rheiazymes’ nature.
S1 E444 · Wed, October 09, 2024
Check out our FREE go-to-market masterclass with Ankita Mehta and Soumya Dash. Timestamps: 4:19 - Being an immigrant and being an entrepreneur 7:23 - Convincing your boss to help you start a startup 10:30 - What are chronic wounds? 16:10 - Making personalized therapies affordable 24:00 - The long development cycles in biotech About Priyanka Dutta Passecker: Priyanka Dutta Passecker is the co-founder and CEO of Healiva , a biotech startup using advanced cell therapy to treat acute and chronic wounds. She holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Trinity College Dublin and worked for companies like UCB Pharma, Axol Bioscience Ltd and Bioseutica before starting Healiva in 2020. 2-3% of the elderly suffer from painful venous/arterial leg ulcers and nearly 25% of diabetics may develop diabetic foot ulcers in their lifetimes. This burden is borne by healthcare systems, which spend 2% of their budgets on wound management. Worst of all, about 60% of chronic wounds remain unhealed. That’s why Healiva is such a game changer: they use 3 non-virus-based enzymes from codfish pancreas, which, due to their provenance, are quite stable at room temperature, and therefore can be stored in a liquid form and used as a spray. They’re currently getting ready for pre-clinical studies to prove the safety and efficacy of their product. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and
S1 E443 · Sun, October 06, 2024
Timestamps: 6:05 - The value chain of insurance companies 14:26 - Why having a strategy is essential 20:22 - Is Switzerland digitized enough? 24:22 - Is digitization a generational issue? 35:15 - Being a board member at smzh This episode was co-produced with smzh , your independent go-to partner in all matters relating to finance. About Andreas Krümmel: Andreas Krümmel is the former CEO at Generali Switzerland and a current board member at SMZH , an independent partner in all matters related to finance, insurance, real estate, tax and law, for both private and corporate clients. He holds an MBA from HSG and spent 20 years working in insurance, for companies like Winterthur Group, AXA and Generali. During his chat with Silvan, Andreas discussed his key leadership principles (which boil down to simplifying things to the maximum, and listening before deciding), reminisced over Switzerland’s slow digitization process from the 80s until now, and reflected on the role insurtech startups are playing in today’s landscape. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . SMZH: tailor-made .holistic. for you. smzh is an independent financial services provider who is assisting both private and corporate clients with individual advice in the areas of finance & investments, pensions, mortgages, insurance, real estate and tax & law. Through a 360° Check-Up, smzh ensures that you receive customized and comprehensive financial planning according to your initial situation and with a view to achieving your wishes and goals, as well as being accompanied by our experts during implementation. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram ,
S1 E442 · Wed, October 02, 2024
Timestamps: 6:45 - What is microencapsulation used for? 13:58 - Choosing a use case vs covering operating expenses 21:53 - Why trust matters most in B2B 27:04 - Why hire an external CEO 28:50 - Founders take themselves too seriously This episode was sponsored by NordPass . Use code “swisspreneur” at checkout to get 30% off Business and Teams plans. About Alessandro Ofner: Alessandro Ofner is the co-founder and co-CEO of Microcaps , a startup developing breakthrough technology to naturally encapsulate ingredients and fragrances into visually appealing micro-capsules. He holds a PhD from ETH and started his company in 2018, as soon as he finished his postgraduate studies. Microcaps’ use cases range from nutrition (natural encapsulation of nutrition products to protect ingredients and improve performance), to cosmetics (encapsulation solutions for ethanol-free perfume and serum products) and pharmaceuticals (a patented approach to sustained release with oral and injectable application). To protect their product, they’ve successfully applied for 11 different patents, which makes it so that their partners don’t have to worry about copycats. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our
S1 E441 · Sun, September 29, 2024
Timestamps: 3:00 - Are education and entrepreneurship connected? 13:41 - Switzerland needs growth stage funds 26:20 - Failure culture in Switzerland 33:52 - Female entrepreneurship in Switzerland 41:30 - Where is the Swiss startup ecosystem headed? This episode was co-produced with the Female Founders Initiative . About Regula Buob: Regula Buob is the founder of SoftTec , a consultancy that offers services related to both technical and soft skills. She is also a coach for early stage startups and scale-ups. Regula holds a master’s degree in Special Education and another one in Career Counseling. She founded SoftTec in 2009. Regula went into the education field because it was a way to convince her somewhat conservative father to allow her to study at university — in this field, she could reliably make money. Her background in education is what sets her apart as a startup coach. During her chat with our co-host Merle, Regula discussed why Switzerland supports its startups well in terms of education but not in terms of funding, why she thinks we should invest 1-2% of Switzerland’s pension fund into Swiss startups, and why there is an urgent need to change the Swiss “failure culture”. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest ini
S1 E440 · Wed, September 25, 2024
Timestamps: 7:04 - Tackling a new business topic 18:21 - Getting the incentives right 26:18 - The Maximon business model 34:04 - Maintaining focus as a venture builder 37:09 - Longevity predictions This episode was sponsored by smzh , your independent go-to partner in all matters relating to finance. About Tobias Reichmuth & Marc P. Bernegger: Tobias Reichmuth and Marc P. Bernegger are two serial entrepreneurs and startup investors who together have built Maximon , an incubator for impactful, science-based and scalable companies providing healthy aging and rejuvenation solutions. Tobias holds a PhD in Business Administration from EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht, and Marc holds a master’s degree in Law from UZH. Tobias’ interest in the longevity topic was first sparked back in 2016, when he was studying at the Singularity University, in California, and heard the process of aging referred to as a sickness — which, given the right tools and science, could be combatted. In 2021 he started Maximon together with his friend, Marc. Maximon builds companies along the longevity value-chain, from enablers such as science-based supplements, genetic improvements, and personalized treatments, to necessities such as life-long learning, healthspan-insurances for centennials, to sustainable asset management solutions replacing today’s pensions and co-living for active and healthy seniors. Marc and Tobias also host a longevity conference, called Longevity Investors, which addresses the investor community and brings together science and capital. Maximon holds substantial shares in all of their ventures. This way there is no need for hidden fees, and the incentives of both Maximon and the founders are aligned: their common goal is to increase the value of company shares as much as possible. Founders also receive funding up to Series A, as well as hands-on operational support from Marc and Tobias. Marc and Tobias have invested CHF 10M of their own money into the Maximon fund, and they don’t pay themselves salaries. It’s the long term upside that interests them. SMZH: tailor-made .holistic. for you. smzh is an independent financial services provider who is assisting both private and corporate clients with individual advice in the areas of finance & investments, pensions, mortgages, insurance, real estate and tax & law. Through a 360° Check-Up, smzh ensures that you receive customized and comprehensive financial planning according to your initial situation and w
S1 E439 · Sun, September 22, 2024
Timestamps: 15:12 - Do high income countries neglect culture? 22:59 - Do we need more societal role models? 24:33 - What role does education play? 30:00 - Liechtenstein’s total blackout 45:09 - What threats are coming Switzerland’s way? This episode was co-produced by smzh , your independent go-to partner in all matters relating to finance. About Aurelia Frick: Aurelia Frick is an advisory and board member and the former Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein. She’s got a PhD in Law, but her journey took some unexpected turns. After working in a big law firm in Zurich, she quickly realized that the life of a lawyer wasn’t for her. She felt isolated and bored, missing the chance to interact with people and make a real difference. So she leaped into politics, where she could actually see the impact of her work. She spent 10 years in the government, tackling everything from foreign affairs to culture, and learned a lot about navigating complex environments. Now, she’s on the executive board at SMZH, a company helping people with finance, insurance, real estate, and more. She’s passionate about supporting startups, pushing for better education, and finding new ways to solve old problems. For Aurelia, it’s all about doing what matters and making a real impact, whether it’s in the boardroom or the classroom. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . SMZH: tailor-made .holistic. for you. smzh is an independent financial services provider who is assisting both private and corporate clients with individual advice in the areas of finance & investments, pensions, mortgages, insurance, real estate and tax & law. Through a 360° Check-Up, smzh ensures that you receive customized and comprehensive financial planning according to your initial situation and with a view to achieving your wishes and goals, as well as being accompanied by our experts during implementation. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram ,<a href="https://www.fa
S1 E438 · Wed, September 18, 2024
Timestamps: 0:00 - Die Sinnkriese nach der Karriere 9:20 - Firmen wollen ehemalige Profisportler 20:00 - Das two-sided Platform Model des Athletes Network 32:36 - Was bringt die Zukunft für das Athletes Network Über Beni Huggel: Benni Huggel ist Gründer und Head of Sales bei der Athlete's Network , einer Organisation, die Athleten beim Übergang in ihre Nachsportkarriere unterstützt. Der ehemalige Profifussballer spielte für den FC Basel und die Schweizer Nationalmannschaft, für die er über 40 Länderspiele absolvierte. Nach seinem Rücktritt gründete er die Athlete's Network, um Sportler dabei zu unterstützen, ihre Fähigkeiten und Erfahrungen in die Arbeitswelt einzubringen. Die Idee für das Athlete’s Network kam Beni auf einer Autofahrt im November 2019. Am nächsten Tag schrieb er einen LinkedIn Post darüber und erhielt nicht nur enormen Zuspruch, sondern fand auch seine späteren Mitgründer über diesen Weg. Das Athlete’s Network unterstützt ehemalige Spitzensportler:innen und -sportler beim Einstieg in die Arbeitswelt nach der Sportkarriere. Mit über 2500 Athletinnen und Athleten und über 100 Partnerfirmen funktioniert das Athlete’s Netzwerk wie eine two-sided Plattform, bei der die Partnerfirmen explizit nach Spitzensportlern, weil sie davon überzogen sind, dass diese Fähigkeiten mitbringen, die man nur im Spitzensport lernt. Das sogenannte Athlete’s Mindset - Disziplin, Fokus, Ausdauer, Resilienz - ist für diese Firmen Grund genug, um über fehlende Arbeitserfahrung hinwegzusehen. Das Titelbild wurde von www.smartportrait.io bearbeitet. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for
S1 E437 · Sun, September 15, 2024
Timestamps: 2:10 - Volunteering and traveling 5:46 - Cybersecurity is for everyone 8:58 - Startups and cybersecurity 10:42 - Why do data breaches happen? 21:02 - Is Europe a good place to build a scaleup? This episode was co-produced/sponsored by NordPass . Use code “swisspreneur” at checkout to get 30% off Business and Teams plans. About Karolis Arbaciauskas: Karolis Arbaciauskas is the Head of Product & Business Development at NordPass , a password management solution and part of Nord Security, the world’s leading cybersecurity company. He holds an MA in Economics from The Berlin School of Economics and Law and previously worked for companies like L'Oréal, Nordea and Danske Bank before joining NordPass in 2020. During his chat with Silvan, Karolis tried to dispel the myth that cybersecurity concerns are a milestone which ought only be available to developed scaleups — he thinks being safe online should be something which startups tackle from day one. He also provided insight into the main causes of data breaches, spoke about how cybersecurity and the dark web are connected and introduced the concept of Ransomware as a Service, which basically consists of more skilled hackers building and selling software that less skilled hackers can use to hack their victims. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E436 · Wed, September 11, 2024
Timestamps: 7:13 - The problem with plastic recycling 10:19 - Making plastic recycling cheaper 14:15 - Typical customers for DePoly 18:45 - Going from research to startup 22:12 - Patent strategy and picking your partners About Samantha Anderson: Samantha Anderson is the co-founder and CEO at DePoly , a cleantech startup recycling hard-to-recycle plastic. She’s originally from Canada and holds a PhD in Carbon Capture and Storage from EPFL (her studies being the reason she moved to Switzerland). Sam worked as a researcher for some years before starting DePoly in 2019. DePoly tackles a very pressing issue: out of all plastics produced, 90% are not recycled, but instead get incinerated (resulting in atmospheric pollution), or end up in the ocean (which is how we get microplastics in our food), or simply become litter (and take 500 years to decompose). Only “easy to recycle” plastic items such as bottles or clean packaging are actually recycled. DePoly’s cutting-edge recycling process converts plastics into high-quality raw materials without compromising their quality. Not only is it energy-efficient, but it also has the remarkable ability to handle even the most challenging streams of PET plastic and textiles, including mixed, dirty post-consumer and post-industrial waste that are traditionally considered unrecyclable. This cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E435 · Sun, September 08, 2024
Timestamps: 3:55 - Making a vegan egg replacement in 2024 5:44 - The team behind the food engineering company 8:52 - The B2B clean label food market 10:42 - Solving big supply chain problems 13:20 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Silvan Leibacher: Silvan Leibacher is the co-founder and CEO of Eggfield , a startup replacing eggs in the food industry through plant-based and clean label ingredients. He holds a BSc in Business Management from ZHAW, and previously co-founded the bakery Leibacher Biber-Manufaktur AG in 2010 with his siblings, before starting Eggfield in 2020. During his time at his family bakery, Silvan realized the impact that the use of animal products has on CO2 emissions. While there were well-known alternatives to dairy products, this was not the case for eggs, which motivated Silvan to search for a solution. He found it in History: back in WW2, soldiers were already using aquafaba (which is the water used for boiling chickpeas) as an egg substitute. Together with his food engineer co-founder, Silvan decided to build Eggfield, a company selling clean label egg alternatives based on aquafaba to other companies, which then use them to bake cakes or create sauces. They are not (at least for the moment) interested in going B2C or selling alternatives to scrambled or boiled eggs. Eggfield is currently fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate. Check out their deal to learn more. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io .
S1 E434 · Wed, September 04, 2024
Timestamps: 11:50 - Why not just emit less carbon? 15:33 - Working with concrete recycling plants 24:18 - Biogas and construction sector 29:19 - Splitting roles as a team About Johannes Tiefenthaler: Johannes Tiefenthaler is the co-founder and co-CEO of neustark , a cleantech startup deploying carbon dioxide removal technology. He holds a PhD from ETH and started neustark back in 2019. neustark’s ambition is to remove one million tons of CO2 by 2030. After three years in business, neustark has 10 operational CO2 storage plants, and a dedicated team of over 50 professionals driving this mission forward. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C implies reaching net zero CO2 emissions by 2050 according to the IPCC, and next to substantially reducing emissions, this target will only be possible by globally deploying carbon removal (CDR) solutions at the scale of billions of tons of CO2. They have received a Gold Standard certification for their CDR methodology and have raised a total of $20K in funding over 3 rounds, with Innosuisse and Technology Fund being their most recent investors. The cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E433 · Sun, September 01, 2024
Timestamps: 2:33 - Why virtual reality is in a perfect sweet spot 6:10 - The challenge of product-market fit 8:45 - Having a boring competitive landscape 10:29 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Christian Hirt: Christian Hirt is the co-founder and CEO of AtlasVR , a startup harnessing the power of virtual reality for vocational training. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from ETH and previously worked for Rheinmetal Air Defence and the Swiss Armed Forces before starting Atlas VR in 2022. AtlasVR provides a solution to complement and substitute industrial vocational training, while eliminating many challenges faced by traditional training. They achieve this by harnessing the potential of virtual reality technology, which allows trainees to learn and practice industrial tasks such as operating complex production machines in an interactive virtual environment. AtlasVR has planned to raise a total of CHF 900K in 2024, of which CHF 200K have already been closed. They hope to close the remaining CHF 700K until the end of October, and will be doing so partially through the Swisspreneur Syndicate. Click here to learn more about the deal. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E432 · Wed, August 28, 2024
Timestamps: 1:59 - AI 30 years ago 6:49 - A universal banking platform 12:35 - Leadership is a skillset 27:19 - Being obsessed with building things 39:09 - Employee participation at Avaloq About Francisco Fernandez: Francisco Fernandez is the founder and former CEO of Avaloq , a front-to-back software provider for financial institutions around the world. He holds a MSc in Computer Science from ETH, and was CEO at Avaloq until 2017, chairman from 2018 to 2021, and has been a board member since 2021. Avaloq develops software that can be deployed flexibly through cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) or on-premises, and they also offer Banking Operations outsourcing through their Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) model. They have 160+ clients in 35 countries and currently employ over 2500 people. In October 2020, Avaloq was acquired by NEC Corporation for $2.2B. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E431 · Sun, August 25, 2024
Timestamps: 4:50 - Developing brain computer interfaces 10:54 - What is diabetic neuropathy? 16:00 - Dealing with a huge market size 17:50 - The challenges of medtech regulation 19:43 - How patent strategy can make or break you This episode was co-produced by the Female Founders Initiative . About Greta Preatoni: Greta Preatoni is the co-founder and CEO of Mynerva , a startup developing a groundbreaking device for the treatment of neuropathy. She holds a PhD in Neuroengineering from ETH and started Mynerva in 2023, as soon as she finished her studies. Neuropathy in general is a condition which causes both loss of sensation in the nerves and, paradoxically, chronic pain. It can be caused by diabetes, chemotherapy and even by COVID. Most of Mynerva’s patients are diabetics, who before accessing their solution were forced to rely on opioids with severe side effects. Despite relieving pain, the drugs also increased the likelihood of falls (from lack of sensation in the patient’s foot soles). The Mynerva team created Leia, a peerless non-invasive device with a sensorized insole that captures the information from the foot-ground interaction and translates it into electrical impulses delivered on the skin. The optimally designed electrode placement and shape, together with AI-based algorithms, are able to directly target the nerves and reduce neuropathic pain. All health-related parameters are collected by the sensorized insole and a wearable bracelet to drive data-driven individualized therapies. At present, Mynerva is actively focusing on obtaining the necessary certifications for their medical device. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way,
S1 E430 · Wed, August 21, 2024
Timestamps: 1:50 - Why study history 8:24 - Understanding whether risk is mispriced 13:10 - Relocating people to the UAE 16:12 - Sustainability and commodity trading 21:30 - Ideal time for commodity trading About James Rilett: James Rilett is the CPTO at Open Mineral , a startup offering metal commodity trade solutions enabled by a commercial and market intelligence platform. He holds a BA in International History from The London School of Economics and Political Science and previously worked as a consultant and derivatives trader before joining Open Mineral in 2022. Open Mineral advances the trade of base metal raw materials and secondary products using technology and analytics. They are based in Switzerland but operate worldwide, and have so far raised CHF 40M in funds. They mainly trade in copper, zinc, lead and gold, which are crucial for the current energy transition. They also take care only to work with reputable providers who follow the strictest ESG guidelines, so as to avoid things like arsenic poisoning for the people involved in the transportation of these metals. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E429 · Sun, August 18, 2024
Timestamps: 2:36 - What are alternative investments? 8:45 - How much to allocate to alternative investments 11:58 - Alternative investing through Splint Invest 16:10 - Choosing top quality investment opportunities 20:27 - How to sell your splints About Aurelio Perucca: Aurelio Perucca is the co-founder and CEO of Splint Invest , an alternative investment platform. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Bern and previously worked for companies like Stryker and PwC before starting Splint Invest in 2021. Splint Invest’s mission is to make it possible for all private investors to invest in alternative assets, (almost) regardless of personal wealth. Alternative investments are all investments that are not in stocks, bonds or ETFs, i.e. investments in highly illiquid assets like real estate, crypto, collectibles and luxury items like paintings, cars and wine. Since alternative investments have a low correlation to the global economy (meaning they perform well in recession phases, as well as during economic booms), they are a good choice to diversify your portfolio and make it more resilient. You should, however, be very careful about which alternative assets you invest in, as there is low transparency in the market. Splint Invest can help you there by doing all the due diligence work for you. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E428 · Wed, August 14, 2024
Timestamps: 7:54 - From China to Mexico 16:20 - The plastics lobby 22:52 - Finding out your product already exists 36:33 - The Noriwear business model 43:04 - VC money or grants? Click here to apply to join our Founders Slack. About Jessica Farda: Jessica Farda is the co-founder and CEO of Noriware , a cleantech startup producing sustainable packaging materials based on seaweed. She holds a BA in International Affairs from HSG and founded her company in 2021, straight out of university. The Noriwear idea came during a trip to Mexico, where Jessica for the first time found herself thinking more deeply about seaweed and its possible applications. Later on her research led her to discover plenty of interesting facts about this marine plant, such as that there are over 12’000 species of seaweed, that seaweed are divided into reds, greens and browns (which grow in different parts of the planet), and that some types of seaweed grow 1 meter per day without any need for freshwater, fertilizer or land. Further research then led Jessica to discover that polysaccharides can be extracted from seaweed, with which plastic granules can be made. At first, it was difficult to be taken seriously in the biotech/cleantech world, considering her background was in business and international affairs — but Jessica persisted, speaking to research paper authors, ETH professors and just about anyone she could find, until she was serendipitously connected to a polymers engineer, Stefan, who later became her co-founder. Nowadays Noriwear produces Norifilm, a flexible packaging material that can be used for dry goods of any kind. It offers the texture and stability of a conventional plastic film, but differs in its durability and footprint on the environment. It also becomes entirely transparent when placed on an object, and after usage decomposes like a fruit, leaving no residual waste. While the Noriwear team plans to expand their technology to other applications in the packaging industry, their focus now is on reducing the waste generated by plastic cups and packaging films. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram ,<a href="https://www.face
S1 E427 · Sun, August 11, 2024
Timestamps: 3:12 - Switzerland is a pharma country 10:20 - When is it time to raise growth VC money? 13:39 - How do investors consider teams? 19:14 - How many shares should you give away? About Kevin Baxpehler, Diego Braguglia, Harald Nieder & Mike Hobmeier: Kevin Baxpehler is the managing partner at Remagine Ventures , a venture capital fund focused on media related technology investments in Israeli startups. Diego Braguglia is the managing partner at VI Partners AG , a Swiss venture capital firm focused on healthcare and technology ventures. Harald Nieder is a general partner at Redalpine Venture Partners AG , a sector-agnostic Swiss venture capital firm. Mike Hobmeier is the CIO at Verve Ventures , a network and technology-driven venture capital firm headquartered in Switzerland. During their chat with Silvan, these four VCs discussed how startups can know if they’re ready to raise VC money, what motivates investors to bet on companies before they have a proven track record, as well as the sectors for which Switzerland is famous, and where Swiss innovation truly comes from. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E426 · Wed, August 07, 2024
Timestamps: 3:50 - Banks investing in nuclear weapons 9:15 - Capitalism and climate change 13:00 - Inyova measuring impact 15:14 - How Inyova works 27:33 - Global inequality & climate change Click here to apply to join our Founders Slack. About Tillmann Lang: Tillmann Lang is the co-founder and CEO of Inyova Impact Investing , an investment platform that enables you to achieve your financial goals by investing your savings in a way that is 100% consistent with your values and lifestyle. He holds a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Heidelberg and founded the Sustainability in Business Lab at ETH Zurich and Clean Peak Solutions before starting Inyova in 2017. Although not a perfect system, capitalism is, in Tillmann’s opinion, the best economic system there is, in terms of correctly and efficiently allocating resources. But the free market is, of course, not enough — social progress has been achieved through regulations. At Inyova, he helps people make sure their money is going into causes they believe in, not helping to fuel unethical businesses. Customers can completely personalize their investment portfolio up to the single stock level, or they can simply choose to blacklist a number of companies, or they can leave it up to Inyova. Inyova is fully regulated in Switzerland and Germany. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E425 · Sun, August 04, 2024
Timestamps: 1:55 - Leaving corporates for Anybotics 5:30 - Why LinkedIn matters for sales 10:34 - Best content form on LinkedIn 26:29 - The virality of videos on LinkedIn Click here to apply to join our Founders Slack. About Enzo Wälchli: Enzo Wälchli is the CCO at Anybotics , a company providing autonomous robotic inspection solutions, and LinkedIn’s #1 Swiss voice in robotics. He holds an MA in Accounting and Finance from HSG and previously worked at Sulzer and Hilti Schweiz before joining Anybotics in 2021. Enzo has 70K+ followers on LinkedIn, where he posts cool robotics content and also shares some insights into Anybotics’ journey. He’s firmly convinced that every salesperson should be using LinkedIn to connect with prospects. This doesn’t mean that you need to go around shooting connection requests and sending cold messages — on the contrary, if you post interesting content consistently, prospects will come to you, which is of course a much better starting point for a sales discussion. Enzo thinks making it big on LinkedIn is relatively simple. Considering that the vast majority of LinkedIn users don’t post anything but merely consume content, if you start posting, you’re already one step ahead. And then you just need to keep posting, consistently, every day. It doesn’t matter if at first you post low quality content, because any piece of online content gets forgotten after a week anyhow: it only matters that you stay consistent and improve over time. If you can find a niche topic like robotics, all the better. Enzo also recommends striking a balance between highly viral content (like cool robot videos) and actually meaningful content (such as his behind-the-scenes perspective on Anybotics). A viral post might have incredible stats, but it probably won’t get people to follow you, whereas consistent meaningful content will. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and
S1 E424 · Wed, July 31, 2024
Timestamps: 6:59 - Being humbled by Y Combinator 12:20 - EPFL’s extension school 15:47 - What needs fixing in Switzerland 29:25 - Budget cuts for Swiss universities 39:40 - EPFL AI center This episode was sponsored by NordPass . Use code “swisspreneur” at checkout to get 30% off Business and Teams plans. About Marcel Salathé: Marcel Salathé is a professor at EPFL , startup founder and investor, as well as a digital epidemiologist. He holds a PhD in Biology and Environmental Sciences from ETH, and has taught at Stanford and Penn State. He is the founder of the EPFL Extension School and AIcrowd , an AI challenge platform at EPFL. When founding the EPFL Extension School, Marcel’s goal was to fulfill EPFL’s mandate of not only educating its students but the Swiss population at large — he believes the current educational system, which restricts education to childhood and adolescence, is outdated, and that Swiss people need to be learning continuously, especially considering the rapid acceleration of technological development. Self-learning has played a big role in Marcel’s career, who originally studied Biology but has since branched out to machine learning and generative AI. During his chat with Silvan, he further argues that although Switzerland has done a great job in connecting innovation centers (such as universities) with the private sector, it’s done terribly at channeling this innovation towards the public sector as well, which is why this sphere seems to be 20 years behind the curve. Marcel thinks there must be a structural push towards this, just as there was a concerted political effort before to connect universities with the private sector. He is strongly against the recent budget cuts for education and innovation, because he considers this to be the “magic sauce” of Switzerland’s prosperity.
S1 E423 · Sun, July 28, 2024
Timestamps: 2:00 - The insurance market so far 5:58 - The rise of AI tools 8:15 - Signing the first 4 commercial agreements 8:47 - Finding AI engineering talent 14:11 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Thomas Crawford & Daniel Delouya: Thomas Crawford is the co-founder and CEO of Bind , a startup providing AI-powered insurance targeting. He holds a BA in Geography and Economics from Durham University and previously worked for Zurich Insurance before joining Bind as a late co-founder in 2024. Daniel Delouya is the co-founder and COO of Bind. He previously co-founded two companies, the social discovery app Blume and the smart home automation platform G13, before starting Bind in 2022. Bind makes it easy for businesses to better understand and target customers with relevant insurance products at scale. Their proprietary AI technology is wrapped in a simple-to-use API that businesses can implement with ease. They strategically leverage Switzerland's central location to facilitate seamless access to global markets. Bind is currently raising CHF 1.5M, part of which is being done through the Swisspreneur Syndicate. Check out our dealflow page to learn more about the deal. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E422 · Wed, July 24, 2024
Timestamps: 7:18 - Selling your MVP 12:19 - Finding co-founders 16:24 - Not focusing enough on specific markets 27:05 - Scaling too early & stepping down as CEO 37:02 - Employee share programs About Viktor Calabro: Viktor Calabro is the founder and former CEO of Coople , Europe's largest digital staffing platform. He previously worked for companies like Trivadis AG and Erlebniskultur GmbH before starting Coople in 2009. Coople matches flexible workers to short- and long-term assignments in various roles in office, retail, logistics, hospitality, events and hotel. They increase their clients’ revenue by adjusting their team in real-time to match fluctuating demand, and reduce their client’s costs by outsourcing admin and payroll. One challenge that Viktor had to face during his time at Coople was finding out that they had scaled too early, before actually achieving true product-market fit, and seeing themselves being spread too thin. This, paired with the fact that Victor had been going all-in for Coople for almost a decade and no longer had the energy to meet the needs of his role, made him step down as CEO role in 2018. Nowadays, his focus is on coaching, training, and investing, as well as on spending quality time with his family and friends. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E421 · Sun, July 21, 2024
Timestamps: 3:01 - Liquid vs solid fermentation 8:08 - A decade in the cannabis industry 17:04 - Who Kidemis’ clients are 19:48 - The challenge of technological development 21:03 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Sean Wassermann & Constantin Marakhov: Sean Wassermann is the CTO at Kidemis , a Swiss feedtech company that applies mycelium-based fermentation to upcycle low-value side streams into high value protein for various industries. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts and was previously CTO at companies like Cibdol and Aquanta before starting Kidemis in 2022. Constantin Marakhov is the CEO at Kidemis. He holds an MBA from the University of Oregon and a PhD in Finance from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and previously worked as a business school professor and as head of business development at the WEF before starting Kidemis in 2022. He is also the CEO and founder of Hempfy, a Swiss cannabis startup. Kidemis' solution is to use mycoprotein as a partial or complete replacement for fishmeal in aquafeed. Mycoprotein is a sustainable alternative to fishmeal and fish oil because it is produced from renewable resources. The fungi that are used to produce mycoprotein can be grown on a variety of substrates, including agricultural sidestreams. This means that mycoprotein will be produced without putting a strain on global fish stocks or the environment. In addition, mycelium’s immune-stimulating properties could decrease the usage of antibiotics. Kidemis is currently raising a CHF 1.5M seed round, 30% of which have already been committed. Part of these funds are being raised through the Swisspreneur Syndicate — click here to find out more. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and L
S1 E420 · Wed, July 17, 2024
Timestamps: 2:35 - How Switzerland fell short in the 90s 15:00 - Suffering and the creative process 23:21 - The challenge of designing an office chair 31:28 - Design or die 33:30 - What is a venture designer? This episode was sponsored by NordPass . Use code “swisspreneur” at checkout to get 30% off Business and Teams plans. About Yves Béhar: Yves Béhar is a venture designer, the founder of the fuseproject , co-founder of TELO, August, and Canopy, and Chief Creative Officer at Jawbone, August Home, and TELO. He holds a BSc in Industrial Design from the ArtCenter College of Design (in Pasadena, California) and worked in consulting for many years before starting fuseproject in 1999. fuseproject was born out of a wish to create an integral version of design: not just designing something within the boundaries of the industrial design discipline, but actually thinking about branding and about creating an experience as well. Yves is a big believer in working tirelessly at your dream even if you don’t show impressive amounts of native talent. He recalls that from his friends at ArtCenter, he was the worst draftsman, but his idea for what he wanted to do with design and his tireless work carried him far regardless. Yves thinks suffering is part of the creative process, and that it is worth pushing through, because pain is temporary, but “suck” is forever. Out of his wish to work long-term with resource-strained startups came the concept of “venture designing”: instead of charging startups like a consultant, he co-founds their ventures. Throughout the years he’s worked with 90+ startups. He believes this is the most mutually beneficial form of collaboration, since excellent design is usually the product of long term work and coexistence. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can alw
S1 E419 · Sun, July 14, 2024
Timestamps: 2:00 - Getting a PhD in Epidemiology 7:50 - Meeting your co-founder at an ETH project 12:48 - Manufacturing prosthetics 23:43 - Big fundraising challenges 33:59 - Keeping the business floating This episode was co-produced by the Female Founders Initiative . About Myriam Lingg: Myriam Lingg is the co-founder and CEO of macu4 , a startup creating empowering ortho-prosthetics for the forearm and hand. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and previously worked for the European Center of Pharmaceutical Medicine and the think tank W.I.R.E before starting macu4 in 2020. macu4 prosthetics are lightweight, breathable, affordable and individually tailored to the needs of people with a missing or limited grip function of the hand, thanks to their innovative modular design. macu4 is a for-profit venture, but is highly committed to manufacturing affordable prosthetics through their smart design and 3D printing technology. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E418 · Wed, July 10, 2024
Timestamps: 4:00 - Water cleaning in Switzerland 6:42 - Water and the agricultural sector 9:14 - Deep tech requires upfront capital 16:20 - Defending high deep tech valuations 22:14 - Convincing top talent to work for a startup About Fajer Mushtaq: Fajer Mushtaq is the co-founder and CEO at Oxyle , a cleantech startup with a game-changing water remediation technology. She holds a PhD in Micro- and Nanotechnology for Environmental Remediation from ETH and previously worked there as a BRIDGE Proof-of-Concept Fellow, before starting Oxyle in 2020. When we usually think of water pollution, we think of things like cigarette butts, plastic bags, or perhaps even bacteria or viruses. But what most of us fail to consider are micropollutants (like hormones, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, industrial waste, etc…), so called not because they’re found in small amounts, but because a small amount is enough to have a carcinogenic effect, or cause infertility or birth defects. 1 nanogram per liter (which is the equivalent of 1 drop in 20 Olympic-sized pools) is concentration enough to cause humans and their ecosystems harm. What’s more, these micro-pollutants are bioaccumulative (meaning if you keep drinking them, they keep increasing in concentration in your blood), and stay in bodies of water for decades on end unless treated appropriately. That’s where the ETH spin-off Oxyle comes in. Oxyle works at the last stage of water treatment to remove these micro-pollutants through their innovative nanotechnology. They do so in a sustainable, scalable manner by getting in touch with big companies looking to remediate the harm they’ve caused and prevent any more harm from being done. This is equally as important in Switzerland as it is in other places: the water Swiss people drink has 17x the amount of carcinogenic pesticides that is safe to consume. Fajer strongly believes that fighting climate change is done not only through innovative startups like Oxyle, but also through regulation. We need to hold polluters responsible, and nowadays, due to the growing sophistication of water analysis techniques, we definitely can. This way we can both remediate the harm that’s already been done, and stop future pollution at its source. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Fac
S1 E417 · Sun, July 07, 2024
Timestamps: 6:54 - Why is the US the main startup destination? 8:56 - 3 main challenges of moving to the US 19:40 - Should you move your headquarters? 29:18 - How S-GE can help you in the US This episode was co-produced with Switzerland Global Enterprise . Click here to learn more about the Swisstech pavilion at CES 2025, mentioned at the start of the episode. About Céline Udriot & Karine Jeanmonod-Wittmer: Céline Udriot is the COO at Largo.ai , a startup providing next-generation storytelling tools for the audiovisual industry using artificial intelligence. She holds an MBA from Vatel Switzerland and worked in the hospitality industry before joining Largo.ai in 2022. Karine Jeanmonod-Wittmer is a trade commissioner in charge of Startup Ecosystems & Partnerships at the Swiss Business Hub USA , which represents Switzerland Global Enterprise in the US. She holds a master's degree in Economics & International Relations from the Geneva Graduate Institute, and had been working in the US for 14 years before joining Swiss Business Hub in 2018. During their chat with Silvan, Céline and Karine discussed entering the US market as a Swiss startup, both from a founder’s perspective and from SBH’s perspective. Among other topics, they elaborated on why the US’ size, affluence and political stability make it the most attractive market for startups still today, and mentioned some of the challenges of breaking into this new market as a Swiss startup, namely networking “cliques”, unexpectedly high expenses, and cultural differences regarding the level of ambition. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram ,
S1 E416 · Wed, July 03, 2024
Timestamps: 2:20 - Exnaton 2 years on 12:01 - To bootstrap or not to bootstrap 17:42 - Getting funded as a climate tech startup 22:00 - Seasonal impact on client acquisition 23:32 - The benefits of market liberalization About Liliane Ableitner: Liliane Ableitner is the co-founder and CEO of Exnaton , a software provider for energy communities, allowing neighbors to trade renewable energy amongst each other. Before starting Exnaton, Liliane was a Doctoral Researcher at the Bits of Energy Lab at ETH Zurich. She met her two co-founders, Arne Meeuw and Anselma Würner, during her work on the research project “Quartierstrom“, funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The project resonated well with all stakeholders involved and the three PhD students decided to spin it out into an independent company in 2019. In December 2020, they won the Investor’s Choice award at Energy Startup Days, which helped the company to gain exposure amongst relevant stakeholders. Contrary to some of their competitors, Exnaton doesn’t sell their software to end consumers. Rather, they cooperate with local utility companies and allow them to white label their solution and distribute it to their customers. Exnaton is greatly benefiting from the liberalization of European energy markets because it has been driving competition for innovative products between utility companies. They are hoping to further benefit from an opening of the Swiss market, which has traditionally been very protected. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E415 · Sun, June 30, 2024
Timestamps: 1:17 - Why Matthias started BreezeLabs 4:01 - The Breezelabs team & being an ETH spin-off 6:21 - Dealing with indirect competition 7:25 - Handling the unknown as a founder 8:31 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Matthias Heuberger: Matthias Heuberger is the founder and CEO of BreezeLabs , a startup developing a new way to track sports performance. He holds an MA in International Affairs from HSG and previously worked for Zurich Insurance Company and CSS Versicherung before starting BreezeLabs in 2022. By using the built-in microphone in your headphones to record the audio signal during your runs, BreezeLabs delivers breathing rate tracking without any additional hardware. Their sophisticated AI models are capable of groundbreaking precision and accuracy in detecting breathing signals, which enables you to match your training plan precisely with the state of your body, thereby maximizing training efficiency and bringing you closer to achieving your ultimate performance goals. They’re currently raising a maximum of CHF 500K through the Swisspreneur Syndicate. Check out our dealflow page to learn more about the deal.
S1 E414 · Thu, June 27, 2024
Timestamps: 1:36 - Der steinige Weg von Mark Streit in die NHL 4:32 - Von Breitling zur eigenen Schweizer Uhrenmarke 18:28 - Von wo kennen sich Mark Streit und Ben Küeffer 22:20 - Braucht es wirklich eine neue Schweizer Uhrenmarke? 27:43 - Die Parallelen von Sport und Business This episode was originally a live conversation recorded at a Sport and Business Network event in October 2023 and presented by Properti , your partner for all real estate transactions. About Mark Streit & Ben Küffer: Ben Küffer ist der Mitgründer der Schweizer Uhrenmarke NORQAIN . Zuvor arbeitete er fast 12 Jahre lang als Brand Manager bei Breitling. Der junge Visionär hatte die Idee, eine neue Uhrenmarke zu gründen, als er feststellte, dass es in der Branche an erschwinglichen und qualitativ hochwertigen Zeitmessern mangelte. Im Jahr 2018 gründete er NORQAIN und stellte ein bemerkenswertes Team zusammen. Ted Schneider, ein Mitglied der Familie, die fast 40 Jahre lang Breitling besass, und die Schweizer Eishockey-Legende und Stanley-Cup-Sieger Mark Streit stiessen als Mitgründer und Mitglieder des Verwaltungsrats dazu. Mark Streit ist ein ehemaliger Schweizer Eishockeyspieler und Mitbegründer von NORQAIN. Der Verteidiger spielte insgesamt 820 Spiele für die Montréal Canadiens, die New York Islanders, die Philadelphia Flyers und die Pittsburgh Penguins in der National Hockey League und gewann 2017 mit den Penguins den Stanley Cup. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E413 · Sun, June 23, 2024
Timestamps: 7:13 - Democratizing AI 9:37 - You’re right to be worried about AI 11:38 - The EU AI Regulation Act 20:13 - Expanding to the US 32:30 - How to enter a new market This episode was co-produced with Switzerland Global Enterprise . Click here to learn more about the SWISS Pavilion at Singapore Fintech Festival 2024, mentioned at the start of the episode. About Elena Maran & Angela di Rosa: Elena Maran is the Global Head Financial Services at Modulos AG , an ETH spin-off developing and operating AI products and services in a new regulated environment. She holds a MSc in Finance from Università Bocconi and previously worked at banks like Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Citi Group before joining Modulos in 2022. Angela di Rosa is the Senior Consultant Southeast Asia and Fintech Internationalization Expert at Switzerland Global Enterprise, the official Swiss organization for export and investment promotion, which supports Swiss SMEs in their international business, and helps innovative foreign companies to establish in Switzerland. Modulos offers a Responsible AI Platform that seamlessly integrates AI governance, risk management, and data science, ensuring that your organization remains compliant while innovating. Platforms like these have become increasingly relevant ever since the passing of the EU AI Regulation Act back in March 2024. This AI Act is the most comprehensive effort at regulating AI so far, and punishes failure to comply with its requirements with a fine of up to 7% of a company’s annual turnover. Although Switzerland is not part of the EU, any Swiss company that deals with EU customers will be forced to comply with this new piece of legislation. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram ,
S1 E412 · Wed, June 19, 2024
Timestamps: 7:12 - Growing a company for 20 years 12:13 - Kids fashion should be beautiful 16:20 - Going into untapped markets 23:16 - PFC-free clothing and why it matters 43:36 - How to define success Click here to apply to join our Founders Slack. About Franz Bittmann: Franz Bittmann is the founder and CEO of namuk , the Swiss premium-quality and sustainable outdoor clothing brand for children. After his Matura, Franz started his first clothing brand, eleven GmbH, back in 1998, which lasted until 2011. He then worked in consulting for 5 years before starting namuk in 2016. namuk was born out of a personal problem: Franz’ rambunctious, outdoorsy son would time and time again tear through his clothes and stay out in the rain for long periods of time. Franz quickly came to the conclusion that kids’ clothes were very cheaply made, and that he himself, as a tailor, could do much better. He was also rather concerned about the highly regimented routines of kids nowadays, which allow for very little play time outside. So he set out to make a kids’ clothing line which was both durable and outdoor-proof. namuk clothes are breathable, durable and water-proof (while still avoiding unsustainable chemicals like PFCs), and come with neat additions like integrated suspenders and toilet zippers. To prevent mountains of trash made of fabric remnants, namuk uses recycled materials. The annual, limited upcycled collections are made completely out of fabric remnants from previous production. They’ve also launched their own repair service and provide a market for second-hand namuk clothes on their ReUse platform. That’s why every product features three name tags: each child who wears a piece of namuk clothing can leave their name and know other children will be able to inherit this wonderful product. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin
S1 E411 · Sun, June 16, 2024
Timestamps: 4:56 - Having an investor back out 11:45 - Was the AVA exit a good or bad thing? 14:55 - Femtech stopped paying salaries and vendors 21:08 - Moving on to expeerly 30:29 - Is bootstrapping more stressful? About Lea von Bidder: Lea von Bidder is the co-founder and former CEO of AVA Women , a femtech startup advancing women’s reproductive health by bringing together artificial intelligence and clinical research. Since 2022 she’s also the founder and CEO at expeerly , a startup which makes it easy and efficient for companies to leverage the power of video without the hassle of production, editing, and distribution. She holds a MSc in Global Entrepreneurship from Emlyon Business School and Zhejiang University. AVA Women garnered much fame and success in Switzerland from 2015 up until 2021 (more on that in Lea’s former episode with us), but unfortunately in 2021 they had their leading investor back out of their Series C round, which made the whole fundraising round fall apart. Since they did not have the money necessary to carry on for another 6-12 months, which would have been the time necessary to set up a new fundraising round, Lea and her co-founders decided to sell the company, and contacted CEOs they were personally acquainted with. Out of many potential buyers, they chose FemTech Health, because they believed in their vision to unite the fragmented femtech market. Sadly, FemTech didn’t not follow through with the promises they had made post-exit, and even stopped paying vendors and employees, resulting in a round of layoffs. At this point, Lea left the company herself. She has since begun a new venture, expeerly, which she is bootstrapping. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse
S1 E410 · Wed, June 12, 2024
Timestamps: 1:49 - Innovation in Asian corporates 5:46 - Meeting your husband at a football game 10:30 - Validating pajamas 17:58 - Building a clothing brand in Switzerland 29:34 - The impact of war and weather on sales About Catarina Dahlin: Catarina Dahlin is the co-founder and managing director of Dagsmejan , an innovative and sustainable sleepwear brand. She holds a MSc in Business Administration from Lund University and previously worked at Oriflame Cosmetics and Yves Rocher Group before starting Dagsmejan with her husband, Andreas Lenzhofer, in 2016. In Catarina’s opinion, the greatest advantage of starting a business with your romantic partner is that you gain a co-founder who truly knows you — who’s right there beside you during the highs and the lows, and who understands your “obsession”. The disadvantage, however, is that if you don’t set up proper boundaries, it can sometimes feel like there’s no escaping the business. That’s why Catarina and Andreas occasionally make it clear that they want to steer clear of business topics at home. On the first day they met, Catarina and Andreas discovered that they shared the dream of someday starting a business. Years later, they took the plunge, and Dagsmejan was born. Their sleep products are based on natural materials, enhanced with technology to give it unique functional properties, namely dual moisture management: evaporative cooling to cool us down and moisture wicking to keep us dry. Thus, they tackle a very important factor when it comes to sleep quality: temperature! Other factors include our stress levels, whether we just ate a heavy meal, how much we exercise, alcohol consumption, and whether we use the computer just before bed. Dagsmejan is currently present in Switzerland, Germany, the US and the UK. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways o
S1 E409 · Sun, June 09, 2024
Timestamps: 4:00 - The true difference between marketing and sales 5:15 - The first DeinDeal customer 9:05 - Google search and Facebook as sales channel 13:23 - Mixing data with intuition 20:41 - Customer development Resources Mentioned: The Four Steps to the Epiphany , Steve Blank The Mom Test , Rob Fitzpatrick This episode was co-produced with UBS and ETH Zurich , as part of the Entrepreneurial Backpack Series . About Flavio Rump: Flavio Rump is one of the co-founders of DeinDeal , the famous Swiss eCommerce scaleup acquired by DeinDeal in 2011. He’s also a startup investor, board member and growth expert. He holds a BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from ETH and has co-founded companies like Pigeon Apps Inc, Blue Chocolate Inc, and Bio2040.com, and the Student Biolab Zurich. He credits DeinDeal’s success and quick growth to their early realization that sales do not equal profits, and to the fact that their team possessed a large number of extremely competent “specialists”. Here is a summary of some of the sales and marketing tips that he shared with our host Silvan: The difference between sales and marketing is that marketing is a long-term endeavo
S1 E404 · Wed, June 05, 2024
Timestamps: 8:17 - Building a startup during COVID 16:17 - AI predicting unpredictable climate changes 29:20 - Mindmapping customer problems 44:36 - Bootstrapping when you have to 1:00:11 - Valuing the skill of communication About Miller Mendoza Jiménez: Miller Mendoza Jiménez is the co-founder, CTO and Latin America Regional Manager at Grundo , a technology advisory and analytics startup aimed at tackling sustainability challenges globally that can be solved using open data systems, technology-based tools, and services. He holds a PhD in Physics from ETH and worked there as a research assistant, senior research scientist and lecturer before starting Grundo in 2020. Grundo aims to solve the issue of food security, which will become more and more relevant in the coming years due to climate change. This is because changes to the climate equal extremely unpredictable weather, ranging from heavy rains to heavy draughts. Weather instability is in general bad for crops, and heavy rains in particular damage the fertility of soils through erosion. Add to that the population increase, and it is estimated that by 2050, we will need to increase the agricultural output between 50-70% to have enough food for the global population. Grundo answers critical food security questions like “How much wheat and corn can we expect from Germany in three months? How about in Europe, Asia or Africa?” They uncover the answers by building AI algorithms and using satellite data to provide insurance companies with data on which to tailor premiums for crop insurance, and to provide governments with data which enables them to efficiently subsidize sustainable farming practices. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E407 · Sun, June 02, 2024
Timestamps: 6:32 - Race car driving & building a business 11:55 - How NordPass stood out in the market 23:10 - Catering to customers vs staying focused 31:32 - From Lithuania to the world 43:54 - Is Lithuania a startup-friendly country? Resources mentioned: Blackbox Thinking , Matthew Syed Click here to enjoy three months of NordPass Business for free with the code “swisspreneur”. About Jonas Karklys: Jonas Karklys is the co-founder of Nord Security , and the CEO of its password management company NordPass . He holds a BA in Business Administration and Management from Vilnius University, but before his university studies he was already an accomplished race car driver and had also run Infosport, a Lithuanian sports news website. After university, Jonas went on to co-found 50Garage and invest in F-1.LT before co-founding Nord Security and launching NordPass. NordPass is a password management solution, part of Nord Security, the world’s leading cybersecurity company and the creator of NordVPN, NordLayer, NordLocker, and other well- known products in the market. Currently with offices/representatives in 26 markets, Nord Security offers its services globally, and is Lithuania’s second unicorn. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and<a href="https:/
S1 E406 · Wed, May 29, 2024
Timestamps: 4:09 - Obstacles to innovation in corporates 10:53 - Starting a startup in your 40s 17:00 - Learning to endure pain 19:40 - Financial planning for your startup 27:36 - What if your startup fails? About Danny Chatziprodromou: Danny Chatziprodromou is the founder and CEO of REOR20 , a company developing the next generation of models providing highly accurate flood hazard information at a significantly lower cost. He holds a PhD in Computational Fluid Dynamics and Mechanical Engineering from ETH. He worked for companies like Swiss Re and SAM Sustainable Asset Management before starting REOR20 in 2017. The model Danny’s team developed is 100 000 times faster than traditional models, and his realization that the typical models were that simplified was precisely what motivated him to look into the issue. He also claims that his long and uneventful stay in corporate gave him the arrogance needed to believe he could build a business by himself. Reality, as it turns out, was more challenging, but REOR20 managed to be successful regardless. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E402 · Sun, May 26, 2024
Timestamps: 5:20 - Making a business out of free water 8:12 - Competition in the advertising world 10:00 - The decrease in the quality of online advertising 13:09 - Distributing 25K bottles 17:21 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Christoph Bertschy & Gaël Riesen: Gaël Riesen is a co-founder and the Head of Production/Distribution at Gratiswasser , and his co-founder Christoph Bertschy is the owner of the company. Gratiswasser is a startup placing ads in free water bottles to be distributed in stores, at festivals, cafés and in general around town. They aim to offer companies a cost-effective advertising opportunity that also has a positive impact on the community. Gaël and Christoph were motivated by a belief that water as a commodity should be free, and by the motivation to make this possible in a market economy: so they decided to use water bottle labels as advertising slots! One of their partners, VIU eyewear, receives the water bottles at their stores and distributes them to customers who drop by. Placing ads in free water bottles has the benefit of associating the advertisement to the positive feeling of getting free stuff, instead of to the frustrating 30 second wait before you can watch a video on Youtube. It also is a more trustworthy form of advertising than online advertising, which nowadays seems to have become riddled with deepfakes and other shady ecommerce practices. Gratiswasser is currently fundraising CHF 500K, part of which is being done through the Swisspreneur Syndicate (the 2M mentioned in the episode is a goal for future funding rounds). Click here to learn more about the deal. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E404 · Wed, May 22, 2024
Timestamps: 1:30 - Working for neon 10:22 - Why you should start investing 15:41 - Start investing with findependent 21:44 - Fee structure 36:26 - 5 principles for personal finance Click here to enjoy three months of NordPass Business for free by using the code “swisspreneur”. About Matthias Bryner: Matthias Bryner is the founder of findependent , an app to make investing transparent, easy and beneficial for everyone, regardless of prior knowledge. He holds an MA in Banking and Finance from HSG and interned at Credit Suisse and at neon before starting findependent in 2018. findependent allows you to open an account online within approx. 15 minutes, easily select an optimally-tailored investment solution and get started with as little as CHF 500. Thanks to their investment app, findependent users are always informed transparently about their investments, earnings and fees. But first things first: why should you start investing? Basically, because of inflation and the compounding effect. Inflation rises at least 1% or 2% every year, which means that over the long run your savings will be significantly devalued. Similarly, if you start investing now, even if you invest only a little bit each year, this compounds over time and will make a significant difference in your life later on. findependent encourages its users to invest in ETFs, which is basically like buying a very small percentage of the world economy, instead of investing in a specific stock. This derisks your investment. And even if the numbers in the market fluctuate daily, their overall historical tendency is upwards, so you can rest assured that your money is being put to good use. findependent currently has 12'000 customers. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' din
S1 E403 · Sun, May 19, 2024
Timestamps: 8:49 - Pivoting your marketing 12:17 - The key ingredients for sports recovery 17:43 - Distributing through several channels 23:22 - Importing CONDA to Switzerland 33:25 - Developing crowdfunding momentum This episode was co-produced with CONDA.ch . If you want to invest in CONDA.ch with preferential conditions, contact them at investor@conda.ch. About Pedro Schmidt & Linus Gabrielsson: Pedro Schmidt is the founder and CEO of KaEx , the world’s first sports-recovery drink to significantly reduce the stress hormone. He holds a MSc in Management, Technology and Economics from ETH Zürich, and previously worked for companies like Siemens Management Consulting, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Teva Pharmaceuticals before founding KaEx in 2016. Linus Gabrielsson is the managing director at CONDA.ch , the leading platform providing Swiss startups access to crowd investment capital as well as community building and campaigning opportunities. He holds a MSc in Technology Management from ETH and previously worked for companies like IBM Business Consulting Services, PwC and HSBC Private Bank before founding CONDA.ch in 2021. KaEx was the result of many years of research for Pedro, whose undergraduate education is in Pharmaceutical Sciences. He originally branded it as a hangover remedy, and that’s how it began to be sold in pharmacies and at Coop supermarkets. At some point, Pedro and his team started getting messages from people who swore on the benefits of drinking KaEx post-workout. Pedro ignored these messages at first, since as a resource-constrained founder he couldn’t afford to split his focus — but then pro-athletes started contacting him as well, asking if drinking KaEx could be considered doping (which it couldn’t). This made Pedro and his team seriously question whether they should pivot their product’s branding and focus. They eventually did do so, and nowadays KaEx is known primarily as a sports drink, though it is of course also useful for hangovers or after a particularly stressful day. In 2021, CONDA.ch was already one of the most successful crowdfunding platforms in Austria and Germany. Rather than try to compete with them, Linus and his c
S1 E402 · Wed, May 15, 2024
Timestamps: 5:15 - Having a co-founder pass away 10:33 - Drug resistance and cancer patients 18:24 - Clinical development 23:17 - Raising a series A as a biotech 26:43 - Striking partnerships Check out the LinkedIn event for our livestream with Aurelio Perucca on May 22nd. About Stefanie Flückiger-Mangual: Stefanie Flückiger-Mangual is the co-founder and CEO at TOLREMO Therapeutics , a biotech startup on a mission to prevent non-genetic cancer drug resistance. She holds a PhD in Molecular and Translational Biomedicine from ETH and worked there as a Postdoctoral Researcher before starting TOLREMO in 2017 together with Wilhelm Krek, who has since tragically passed away. There is no shortage of cancer therapies in biotech and medtech, and one common problem that they face is drug resistance: even if a certain therapy is at first successful in reducing the tumor’s size, patients sometimes develop a resistance to it, whether it be genetic or non-genetic, and the therapy stops working. To use a tech metaphor, genetic drug resistance is akin to a hardware problem, whereas non-genetic drug resistance is more similar to a software malfunction. Since non-genetic resistance is much more dynamic, it’s harder to measure and combat — this is what Stefanie and her fellow researchers have been studying for the past few years. They discovered a pivotal mechanism that governs critical transcriptional resistance pathways, i.e., that stops cancer drug resistance as it emerges without interfering with cancer-unrelated pathways. TOLREMO recently completed its Series A financing, bringing their total amount raised to USD 39M. Their ultimate goal is to prove the efficacy of their treatment and join forces with a larger pharma company. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest ini
S1 E401 · Mon, May 13, 2024
Timestamps: 1:45 - Leaving Batmaid for Holistiq 8:52 - Holistiq’s incredible traction 10:05 - The healthcare market 12:10 - Hiring the right people as a startup 13:58 - Raising funds through the Swisspreneur Syndicate Click here to apply to join our 2024 Lausanne Scaleup Cruise. About Eric Laudet: Eric Laudet is the founder and CEO of Holistiq, a startup offering an organic and personalized approach to healthcare which aims to solve health issues at their root, instead of just treating symptoms. Eric holds a master’s degree in Business Management from HEC Paris, and previously co-founded Batmaid and was active for 6 years as its CFO before starting Holistiq in 2022. Holistiq’s approach combines different healing systems to create natural therapies that are tailored to the needs of patients and backed by research, lab tests and data science. They operate a digital platform and urban health centers with a team of complementary medicine therapists, life & health coaches, nutritionists, and functional medicine doctors, to support the healing of chronically-ill patients and help others find optimal health. During his chat with us, Eric placed Holistiq’s offering between that of regular doctors, which are in his opinion currently better suited to treat acute disorders than chronic disorders, and the offering of longevity startups, which often only help people with the prevention of disease, not with treating existing diseases. He also criticized longevity startups for sometimes tracking biomarkers which do not move the (health) needle, merely for publicity’s sake. Eric added that Holistiq’s offering is partly covered by health insurance, and is meant for the masses, not just for the wealthy few. Despite being in operation for only 2 years, Holistiq already has impressive traction: CHF 400K in revenue (with a 50% gross margin), 1000 paying patients, and both offline and online offerings. They are currently raising a seed round of CHF 3M, CHF 250K of which they’ve already raised from business angels, and CHF 250K which they expect to raise through the Swisspreneur Syndicate. The remaining CHF 2.5M will be raised from healthtech VCs. Click here to learn more about the deal.
S1 E400 · Wed, May 08, 2024
Timestamps: 1:42 - The food industry 11:20 - Ensuring quality across suppliers 16:41 - Maintaining a high shelf life 26:10 - Markets Planted is tackling next 33:20 - Small pivots over time About Pascal Bieri: Pascal Bieri is the co-founder of Planted , a startup creating healthy plant-based meat alternatives. He holds an MA in Informations-, Media- and Technology Management from the University of St Gallen, and previously worked in companies like SweetWorks Confections and DeepTech Capital AG before starting Planted in 2019. He also co-founded the Green Liberal Party in Lucerne when he was 21, but the slowness of politics soon dissuaded him from getting further involved. So what’s wrong with livestock farming? From a cold, technocratic point of view, not taking into account the environment, animal well-being or workers’ rights, current livestock farming practices were great for the meat industry, since they allowed it to achieve a fantastic production ration, super efficient supply chains, pay almost no taxes and deliver very low margins to everyone involved. Meat became cheap and accessible to almost everyone. However, this came at the cost of… Destroying acres and acres of land to build livestock operations; Establishing intensive monoculture farming operations which deplete soils of nutrients in order to feed livestock, which requires 25x the amount of those crops than we do to meet their nutritional needs; Emitting 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions, which is about the same as the amount emitted by the entirety of the transportation system. Planted makes meat alternatives mainly out of pea protein, which can be grown locally and gives great taste. In 100 g of planted.chicken Nature, for example, there is 23.7 g of protein, which is about the same amount as found in conventional chicken meat. planted.chicken Nature consists of no more than four natural ingredients and a healthy portion of vitamin B12. What scares Pascal in the meat alternative market is not companies trying to produce equally healthy and tasty alternatives, but the companies making unhealthy products that taste terribly, which deter people from ever trying out a vegan product again. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram ,<a href="https://www.facebook.com/swissprene
S1 E399 · Sun, May 05, 2024
Timestamps: 3:49 - Startups & IP rights 8:56 - Trademarks and patents 17:45 - Startups getting into IP trouble 25:58 - Protecting your IP globally 33:34 - Open source code This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 30th 2024. Click here to purchase your ticket. About Matthias Kaech & Adrian Riedo: Adrian Riedo is the founder and owner of RNX , short for Riedo Networks, a provider and distributor of energy monitoring and control solutions which began back in 2005. Matthias Kaech is a Senior IP Trainer at the Institute for Intellectual Property. Matthias and Adrian have a few IP recommendations for startup founders: Never discuss (the intricacies of) your (tech) invention in public. Once the information is leaked, your patent may be ruined; Look into the different types of IP protections and figure out which one is best for your company: patents for tech, trademarks for services, copyright/trademarks for software/apps, design rights for luxury products, etc.. If you want to file for a trademark, the only register you have to be in is the National Trademark Register. Any other registers that contact you are private registers, and you’re not required to be listed on them, so don’t waste your money; Figuring out IP protection early on will give investors a positive view of your startup, partially because they know your product/service is protected, and partially because they see you took the trouble to make sure you had freedom to operate, and this shows competence; You have to apply for IP protection in each and every country. As a resource-constrained startup, you should think about which countries are your main markets and where your main competitors operate, so that you don’t waste money. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin</a
S1 E398 · Wed, May 01, 2024
Timestamps: 1:48 - Getting into the insurance business 8:47 - The potential of digital insurance solutions 19:50 - The health insurance market 29:24 - Collaborating with other insurance companies 32:57 - Convertible loan over equity rounds Check out the LinkedIn event for our livestream with Aurelio Perucca on May 22nd: https://www.linkedin.com/events/makingmoneyfromalternativeinves7191374767680057345/theater/ About Anina Lutz: Anina Lutz is the co-founder and CEO of Calingo Insurance AG , a digital insurance company. She holds a MSc in Business & Economics from the University of Basel and previously worked at Helvetia before starting Calingo in 2020. As a digital insurance company, Calingo offers personalized insurance coverage at the point of sale in a hassle-free and digital way, for your home, your pets or your business. Their home insurance offer is 25% cheaper than market average, since they do not charge high commissions and have easy, low cost operations. Their pet insurance comes at a higher price at first, but since the premiums remain constant regardless of the pet’s age, the lifetime value ends up cheaper than other pet insurances. They’ve partnered up with insurance companies like SwissRe to have them as risk carriers. Thus far they’ve decided not to delve into health insurance, since it is a rather saturated market. Instead they plan to use next year's series A funds (provided that the round closes successfully) to set up a system of vet video calls and bring their services to Germany. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E397 · Mon, April 29, 2024
Timestamps: 1:25 - Starting a business with your twin 5:19 - The PetTech market 9:46 - From prototype to finished product 15:33 - Building a startup as a student 19:00 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate Click here to apply to join our Founders Dinner in Bern on May 30th. About Oliver Widler & Denis Widler: Denis Widler is the co-founder and Head of Business Relations at Flappie, a startup building an AI-powered cat door with integrated prey detection. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Innovation from HSG. Oliver Widler is Denis’ twin brother and the co-founder and Head of Technology at Flappie. He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from ETH. Denis and Oliver started Flappie together in 2022 motivated by their personal experience growing up with furry friends who would bring “gifts” home. This got them thinking about a product that could prevent such unpleasant surprises, and with his engineering background Oliver devised a cat door which immediately recognizes when your cat tries to bring presents (e.g., mice, birds) into the house. Once recognized, the cat door locks automatically, and the cat (including the prey) stays outside until it returns with no prey. The Widler brothers think the time is ripe for their product, considering that ⅓ of households globally have cats and that 81% of Gen Z live with cats. It seems they’ve been proven right: their product has been featured in over 200 media outlets since inception. They’re currently raising CHF 1M in funds, 500K of which they already have in soft commitments, and 50K of which are being raised through the Swisspreneur Syndicate. Check out our deal flow page to learn more. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E396 · Sun, April 28, 2024
Timestamps: 5:10 - Starting a startup right after university 9:06 - Hesitation & entrepreneurship 13:09 - Knowing if you’re ready 18:15 - Practicing to be ready 25:00 - Giving up on a project Click here to apply to join our Founders Dinner in Bern on May 30th. This episode was co-produced by the Female Founders Initiative and recorded at the Female Future Festival . Resources mentioned: Positive Intelligence , Shirzad Chamine Positive Intelligence assessment Untamed , Glennon Doyle Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us episode on FFTs (Fucking First Times) About Melanie Kovacs: Melanie Kovacs is an award-winning entrepreneur, business coach, TEDxspeaker, and startup trainer, dedicated to supporting people to find and not lose joy on their entrepreneurial journeys. Through her podcast “The Joypreneur” she encourages entrepreneurs to do their thing, thereby making a positive impact. Previously, she created the Joy Accelerator program, a 12-week course for women aspiring to build sustainable businesses without burning out. Prior to this, she founded Switzerland's first coding bootcamp, Master21 Academy . Melanie studied International Management, Human-Computer Interaction Design and Creative Leadership. During her chat with our new host, Merle, Melanie shared some of the insights that she provides her coachees, ranging from identifying the critical voices in your head, to exploring your fear of failure, to adequately valuing your time, resources and intuition. For more information about Melanie and her work, visit her website . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter ,<a href="https://www.inst
S1 E395 · Wed, April 24, 2024
Timestamps: 1:32 - Interning at Namics 14:31 - What GotCourts does 22:34 - The paddle tennis boom 28:25 - Building traction outside Switzerland 36:58 - Getting acquired by a competitor Click here to enjoy three months of NordPass Business for free. About Diego Seitz: Diego Seitz is the co-founder and former CEO at GotCourts , a social network for racket sports players and marketplace for booking courts and coaches. He holds a MSc in International Management from CEMS as well as a MSc in Strategic Management from the university of St. Gallen and previously worked at companies like Namics and Accenture before joining GotCourts as a late co-founder in 2017. Founded in 2013, GotCourts was the first platform to provide everything a player needs in a single marketplace. Finding a partner or a coach, booking a court nearby or competing for a place in their leaderboards and tracking your progress, GotCourts is your "virtual global club". For court facilities and clubs they offer a capable club management system and a platform to engage with the community. This means they receive revenue not only from the SaaS subscription but also from the racket sports players themselves. Coming into the fitness industry with an innovative approach, the GotCourts team often found that they had to educate potential SaaS customers on the benefits of online demos and how to set up a video call, so as to drive down acquisition costs. Their internationalization process began in Germany, where they at first bet on the traditional route of ads, email marketing, cold calling, and simply offering the product in euros, only to later find out that the German federations were the true door into the market, and that a freemium model for the app was much more suitable for their German users. Nowadays GotCourts is the racket sports app in the DACH region. GotCourts was acquired in 2021 by Spanish competitor Playtomic for an undisclosed amount. Diego remained on board as the regional manager of Central Europe. Currently he is also working on a new venture, alfred.ch, which provides legal and strategic consulting services to early stage ventures, entrepreneurs and investors. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram ,<a h
S1 E394 · Sun, April 21, 2024
Timestamps: 1:39 - What changed from 2020 to 2024 4:06 - 8 co-founders from start to finish 7:36 - Finding the right focus 13:33 - Selling to robot manufacturers 19:58 - Getting acquired by ABB About Gianluca Cesari: Gianluca Cesari is a co-founder and the CBDO of Sevensense Robotics , a robotics ETH spin-off which empowers mobile robots to move into public and dynamic spaces, supporting humans in the execution of dirty, dangerous and dull tasks. Gianluca holds a master’s degree in Robotics, Systems and Control from ETH Zurich and afterwards continued as Robotics Engineer at the university’s Autonomous Systems Lab, before officially founding Sevensense in 2018. In Gianluca’s opinion, Sevensense’s biggest challenge was finding the right focus, which is a challenge universal to all tech startups: they develop great tech, but what needs to be sold is a product, not a technology — so what use should their tech be put to? The solution to this conundrum is to start talking to customers. Eventually Sevensense landed upon two verticals: automated material handling, and automated cleaning. They were acquired by ABB in 2024 for an undisclosed amount. This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 30th 2024. Click here to purchase your ticket. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E393 · Wed, April 17, 2024
Timestamps: 12:02 - Breaking down crypto 17:50 - B2Banks and financial institutions 29:23 - Being a solo founder against your will 38:35 - Hiring senior people for a startup 42:00 - A USD 250M exit About Adrien Treccani: Adrien Treccani is the founder and CEO of Metaco , an enterprise technology company whose mission is to enable financial and non-financial institutions to securely build their digital asset operations. He holds a PhD in Finance from the SFI (Swiss Finance Institute) and previously worked for companies like Gottex Brokers Alternative and Swissquote before starting Metaco in 2015. Metaco’s founding date turned out to be much too early: back in 2015, very few people were thinking of tokenizing everything, like Adrien thought would happen — but still the team managed to pull their startup through, perhaps at least in part due to Adrien hiring very senior people early on. The most important of these hires was a CCO, to complement Adrien’s engineering mind. Nowadays Metaco provides software to banks and other financial institutions which enables them to manage their clients digital (crypto) assets at very large scales. In 2023 Metaco was acquired by Ripple, a leading enterprise crypto company, for US$250M. Adrien remains at Metaco as founder and CEO. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E390 · Sun, April 14, 2024
Timestamps: 1:17 - Brought together by wine 3:21 - Declining fertility rates in Europe 8:12 - How the team came together 10:38 - Guys working on women’s health? 17:58 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Daniel Gutierrez & Francois Smuts: Francois Smuts is the co-founder and managing director of BioNexus , a healthcare company focused on creating cutting edge wearable diagnostics. He holds a Global Masters of Public Health from Imperial College London and was a Medical Affairs Manager for companies like Merck Pty, Abbott and Mirum Pharmaceuticals before founding BioNexus in 2023. Daniel Gutierrez is a customer and supporter of BioNexus. He holds a PhD in Cardiac Physiology from the University of Bern and currently works as Head of Site Network Engagement at Clinerion. BioNexus is committed to developing diagnostics which tackle women’s health issues by monitoring hormones in live time. According to a recent McKinsey study, there is a 1 trillion dollar gap in the women’s health sector, so the time for technologies like theirs is definitely upon us. Francois also derives motivation from his personal experience of witnessing his mother struggle with menopause and be told by doctors that she ought to conform to her loss of quality of life. They are developing a wearable patch with microneedles that measures your hormones continuously, which would be helpful not only for menopausal women but also for couples struggling to conceive. BioNexus is raising CHF 900K to boost their product development, part of which through the Swisspreneur Syndicate . Check out our deal flow page to learn more. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows
S1 E391 · Wed, April 10, 2024
Timestamps: 2:57 - What Girls in Tech is 6:35 - Deciding to become a female engineer 11:40 - The importance of role models 24:20 - The benefit of having a female network 25:44 - The future of Girls in Tech About Lisa Stähli & Fabienne Lorenz: Lisa Stähli is a board member and Head of Press at Girls in Tech Switzerland , a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating the gender gap in tech. She holds a MSc in Geomatics Engineering from ETH and is currently a Product Engineering Lead at the Esri R&D Center Zurich. Fabienne Lorenz is the co-managing director at Girls in Tech Switzerland, holds a MAS in Marketing Management from ZHAW School of Management and Law, and is currently the Head of Academy at Synpulse. The Swiss chapter of Girls in Tech was started with the vision of creating a community of like-minded women who could support and encourage one another in Switzerland. It’s part of a larger community of more than 120K people around the world. They provide community, skill workshops and role models to motivate women in their professional journeys. The conversation in this episode was recorded in April 2023, and was co-produced together with the Female Founders Initiative . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E390 · Sun, April 07, 2024
Timestamps: 2:10 - 25 years of Swiss entrepreneurship 3:01 - The Kick Fund 10:38 - The problem of segmented startup initiatives 17:40 - The 4 areas of Deep Tech Switzerland 24:06 - The role of the Swiss government About Pascale Vonmont & Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler: Pascale Vonmont is the director of the Gebert Rüf Stiftung , and Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler is the non-executive vice-president at Swisscom , and a former member of its Group Executive Board. Gebert Rüf Stiftung is one of the initial partners of the Kick Fund, whose goal it is to invest in Swiss pre-seed and stage technology startups from the Venture Kick pipeline. Venture Kick is part of the Kick Foundation, which is supporting young entrepreneurial talents at Swiss universities. The close collaboration with the Deep Tech Switzerland Foundation (where Roger is also active) secures the financing and support pipeline from startup to scale-up. Roger and Pascale feel that Swiss startup initiatives ought to break down silos and work together, sharing their resources, so as to facilitate the commercialization of Swiss innovation. This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 30th 2024. Click here to purchase your ticket.
S1 E389 · Wed, April 03, 2024
Redeem your EUR 75 bonus at Splint Invest with code Dali24: https://splintinvest.onelink.me/ZGYb/swppod Timestamps: 3:50 - Being part of the Groupon story 13:05 - Getting a climate wake-up call 15:47 - From working for Shell to climate tech 17:46 - The problem Manoj is solving 20:19 - Pros and cons of hydrogen About S. Manoj Harasgama: S. Manoj Harasgama is a serial entrepreneur and startup investor. He’s been the founder/MD at Treatwell , Unleash12, a venture capital company and JOIN.com , and is currently working on a stealth ClimateTech venture. He holds an MA in Accounting and Finance from HSG and an M.Sc. in International Management from CEMS (RSM & HSG) and has worked both at the HQ for corporates like Shell and Adidas as well as at well-known scaleups like usgang.ch and Groupon. Nowadays he’s working on a climate venture that has yet to fully launch, which has developed a technology that is ready for market today and allows gas turbines to run on zero carbon fuels like hydrogen. Were their tech to be applied, a 100 megawatt turbine, today emitting up to 600’000 tons of CO2 every year, would eliminate emissions and emit zero CO2. This is particularly impactful considering that gas emissions make up around ⅓ of all fossil fuel emissions. Next to being a serial entrepreneur, Manoj also invests in promising early stage startups, and is a guest lecturer on Growth and Entrepreneurship at universities like the ESADE Lull University in Barcelona, the Technical University Munich and the Rotterdam School of Management. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E388 · Mon, April 01, 2024
Timestamps: 2:41 - The neglected field of disability care 5:09 - Making money as an impact startup 9:30 - Circleg’s magic team 15:33 - Managing startup growth 18:20 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Nicole Pulido: Nicole Colmenares Pulido is the co-founder and Head of Business Development & Finance at Circleg , a Swiss startup providing affordable and high-quality prosthetics to low and middle income countries across the world. Nicole holds a master’s degree in Business and Development Studies from Copenhagen Business School and previously worked for companies like Climate-KIC and PRORSUM AG before starting Circleg in 2021. Circleg addresses a very pressing problem: over 90% of global amputees don’t have access to quality prosthetic care, since prosthetic manufacturers tend to focus on high income countries to ensure sizable profit margins. Circleg wants to change this, so they’ve created an affordable, circular and high-quality prosthetic which they’ve begun selling within the African continent, with Kenya as their starting market. Although initially they depended on grant money, the team is now ready for VC funding, and is raising CHF 1.5M to power their African expansion. Part of these funds are being raised through the Swisspreneur Syndicate: check out our deal flow page to learn more. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E387 · Sun, March 31, 2024
Timestamps: 4:52 - Hooked by the fishing industry 6:56 - Why the market timing was right 14:15 - Product help from Innosuisse 16:15 - 99% of fishing products are produced in Asia 19:34 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Jonas Urwyler & Nico Hauschke: Jonas Urwyler is the co-founder and CEO at Capt’n Greenfin , a fishing goods company striving to make fishing sustainable. He holds an MBA from the University of Freiburg and previously worked for companies like VZ VermögensZentrum and TIER Mobility before starting Capt’n Greenfin in 2021. Nico Hauschke is the General Manager of Germany and the EU at Capt’n Greenfin, and holds an MS in Digital Innovation & Business Transformation from the Steinbeis-Hochschule Schools of Next Practices. He worked for companies like RTL Group and Arvato Financial Solutions before joining Capt’n Greenfin in 2023. It is estimated that 1’300 tons of plastic and another 1’300 tons of lead end up in European lakes every year due to lost fishing bait. If we add to this that the EU is planning on a complete ban of lead products by 2027, and is banning more and more single use plastic items, it becomes clear that in 2021 the timing was right to launch a sustainable fishing bait company. Capt’n Greenfin produces 100% biodegradable, protein-based bait which will not harm the environment if lost. They’re also conscientious about their packaging, and they produce in Europe, so as to avoid the environmental cost of transporting goods across the globe. They’re currently raising CHF 150K through the Swisspreneur Syndicate as part of their first fundraising round. Click here to learn more about the deal. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows,
S1 E386 · Wed, March 27, 2024
Timestamps: 3:08 - Studying in India and the US 20:54 - Starting Anamii 34:00 - The exit coming as a surprise 43:58 - How Ansuya joined Swisspreneur 55:50 - What thirty3 does About Ansuya Ahluwalia: Ansuya Ahluwalia is a co-founder of the wellness and inner transformation app Anamii and the CTO and Business Partner of thirty3 , which helps companies with innovative product development by building AI-first applications. She holds a MSc in Computer Science from UCLA and previously worked for companies like Amazon Lab126 and Vicara Infotech Group AG before starting Anamii in 2020. Her parents are both engineers who worked for a period of time in Silicon Valley, which is why Ansuya was born there, even though their family originally hails from India. They then moved back to India where she continued her studies and pursued a bachelor’s degree. Ansuya then decided to do her master’s in Computer Science at UCLA, in California, specializing in Machine Learning. She went on to work for Amazon as a software developer, where she was successful, and promoted quickly, but where career perspectives looked far too predictable and cookie-cutter for her taste. So in 2017 Ansuya moved to Switzerland, taking a job at Vicara Infotech Group AG, where she worked first as Technical Lead and then as CTO. 3 years on, she decided to quit her job and build Anamii, a platform to help people looking for improved mental wellbeing and spiritual growth be matched with the adequate professionals. Ansuya herself has benefited greatly in the past from meditation and yoga, and still does today. Two years later, in 2022, the business had really started seeing some traction, and Ansuya found it really fulfilling to be helping people in such a tangible way, but unfortunately the Swiss government had other plans: thinking that Ansuya had quit her tech job to become a spiritual coach herself, they mailed her a letter informing her that she was no longer working in a field that aligned with her skillset, and that if she did not return to the tech field within 1 year, she would be asked to leave the country. So Ansuya had no choice but to look for a day job, and the right opportunity came from friends over at thirty3. That same year, she joined Swisspreneur as a co-host, after having connected previously with our main host, Silvan. In 2023, Ansuya sold Anamii to HereNow, and remains active there only as a technical advisor. Nowadays she is the CTO at thirty3, which helps its customers validate their business ideas, build their products/services in a way that leverages all the available open source code online, and in
S1 E385 · Sun, March 24, 2024
This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 30th 2024. Click here to purchase your ticket. Timestamps: 7:39 - Why the tech giants should watch out 12:52 - Are the crazy AI valuations justified? 19:26 - Ethical challenges of AI 20:30 - The AI act & other regulation 23:10 - The Swiss supercomputer About Alexander Ilic: Alex Ilic is the co-founder and executive director of the ETH AI Center , one of the world's largest hubs for research in artificial intelligence, comprising a faculty of over 102 professors. He also co-founded Dacuda, S2S Ventures, and Talent Kick, and has invested in numerous Swiss startups. Alex holds a PhD in Management, Technology, and Economics from ETH. During his chat with our host Silvan, Alex discussed the revolutionary impact of ChatGPT (which has allowed lay people to successfully use AI, instead of just coders), how AI companies don’t need to be very large to challenge tech giants like Google, how Swiss startups can best leverage AI and what it still can’t do for them, and how both government regulation and corporate responsibility play a role in eradicating the unethical biases present in AI models today. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E384 · Wed, March 20, 2024
Timestamps: 1:31 - Being interested in social impact work 11:06 - The background of SINGA applicants 16:27 - Who funds SINGA 29:42 - Does the world share the Swiss fear of failure? 42:57 - Knowing when to move on About Seraina Soldner: Seraina Soldner is the co-founder and former co-director of SINGA Switzerland , an incubator for projects built by people with a refugee or migrant experience, and currently a project manager at Hospital at Home Verein (hospitales). She holds an MA in International Affairs with a focus on International Law from the Geneva Graduate Institute and previously worked for Justice Rapid Response in Geneva, the UN Refugee Agency in Malta and the Munich Refugee Council before starting SINGA’s Swiss chapter in 2016. SINGA is a unique incubator with the purpose to enhance entrepreneurial skills and provide a local network for people with a refugee or migrant experience. They also support them in achieving access to the Swiss labor market by running a variety of start up and mentoring programs. 25% of participants found a business/an association and 100% of participants feel more part of Swiss society after participating. The SINGA programs were made possible by the Migros Pioneer Fund, part of the social commitment of the Migros Group. The first SINGA organization was founded in 2012 in Paris. The Migros Pioneer Fund is a voluntary development fund of the Migros Group companies. It was founded as the Migros Commitment Development Fund in 2012 and has since been actively scouting and promoting projects with a long-term benefit to society, and financially supporting them for between three and five years. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E383 · Wed, March 13, 2024
Redeem your EUR 75 bonus at Splint Invest: https://splintinvest.onelink.me/ZGYb/swppod Timestamps: 6:06 - Getting the funds to start your venture 11:09 - Illegal work in Switzerland 27:55 - Deeptech Switzerland 40:03 - Raising funds in 2012 42:38 - The downsides of VC money About David Christen: David Christen is the co-founder and CMO at quitt , a company that takes the effort, paperwork and stress out of employing domestic helpers for private households, and quitt.business, a platform for the registering and billing of startup employees. He studied Physics and Law at UZH but eventually quit to start his entrepreneurial venture in 2010, against the wishes of his parents. quitt tackles a very pertinent issue: illegal work in Switzerland. It is estimated that 75M people worldwide work as domestic helpers, 80% of which are undeclared. In Switzerland, the numbers don’t look much better: 30-60% of employers don’t register their domestic helper. These workers are paid in cash, receive no insurance, and are not allowed to tell anyone about the work that they do. Cleaning companies then take a cut of 25-35%, whereas quitt charges only 5-8%. As a result, cleaners earn on average a 50% higher salary by working with quitt. To date, quitt has over 20,000 customers, with around 40,000 employment contracts and a settled payroll of almost CHF 300 million in Switzerland. Starting in 2023, quitt will also offer its services in Germany. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E382 · Sat, March 09, 2024
Timestamps: 2:20 - The Swiss ecosystem in the last 10 years 11:05 - Why are tradesales down? 19:19 - The rise of the Romandie 21:35 - How Switzerland compares to other startup hubs 28:17 - Going public in the US vs CH About Stefan Kyora & Thomas Heimann: Stefan Kyora is editor-in-chief at startupticker.ch , the leading Swiss news portal for startups, supporters, innovators and investors, and holds a PhD in Philosophy and Business Ethics from the University of Konstanz. Thomas Heimann is a deputy general secretary at SECA , the Swiss Private Equity & Corporate Finance Association, and the Head Risk Management & Equity Analyst at HBM Partners AG , a Swiss healthcare investor. The two of them co-authored the 2023 Swiss Venture Capital Report, which you can download for free here . During their chat with Silvan, they summarized the report’s findings, as well as the conclusions we can draw from them: It is still difficult for Swiss companies to raise large rounds from Swiss investors. This isn’t because we don’t have plenty of VC funds, or because those funds don’t invest in Swiss companies — there are many Swiss VC funds with at least 50% of their capital allocated to Swiss startups, but these are small funds investing small amounts. The total amount of funds invested in Swiss startups (both foreign and Swiss) went down in 2023 for the first time in a while. After a 10 year boom, this is to be expected, and can easily be explained if we take the unfavorable international conjuncture into account. Comparatively, Switzerland is still doing well, and is quite stable. Tradesales are also down in Switzerland, both when it comes to Swiss buyers and to foreign buyers. Thomas Heimann speculates they may increase, since larger, later stage fundraising rounds are becoming more rare. Fintech, cleantech and biotech are the most popular and well-funded sectors in Switzerland. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram ,
S1 E381 · Wed, March 06, 2024
Timestamps: 1:20 - From 2 to 220 employees 3:50 - A founder’s motivation 7:45 - A leader’s biggest lesson 10:20 - Your support network as a founder 14:25 - A CEO’s evolving role About Cristian Grossmann: Cristian Grossmann is the co-founder and Head Bee at beekeeper , the well-known Swiss frontline operating system. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from ETH and worked for companies like ChromaCon and Accenture before starting beekeeper in 2011. During his 12 years at beekeeper, Cris has learned many valuable lessons, the most important of which being to stay true to your company values not only when hiring people but also when taking on investors. In his chat with Ansuya he mentions one instance when beekeeper had only 3 weeks worth of runway left and was presented with a very big term sheet from an investor whose values were clearly not aligned with theirs. They almost gave in, which Cris thinks might have destroyed the company, but thankfully persistence and loyalty to the beekeeper values won out and the founders decided to pitch in some personal funds to keep things afloat. Cris’ motivation to remain at beekeeper after so many years continues to be his engineer’s affinity for solving complex problems and the mission of solving the tech issues of frontline workers, a demographic which has long been neglected despite making up 2B people worldwide. In the next stage of their company, the team plans to focus on achieving a steady, reliable profitability and attaining maximum efficiency. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E380 · Sun, March 03, 2024
Timestamps: 2:40 - Samuel’s biggest mistake 8:01 - Expanding to the US instead of DACH 10:10 - Growing your headcount 13:37 - OKRs at Scandit 18:38 - Staying healthy and sane as a founder About Samuel Mueller: Samuel Mueller is the co-founder and CEO at Scandit , the leading technology platform for mobile computer vision and augmented reality (AR) solutions for enterprises. He holds a PhD in Computer Science and Temporal Logics from ETH Zurich. Together with Christian Floerkermeier and Christof Roduner, he created Scandit in 2009. Their goal with Scandit was to create a bridge between real world objects and the digital information available about them. Barcodes were then the natural entry points, especially at a time when phone cameras were just starting to become ubiquitous. Scandit runs a subscription-based model which allows customers to “go as they grow”, meaning the bigger they get, the more Scandit services they can accrue. It's also a very high margin business, because a lot of the heavy lifting, the computer vision magic, is happening on the user devices, so there’s no distinct cloud need. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E379 · Wed, February 28, 2024
Redeem your EUR 75 bonus at Splint Invest with code Dali24: https://splintinvest.onelink.me/ZGYb/swppod Timestamps: 5:20 - Going from researcher to entrepreneur 8:57 - How bacteria kills cancer 15:14 - Proof of concept in biotech 17:56 - Avenues after a tradesale 24:13 - Entrepreneurship and motherhood About Ana Montalban-Arques: Ana Montalban-Arques is co-founder and CEO of Recolony , a biotech startup developing a bacteria-based oral therapy to treat cancer. She holds a PhD in Medicine from the Medizinische Universität Graz (Austria) and previously worked at hospitals in Spain and Switzerland before starting Recolony in 2022. In the past few years, scientists have been made aware of the extent to which our gut microbiome influences our health. Considering we’ve been evolving alongside these bacterias for thousands upon thousands of years, it can be safely said that we’ve developed a symbiotic bond: the state of our microbiome influences our immune system and can even cause (or prevent) certain inflammatory diseases. Recolony’s team took this research one step further when they found a deficiency in a certain type of bacteria in colorectal cancer patients, and hypothesized whether providing patients with the missing bacteria could help treat their disease. Animal tests showed that this specific bacteria can not only prevent tumors but also treat them once they are already in existence, and that it works not only with colorectal cancer but other sorts of cancers as well, regardless of the fact that the bacteria is in the gut and the tumor may be somewhere completely different in the body. This is because the bacteria produces molecules which travel through the bloodstream and activate an immune response to fight the tumors. Recolony is a spin-off company from the University of Zurich that started as a research project in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University Hospital Zurich. So far the team has received CHF160K in grant money. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our
S1 E378 · Sun, February 25, 2024
Timestamps: 8:13 - Why Nestlé isn’t doing what they’re doing 11:50 - Why the timing was right for new coffee 18:00 - Straying from the classical Swiss path 23:18 - Developing the nonormal MVP with partners 27:00 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Philippe Greinacher & Alexander Häberlin: Philippe Greinacher is the co-founder and CEO of nonormal , a startup producing sustainable, high-quality coffee for outdoor consumption — that comes in a tube! He holds a BA in Business Administration from the Business School of Lausanne, and has more than 10 years of experience in business development, sales and partnerships working for Ringier, Ogilvy & Mather, Meltwater, PriceHubble in Africa and Europe. Alexander Häberlin is the co-founder and CMO of nonormal. He holds an MA in Marketing Management/Business Development from the University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland and worked for many years in the design field helping various international companies such as Sennheiser, Meta, Leica or BAT. nonormal partnered with a food development contractor to create coffee that is sustainable, organic, has great taste, is vegan and Swiss-made, and comes from a tube, allowing all outdoor enthusiasts to get a cup of coffee whenever they feel like it. So far they’ve got 15K pre-orders coming from 10 countries, CHF 100K from angel investors in Switzerland and the US, and commitments from retail distributors based in Switzerland and abroad. They’re now raising CHF 500K in a convertible note, part of which is being raised through the Swisspreneur Syndicate. Click here to learn more about the deal. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E377 · Wed, February 21, 2024
Redeem your EUR 75 bonus at Splint Invest with code Dali24: https://splintinvest.onelink.me/ZGYb/swppod Timestamps: 3:50 - Deciding to acquire TwicPics 16:30 - The smallpdf fuckup 20:37 - Integrating two cultures 26:20 - When to start thinking about acquisitions 32:50 - Resorting to investment banks About Roger Dudler & Dennis Just: On August 29th the Swisspreneur community got together for the third edition of its annual Zurich Scaleup Cruise, sponsored by Swisscom Ventures, SIX, UBS, MLL and Emerald Ventures. With about 130 founders and investors, there were plenty of people to connect with on the Panta Rhei ship on that late August evening, while you enjoyed a flying dinner and the view of Lake Zurich. Many of the participants were veteran Swisspreneur cruisers: it was their 3rd time attending! The highlight of the evening was the panel discussion with Roger Dudler , co-founder and CEO at Frontify , and Dennis Just , partner at 3VC and former CEO at <a href="Timestamps: 3:50 - Deciding to acquire TwicPics 16:30 - The smallpdf fuckup 20:37 - Integrating two cultures 26:20 - When to start thinking about acquisitions 32:50 - Resorting to investment banks About Roger Dudler & Dennis Just: On August 29th the Swisspreneur community got together for the third edition of its annual Zurich Scaleup Cruise, sponsored by Swisscom Ventures, SIX, UBS, MLL and Emerald Ventures. With about 130 founders and investors, there were plenty of people to connect with on the Panta Rhei ship on that late August evening, while you enjoyed a flying dinner and the view of Lake Zurich. Many of the participants were veteran Swisspreneur cruisers: it was their 3rd time attending! The highlight of the evening was the panel discussion with Roger Dudler, co-founder and CEO at Frontify, and Dennis Just, partner at 3VC and former CEO at smallpdf, on buying or building to scale. Since there are as many founder journeys as there are founders, the audience wasn’t surprised to hear that different things led Roger and Dennis to go forward with their respective acquisitions: for Frontify, acquiring TwicPics came as a natural result of their company growth, whereas for smallpdf the acquisition of PDFtools was the result of a neck-to-neck bidding war that they decided to engage in so as to stop their partner from being acquired by an American buyer who would raise PDFtool’s pricing. Smallpdf acquired PDFtools in 2022 for 30M (which is 10M less than the seller would have gotten from the American bidder, and that certainly s
S1 E376 · Wed, February 14, 2024
Timestamps: 7:03 - Their passion for Blinkist 12:33 - Losing co-founders 25:30 - The value Blinkist provides 33:56 - Going B2C and B2B 43:30 - From early adopters to mainstream user base About Holger Seim: Holger Seim is the co-founder and former CEO at Blinkist , the mobile-first microlearning app. He holds a diploma from the Philipp University of Marburg and previously worked for companies like Volkswagen Group China and Deutsche Telekom before starting Blinkist in 2012. Blinkist was created during the dawn of smartphones to solve a problem experienced not only by its co-founders but by many working professionals: wanting to learn new things, but not having the time to do so. They take long form content (mostly non-fiction books, but also podcast episodes and articles) and distill them into 15 minute reads or listens. Most features are behind a paywall, but there’s also 1 blink of the day that non-paying users can enjoy. Their user base includes both people who are readers and see Blinkist as a supplement, and people whose sole contact with books comes from Blinkist. In 2023 Blinkist was acquired by the Australian content company Go1. This was a goal the Blinkist team had been pursuing ever since they took on VC money. Nowadays Holger is no longer the CEO of Blinkist but remains active as COO at Go1. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E375 · Wed, February 07, 2024
Timestamps: 2:02 - From footballer to banker to student 10:35 - The emotional toll of a volatile startup journey 20:42 - Sorting out shares before you leave 41:00 - Getting good psychologists on Aepsy 54:00 - Going B2C first, then B2B About Nicolas Egger: Nicolas Egger is the co-founder of Poinz , a B2B2C platform for SMEs, and of Aepsy , a mental health platform for online or in-person sessions with psychologists. He holds a BASc in General Management from ZHAW. Prior to university, Nicolas played football and worked at Credit Suisse and PAN Asset Management AG. During his undergraduate studies, Nicolas joined the startup jayboo as a late co-founder and stayed there for 2 years before starting his next venture, Poinz. At Poinz, Nicolas experienced all the ups and downs of entrepreneurship: he bootstrapped the company for 1.5 years, almost saw the company go bankrupt, lost an exit opportunity at the last minute, got funded by the Deindeal mafia founders, scaled his company up, and ended up meeting his future wife there. After 6.5 years at Poinz, Nicolas felt that he and his co-founder were not sufficiently in agreement regarding the future of the company, and he also had the urge to start a project in the mental health industry, so he left Poinz in 2019 to start Aepsy a year later. His desire to delve deeper into the mental health industry came when a friend of his went through a mental health crisis, and he found that searching online for a psychologist was a nightmare. He knew his friend wasn’t an isolated case: statistics estimate that ⅓ of Swiss people suffer from mental health issues, and that out of those people, ⅔ do not reach out for help. So he created a platform where people can answer a few questions about their needs and be presented with a suitable selection of therapists, with whom they can do intro calls to assess the fit. Aepsy works with certified Swiss psychotherapists with years of practical experience and has a 95% client satisfaction rate. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for mis
S1 E374 · Sun, February 04, 2024
Timestamps: 4:25 - Three technical co-founders 6:37 - Completing Venture Kick 8:34 - qCella’s heated mats 10:25 - The challenge of finding the right people 12:28 - Having two rather different products About Murielle Schreck: Murielle Schreck is the co-founder and CEO at qCella , an ETH spin-off impregnating natural fibers with copper and using them to develop heating pads with superior properties compared to commercially available heating wires. She holds a PhD in Materials Science from ETH and started qCella as soon as she obtained her degree in 2021. qCella mats have the proper electrical resistance across the entire structure so that they heat homogeneously when connected to a power source (e.g.: a battery). The thinness and smoothness of the heating mats allow for more energy-efficient heating by eliminating the need for a heat-losing upholstery layer between mat and human body. The heating mats can also be cut into any shape and size and are easily integrated into the final heated product. qCella is currently raising a pre-seed round of CHF 600K, part of which through the Swisspreneur Syndicate . They plan on using the funds to help launch their first product. Click here to learn more about the deal. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E373 · Wed, January 31, 2024
Timestamps: 14:08 - Running out of money 18:50 - Choosing loans over equity 19:55 - Ensuring sustainability across the supply chain 25:17 - Boycotting the 5 biggest plastic polluters 42:05 - Sharing margin with resellers About Sven Erni: Sven Erni is the co-founder and CEO at Impact Acoustic , a Swiss provider of high-performance, circular acoustic solutions made from upcycled material. He holds a BSc in International Hotel Management from EHL, Lausanne, and previously worked for companies like PDM International and Pfister Professional AG before starting Impact Acoustic in 2019. Most acoustic panels nowadays are made out of glass or rock, and so while they are technically circular/recyclable, it requires a lot of energy (and therefore money) to recycle them. Impact Acoustics’ panels, on the other hand, are made 100% out of recycled PET bottles and are themselves recyclable. Their products are lightweight, robust, washable and available in several sizes. Together with his team, Sven decided to say no to a request for a quotation from the American PepsiCo headquarters for + USD 500K, which would have been their biggest single standing offer to date. They did this out of a conviction that it does not make sense to work with one of the 5 biggest plastic polluters on Earth if their mission is to help fight plastic waste. Similarly, they decided not to work with any of the other 4 big polluters: Coca-Cola, Suntory, Danone, and Nestlé. Their board was not happy, but Sven and his team have stuck to their decision and continue saying no to offers from these companies, even though they estimate that this will lose them 1.2-1.5M in turnover in 2023 alone. They do, however, do business with companies like Amazon, and the rationale behind it is that if they don’t do business with any polluters, they won’t do business at all. Their goal is to one day become obsolete (as there will be no more plastic waste), but they don’t think this will happen anytime soon. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E372 · Wed, January 24, 2024
Get tickets to Scaleup Slopes 2024 here . Timestamps: 4:26 - Getting kicked out of home 16:00 - Immigrants and entrepreneurs 20:56 - Getting a job offer from NASA 39:35 - Startups and space missions 43:39 - Leaving NASA About Thomas Zurbuchen: Thomas Zurbuchen is a professor at ETH Space and the former Head of Science at NASA. He was born in 1968 in the canton of Bern, son of a Free Church preacher who did not want him to attend university to study Astrophysics. Thomas went against his father’s wishes and was consequently kicked out of the house, and the ensuing isolation was the hardest ordeal he ever experienced in his life. In retrospect, Thomas believes this experience inoculated him from fearing future isolation and hardship. After completing his PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Bern in 1996, Thomas moved to the US to take a job at the University of Michigan, where he founded the Center for Entrepreneurship. Thomas spent 2 decades as a tenured professor there before joining NASA. During his 6 years as an Associate Administrator at NASA, Thomas led the science program and oversaw 37 launches and 55 new missions. In 2022 he left NASA, because he felt like he’d already contributed all his best ideas and wasn’t really growing on a constant basis anymore. 2023 saw Thomas move back to Switzerland and take up a teaching job at ETH, where he leads the space programs and works to grow science and commercial activities in Switzerland and beyond. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E371 · Wed, January 17, 2024
Timestamps: 3:53 - How to know if you’re ‘investable’ 6:49 - Getting in touch with investors 8:08 - How much equity to give away 13:48 - Equity round or convertible loan? 37:16 - Celebrating a closed round About Pascal Koenig & Sophie Lamparter: Sophie Lamparter is the co-founder of DART Labs , an international fund investing in early stage Swiss climate and health tech startups to accelerate them on the US market. She holds a degree in Communication and Media Studies from ZHAW. Pascal Koenig is the co-founder, former CEO and current board member at AVA women , a startup manufacturing wearable fertility trackers for women. He studied business in St Gallen and New York and worked at McKinsey for a few years before being invited by one of his university professors to join a startup project — Cardiosave. Pascal and Sophie have created a fundraising masterclass which is available for free at https://swisspreneur.org/fundraising . During this live session, they summarized the masterclass into a few key takeaways, some of which are jotted down in these shownotes as well. How do you know if VC money is right for you? Sophie and Pascal think that if you can afford to go bootstrapped, you should do it. If you only need to raise a small sum of money, go for angel investors. If you want to raise larger amounts, it would make sense to reach out to VC investors, but you should take into consideration that a VC fund’s goal is to have one of their investments return the value of the entire fund. So if you pitch to a CHF 100M fund, know that their goal is to invest in a startup that will return them 100M. Is that the kind of startup that you are willing to build and capable of building? How do I make my startup more “investable”? First of all, you need to strengthen the team. If your startup has little to no traction but a great idea, then what funds evaluate is the team’s potential. Secondly, you should attempt to build some traction through things like marketing campaigns, and if you haven’t validated your product/service yet, you should at least validate the tech it’s based on. How much equity should I give away in my first round? No more than 25%. Remember, if things go well, you’ll be doing plenty of rounds. How do I come up with my startup’s valuation?/ How much money should I ask for? Know that if you ask for CHF 1M, that p
S1 E370 · Wed, January 10, 2024
Get tickets to Scaleup Slopes 2024 here . Timestamps: 3:40 - Culture shock from moving to Switzerland 12:26 - Being a solo founder 20:43 - Expanding yourself vs franchising 28:05 - Acquiring silent partners 36:00 - Benefits of expanding slowly About Mallory Houston Nieman: Mallory Houston Nieman is the owner and operator of Velocity , Switzerland’s first indoor cycling studio. She holds a BA in English & Psychology from Cornell University and an MBA from Swiss Business School, Kloten, and previously worked for American advertising agencies like Hill Holliday and Digitas before moving to Switzerland in 2011 and starting Velocity in 2015. At Velocity, every ride is measured via power meters, and the rider’s distance covered, calories burned, and power output (watts) are recorded on their online profile so that they can track their progress towards their personal goals. In Velocity’s Veloburn classes, riders have the option to join the Veloboard leaderboard. The first challenge Mallory faced when building Velocity was landing the first location (in Zurich): they needed a lot of air, water, and sound proofing, and Mallory’s German was limited at the time, so it was tough to find the right space and convince the landlord to take them in. The second big challenge the team faced was the COVID pandemic, during which they had to close down. To stay afloat, Mallory put the Velocity team on Kurzarbeit, negotiated with landlords, and also benefited from a percentage of revenue loss from the Swiss government. She also made sure to maintain Velocity’s online presence so as to preserve unity and motivation among their community. Velocity currently has 3 locations: Zurich, Zug and Enge. They’ve chosen to expand on their own instead of franchising because they care deeply about maintaining the soul of Velocity, and also because they’re very careful when choosing locations — all 3 of their studios are within a 4 minute walk of train stations. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse f
S1 E369 · Sun, January 07, 2024
Timestamps: 1:50 - Joining the Navy 9:53 - Being a solo founder with a mentor 25:30 - Creating sustainability incentives 35:41 - Expanding to Norway and the USA 42:04 - Participating in the Sparks IPO Academy About Mario Michan: Mario Michan is the co-founder and CEO of Daphne Technology , a climate deep tech company reducing air pollution produced by the global shipping industry. He holds a PhD in Physics from the University of British Columbia and previously worked as a research scientist at CERN and EPFL before starting Daphne Technologies in 2017. The company measures, reduces and monetises greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources by developing and scaling innovative technology, enabling their customers to monetise voluntary carbon emission reductions. Shell Ventures, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, Trafigura, AET and Swisscom have invested in Daphne Technologies, and the company has subsidiaries in Norway and the US. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E368 · Wed, January 03, 2024
Timestamps: 1:27 - Renewable energy in 2008 10:02 - The volatility of the energy market 16:00 - Renewables subsidies on their way out 25:18 - Growing pains as a company 31:53 - Raising funds in an unideal context About Michael Waldner: Michael Waldner is the co-founder and CEO at Pexapark , a provider of energy risk and portfolio management capabilities for renewable energy. He holds a MSc in Industrial Management and Manufacturing Engineering from ETH and previously worked at companies like EGL AG and Axpo Trading AG before starting Pexapark in 2017. With more than 30GW of renewable PPA transactions supported, Pexapark is the reference for buying, selling and managing renewable energy. What is PPA, you may ask? The acronym stands for Power Purchase Agreement, which is a contractual agreement between energy buyers and sellers. They come together and agree to buy and sell an amount of energy which is or will be generated by a renewable asset. PPAs are usually signed for a long-term period between 10-20 years. Thanks to the low cost of solar technology, solar is now one of the cheapest renewables available. That is what makes solar PPAs popular. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
Trailer · Mon, January 01, 2024
We interview Switzerland’s most talented founders, business leaders and innovators. Listen to the trailer of Switzerland’s #1 podcast for entrepreneurs.
S1 E367 · Wed, December 27, 2023
Timestamps: 1:13 - Accidentally ending up in China 9:04 - Psychological safety at work 18:50 - Publicly disclosing your pricing 28:10 - Getting the first customers 36:00 - Doubting if you’ll make it About Loris Niederberger: Loris Niederberger is the co-founder of Moodtalk , a software for clarity and structure on how teams work together successfully. He holds an MA in International Management from CEMS and previously worked for companies like swissnex China and Voliro Airborne Robotics before starting Moodtalk in 2021. It is estimated that 97% of C-levels don't know how the company’s strategy, values, and principles are understood and lived in teams, and 3 out of 4 employees say it's unclear how to collaborate optimally as a team. This lack of clarity naturally leads to dissatisfaction, overload, and disorientation — that’s where Moodtalk comes in! Moodtalk lets you define rules for collaboration and update them frequently, and every defined initiative gets tracked. Through Moodtalk, you can define some basic rules for working optimally together as a team by answering questions like: What should our meeting culture be like? (Cadence, time of day, prep, meeting notes…) How do we give each other feedback? (What does quality mean to us?) How do we approach people who seem burned out? By defining these things early on and sticking to them, you slowly build up ‘psychological safety’ in your team, which is a term for how willing your team members are to speak up whenever they disagree with something, or simply wish to propose an idea. Of course these things can theoretically be achieved without specialized software, but then again, so can sales and accounting, and we don’t tackle those without proper software nowadays. Moodtalk estimates that through their software teams save an average of 12h per month (mostly by cutting out unnecessary meetings!) and reduce fluctuation by more than 20%. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E366 · Mon, December 25, 2023
Timestamps: 7:40 - High energy, high loyalty and high intelligence 13:46 - When a co-founder leaves 19:57 - The point of an MVP 32:08 - Grants or equity? 39:05 - Plans for future expansion About Philippe Ganz & Paulina Grnarova: Paulina Grnarova is the co-founder and CEO of DeepJudge , an AI-powered Knowledge Search for legal professionals. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from ETH. Philippe Ganz is the CEO and co-founder of aiEndoscopic , a medtech startup combining artificial intelligence with robotic endoscopy. He holds a MSc in Biomedical Engineering from ETH. During their chat with Silvan, Philippe and Paulina discussed some of the commons topics of starting your first company, like which values to cultivate in your founder team and how to set up a shareholders agreement that foresees all future possibilities, whether to go for grants or equity rounds as a science-heavy startup, and the guiding principles of building an MVP. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E365 · Wed, December 20, 2023
Timestamps: 6:44 - eMobility back in 2008 7:39 - CO2 impact of electric vehicles 8:56 - Sourcing the minerals sustainably & ethically 15:58 - Life after death, for batteries 25:00 - Partnering with Volvo About Adrian Melliger: Adrian Melliger is the co-owner and CEO of Designwerk Technologies , an electromobility one-stop-shop. He previously worked for companies like Swissport and Ground Handling Team Holding before joining Designwerk in 2018. Designwerk was founded back in 2008, after its founders went on a 80-day, all-electric world record circumnavigation with the specially developed Zerotracer cabin motorcycle. Ten years on, the founders invited Adrian to join them as external CEO because they felt a lack of business acumen in their engineer-only founder team. Designwerk develops and constructs electric trucks, battery systems and chargers. Although their electric vehicles require more energy to produce (and therefore emit more CO2) than diesel vehicles, they make for it on the consumer side, since over their entire lifetime they produce up to 60-90% less CO2. They also often get used in other applications (like solar panels, for example) once their first life runs out (= 15 years), and can be shredded and have 92-96% of their raw materials be recycled. Designwerk’s turnover increased 11x ever since Adrian joined as CEO, and like any other scaling company, they’ve had to deal with some growing pains: getting the right people on board, adapting the structure and processes, ensuring sufficient cash flow (especially in a capital-intensive business like theirs) and ensuring the availability of materials, especially during challenging times like the COVID pandemic. In 2021, Volvo Group acquired a stake in Designwerk Group to complement its existing offering in the area of niche products and solutions. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E364 · Sun, December 17, 2023
Timestamps: 13:03 - The birth of TOPADUR 18:07 - Leaving the cushy life for entrepreneurship 23:26 - TOPADUR’s drug development 30:36 - Financing pharma 38:08 - Sparks IPO Academy About Reto Naef: Reto Naef is the founder and former CEO of TOPADUR PHARMA AG , a biopharmaceutical company developing disruptive therapies for aging diseases. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from ETH and an MBA from UZH and previously worked for pharma companies like Sandoz and Novartis before starting TOPADUR in 2015. TOPADUR develops dual-acting drugs that target the cGMP-Enzyme Regulation System to stimulate microcirculation, enable tissue regeneration, and avoid local oxygen deficiency. Based on this key invention, they’ve built a portfolio of drug candidates to treat aging-related diseases like chronic wounds, skin fibrosis, age-related macular degeneration, colorectal cancer, hair loss and skin aging. TOPADUR recently participated in the Sparks IPO Academy as part of their journey towards going public. They estimate that an IPO will be possible around early 2025, provided that they successfully bring all the drugs in their portfolio to market. Reto decided to step down from his operative role in 2023. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E363 · Wed, December 13, 2023
Timestamps: 6:29 - Looking for investors for your fund 13:08 - Managing investor relationships 19:56 - Deeptech in Europe 22:55 - Investing in very early stage companies 30:23 - Increasing legislation About Vivek Dogra, Arijana Walcott, Lukas André & Dominique Gruhl: Vivek Dogra is a venture partner at the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund , the leading investment fund dedicated to growth-stage companies and projects within the European Bioeconomy. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh (India) and an MBA from INSEAD. He previously worked for companies like Heineken, Red Bull and Nestlé before joining ECBF in 2020. Arijana Walcott is a co-founder and managing partner at DART Labs , together with former Swisspreneur guest Sophie Lamparter. DART invests in early stage startups from Switzerland and Europe and helps them test and scale their ideas in San Francisco. Arijana holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in General Management from HSO and previously worked as VP Innovation & Technology at Swisscom. Lukas André is a managing partner at Redstone Digital , a Berlin-based Venture Capital firm that manages multiple corporate and institutional venture funds. He holds a MSc in Finance, Entrepreneurship & Computer Science from the University of Bern and previously co-founded 3 startups before joining the VC world. Dominique Gruhl is the CEO of Serpentine Ventures , the investment arm of the Swiss Ventures Group and leading Swiss advisor for venture assets. She holds an MA in Applied Economics from HEC Montréal and an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Leeds. Dominique previously worked at A.T. Kearney and the Canadian Embassy in Bern before joining Serpentine Ventures in 2023. During their chat with Silvan, the four spoke about the difficulties and intricacies of running a venture fund in Europe, exploring topics like how to manage investor relationships so as never to lose an investor’s trust, why deeptech is what sets Europe apart, and how the sustainability sector is shaping up in the current fundraising climate. Don’t forget to give us a
S1 E362 · Sun, December 10, 2023
Timestamps: 8:37 - From building skis to building a company 14:55 - Losing half your co-founders 28:42 - Pricing materials 39:44 - Handling sales after the CCO leaves 45:56 - Doing an IPO on the SIX Swiss Exchange About Christian Fischer: Christian Fischer is the co-founder and CEO at Bcomp , a global leader in advanced renewable material solutions. He holds a PhD in Materials Science from EPFL and previously worked at the aluminum products manufacturer Constellium before founding Bcomp in 2011. The company started as a garage project to create lightweight, high performance skis. The result was bCores™, which were launched and successfully adopted by some of the biggest names in freeride skiing. The founders, material science PhDs from EPFL, used flax fibers to reinforce the balsa cores and improve shear stiffness. Impressed by the excellent mechanical properties of flax fibers, they began thinking of other applications and a potential business case. Nowadays they additionally produce ampliTex™ and power-Ribs™, whose proprietary natural fiber-based reinforcement technologies reduce environmental impact in a wide range of high-performance applications, from automotive interiors to the highest levels of motorsports, from luxury yachting to sports, infrastructure, aerospace and even space. Bcomp recently participated in the Sparks IPO Academy. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E361 · Wed, December 06, 2023
Timestamps: 4:22 - Why do an IPO/direct listing? 9:15 - When should you pursue an IPO/direct listing? 15:39 - Where should you list your company? 20:37 - The Sparks IPO Academy 26:44 - Direct listing mistakes About Fabian Gerber & Jan Luescher: Jan Luescher is the CEO at ASMALLWORLD , an exclusive travel & lifestyle community. He previously worked as a Principal at Bain & Company and holds a MA in Strategy and International Management from HSG. Fabian Gerber is a Senior Relationship Manager at SIX Swiss Exchange , with a focus on IPOs. He holds a masters in Corporate Finance from HSLU and previously worked for Zürcher Kantonalbank and Credit Suisse. ASMALLWORLD did a direct listing on the Swiss Stock Exchange in 2018, registering shares at a price of CHF 9.75 per share. During his conversation with Silvan, Jan shared his insights on the process of going public, and Fabian added his perspective as someone with inside knowledge. So why do companies go public? They need more capital, and have perhaps grown past the company size that is easiest for VCs to invest in; They have stakeholders who want to sell their stakes in the company. Where should you list your company? Swiss listings are considerably cheaper than in the US, if for no other reason than because going public in the US also requires getting American legal and tax advisors, an American investment bank, etc… Swiss listings take 4 weeks to get approved, which helps you take advantage of your IPO window and derisk your project. In the US, however, you have to file with the SCC, handle the IRS, etc… What are the requirements for going public in Switzerland? At least CHF 2.5M in net equity; A free float of 20%, and it has to be at least CHF 25M in market cap. But wait! Not all that shimmers is gold. What are the disadvantages of going public? You have to report twice a year on the state of your company; You spend something like CHF 700K on the going public process itself; You spend around 200-300K per year just for being listed: legal expenses, paying banks… Of course, going public did indeed help ASMALLWORLD in acquiring more capital and gaining trust with potential partners, and the effort required to report publicly twice a year is something w
S1 E360 · Sun, December 03, 2023
Timestamps: 1:10 - Microplastics and food waste 5:25 - The kuori team 6:30 - Raising 2.3M 8:30 - The biobased & biodegradable USP 12:23 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur syndicate About Sarah Harbarth: Sarah Harbarth is the co-founder and CEO of kuori , a B2B enterprise providing eco-friendly alternative-plastic granules for fashion, outdoor equipment, tools, and toys. She holds a BA in Industrial Design from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, and was working there as a research assistant when she started kuori in 2021. The idea for kuori arose out of a need to combat the issue of microplastics, which are non-biodegradable materials that pollute our waterways and end up in our food, while also tackling the problem of food waste. And so Sarah had the idea to upcycle food byproducts, like banana peels and walnut shells, to build plastic alternatives that are 5x more ecological while also preserving elasticity. Since the start of the project, kuori has closed €2.3M in financing, which allowed them to upscale their production and their team. They are currently raising their next round, looking for 1.5M in dilutive money. Part of this money is being raised through the Swisspreneur Syndicate . Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin , so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E359 · Wed, November 29, 2023
Timestamps: 3:20 - Solo founding or co-founder team? 8:37 - “Why are we doing this?” 11:58 - Hiring in the early days 16:50 - Knowing when to pivot 26:47 - Early stage startups are falling apart About Markus Witte: Markus Witte is the chairman and co-founder of Babbel , the market leading app for language learning, as well as a partner at Wachstumsbegleitung, which offers coaching and consulting for scaling startups. He holds an MA in Cultural Studies from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and previously worked as a university professor in Germany and the US before founding Babbel in 2007. In his second conversation with our host, Silvan, Markus shared his thoughts on co-founder relationships and managing an early stage startup. Here is a summary of his takeaways: Statistics tell us that solo founders tend to be more successful, but that might just because the sheer determination it takes to start something on your own is also very useful in seeing the project through to the finish line. Whenever possible, start ventures with 1-3 other people; When looking for potential co-founders, watch closely for ego issues: does it bother this person if they’re not always number one? If so, that’s not someone you want to partner up with; Co-founding companies with relatives or romantic partners certainly isn’t a setup Markus would recommend, but there are plenty of documented cases of people doing it successfully; A founding team breaking apart with time is not a sign of failure. People develop other interests and move on — that’s perfectly normal; As a startup founder, you’ll rarely if ever have clear indication to pivot your product. Nay-sayers will always be telling you no, and it’s hard to understand to what extent your traction is the result of pure luck. So you have to keep going and find out. One thing to consider here is: How long can you afford to do this, both financially and emotionally? In the beginning of a startup venture, rules are your enemy. You have to break them to make your own path. But when you start scaling up, rules become necessary, otherwise your promising operation descends into chaos. Don’t be afraid to change things and set up proper frameworks. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/10531767/ad
S1 E358 · Sun, November 26, 2023
Timestamps: 2:40 - 90 M&A deals and the 2008 crash 6:41 - NOAH coming to Switzerland 12:43 - NOAH speakers’ valuation increased 24x 19:34 - Profitability of cleantech 29:04 - Rapid fire questions About Marco Rodzynek: Marco Rodzynek is the founder and CEO at NOAH Conference , an annual event with an unique line up of digital champions and sustainability market leaders. Marco previously worked at Lehman Brothers, where he was involved in 90+ M&A deals, before starting NOAH Conference and NOAH Advisors in 2009. NOAH Advisors is a European leading corporate finance boutique focused on digital growth and sustainability companies. The next NOAH Conference is scheduled for the 13-14th of December 2023 in Zurich, hosting 350 digital growth and sustainable companies to meet with over 500 unique investment funds. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E357 · Wed, November 22, 2023
Timestamps: 4:55 - Current global fundraising environment 8:23 - The bet on climatetech 17:48 - How funds raise funds 32:45 - Calculating ROI 42:10 - Getting in touch with DART Labs About Sophie Lamparter: Sophie Lamparter is the co-founder of DART Labs , an international fund investing in early stage Swiss climate and health tech startups to accelerate them on the US market. She holds a degree in Communication and Media Studies from ZHAW. During this episode with us she discussed the current fundraising environment, which is looking very much like an uphill battle not only at the Swiss level but worldwide. There’s less capital available, investors are favoring caution, and companies are doing bridge rounds, because they’re not quite ready for the next round. But Sophie thinks we would do well to remember the time scale at hand: the average fund duration is 10 years, as is the average founder journey — by comparison, a rough 2023 is just a blip in the startup universe. In fact, Sophie argues that now is the smart time to invest, since valuations are down and we know from past startup history that the best companies are forged during crises. In 2022, the industry which received the most investment in Switzerland was fintech, closely followed by climatetech. Sophie and DART Labs are placing their bets on climatetech in 2023 for several reasons: In 2025 wind and solar energy will become cheaper to produce in the US than coal: climatetech ventures are starting to make financial sense, and not just environmental sense; Climatetech companies are now maturing, like the famous Swiss example, Climeworks; There are more and more impact/climatetech funds coming up; Climatetech events are being hosted in New York and San Francisco; Most of us have now experienced the negative consequences of climate change personally. DART Labs is currently raising USD 20M, and is still considered an emerging fund. Their investment strategy is health and climatetech early stage Swiss companies looking to enter the US market. Whether you are an investor looking to finance DART, or a startup aiming to be financed by DART, click the link above to head to their website and find out more. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin
S1 E356 · Sun, November 19, 2023
Timestamps: 4:03 - Is my company VC-backable? 7:04 - How to find investors 22:48 - What makes a good pitch deck 28:26 - Picking a bad VC 36:45 - Raising funds is getting harder About Arijana Walcott: Arijana Walcott is a co-founder and managing partner at DART Labs , together with former Swisspreneur guest Sophie Lamparter. DART invests in early stage startups from Switzerland and Europe and helps them test and scale their ideas in San Francisco. Arijana holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in General Management from HSO and previously worked as VP Innovation & Technology at Swisscom. At DART Labs, she interacts with dozens of startups on a weekly basis, and during her chat with us she summarized some of the lessons she’s learned so far. Is your startup VC-backable? That depends on how fast you’re willing to go. The question in any investor’s mind, when deliberating whether or not to invest, is “Can this investment provide a return for the entirety of the money this fund has invested thus far?” If you’re not willing/able to grow your valuation 3x every 12 to 18 months, VC money is probably not the right choice for you. Growing at this rate is not the right option for every startup necessarily, but it is very much the type of thing VCs want. For instance, at DART Labs, Arijana and Sophie ask startups whether within 5 years they will be able to reach 50M in revenue, or be acquired for 50M. Should you go for VC money or business angels? That depends on the stage of your company. If you’re at a pre-seed stage, you’ll probably only be able to convince business angels. At seed stage, your investor pool might look like a mixed bag. From Series A onwards, you’re much more likely to captivate VCs, and may perhaps start relying more on them than on angel money. How should you best approach a venture capitalist? Make sure you’re able to reference a specific thing that has motivated you to reach out to them. You can mention something they said at a conference, which really resonated with you, or a company in which they’ve recently invested, that does something similar to what you’re doing. Play with their FOMO (“fear of missing out”). VCs, Arijana included, very often fall prey to that dreadfully tempting emotion. Don’t let the VC you’re talking to know that you’ve already talked to 30 other investors, if that's the case. Because if you have, and you don’t have any soft commitments yet, the VC may very well assume the fault lies with your product (and ask yourself: does it?). Arijana recommends that you s
S1 E355 · Wed, November 15, 2023
Timestamps: 1:08 - Moving to Australia 7:30 - Shift from corporate to founder 16:50 - Reversing roles in job search 30:30 - How to keep contracts on FOUND 36:43 - Starting out bootstrapped About Georg Hirschi: Georg Hirschi is the co-founder and strategy lead at FOUND , a startup bringing the digital consumer revolution to hiring. He holds an MA in Applied Sciences, Commerce & Business Administration from UZH, and previously worked at companies like PeopleScout and Lee Hecht Harrison before starting FOUND in 2022, together with his co-founder Ranjit de Sousa. Despite the COVID pandemic having turbocharged digitization in companies across the globe, hiring has remained immune to innovation for the past few decades. Employers and job searchers alike are overwhelmingly unhappy with the hiring process, whether that be with or without the services of recruiters. FOUND turns the tables and has employers pitch opportunities to top talent. AI-based matching and gamified assessments make every interaction worthwhile and keep everyone happy. Of course, FOUND only works with fast growing companies committed to providing a great employee experience, and they only accept top talent onto their platform. Here’s what sets the FOUND talent community apart: They have demonstrable experience in one of these 3 areas: product, UX/UI design, and software sales; Their onboarding involved a range of selective assessments, not only of their skills and experience, but also of their preferences and behavioral traits; They’re employed but not quite happy with their current situation, though not so frustrated that they’re willing to go through the traditional job searching process. Basically, if you’re not on FOUND, you wouldn’t find them. FOUND’s services are free for talent, and free for employers as well right up until an employment contract is exchanged — then they pay a fixed fee. This way, it’s a 0 risk proposition for both the employer and the employee. Memorable Quotes: "We want to simultaneously solve the skills gap for employers and get people jobs that they really love." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E354 · Mon, November 13, 2023
Timestamps: 5:01 - What does culture mean? 12:00 - Making exceptions to culture 15:00 - Measuring culture 20:48 - Dealing with a poor value fit 36:05 - Hiring family and friends About Anna Grassler, Cristian Grossmann & Sven Jakelj: Anna Grassler is co-CEO at FELFEL , a company changing the way people eat at work. She holds a masters in Management & Social Entrepreneurship from ESCP Business School and previously worked for companies like L’Oréal and Gärtnerei before joining FELFEL in 2022. Cristian Grossmann is the co-founder and Head Bee at beekeeper , the well-known Swiss frontline operating system. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from ETH and worked for companies like ChromaCon and Accenture before starting beekeeper in 2011. Sven Jakelj is the co-founder and CEO at feey , an online shop for house plants. He holds an MA in Economics from UZH and previously worked for Deutsche Bank and PROCIVIS before starting feey in 2019. As both external CEOs and founders, this trio had a lot to say about shaping and trimming your company culture. They agreed that “culture” can best be defined as the shared set of values that is reflected in every interaction each employee has with the company. This means that once you’ve defined your company values, it isn’t enough to create posters stating these and hang them around the office: you’ve got to live them out during hiring, during performance reviews, at lunch time — all the time! Which is not to say that as your company scales, your values can’t evolve as well. At beekeeper, for instance, their values used to be described by their stakeholders as very “kumbaya”, but as this Swiss company grew, these values adapted to withstand bigger and tougher challenges, and a clear reflection of that change was that their performance reviews became stricter. Check out Silvan’s conversation with these 3 entrepreneurs to learn more about how to set the right values, how to make sure the culture reflects them, and how to tell the difference between letting your values evolve and letting culture get out of hand. Memorable Quotes: "All the jobs I’ve had I liked at the beginning, but eventually got bored with." (Sven) "Don’t hire 'maybes' out of desperation. You will regret it, and you will have lost time." (Anna) "Our values have stayed constant, but our culture has changed."(Cris) Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , <a href="https://www.instagram.com/
S1 E353 · Wed, November 08, 2023
Timestamps: 12:30 - Taking your baby out of the lab 24:20 - Getting the timing right 29:55 - Acquiring inbound leads 36:27 - How the team changes over the years 41:56 - Selling Seervision About Nikos Kariotoglou: Nikos Kariotoglou is the co-founder and CEO at Seervision , an industry pioneer in AI-driven camera automation software to enable effective hybrid collaboration in corporate boardrooms or lecture halls. He holds a PhD in Control Engineering from ETH and a M.Eng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Imperial College London, and worked as a post-doc researcher at ETH’s Automatic Control Laboratory before starting Seervision in 2016. Seervision is a provider of AI-powered camera automation software to streamline video production workflows. Seervision improved on the existing surveillance-type automated cameras, which were only able to detect objects, by adding the ability to predict the object’s behavior and move based on this prediction. Their initial project was recording lectures at ETH, but nowadays offer their services for a wide range of applications, such as videoconferencing and live presentations. Their software requires robotic cameras to run, so Seervision sells customers the cameras and then a software subscription as well. In June 2023 Seervision announced they had been acquired by California-based Q-Sys. Nikos remains active in the company. Memorable Quotes: "The gap between research and practice is 10+. So research can never come too early out of the lab. If you have a hypothesis, go for it." "You’ve built a product. But you’re not just selling that: you’re selling the service, and tailoring it to the customer." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners.
S1 E352 · Sun, November 05, 2023
Timestamps: 6:30 - Combining STEM and business 8:50 - The fundraising environment 16:19 - Fundraising and keeping the boat afloat 19:27 - What makes a great pitch deck 35:13 - Should investors sit on a company’s board? About Sophia Lamparter, Daniel Gutenberg & Christina Vallgren: Sophie Lamparter is the co-founder of DART Labs , an international fund investing in early stage European climate and health tech startups to accelerate them on the US market. She holds a degree in Communication and Media Studies from ZHAW. Daniel Gutenberg is a business angel and entrepreneur, having founded Gutenberg Communication Systems AG at 25 and sold it 5 years later, in 2000. He holds a diploma in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Ecole Technique Supérieure. Christina Vallgren is the co-founder, CEO and President of Terapet SA , a medtech startup based in Geneva. She holds a PhD in Applied Physics. Coming in with the American perspective, Sophie Lamparter shared that the biggest difference between the Swiss and Silicon Valley ecosystems is culture: in California, every conversation starts with a yes, and you then figure out whether it stays a yes or turns into a no; in Switzerland, conversations start with a no, and then maybe, after the arduous process of building trust, this no can turn into a yes. For startups to thrive, a yes-culture is obviously more beneficial. Other topics discussed during this episode include the preparation founder teams must make before they raise funds, how to raise money in uncertain times, what the ideal runway is to start fundraising, and what makes a great pitch deck. Listen to the episode to find out what our guests have to say on these topics and check out Swisspreneur’s free fundraising masterclass (which includes Sophie!) to learn more. Memorable Quotes: "Next year, we’re going to be looking back at 2023 and saying ‘Boy, 2023 was easy!’" (Daniel Gutenberg) "As a CEO, you have to build momentum around your company all the time." (Sophie Lamparter) Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/1
S1 E351 · Wed, November 01, 2023
Timestamps: 6:44 - Why the founder team is the key ingredient 13:30 - Starting entrepreneurship part-time 15:50 - Splitting shares among founders 24:03 - Attracting senior people to your startup 31:30 - Closing a round amid a crisis About Tanja Koch: Tanja Koch is a co-founder at Amplo , a no code platform that makes AI easy and accessible to service and operation departments. She holds a MSc in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zürich and previously worked for companies like LEVITRONIX and 9T Labs before starting Amplo in 2021. When it comes to finding the right co-founders, Tanja has some advice to give: Your founder team should hold similar values but have different skill sets. Starting a business with a romantic partner can be a good idea or not depending on your personal preference — Tanja personally wouldn’t do it. The optimal founder team size is between 3 and 5 people. The founders should hold equal shares in the company, provided they’re putting in equal amounts of work. The shares/salary split should be set up so that founders don’t have to worry about things like the cost of eating out, but also aren’t living a life of luxury. For Switzerland, try to aim between CHF 3-5K per month. Amplo raised a CHF 1.6M pre-seed round back in September 2022, in the midst of a complicated fundraising environment. This is Tanja’s advice on pulling a round like that off: Ask your existing investors whom else they know who could invest in your following rounds. Do the regular fundraising tasks: create a long list, then a short list, get intros, go to events, etc. Keep the investors you’re talking to on a tight schedule. Tell them by which date you want a term sheet. Create FOMO, even if accidentally: during the fundraising process, Tanja went to Berlin to visit a friend, and inadvertently made her Swiss investors concerned that she was talking to Berlin VCs. Memorable Quotes: "Ask your existing investors who they know who could invest in your following rounds." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners!
S1 E350 · Wed, October 25, 2023
Timestamps: 1:52 - When should Swiss startups go to the US? 9:05 - Meeting the Google founders 12:47 - How to scale culture 23:27 - Current AI developments 28:04 - Leaving Silicon Valley About Urs Hölzle: Urs Hölzle is SVP of Engineering at Google , having started there in 1999 as their first Search Engine Mechanic and altogether 8th employee. Prior to Google, he started his own company Animorphic LLC in 1994 following the completion of his PhD in Computer Science at Stanford, and later worked as an Associate Professor at UC Santa Barbara and a consultant at Sun Microsystems. Having watched Google grow from a tiny company to the megalithic enterprise it is today, Urs had a front row seat to the development of its culture, and played an active role in shaping it. Here’s his advice for other scaling ventures: Culture eats strategy for breakfast: if you have the right culture, it doesn’t matter if you have the right strategy from day 1, because sooner or later you will find it. Being in a team full of smart people who know how to contribute and how to contradict you means the right strategy naturally shapes itself. However, if you have the wrong culture, then the best strategy in the world wouldn’t do much for you. Psychological safety: do the people in your team feel free to speak up and contradict those in positions of authority? When you’re building a scaling venture, you’re making decisions quickly: it’s extremely unlikely that you’re not making any wrong moves. You need these outspoken people as a safety net, and no one’s outspoken if they think getting fired will be the sure consequence of speaking up. Ask yourself “What does this potential hire add to the team?”: if you have too uniform a team, that team is not going to go nearly as far as one with different skill sets and perspectives. Similarly, you need to be certain that this potential hire is open to being corrected by someone else. It doesn’t matter how smart they are — if they’re not willing to grow, they won’t be much of an addition. Memorable Quotes: "Right place, right time is not something you can force." "I think the #1 reason companies fail is not being mindful enough about scaling well." "Sometimes the most dangerous thing is to be the smartest person in the room, because it means you stop learning." If you'd like to listen to more conversations about working at Google, check out our first episode with <a href="https://www.swissprene
S1 E349 · Sun, October 22, 2023
Timestamps: 1:03 - The problem of erectile dysfunction 5:38 - What Comphya can do for patients 9:26 - Doing pilot clinical trials 12:18 - Competition for true innovators 13:40 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Rodrigo Fraga-Silva: Rodrigo Fraga-Silva is the co-founder and CEO at Comphya , a Swiss medical device company and EPFL spin-off with the mission to help patients overcome erectile dysfunction through an innovative neurostimulating implant. He holds a PhD in Pharmacology from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and was previously a Postdoctoral Researcher at EPFL and scientist at the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering before starting Comphya in 2017. The problem Comphya solves is clear: whether because of spinal cord injuries, prostatectomy (the removal of the prostate) or other causes, there is a percentage of men who struggle with erectile dysfunction, and of these men, 30% do not respond to oral drugs like Viagra. Their traditional alternatives are injections or prosthetics, both of which are painful and decrease their quality of life. This is where Comphya comes in: the team has developed a neurostimulator which can be implanted in the patient’s pelvic floor through a minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery, and which responds to a wireless remote control to provide patients with self-controlled stimulation. Comphya is currently at the pilot clinical trial phase, and so far implantations have gone extremely well, with no side effects and with patients going home the next day. Comphya is currently raising a bridge financing round through the Swisspreneur Syndicate, to fill a ticket of CHF 500K. Check out the Swisspreneur Syndicate’s deal flow page on notion to find out more. Memorable Quotes: "30% of the men with erectile dysfunction don’t respond to oral stimulants." If you would like to listen to more conversations with our syndicate portfolio company founders, check out episodes 340 , 342 and 345 . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives
S1 E348 · Wed, October 18, 2023
Timestamps: 2:20 - 4 lessons from 3 ventures 6:40 - The ideation stage 12:30 - An MVP cannot be simple enough 24:40 - User survey tools 27:50 - Do users know what they want? About Herbert Bay: Herbert Bay is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and board member. He co-founded the image-recognition platform kooaba, the AR company Shortcut and the mental health tracker Earkick , where he is currently still active. He holds a PhD in Computer Vision from ETH Zurich and is the original author of the SURF algorithm, used for various Computer Vision and AR applications such as object recognition, image registration, classification, 3D reconstruction etc. Throughout his decades of experience, Herbert has learned from his mistakes as a product builder, and shared some of his takeaways with us. The following points are advice that he finds universal for all entrepreneurs: Ignore the naysayers: disruptive ideas will always be fought against. Ignore those people, and focus on your customers. (But if your customers are the ones saying no, then maybe it’s time to listen.) Try to build something unique — the market is oversaturated enough as it is. Don’t scale too early! If your rocket ship is missing a crucial piece, taking off is a really bad idea. Focus on value generation from the start. Don’t just pick a cool idea; pick the idea that would bring about the biggest amount of positive change in the world. Speaking of startup ideas, the ideation stage is full of potential traps: Not having a clear goal, i.e., not being able to pick which of your ideas is best, or which aspects of your 1 idea are the most useful. Brainstorming is fun, but it needs to result in something executable! Focusing on the solution, instead of the problem. Don’t be the founder who fell in love with their tech and then searched the globe for a problem that required it. Start with understanding your customers’ problem, and build your tech based on that. Not being able to boil a complex idea down to a simple approach. Of course this is less applicable to truly complex, research-based, deep tech products, but it’s safe to say that more or less regardless of complexity, you need to be able to explain your product in a simple way. Customers and investors need to get it! How can you choose between ideas? Reduce each of them to an MVP and test them. Then check which one has the highest conversion rate. How do you know if you’ve reached product-market fit? Herbert likes Sean Ellis’ “product-market fit score”: ask your users how they would feel if they could no longer use your product — “not disappointed,” “somewhat disappointed,”
S1 E347 · Wed, October 11, 2023
Timestamps: 11:31 - How taking a break helps you have new ideas 21:20 - AI’s role in Ren 27:38 - From Switzerland to the US 34:18 - Iterative product-market fit 41:31 - Acquiring Fortune 500 companies as customers About Canay Deniz: Canay Deniz is the co-founder and CEO at Ren , the intelligence tool that alerts you of actionable news about clients, prospects, and key contacts and helps you reach out in a timely and meaningful way. Canay holds a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering & Business from ETH, and previously worked at the data intelligence company Teralytics before starting Ren in 2019. His startup, Ren, which aims to systematize serendipity, was itself born out of a lucky coincidence: a friend of Canay introduced him to his now co-founder, Lionel Hertig, and this encounter led him to take the entrepreneurial plunge. What is serendipity, you may ask? Generally, it’s defined as a happy coincidence, but for Ren’s purposes the concept (at least when applied to the business world) can be broken down into 3 main elements: Finding the right people: Usually instead of 1 database, we have several, stored in a bunch of different places. Ren helps you centralize your contacts and prioritizes different types of people based on your personal goals. If you regularly cold email C-level people, then Ren will know that a contact’s job position is an especially relevant piece of information to consider. Reaching out to people at the right time: We have access to an unprecedented amount of information, but you can’t read everything all the time — it’s impossible to monitor the entire world. That’s why Ren has partnered with media organizations and built an AI that reads all the news for you. It selects news not based on your interests, but on your prospects’. Reaching out in the right context: It’s always best to sound like you have a pertinent reason to reach out to people, and aren’t just trying to land a quick sale. But how do you, for instance, find the news that impacts the company you care about but doesn’t directly mention it? Ren’s AI does it for you, and it also summarizes what happened and how it impacts your prospect. Ren’s goal is to give sales a human face and make it pertinent and beneficial for all parties involved. And it’s not just useful for sales people: the fundamental act of selling is a skill required for many aspects of a company’s operations, like hiring and fundraising. Currently Ren is focused on the English-speaking market, which they feel is big enough (at least for now), and their target customer is a relationship-based senior professional handling big deals in their day to day.<
S1 E346 · Wed, October 04, 2023
Timestamps: 8.37 - Start des Onlineshops in 1997 16.37 - Übernahme von Alltron 31.08 - Neues Logistikzentrum von Brack 37.48 - Fehlt Schweizern Mut zum Risiko? 47.23 - Warum Sologründer? Über Roland Brack: Roland Brack ist Gründer des Onlinehändlers Brack.ch sowie Gründer und Inhaber der Firmengruppe Competec. 1994 gründete er studienbegleitend die Einzelfirma Brack Consulting. 1997 lancierte Brack unter brack.ch seinen Onlineshop, der sich in den folgenden Jahren zu einer der umsatzstärksten E-Commerce-Plattformen der Schweiz entwickelte. 2007 gründete Roland Brack die Competec-Gruppe, um bestehenden Tochtergesellschaften und künftigen Akquisitionen ein Dach zu geben. Zwischen 2007 und 2018 fungierte Brack als CEO der Competec-Gruppe. Aktuell ist er Präsident des Verwaltungsrats. Die Förderung des Unternehmertums liegt Roland Brack stark am Herzen. Er betätigt sich seit längerem als Investor, Berater und Verwaltungsrat bei diversen Jungunternehmen. Seit 2019 wirkt er als Investor in der Schweizer Ausgabe von Die Höhle der Löwen mit. Sein Ziel ist es, Unternehmertum einer breiten Öffentlichkeit, insbesondere auch einem jungen Publikum als etwas Erstrebenswertes darzustellen. Seit 2002 ist Roland Brack ein leidenschaftlicher Offroad-Rallyefahrer. Er erreichte mit seiner langjährigen Beifahrerin Carmen Hrup und seinem Team outofcontrol diverse Podestplätze bei Veranstaltungen in Europa und Nordafrika. 2013 hat das Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen in einer TV-Dokumentation Roland Brack an einer Rally in den Karpaten begleitet. Memorable Quotes: „Wenn der Kunde zufrieden ist, kommt Umsatz und Wachstum von alleine.“ „Wir waren die ersten in der Branche, welche die Lagerbestände öffentlich gemacht haben. Alle haben gesagt: „Spinnst du eigentlich?“ „Wenn das Glück vor der Türe steht, muss man bereit sein die Türe zu öffnen.“ Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.
S1 E345 · Sun, October 01, 2023
Timestamps: 2:36 - Rapid growth in unstructured data 6:53 - Reaching CHF 100K ARR in 8 months 8:48 - The competitor landscape 12:53 - Facing the diversity of data structures 13:57 - Kadoa’s deal on the Swisspreneur Syndicate About Adrian Krebs: Adrian Krebs is the co-founder and CEO at Kadoa , a SaaS company providing AI-powered data extraction. He holds a MAS in Information Technology from Berner Fachhochschule BFH and previously built the shopping guide Looria . Together with his co-founders, Johannes Engler and Tavis Lochhead, he created Kadoa in 2023 to address a pressing issue: the hours upon hours of tedious, manual data extraction work performed by freelancers across the globe. Kadoa’s AI technology lets you build data extraction workflows on autopilot, without fighting scrapers, mappers, or APIs. They launched it this year to take advantage of three converging factors: Tech breakthrough: It wasn’t possible to automate such large extents of unstructured data until now, and it was very expensive and tedious to process it. The boom in (unstructured) data: 80% of all data is unstructured, and 80-90% of all data worldwide was produced within the last 2 years. During uncertain times, companies look for ways to cut costs. After building their product in 8 months and reaching CHF 100K ARR, the Kadoa team has a full sales pipeline. Their only bottleneck is human capital: there’s still only 3 people on the team. That’s why they’re raising CHF 1.5M, part of which through the Swisspreneur Syndicate, for a 24 month runway. With these funds the Kadoa founders intend to achieve product-market fit, acquire 30 new enterprise customers and reach break even. Check out the Swisspreneur Syndicate’s deal flow page on notion to find out more. Memorable Quotes: "80% of all data is unstructured, and 80-90% of all data worldwide was produced within the last 2 years." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners! <b
S1 E344 · Wed, September 27, 2023
Timestamps: 06:34 - Why all staff get their own shares 09:59 - Explaining how their automation works 15:45 - BLP Digital’s Business model 19:56 - How they validate business ideas 29:19 - Their experience of bootstrapping About Tim Beck: Tim Beck is the co-founder at BLP Digital , an ETH and HSG spin-off that uses AI to automate ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) processes. He attended both RWTH Aachen University and Georgia Tech. Before starting BLP Digital, he worked as a strategy consultant and specialist in digital business models and automation in the manufacturing industry. He has also successfully founded and managed three other startups, including the augmented reality startup CLIPTHIS. Tim's entrepreneurial journey was shaped by his family background; his parents were both entrepreneurs, leading to daily exposure to business discussions, and it was a path that felt natural for him to follow. Despite this, he was not pressured to take over the family business and chose engineering and strategy consulting as his path. BLP Digital, co-founded by Tim and his brother Sven, started with a sound footing because of the deep industry connections and technical expertise that came fromtheir parents being a part of the same industry. They initially focused on product development and engineering, bringing in co-founders with complementary skills to expand their market presence. BPL Digital's core offering revolves around machine learning to automate ERP processes, particularly document sharing between companies. They emphasize customer satisfaction, offering clients proof of concepts with actual data before committing them to services. BPL Digital maintains control over its growth trajectory as a bootstrapped company, incentivizing employees with shares to foster a sense of ownership. Their ambition is to move from ground zero to an eventual IPO, reflecting an exciting journey ahead for the company. This episode sheds light on Tim Beck's entrepreneurial path, BPL Digital's unique approach to solving industry challenges, and their vision for the future. Memorable Quotes: “Bringing in 2 more CEOs later made sense for us when we wanted to enter the market, and find people with more valuable skills in this area” “We consider ourselves a kind of a Chat GPT for documents, as our system can read things it has never seen before.” Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook</strong
S1 E343 · Wed, September 20, 2023
This episode was sponsored by quitt.business . Timestamps: 06:07 - How Swiss investment markets have changed 9:16 - Why Tim chose forests 15:59 - How startups can operate better in the climate space 20:46 - Explaining ‘Green’ terms 29:27 - Who are Xilva’s competitors? About Tim Duehrkoop: Tim Duehrkoop is the co-founder and CEO of Xilva , a cleantech startup building the digital infrastructure for forestry investments with a focus on enabling funding through holistic project assessments. He received a PhD from HSG in Business Administration and attended Stanford for an executive program for growing companies. Once he completed his studies, he joined a startup called Namics, where he worked for 24 years. During this time he witnessed the growth of this small venture into a corporate powerhouse with 500 employees, as well as its successful exit, which left him pondering his next move within the Swiss entrepreneur ecosystem. Driven by a profound passion for addressing climate issues rather than solely pursuing profits, he is set out to make a meaningful impact. His path converged with a co-founder specializing in forestry, leading them to tackle climate change by addressing market inefficiencies within the Swiss startup network. Their action was motivated by increased feelings of climate grief, and by wanting to actively do something about it. They recognized reforestation as a highly scalable, proven solution for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. During his episode with us, Tim discussed the evolution of the Swiss investment market and the challenges faced by startups within the Swiss startup network seeking funding, particularly in Series A and Series B rounds. Despite the current funding climate presenting difficulties, he has remained optimistic, anticipating improved conditions in the near future for Swiss entrepreneurs. Startups can play a pivotal role in the climate tech sector, and while acknowledging that startups alone cannot solve the climate crisis, Tim argues that they serve as crucial laboratories for discovering effective solutions within the Swiss entrepreneur landscape. Additionally, he discussed strategies for enhancing startup operations in this space, such as creating favorable tax environments, establishing grant programs, engaging with governmental support and how they target angel investors. Memorable Quotes: “Startups can do many things but they can’t solve climate change. However they are important elements to find out what works in order to make an impact, and they help to facilitate and further develop new solutions.” “Green washing
S1 E342 · Sun, September 17, 2023
Timestamps: 3:20 - Competitor quality vs quantity 6:06 - The ILEVE founding team 11:07 - Standing for Swiss quality 16:58 - The growing pains of startups 20:04 - The ILEVE deal on the Swisspreneur syndicate About Simon Krähenbühl and Silvia Nadenbousch: Simon Krähenbühl and Silvia Nadenbousch are the co-founders of ILEVE OPTICS , an eyewear brand which consists of two separate lines: LARS Brillen, a prescription and sunglasses B2B brand sold to opticians across Switzerland, and ILEVE DISTRICT, a cycling eyewear brand sold directly to customers and through selected retail stores. Simon is responsible for Design and Product Development and holds a master's in Innovation, Industrial and Product Design, and Silvia is the Communications and Marketing head, with a master's in Business and Economics. The idea for ILEVE came from Simon’s personal experience as a glasses wearer: his glasses kept sliding down his nose, so he decided to develop an innovative glass hinge which prevented this from happening. His hinge patent was the first technical development in terms of glasses hinges in decades, and that is why he and his co-founder Silvia don’t feel threatened by the amount of other eyewear brands out there. Most brands, say the co-founders of ILEVE, innovate only in terms of colors and shapes, whereas this Swiss-made brand brings true added value to the wearer. If eyewear is a market with plenty of competition, it also has a never ending stream of customers: as people age, most develop a need for glasses, and with the pervasive and constant use of mobile devices nowadays, short sightedness is equally on the rise. ILEVE eyewear is designed, 3D-printed and assembled in Switzerland. Simon and Silvia have found this to be a valuable USP for their brand, since the association with the idea of Swiss-made quality really helps to build trust and convert people into buying customers. ILEVE is currently raising a CHF 800K seed round, CHF 100K of which is being raised through the Swisspreneur Syndicate. The funds will be used to grow their team, fuel their expansion to Germany and a select number of European cities, and achieve the coveted B Corp certification. Check out the Swisspreneur Syndicate’s deal flow page on notion to find out more. Memorable Quotes: "We know we can’t save the world with glasses. But we want to take responsibility for the sustainability of o
S1 E341 · Wed, September 13, 2023
This episode was sponsored by quitt.business . Timestamps: 02:18 - Their career backgrounds 06:25 - Starting a company with a romantic partner 12:57 - Convincing customers to buy their product 20:37 - Importance of customer experience 30:17 - How did acquisition change their view on growth? About Daniel Meyer and Marie So: Daniel Meyer and Marie So are the co-founders and CEO and CSO, respectively, of EGO Movement . EGO Movement was founded in 2015 and provides smart, connected mobility solutions that are stylish, sustainable, and affordable. Daniel has a master's degree from ETH in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and founded his first startup during university. He later spent 8 years in Hong Kong, Vietnam and China in various senior management positions for Swiss multinational DKSH, and his last role was as Vice President of their second largest business in China. Daniel also was the Chairman of the Swiss Chinese Chamber of Commerce for 2 years and member of several board of directors in China and South East Asia. Marie graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School with a master's degree in Public Administration and International Development, and a bachelor's degree in Economics, Engineering and Management Science from Northwestern University. She also attended the United World College of the Pacific (UWC). She previously co-founded Shokay and Ventures in Development, a non-profit that catalyses the creation of social enterprises in the greater China region. She also previously worked for the United Nations Development Programme, Dubai Development and Investment Authority, Procter & Gamble and Merrill Lynch. Marie is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader as well as an Echoing Green Fellow 2008 and Asia 21 Young Leader 2008. Daniel and Marie are romantic partners and share their experience of running a business together since 2015, highlighting how their differing skills and personalities complement each other. They blur the line between personal and professional life, constantly brainstorming new ideas and improvements for their brand. EGO Movement stands out in the market with its fusion of lifestyle and technology in e-bikes, featuring GPS and remote unlocking via an app. Sustainability is at the forefront, as they showcase how e-bike users save 275kg of CO2 equivalents per year, making it an eco-friendly choice. They give insight into their pricing strategy, emphasizing affordability compared to cars and their commitment to a sustainable supply chain. Marie and Daniel sold their majo
S1 E340 · Sun, September 10, 2023
Timestamps: 01:06 - The motivation to start the company 07:26 - The team’s experience 12:19 - How do they stand out in the market? 14:36 - Toughest challenge so far 17:47 - Raising capital About Jon Eisler: Jon Eisler is the co-founder & CEO of Everyman , who are improving access to men's health through digital innovation. Jon received a BA in Business Administration from St.Gallen. After that, he went to LSE (London School of Economics and Political Science), where he completed a master's in finance and private equity. He also did an MBA at Stanford. Jon's entrepreneurial journey began with a deeply personal experience during his late teens. Struggling with sexual health issues and a distorted view of masculinity, he recognized the need for a stigma-free space to access medical information and treatment remotely and decided to start Everyman. Their purpose is to provide individuals with secure and comfortable access to healthcare, especially for more awkward medical conditions. Jon identifies two key factors contributing to their success. Firstly, the digital transformation accelerated by COVID-19 has made telemedicine more accessible than ever. Secondly, Everyman introduces a flexible telemedicine model that eliminates traditional healthcare constraints, aligning with shifting consumer preferences. Within six months, they launched the platform and initiated sales, seamlessly connecting patients, doctors, and pharmacies. Their approach bridges the gap between telemedicine and online pharmacies, setting them apart in the Swiss market. While Everyman faces the challenges of navigating strict healthcare regulations, they remain confident in their technological prowess and adaptability as they expand into new markets. Having raised 900,000 CHF and seeking an additional 300,000 CHF, Everyman aims to strengthen their positioning in Switzerland and later branch into various other vertical markets like hair loss treatments, skin care, weight loss, and hormone therapies. “The purpose of our company is to change the distorted image men often have of sexuality and provide a safe and accessible environment to talk about these normal but awkward issues.” “We wanted to create a fully integrated platform between doctors, pharmacies, and patients, and that is something that does not yet exist in Switzerland in a synchronous way.” Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://
S1 E339 · Wed, September 06, 2023
Timestamps: 03:54 - Starting her first company in Syria 11:13 - First contact with Switzerland 16:12 - Explaining what biomarkers are 19:10 - How Rea Diagnostics helps determine pre-term birth symptoms 21:55 - Rea Diagnostic’s go-to-market process About Loulia Kassem: Loulia Kassem is the co-founder and CEO of Rea Diagnostics , a medtech company that created a device to help pregnant women and their doctors monitor the risk of pre-term birth. Originally from Syria, she received a bachelor's degree from Arab International University in Pharmacy. After that, she started her first company at 21 in Damascus called BMP Pharm, which distributed essential medicines and nose sprays in Syrian hospitals. Unfortunately, the Syrian war meant that she could not continue her business, so Loulia chose to leave the country and pursue a master's abroad. She received a master's degree in pharmaceutical biotechnology from the University of Bologna and did her thesis through EPFL, which inspired her to move to Switzerland. Loulia's entrepreneurial drive finds its roots in her family's legacy of entrepreneurship. Her father, in particular, was pivotal in nurturing her entrepreneurial spirit. This early exposure gave her the confidence to become an entrepreneur at such a young age, and instilled in her the belief that she could always be active and productive in making a positive difference in the world. After moving to Switzerland and meeting her co-founder while completing her thesis, she knew it was the place she would call home and where she could start REA Diagnostics. REA Diagnostics has developed a unique approach to address pre-term birth, detecting specific biomarkers in a woman's body during pregnancy. These biomarkers are proteins that can indicate the likelihood of pre-term birth. Traditionally, biomarker testing required invasive procedures, often administered in a hospital setting, limiting accessibility and convenience. REA Diagnostics is committed to making these diagnostic tests accessible from the comfort of a woman's home. By giving women the means to monitor their pregnancy health quickly and precisely, REA Diagnostics' product acts as a crucial red flag, alerting patients and doctors to potential risks. This early detection can significantly increase the chances of a safe and healthy pregnancy, ultimately leading to a brighter future for mothers and their newborns. They are still in the process of being approved to perform clinical trials and testing the device. However, they hope to get it to market as soon as possible and into pharmacies and hospitals all over Switzerland and beyond. Memorable Quotes: “It’s
S1 E338 · Sun, September 03, 2023
Timestamps: 08:43 - Bad experiences when first starting their companies 12:15 - Going from university into entrepreneurship 18:23 - The stress of running out of money 24:54 - Dealing with loneliness 34:24 - Importance of humbleness About Carlo Badini, Jeremias Meier, Flavio Pfaffhauser and Aileen Zumstein: Carlo Badini is the founder and CEO of Pabio , a company that gets your apartment fully furnished by a professional interior designer and rents high-quality furniture on a monthly subscription. He has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Bern and participated in the Y combinator startup accelerator program. Jeremias Meier is a partner at session.vc and co-founded bexio , which streamlines administration services. He has a degree in Business Administration from St.Gallen. Flavio Pfaffhauser is co-founder and CIO at Beekeeper , an all-in-one frontline success system. Flavio received both his qualifications from ETH, a bachelor's and a master's in Computer Science. Lastly, Aileen Zumstein is a co-founder and board member at v-oice , a company for new and innovative business ideas. She studied economics at the University of Basel and has a master’s from the University of Zurich in communications. The group delved deep into the often lonely entrepreneurial journey, filled with both triumphs and tribulations. Our guests shared their vulnerabilities, highlighting the challenges they faced when they embarked on their respective ventures. While building his business in Zurich, Jeremias felt isolated as his friends pursued prestigious consulting and banking careers, questioning his choices. Aileen spoke of the struggle to establish the value of her communication company, dealing with doubts, and the intensity of partnerships. Flavio discussed his initial hesitation about his dating business and the impact of his father's failed business venture on his decision. Carlo emphasized the constant need to address problems as a CEO and the associated loneliness. The other main point during the discussion was how successful entrepren
S1 E337 · Wed, August 30, 2023
Timestamps: 05:45 - Managing uncertain paths 06:38 - Advice for companies focusing on profitability 11:17 - How to look after employees in hard times 16:13 - Convincing people to invest in uncertain times 26:14 - Advice to early startups About Philipp Stauffer, Myriam Locher & Flavio Pfaffhauser: Philipp Stauffer is the co-founder and Managing Director of FYRFLY Venture Partners , an early-stage technology venture firm. Myriam Locher is the co-CEO of Locatee , a workplace analytics solution that transforms complex data into space utilization insights. Flavio Pfaffhauser is the co-founder and CIO at Beekeeper , which is changing how frontline businesses work. Philipp has a degree in Microeconomics from the University of Applied Sciences Zurich and an MBA in finance from the Wharton School. Myriam has a bachelor's in Economics from St. Gallen, and Flavio received both his qualifications from ETH, a bachelor's and a master's in computer science. Our guests gave great insights into managing a startup, even during difficult times, and ways to navigate uncertainty, achieve profitability, take care of employees during challenging times, and adapt to changing growth patterns. They all stressed the importance of adaptability and customer-centricity, and spoke of the resilience of Swiss startups. Phillip's main insights involve the experience of transitioning from being a co-founder to becoming an investor, and he highlights how investors are not moving to the "dark side" by moving away from building the company, but instead shifting their perspective of the business world. He is now based in California with FYRFLY. Myriam, who has been involved with several startups, including DeinDeal and Star Global, has a wealth of experience in entrepreneurship. She talks about the evolving trends in the past two decades, particularly the growing necessity to seek US investments and relocate intellectual properties due to resource limitations in Switzerland, and underscores their global reputation for precision and thoroughness. Lastly, Flavio sheds light on why Switzerland is an ideal home base for entrepreneurs. He cites excellent customer referrals, access to top talent, abundant capital, and of course, Swiss chocolate! Memorable Quotes: "During hard times, having a good trustworthy team is the most important thing, and with them you should never sugarcoat the truth” - Phillip Stauffer “Taking time to listen is difficult: it always feels like there is never enough time. But this
S1 E336 · Wed, August 23, 2023
Timestamps: 04:16 - Selling Kiva to Amazon 07:43 - Working with hardware and software 16:23 - Their business models 25:46 - Ways to lower carbon footprint 31:13 - Reasons Switzerland is a good place to start a company About Raffaello D'Andrea: Raffaello D'Andrea is the co-founder and CEO of Verity , a robotics company specializing in self-flying drones that conduct warehouse inspections. He was born in Italy but moved to Canada during his childhood and, later in life, completed all his studies in North America. Starting with a BSc in engineering from the University of Toronto and, after that, a Masters' and a PhD in electrical engineering, both from Caltech. After his PhD, he started teaching at Cornell, which paved the way for his leap into entrepreneurship with his first startup, Kiva. During a sabbatical from MIT, where he also taught, he met a fellow entrepreneur with an idea for a robotics-focused venture. It ignited their fire to start designing the software for how these drones would work, and Kiva was born and would inform the idea for Verity as well. While they have a faction of the business focused on live events, their main focus is warehouse inspection. Kiva was bought and rebranded by Amazon, changing its name to Amazon Robotics, and Rafaello was thrilled with the outcome, but he was also ready to move onto the next project and build something new, and discovering how much potential there was in the warehouse inspection space was a game changer. As a leader in autonomous systems, Verity transitioned from hardware-heavy operations to software-based subscriptions, maintaining its hardware capabilities but streamlining its implementation. As the company focuses on expansion and perhaps eventually gaining an IPO or an exit, Raffaello is just enjoying the process of building and being a part of Verity. Memorable quotes: "Failure not being an option is a value that is relevant no matter what part of the business it is applying to, whether an inspection or live event.” “After selling Kiva to Amazon, I could have gone back to teaching, but making an impact is my biggest focus and made me want to continue on an entrepreneurial path." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excus
S1 E335 · Wed, August 16, 2023
Timestamps: 8:11 - Building trust in your co-founder 6:10 - Samurais and startups 11:49 - Well-designed values 17:05 - Co-designing with users 21:04 - Defining work/life balance About Fred Destin: Fred Destin is the founder of Stride Venture Capital , an artisan venture capital fund focused primarily on the U.K. and France. He received his Master's from Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and later got his MBA at HKUST Business School in Hong Kong. Starting his career at J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs after that, in an associate and executive director role respectively, gave him solid foundations for the rest of his career, and he has been a board member and investor for many different startups. Drawing from a Samurai's meditative approach, he emphasizes the art of handling chaos and making high-speed decisions while staying grounded in your startup's mission. Navigating co-founder dynamics and instilling well-defined company values becomes paramount as Fred shares insights on building robust teams and fostering a culture of openness. He reminds us that true impact comes from honest conversations and dissent, the mantra of Strive V.C., and underscores the significance of co-designing products with customers to avoid assumptions that can lead you astray, as well as the importance of always speaking up. Fred's advice extends to embracing curiosity over stress, safeguarding against burnout, and recognizing the crucial role of mentors during tough times. Strive is raising their second fund after the first raised £124M, and it’s only up from there. “With a co-founder, you need to get to know each other on a deep level so that you know you will be able to handle whatever situation the company faces.” “I can’t repeat this enough - we should design alongside our users and customers as closely as possible to find out what they need, versus what we think they need.” Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E334 · Wed, August 09, 2023
Timestamps: 2:40 - Judith’s non-linear career path 10:26 - How to separate work from your personal life 17:20 - Climate crisis contribution 21:06 - How does the leasing model work? 34:30 - Finding the right clients About Judith Häberli: Judith Häberli is the co-founder and COO of Urban Connect , which offers low-emission shared mobility solutions for companies. Judith's path to entrepreneurship was nonlinear: she first studied acting at the European Film Actor School but later ventured into Economics and completed a degree at the University of Zurich. Urban Connect started as a side project while she was studying, but the team soon identified the potential of outsourcing e-bike services and knew they needed to make the company their full-time job. 30% of emissions in Switzerland come from auto traffic, and Urban Connect's mission to combat climate change through low-emission mobility solutions for companies is the way they want to help make an impact. Their primary focus is on e-bikes, but they also provide e-cars as a solution. If a company already has a fleet of vehicles, they try and advise them on more sustainable mobility choices. Google was one of their first clients, which was a significant first step to creating a respectable and trustworthy reputation. While starting the company she had 3 children with her husband and fellow co-founder, and in her episode with us Judith shared insights about that time, which was often stressful and challenging. Still, they were lucky to receive invaluable support from family and friends so they could also focus on building their business and maintaining some work/life balance. Now, she stepped down from the position of CEO to focus more on general management as COO, and her husband, Robert, has taken over the position of CEO. Memorable quotes: “It’s good to have common goals in both your personal and business relationship - it makes it easier to switch off and remind ourselves we’re also a family, and not just a business.” “30% of emissions comes from auto traffic in Switzerland, so convincing companies that this is an important service to subsidize for their employees is not as challenging.” Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founder
S1 E333 · Wed, August 02, 2023
Timestamps: 3:02 - How Crypto is currently doing 9:25 - Why the ultra-wealthy invest in Crypto 13:39 - Investing in different countries 30:42 - What is their business management model? 38:45 - A healthy relationship between cost, benefit and potential About Marc Seidel: Marc Seidel is a co-initiator & strategy manager at AltAlpha Strategies , which provides innovative and effective alternative investment strategies and advisory services. He has a degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Zurich, and a Masters' in Business Innovation from St. Gallen, as well as additional qualifications as a visiting graduate from Oxford and Stanford, in politics and management sciences, respectively. Crypto is an alternative investment, alongside other assets like art and real estate, and it has the appealing and captivating angle of being decentralized. Marc highlights the recent implosion in the volatile crypto market as a cautionary tale for investors and emphasizes the importance of understanding the risks involved. He also discusses the significance of uncorrelated assets in portfolio construction, showcasing the incredible performance of commodities and the diverse landscape of alternative investments. He explores the evolving segments within the crypto space, including decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming, while delving into the potential of stablecoin in promoting financial inclusion. Marc emphasizes the need for active management in the crypto market and discusses AltAlpha Strategies' upcoming low-fee early investment fund, which aims to align incentives for investors. He provides valuable insights into alternative investments and cryptocurrencies, guiding investors to understand the potential opportunities and risks in this dynamic and ever-evolving landscape. “The great thing about alternative investments is that they are not correlated to stock exchange fluctuations. You don’t want all the assets in your portfolio to go up/down simultaneously, you want a balance that lets you cover your losses.” “Alternative investments are things like real estate, art, commodities, and blockchain assets, so pretty much anything other than your run of the mill stocks and bonds.” Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. Th
S1 E332 · Wed, July 26, 2023
Timestamps: 06:06 - Having no entrepreneurial background 13:31 - Why Tigran dropped out of his PhD program 17:15 - The industries targeted by SuperAnnotate 18:25 - The business model behind it 24:28 - The importance of mentorship support About Tigran Petrosyan: Tigran Petrosyan is the co-founder and president of SuperAnnotate , an end-to-end platform to annotate, version, and manage data for your AI. He spent much of his life in academia, starting with a Bachelor's in Physics from Yerevan State University in his home country, Armenia, followed by a Master's in Physics from ETH and then a PhD in Biomedical Imaging from the University of Bern, but dropped out shortly before finishing it to start SuperAnnotate with his brother, Vahan. He was drawn to Switzerland for its exceptional study opportunities and found his passion for AI during his time at ETH Zurich. While he was doing his PhD, Tigran and his brother entered an expo with an early prototype of the SuperAnnotate management system, where they not only won but gained investment traction, which clearly signaled to Tigran that they needed to start a company as soon as possible, even if it meant not completing his PhD. Being brothers and co-founders, Tigran and Vahan emphasize the advantages of their strong bond and collaborative decision-making. Today, their company caters to key industries such as healthcare, big tech, and robotics. They want to continue driving innovation in AI data management, and their goals for expansion are ambitious. Memorable quote: “When you get so excited about the tech that you don't even finish your PhD in order to start the company, investors can see how committed you are to it” “Just because your business starts off with hype, doesn’t mean you are guaranteed success. That was a really humbling experience for us.” Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E331 · Wed, July 19, 2023
Timestamps: 04:28 - Humanitarian Background 10:58 - Gen Z’s need their own LinkedIn 17:46 - What is their Business Model? 19:06 - The Chicken and Egg Problem 21:15 - Goals for a Greener Economy About Omar Bawa: Omar Bawa is the co-founder and COO of Goodwall , whose mission is to level the professional playing field for youth globally, helping 2m+ young talent in 150+ countries develop skills, showcase skills, and connect to opportunity. He received a law degree from the University of Geneva and also completed a qualification in product design and innovative thinking from Stanford University. Growing up, Omar had diverse career aspirations, initially in particle physics, but a teacher later inspired him to pursue law instead. With a vision to make a difference in the world, he co-founded Goodwall with his brother Taha Bawa, driven by their upbringing in a humanitarian family. They would often spend summer vacations visiting refugee camps with their parents, which exposed them to a very different way of life compared to their experience of growing up in Switzerland. Goodwill aims to level the playing field for youth globally by providing a platform that educates and mobilizes students to address global issues. The unique blend of LinkedIn and TikTok resonates with Gen Z and empowers them to showcase their skills and connect with job opportunities at established companies. Most importantly, Goodwall equips young people with transferable skills through skill development programs to navigate an evolving job market. The company's push for international expansion reflects its global vision, while the team remains grateful for its support from the Swiss ecosystem. Despite the option to establish a non-profit, Omar chose a for-profit model, leveraging the power of technology and social networking to scale their impact. Sharing this same perspective and values with his co-founder and brother Taha, they have created a strong business partnership that keeps them driven and excited to continue expanding globally and making a meaningful impact. Memorable quotes: “Trust is key to running a business, and working with my brother gives me confidence and the peace of mind of knowing that he always has my back.” “Building a social enterprise to help people is what drives us, but ultimately ROI is the way to create a sustainable business model, and the reason we chose the for-profit model.” Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook an
S1 E330 · Wed, July 12, 2023
Timestamps: 03:22 - Swiss women in STEM 08:10 - The high demand for incontinence testing 10:07 - Positive feedback from trials 15:29 - The challenges when conducting trials 20:17 - Funding difficulties About Deana Mohr-Haralampieva: Deana Mohr-Haralampieva is the CEO & co-founder at MUVON Therapeutics , a groundbreaking startup developing a therapeutic platform for the regeneration of skeletal muscle tissue. With a background in radiopharmaceutical sciences, tissue engineering, and STEM cell therapies, Deana has extensive research experience, including a Master of Science in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Konstanz, and she continued to focus on tissue repair therapy with a Ph.D. from ETH. She boldly transitioned into the startup world, driven by her passion for bringing innovative solutions to life. MUVON Therapeutics was originally a life science spin-off from the University of Zurich developing a therapeutic platform for regenerating skeletal muscle tissue based on autologous cells, repairing damaged tissue, and increasing the regenerative potential of weakened muscles. Their initial area of focus was the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in women, supporting them respectfully throughout their journey to a healthier and better quality of life. The societal challenges surrounding women in STEM fields are a constant obstacle for female founders in these fields. The need for increased female representation and dispelling stereotypes is as relevant as ever, as Deana herself has encountered misconceptions about her work, but she has also experienced firsthand the progress made in this regard, witnessing a positive shift in the number of women joining STEM courses. The goal for MUVON Therapeutics is to continue making strides in regenerative medicine and open up trials for more varied groups of women to have access to this therapy, and to also make it accessible for men. The long-term goal would be international reach by expanding to the US and the rest of Europe. Memorable quotes: "Pharma can be a scarier world than the startup world, but our project was already on the go, so we decided to stay onboard and see it through: and here we are!" "Seeing the muscle fibers twitching in the lab, I knew this would work, and we decided to make it happen." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Li
S1 E329 · Wed, July 05, 2023
Timestamps: 01:23 - Choosing robotics as his career 08:06 - Building a customer base 17:28 - How AI is used in robotics 19:47 - What does RaaS entail? (Robotics as a Service) 32:17 - How to raise money in a tricky economy About Péter Fankhauser: Péter Fankhauser is the CEO and co-founder at ANYbotics , a robotics company that develops autonomous robots for industrial inspections. He started his robotics journey at ETH Zurich, receiving a Master's and Ph.D. in Robotics. The idea for the company was ignited by a project he worked on during his time at ETH. ANYbotics has crafted two types of business models: the first is Robots as a Service (RaaS), which allows customers to hire a robot with comprehensive hardware, software, and service support within the inspection space, and the second is for customers who opt to purchase the robot and software as a lifetime license. This approach varies based on geographical factors and budget allocation strategies. Regardless of the chosen model, ANYbotics focuses on enabling customers to optimize their workforce and allocate human resources to value-adding, creative, and decision-making activities. Notably, the concern that robots will replace the human workforce is not really relevant in this specific industry, since the jobs performed are so hazardous that not many human workers are currently willing to perform them at all. An added benefit to switching to robots, besides human safety and well-being, is the improved accuracy in gathering data. ANYbotics' customers have discovered another unexpected benefit of incorporating robots into their operations – recruitment. By showcasing their use of cutting-edge robotics, companies attract young talent by offering the opportunity to become plant operators and robotics operators. This unique selling point highlights the innovative nature of the work environment and adds an attractive dimension to the job. It's a testament to the fact that robotics is not about replacing people but empowering and collaborating with them. Péter and his team at ANYbotics recognize that their vision has a global reach. With the high entry barriers and immense potential of the robotics industry, their ambitions lie in becoming international leaders in the field. By striving to be the best globally, ANYbotics aims to drive down costs, expand its reach, and support customers globally. The goal is to establish a sizable company capable of meeting the demands of thousands of robots, ultimately positioning ANYbotics as a world leader in the industry. From robotics as a service to attracting talent through its cutting-edge technology, ANYbotics continues to disrupt the industry while maintaini
S1 E328 · Sun, July 02, 2023
Timestamps: 8:17 - The great 24 hour adventure 15:15 - Dealing with the crypto dip 18:52 - How to handle market collapse 25:55 - The impact of inflation when holding cash 39:05 - Advice for investing in uncertain times About Cédric Waldburger: Cédric Waldburger describes himself as a startup investor, an essentialist, and an explorer, and from a young age he knew he wanted to start his own ventures: his first was at 14. He went on to get a degree in Electrical Engineering from ETH Zurich. He has built and sold companies in various creative, consumer, and blockchain spaces, giving him a wealth of experience. In 2020 he co-founded Tomahawk , which provides early-stage venture investments to Web3-focused entrepreneurs. A true digital nomad and adventurer at heart, Cédric decided to fulfill his childhood dream: after spending a lot of time reading the Guinness world book of records, he set his sights on one of the challenges, which was to travel to as many countries as possible in 24 hours. He succeeded by going to 32 countries. This adventurous but calculated spirit comes across in his investment style, which follows a system that values consistency and structure, and always investing with intuition versus emotion. He is continually assessing the markets and predicting where he can. Still, he doesn’t let it worry him anymore – he focuses on building long-term and trusts that keeping an eye on things, building relationships, and trusting his gut is enough to manage his investments well and hopefully get into real estate in the future. Real estate excites him because the investment opportunities are always increasing and rarely decrease, and thus it’s an industry that’s fundamentally longer term. Memorable quotes: “It can be dangerous to get FOMO when you’re an investor” “Avoid buying when prices are high and selling when they’re low. Don’t let emotions distract you” Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E327 · Thu, June 29, 2023
Timestamps: 08:06 - Starting a company during the financial crisis 15:30 - Ethical debates surrounding animal testing 16:25 - The InSphero business model 25:18 - Getting funding with a science-based product 29:58 - Working between Switzerland and the US About Jan Lichtenberg: Jan Lichtenberg is the CEO and board member of InSphero , a medtech company specializing in 3D printed models used for in vitro testing with easy-to-use solutions for producing, culturing, and assessing more organotypic 3D cell culture models. He has a solid scientific background of 10 total years of study, beginning with an MS in Microtechnology from the University of Bremen, followed by a Masters in Microelectronics from EPFL, and then completing his Ph.D. at Université de Neuchâtel in Microtechnology and Microfluidics. It took 10 years to develop the InSphero 3D model, from conception to iterative research, to finally creating the in vitro tissue. The company came to fruition shortly after the 2008 financial crash, but this was nonetheless the right time for the InSphero team, as pharmaceutical companies desperately needed new and innovative ideas to rejuvenate their brands in those challenging times. One of the company's main goals is to play a part in eradicating animal testing, for both ethical and reliability reasons. This will take many years, but offering alternative solutions like their 3D in vitro models is a start in allowing for more accurate testing and preventing unnecessary harm to animals. This is all the more important considering that animals often do not biologically react in the same way as humans, and so that animal testing is actually not that reliable. Their business model is twofold: on one hand, they provide their 3D models to clients who do their own in-house testing, and on the other hand, they also provide them to clients who prefer to conduct testing at the InSphero labs. Correctly transporting tissue is tricky, so conducting research in-house has the added benefit of eliminating the possibility of compromised tissues. Currently InSphero is leaning strongly towards the US market, and Jan travels there every 6 - 8 weeks to keep his ear to the ground. For now, their main priority is the company's growth and expansion, but they hope to one day do an IPO. “When starting a company, you have to either do it on a shoestring or go all in, but you need to decide that beforehand.” “It’s not about the money in the bank, but about the interest customers have in your product.” Memorable quotes: “When starting a company, you have to either do it on a shoestring or go all in, but you need to decide that beforehand.” “It’s not a
S1 E326 · Wed, June 21, 2023
Timestamps: 4:46 - The evolution of the Swiss ecosystem 11:08 - Building a resilient company 31:41 - Work/life balance 32:40 - Frank’s 3 biggest entrepreneurial lessons 41:30 - Becoming an investor and the logical next steps As a serial entrepreneur, investor, and coach, Frank Floessel has had a rich and wide-ranging career, starting from his university days at ETH Zurich, where he received a Master's in electrical engineering and co-founded and was the first president of ETH Juniors, which has been helping university graduates and students with part-time project work. He extended this idea and founded a second venture, Tempobrain AG, an HR company for InhouseOutsourcing and Salesforces in retail. He is an alum of MIT's Birthing of Giants leadership course. Now he has taken a step back from being an associate Partner at the Austrian VC company Venionaire Capital to return to his Alma Mater as the Head of ETH Entrepreneurship. His focus on the importance of company values is a huge part of his ethos. It is how he has coached other CEOs to run their companies in similar ways, especially by giving insight into mistakes he made during his career that were huge lessons, as well as sharing other things he is proud to have implemented, like hierarchical dynamics. Values are core to having employees who enjoy working at your company, feel you are transparent, and think you live up to your word. These are essential lessons he wants to share with other CEOs, and he also encourages them to maintain a healthy work/life balance, which he admits can be challenging to do in the early stages of your career. Now that his focus has shifted to his new role at ETH as Head of Entrepreneurship, he can contribute to helping foster the next generation of entrepreneurs. “I think entrepreneurship is kind of magic: you have an idea, you make a business plan, and in the end somebody is willing to give you money for that.” “Two of the key lessons of entrepreneurship are that failure is not an option, and that timing is really important.” Resource: The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway interviewing Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with ou
S1 E325 · Wed, June 14, 2023
Timestamps: 1:36 - Views on the current market conditions 3:50 - Does rising inflation concern you and your investments? 08:54 - Handling the emotional component of investing 13:29 - Dealing with negativity in your portfolio 23:24 - Moving to Dubai and beyond About Cédric Waldburger: Cédric Waldburger describes himself as a startup investor, an essentialist, and an explorer, and from a young age he knew he wanted to start his own ventures: his first was at 14. He went on to get a degree in Electrical Engineering from ETH Zurich. He has built and sold companies in various creative, consumer, and blockchain spaces, giving him a wealth of experience. In 2020 he co-founded Tomahawk , which provides early-stage venture investments to Web3-focused entrepreneurs. A true digital nomad, Cédric has decided to move to Dubai with his family to connect with fellow crypto entrepreneurs, seek new business ventures, expand on new and current investments, and spend less time thinking about taxes. He is continually assessing the markets and predicting where he can. Still, he doesn’t let it worry him anymore – he focuses on building long-term and trusts that keeping an eye on things, building relationships, and trusting his gut is enough to manage his investments well and hopefully get into real estate in the future. Real estate excites him because the investment opportunities are always increasing and rarely decrease, and thus it’s an industry that’s fundamentally longer term. "It is always good to remind yourself that no reward is risk-free." "I am more interested in working with people who want to build and create something, rather than achieve short-term financial gains." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E324 · Wed, June 07, 2023
Timestamps: 02:59 - Working across cultures and countries 08:37 - How they came up with the idea for GuestReady 21:45 - Selling your software 24:11 - Handling a hospitality company during the COVID-19 pandemic 36:50 - Choosing to grow through acquisition About Alexander Limpert: Alexander Limpert , the co-founder and CEO of GuestReady , a tech-driven accommodation brand focused on short-term rentals, has had a diverse and exciting career, including working in Taiwan and the Philippines. He has a BA in Business Administration from the University of St.Gallen and received an MSc with Distinction in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics. He stayed in London after finishing his masters, and as many of his peers did, began a career in consulting — he worked as a management consultant at Oliver Wyman, advising leading companies across various industries, and was active in eight different countries during his time there. After a few years, he was looking for a new, more entrepreneurial challenge, and decided to look into positions overseas: he soon began work at Rocket Internet as its country managing director in Taiwan and the Philippines. After his time in Asia, he returned to London and connected with his future co-founders, Patrick and Chris, whom he studied with at LSE, and in 2014 they founded Guest Ready. The idea for the company was spurred by their collective travel experiences, which they had frequently in their careers, and their thoughts on what would have elevated their accommodation experiences. They shared an interest in having a more local, authentic experience when staying in accommodation, especially for slightly longer stays, and so they wanted to combine the consistency and quality of a hotel stay within a host's home with the added layer of helping hosts manage this level of quality. GuestReady continues to grow and expand, currently having over 4500 listings in 10 countries. They have found a comfortable place in the market, as their business model typically charges a bit less: booking.com or Airbnb will charge around 15 to 18%, whereas they charge about 12%, making it a win-win for everybody. They get 12% extra, and the owner pays less, as does the guest. Another vital part of their business is their in-house software, which has not only been a game changer in being able to scale as steadily as they have, but has also been shared as a product with smaller property management agencies. The future is bright: they could expand, be acquired, go public (although probably at another stage) ... there are many opportunities for GuestReady. Memorable quotes: “Creating a
S1 E323 · Wed, May 31, 2023
Timestamps: 6:48 - The market gap in radiology 15:47 - The accurateness of AI models 17:31 - Software patenting 26:35 - b-rayZ’ subscription model 33:02 - Going international from day 1 About Alexander Ciritsis: Alexander Ciritsis is the co-founder and CTO at b-rayZ , an AI medical software for breast cancer early detection. He holds a PhD in Medical Science from RWTH Aachen University and was a researcher at University Hospital Aachen and Universitätsspital Zürich before starting b-rayZ in 2019. During his time as a research scientist in the medical field, Alexander Ciritsis noticed a clear gap in the radiology market: not only is there a lot more data for radiologists to analyze nowadays (a CT scan takes 12 secs to give you 128 slides, whereas 10 years ago it took 5 min to provide 30 slides), but only 10% of radiologists and radiographers are breast imaging specialists, in spite of the growing number of exams performed globally (270M+). Add to that the fact that breast density (a factor which varies naturally from person to person) makes catching lesions and cancer more difficult, and that it’s up to the physician to determine whether or not the breast is dense enough to warrant further testing, and you’ve got a perfect storm for malpractice suits. b-rayZ offers an AI solution that provides standardized, reproducible and real-time classification of breast density with a proven accuracy of 93%. This means that people with dense breasts are more likely to be directed towards further testing, and so the likelihood of breast cancer being detected early on and successfully combated by cancer treatments increases. b-rayZ does not claim to diagnose cancer themselves: they simply help smooth and improve the workflow that does detect it. They haven’t patented their code (since people could code around the patent anyways) but they have patented the process of training and developing their AI software. Currently they are looking forward to expanding into the US market, and in 2022 they raised a CHF 4 million round partially funded through the Swisspreneur Syndicate . "Outsource as little as possible. Your IP is your most precious asset, and you need to protect it." "You need to find the tedious tasks in a department which can and need to be standardized — then AI is your friend." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/10531767/
S1 E322 · Wed, May 24, 2023
Timestamps: 4:47 - How the idea for Batmaid started in a New York apartment 6:45 - The importance of social responsibility in business 17:15 - Profitability in a people business 24:22 - Building a strong brand in Switzerland’s different regions 36:48 - Journey of finding investment About Andreas Schollin-Borg: Andreas Schollin-Borg always knew he wanted to become an entrepreneur. At the age of 16 he began a small business selling caps, and the bug bit. Due to his father’s insistence, he obtained a finance and ship trading degree from HEC Lausanne and a Master's from the University of Geneva, and even went on to study at NYU, all the while trying out different entrepreneurial ideas in his mind — fast forward to the present, he is the co-founder of Batmaid , and the CEO of Batgroup , the parent company of Batmaid, Batwork , and Batsoft . Back in 2014, he initially wanted to start a shoe business while in New York and was actively studying this industry. While doing this, his apartment was a mess and difficult to work in, so he found a locally-based app to book a housekeeper to do some cleaning. It was such a good experience, and he loved the idea so much that he decided to take it back to Switzerland with him. However, he knew he would need support and partnership, and found it one night at a beer pong tournament where he met his future partner, Eric Laudet. They have only grown from there: Batmaid has become the Batgroup, including Batmaid, Batwork, and Batsoft, which all combat different areas of the cleaning business, and it has expanded to other regions of Switzerland and 8 countries around Europe. Initially, it was challenging to convince investors to give capital to the company because people-based businesses are often seen as unreliable, but Andreas proved there was a demand for this service, and with some significant branding initiatives, a partnership with Onet (one of the biggest facility management companies in Europe) and some damn good tech, investors became convinced. An essential part of their business is the social mission of combating the black market and giving their staff rights, legal agency, and financial and emotional support. Having a constant fear of going to work in the case that somebody asks for a social security number, or simply not getting a retirement package, is a reality for many of the cleaning staff, and it is Batmaid's goal to improve that experience, to be a safe environment fueled by tr
S1 E321 · Thu, May 18, 2023
Timestamps: 7:13 - Product building mistakes 11:13 - What makes a great product 17:42 - Prioritizing certain product features 27:10 - Key roles in a product team 34:20 - Maintaining a strong culture About Laurent Decrue: Laurent Decrue is the co-founder of the moving company MOVU and the software company Holycode , and the former CEO at Bexio. Currently he is active as CFO and co-CEO at Holycode. He holds an MBA from the University of Basel and previously worked at DeinDeal. Throughout his time at MOVU, Bexio, DeinDeal and Holycode, Laurent observed time and time again the following product building mistakes: Delegating product responsibility to a CTO who isn’t familiar with the necessary product architecture that needs to be set up early in the game; Not allowing your product team to grow as much as it needs to, when it needs to — i.e., not hiring a product owner but instead having one of the founders do that job part-time, on top of all their other responsibilities; Picking a technical co-founder without consulting with CTOs whose technical opinion you respect. What do all great products have in common, regardless of industry? They result from a huge focus on user experience; They come from working with a large set of data very early on; They were iterated continuously through fast product cycles. When it comes to KPIs which can keep product iteration on track, Laurent warns you not to focus too much on stuff like revenue or absolute number of users, but instead conversion rate, which points to stumbling blocks along your funnel regardless of your user scale. What are 4 key sub departments in a product team? UX research; Data/BI analytics; Requirements engineering; End tests. How can you cultivate a strong culture not only within the product team, but the whole team overall? The founders need to sit down and reflect on what the company values are. Write them down; Values should be emphasized during the hiring and onboarding process; Respect for company values should be taken into consideration when assessing someone’s yearly performance. Sometimes, disrespect of values is a good reason to let someone go; Company values should be revisited yearly, as the team grows. "Values have to come from the founders. Otherwise it d
S1 E320 · Wed, May 10, 2023
Timestamps: 09:49 - How Nathalie got into climate entrepreneurship 12:02 - The tipping point: How close is it? 15:25 - How can richer countries like Switzerland play a role? 27:54 - Simultaneously being an investment and impact firm 34:08 - How can the economy adapt to climate-centered frameworks? About Nathalie Moral: Nathalie Moral is the founder and CEO of Clima Now , a foundation that finances and invests in climate solutions She received a degree in business administration from the University of St. Gallen and a certification in business and climate change, from both ZHAW and Cambridge. She followed a career in consulting, working at companies like PwC, but soon realized she felt like she had a bigger purpose and wanted to make an impact, and to do something she would be proud to tell her children about one day. Born in Switzerland, her family unconventionally spent the first few years of her life in India, and upon moving back to Switzerland, she was confronted with how different the experiences were between the two places. She gained awareness early on in life of the privileged bubble that Switzerland can be and became cognizant of the experiences of others. That is what got her interested in helping to fight climate change, and her optimistic outlook has often infectiously inspired other people. She tries not to focus on the pessimistic aspects when thinking about climate change but rather to be aware of the fantastic work people are doing around her to make a difference in this pressing issue – she believes the future is bright. The combination of impact and investment is one of the best ways she sees to make real change, as in this capacity you can get involved with political movements which are focused on the climate, and not just their own political agenda. She has a goal to get 100k signatures for Clima Now’s initiative, Spotlight, which allows communities to submit climate-conscious ideas that are then voted on by the public at large. Since in Switzerland 100k is a large enough number of signatures to change the law, hitting this milestone would be a huge stride for the organization. Switzerland being one of the world’s wealthiest countries, it is often thought that we are already doing enough to be carbon neutral, and we are, in fact, doing many positive things. However there are still areas where improvements can be made and it is largely to do with aligning political agendas, because climate consciousness should not be a political strategy, and neither should taking responsibility and providing support to the Global South. Clima Now’s future focus will be on the youth aged 18-35, which is the generation that climate
S1 E319 · Wed, May 03, 2023
Timestamps: 04:29 - Meeting Smallpdf 14:37 - Backstabbed by a competitor 22:50 - Identifying acquisition targets 44:39 - Structuring the deal 51:30 - Announcing the acquisition About Dennis Just: Dennis Just is a serial entrepreneur and the former CEO at smallpdf , the rapidly growing and fully bootstrapped PDF powerhouse. He holds a BSc in Economics and Engineering from the Technische Universität Berlin and previously founded companies like dSLASH.de, compreo.de, TopFachhandel.de, Numbrs, and Knip AG, and also worked at the famous scaleup DeinDeal. Currently he’s active as a venture partner at the European venture capital group 3VC . Dennis was CEO at smallpdf from 2019 to March 2023, and during his time there the company acquired PDF Tools AG (2022) for $30M. He advises founders to cultivate a strategic mindset before even beginning the acquisition process: you need to make sure you have both the revenue and the talent to support the massive growth that acquisition implies. When trying to identify acquisition targets, Dennis suggests liaising with the competitors in your market from early on. Find out who’s who, where they’re headed, whether or not they’re your 1:1 competitors, and, if they’re not, whether it would make sense to join forces with them. In smallpdf’s case, since they’re a bootstrapped company, it didn’t make sense for them to look for companies backed by VCs, since investors tend to have demands which bootstrapped buyers (with building generational, sustainable businesses in mind) typically cannot meet. So instead they looked for bootstrapped companies with a track record of organic growth. Something that’s also crucial is to assess the cultural fit, and that’s why having a long-term relationship with these companies comes in handy. But regardless of how long you’ve known them, a due diligence process should always include cultural assessment interviews with all employees. It’s important to set clear standards for what you want the culture to be, even if that means losing 30% of the people from the company you acquired. Memorable quote: " The due diligence process should include cultural assessment interviews with every single employee from the company you’re considering buying." If you would like to listen to our previous conversations with Dennis, check out episodes 85 , <a href="https://www.swisspreneur.org/podcast/ep-87-bootstrapping-your-company-to-scale" t
S1 E318 · Wed, April 26, 2023
Timestamps: 8:27 - How to know if you can work well with someone 14:28 - Gift cards in Switzerland 18:55 - Building trust in e-commerce 25:18 - Credit card fraud and liability 28:55 - Getting big brands on board About Dominik Megert: Dominik Megert is the founder and CEO at offerz , a company which provides the largest assortment of digital vouchers and gift cards in Switzerland. He studied Retail Trade at the Business School Thun and started offerz when he finished his studies, in 2015. Whether it’s credit for gaming services (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Blizzard, Steam), vouchers for entertainment ( Spotify, deezer, Google Play), gift cards for everyday needs (Coop, Manor, Lidl, MediaMarkt, Zalando, Just Eat) or prepaid mobile top-ups, offerz has it available at any time and printable as PDF. They also allow you to personalize your gift card with text, image or video. In return for promoting the gift card issuing companies, offerz receives a commission between 2% and 20%, depending on how well the card typically sells. Though the average gift card sale in Switzerland is twice as high as in other European countries (due to the higher purchasing power and stronger currency), gift card issuing companies don’t usually go for Switzerland, because of its small size and multilingualism. However, offerz’ innovative solution seems to have convinced a number of them, and they feature offerz’ logo on their online shops. This helped offerz build up trust with potential customers, and for that same purpose they also upgraded the look of their own website and logo and invested in building a strong customer support team. Memorable quote: " If your online shop looks ugly, that certainly won’t help build trust with customers." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E317 · Wed, April 19, 2023
Timestamps: 6:05 - Coming up with planted recipes 7:18 - What’s wrong with livestock farming 10:56 - How vegetable protein compares 16:20 - Why Planted is better than meat 28:00 - Production costs in Switzerland About Pascal Bieri: Pascal Bieri is the co-founder of Planted , a startup creating healthy plant-based meat alternatives. He holds an MA in Informations-, Media- and Technology Management from the University of St Gallen, and previously worked in companies like SweetWorks Confections and DeepTech Capital AG before starting Planted in 2019. He also co-founded the Green Liberal Party in Lucerne when he was 21, but the slowness of politics soon dissuaded him from getting further involved. So what’s wrong with livestock farming? From a cold, technocratic point of view, not taking into account the environment, animal well-being or workers’ rights was great for the meat industry, since it allowed it to achieve a fantastic production ration, super efficient supply chains, pay almost no taxes and deliver very low margins to everyone involved. Meat became cheap and accessible to almost everyone. However, this came at the cost of… Destroying acres and acres of land to build livestock operations; Establishing intensive monoculture farming operations which deplete soils of nutrients in order to feed livestock, which requires 25x the amount of those crops than we do to meet their nutritional needs; Emitting 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions, which is about the same as the amount emitted by the entirety of the transportation system. Planted makes meat alternatives mainly out of pea protein, which can be grown locally and gives great taste. In 100 g of planted.chicken Nature, for example, there is 23.7 g of protein, which is about the same amount as found in conventional chicken meat. planted.chicken Nature consists of no more than four natural ingredients and a healthy portion of vitamin B12. What scares Pascal in the meat alternative market is not companies trying to produce equally healthy and tasty alternatives, but the companies making unhealthy products that taste terribly, which deter people from ever trying out a vegan product again. planted products are available in supermarkets but also in certain restaurants, and the menus in these restaurants clearly state that they use planted products. This was intentional on planted’s part, in order to build trust with their future customers. Their goal, eventually, is to become cheaper than animal meat. Memorable quote: "We’re hiding from climate catastrophe behind our own plates, becaus
S1 E316 · Sun, April 16, 2023
Timestamps: 01:35 - Change as a career navigator 06:46 - Being open to failure 14:12 - The role of foundations in the Swiss ecosystem 28:06 - Why and how to question yourself 33:21 - The pressure for change in Switzerland is too small About Andrea Belliger: Andrea Belliger is the director of the Institut für Kommunikation und Führung , Switzerland's leading educational research and consulting institution. She studied at the University of Lucerne, majoring in theology, philosophy, and history. She also completed two post-doctorates, one at the University of Zurich in Classical Studies and Law, and the other at the University of Athens, focusing on ancient church history. She joined IKF in 2005, and is involved with many of the courses' conceptual structures. Her other job titles include professor, scientist, author, speaker, and board member. A significant focus of IKF is teaching communication, management, and personal leadership skills, and helping to encourage. You can find your career path by embracing change and taking inspiration from your American counterparts: it is important to be bold and not shy away from failure! Foundations play an important role in Switzerland's entrepreneurial make-up and help to bring into existence projects which may not otherwise have had the necessary financial means. To provide this support is one of the main focuses of IKF, and to do so in a variety of industries, including e-learning, e-health, and e-government. Andrea also gives some tips on working more thoughtfully by focusing on your strengths and improving your work culture. She recommends questioning yourself to ensure you're on the right path and in the right seat, because you sometimes need to come to terms with the fact that you may not be satisfied in your career. Lastly, we talk about how wealth in Switzerland doesn't always help society make the changes it needs, and point to the importance of shifting mindsets and having ideas worth the funding available. "Wir sind veränderungsresistent, weil es uns sehr gut geht." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E315 · Wed, April 12, 2023
Timestamps: 9:30 - The effect of climate change on coral rrreefs 14:54 - 3D printed terracotta clay 17:46 - Testing the product, having a breakdown 28:18 - How rrreefs makes money 38:12 - Tackling reef destruction at the source About Ulrike Pfreundt: Ulrike Pfreundt is the co-founder and Head of Science and Development at rrreefs , a startup rebuilding coral reefs to restore marine biodiversity and protect coast lines. She holds a PhD in Molecular Genetics/Experimental Bioinformatics and was previously a Postdoctoral Fellow of Biological Oceanography at ETH, before creating rrreefs in 2020. What causes damage to coral reefs? Local stressors like agricultural run-off, which sometimes infects corals with viruses; Overfishing, since fishes are crucial pieces of the reef ecosystem; Climate change: warming temperatures warm the waters. Waters that stay warm for too long kill reefs, because the algae that feed the corals become toxic under warmer temperatures. It’s estimated that we’ve already lost 50% of all coral reefs on planet Earth. This is truly tragic, because they harbor ⅓ of all species that exist in the ocean, and are essential for industries like pharma, beauty, etc. In the pharma industry, for example, byproducts of the coral reef ecosystem are used for drugs against bacteria, viruses, pain, and even cancer. rrreefs tackles this issue by building modular systems of 3D-printed terracotta bricks which, when “implanted”, create a new habitat for about 20000 reef animals smaller than 0.5mm for each m3. Every reef is built in collaboration with local stakeholders and all reef material is 100% plastic free and free of additives. Their reefs are proven to increase fish abundance and diversity by providing shelter for adult and juvenile fish, and the rrreefs team continuously integrates results from scientific experiments to improve their reef system. rrreefs began their operations by crowdfunding, and after that accepted donations from companies and grants from foundations. In 2023, the rrreefs foundation is becoming an AG and starting to raise capital, targeting companies that want to foster a reef as part of their sustainability portfolio. Why just plant trees, when you can also foster coral reefs? Companies can sponsor their very own reef or sponsor part of a communal reef, and they can also add on a data & storytelling subscription to know how their reef is evolving. rrreefs’ medium to long term goal is to eventually create reef credits which will be tokenized and work as financial assets. "We’ve probably lost around 50% of all coral reefs already. These reefs
S1 E314 · Sun, April 09, 2023
Timestamps: 05:31 - The current state of gender diversity in Switzerland 9:00 - Obstacles women face in the workplace 11:12 - Are there ways to fix this problem? 20:34 - Benefits of diverse teams 23:10 - 3 ways to make Switzerland more diverse About Hilda Liswani: The daughter of a Namibian diplomat, Hilda Liswani has lived in many places, including South Africa, Ethiopia, and the UK. The experience of always being an outsider looking in has shaped her perspective toward diversity and inclusion: she was made to realize how boundless the world is, and how opportunities present themselves to you once you change your mindset. Hilda has a degree in International relations from the Nottingham University of Trent and an MSc from the University of London in Migration Mobility development. Nowadays she is the CEO and founder of WeBloom , a non-profit focused on building gender equality in Switzerland within policy making and institutions. WeBloom is a non-profit association based in Zurich, Switzerland, whose focus is to adopt inclusion and sustainable methods towards diversity in Swiss work environments, specifically within the tech industry, with a focus on venture capital, academic institutions, founders and corporates to address systemic challenges within technological innovation. According to research WeBloom conducted in 2022, only 1.9% of seed funding only went to female founders — this shows us where change most needs to take place. Hilda believes that Switzerland is already bridging the diversity gap and is further ahead than many other European countries. However, there is still a way to go, and what will ignite that change is economic inclusion and actively changing people’s mindsets, especially for women and minorities, to shift their internalized cultural perspectives. WeBloom conducted another study where they found that 17% of Swiss people have negative feelings towards black people, and 21% towards Muslim people, which naturally is also felt in the workplace. Policy makers and employers should not attempt to fix this issue through setting quotas, because making people feel like they’re a quota hire is both disheartening and unsustainable in the long-term. Instead, employers should look to improve their unbiased hiring practices, to ensure preconceived notions of “the other” do not prevent them from hiring the best person for the job. Some additional solutions Hilda suggests are prioritizing financing female founders and integrating DAI (Diversity and Inclusion) initiatives in the workplace that provide clear and actionable information. Memorable quotes: “Diverse teams yield about 32% mo
S1 E313 · Wed, April 05, 2023
Timestamps: 14:15 - Building a foundation 17:55 - Managing public perception of foundations 22:11 - Determining the success of a program 26:33 - Gebert Rüf’s funding strategy 33:00 - Why Switzerland is a great ecosystem About Pascale Vonmont: Pascale Vonmont is the director of the Gebert Rüf Stiftung , which funds innovative Swiss university projects. She is also a board member at Swiss Foundations, VentureKick and the Swiss National Science Foundation, and a jury member of EY “Entrepreneur of The Year” Switzerland. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from ETH Zurich. Founded in 1999, Gebert Rüf is the largest private science and innovation-funding foundation in Switzerland, with the objective to promote «Switzerland as a top location for business and as a place to live». As a private funding agency guided by its mission statement «making science effective», it supports entrepreneurial projects which are committed to achieving an impact. They’re supporters of known Swiss projects like InnoBooster and Venture Kick. Pascale Vonmont manages the operational side of the foundation. She supports the board of trustees in its strategic activities, manages the foundation's support programmes, and networks the foundation's activities with central partners. Pascale’s decades of experience have taught her that foundations should make a priority out of transparency and approachability, and need to recognize that innovation is a risk which sometimes necessitates failure, but failure doesn’t mean that the work wasn’t worthwhile. Gebert Rüf also helped create Swiss Foundations, a “voice” for foundations in Switzerland which offers practical advice and educates foundation bodies. Gebert Rüg’s funding strategy has 4 main pillars: Science and entrepreneurship: bridging the gap between research and the market; Science and education: focusing on building future skills; Science and society/economy: making science with society, not just for society. Making this science available to the public at large through “scientainment” (science-focused entertainment); Foundations in Switzerland: keeping Switzerland an attractive country for business through a liberal regulation foundation. Pascale advises startups thinking about applying for a Gebert Rüf grant to first get in touch with them by calling or emailing, so that both parties can make sure that the startup’s area of activity falls within the foundation’s scope. Gebert Rüf is currently celebrating their 25th anniversary, which prompted them to co-produce a bonus series with us early this year celebrating the role of foundations in entrepreneurship. <
S1 E312 · Sun, April 02, 2023
Timestamps: 5:01 - How do Swiss companies currently look after their employees? 08:35 - Why was insurance the business model of choice? 14:03 - The 3 phases of employee healthcare 21:23 - Choosing whether or not to partner 29:36 - Reactive vs. preventative care About Fabian Mächler After getting his degree in Computer Science from ETH Zurich and having a background in highly competitive sports, as his mother and grandfather were competitive endurance athletes, Fabian Mächler figured out early on that sport as a career was not for him. However, he found that startups gave him the same need to perform. Fabian has participated in various startup initiatives, like startup days, Startup INVEST, and Sigma Squared Society, and previously worked as a software and electrical engineer. Now, he’s the co-founder of grape , a digital employee insurance that improves team health by integrating software, health, and insurance to work synchronously. Founded in Zurich in 2021, grape has grown from strength to strength, having raised 1.7 million Swiss Francs in the first-seed stage and recently made 7 digits in premium volume. Employee health care is a requirement in Swiss companies, which means an open landscape of ideas for this necessary service. They provide their services to companies as small as 50 employees and up to 4000, and it is the integration of automation software, combined with health and insurance, that has allowed them to have this kind of reach. It is also vital to grape that their product alleviates the pressure for both employees and managers to take on administrative responsibility. The grape insurance model can step in and handle a large amount of it, and a completed report gets to a manager and allows them to give more support to their colleagues. Significantly, when trying to start grape, Fabian and his team’s research process went through many validation stages. grape as we know it today is the result of 6 or 7 tries, and the iteration process allowed them to realize that they did not necessarily need to create an insurance platform from scratch, but would do better to focus on being the agent who brings the 3 phases of healthcare together. Through their research and user testing, they discovered how short-term absenteeism (1 - 30 days absence period) is the most common symptom of workplace dissatisfaction regarding health and wellness. Another vital aspect that they were focused on was making sure their product was available to everyone, and not just people who are already in good health. This keeps them active in the preventative care space while acknowledging the importance of reactive care, which often receives the most atte
S1 E311 · Wed, March 29, 2023
Timestamps: 6:48 - Entering an American vs a European market 12:55 - Do Swiss companies need to go international 16:45 - Compromises when going international 20:04 - Bootstrapping or fundraising 25:49 - When talent doesn’t come to you About Tobias Gunzehauser, Léa Miggiano & Flavio Pfaffhauser: Flavio Pfaffhauser is a co-founder and CIO at Beekeeper , a frontline operating system which helps companies ditch paper and manual processes to improve employee engagement, retention, and performance. Tobias Gunzenhauser is the co-founder and CEO at yamo , an omnichannel FoodTech company creating the healthiest and tastiest products good for people and planet. Léa Miggiano is co-founder and CMO at Carvolution , the biggest car subscription service in Switzerland. All agree that when going international, branding is very important, because: A lot of products, like kid’s food, have strong emotional connotations. If parents buy them, it means they’re trusting you with their kids' nutrition. Establishing a strong brand helps you with creating trust, and trust means sales. It facilitates hiring, at a time when you’re not yet widely known, and so great talent is not actively searching you out. What differentiates success in the US market and success in the Swiss market? In the US market you have to be bold, and make yourself seem bigger than you actually are. It’s also useful to have someone in the team move there. In Switzerland, however, boldness is not advisable. Your brand should seem down to earth and local. That’s what Swiss people like and trust. Flavio and Tobias recommend not to compromise on the hiring process when going international. They advise you to actively look for people at recruiting fairs, LinkedIn, or even by browsing through master’s theses and contacting the authors whose work most closely relates to your industry. Tobias also adds that at this stage, you should both hire and fire fast. Memorable Quotes: "I don’t think there’s such a thing as feeling ready for the next step, in a startup context. Running a startup means being constantly out of your comfort zone." (Tobias) "The war for talent is on fire, regardless of where you hire." (Léa) "It’s always good to have a p
S1 E310 · Sun, March 26, 2023
Timestamps: 6:39 - Are startups the future of investing? 13:22 - Defining your investment strategy 22:04 - The art and science of valuation 27:44 - Glossary of investment terms 37:04 - Access to good deal flow About Philippe Teissonniere: Philippe Teissonniere is a co-founder and COO at Leva , the tech stack for the venture capital industry. He holds a MA in Law & Economics from HSG and previously worked at companies like db-Legal and Bleuer & Kleger, before starting Leva in 2019. Leva offers a full range product suite to launch and run your syndicate easily from your laptop, allowing you to set up and manage investment vehicles to pool co-investors in a few clicks, fully digitally, and at a fraction of the cost. From his time spent at Leva, Philippe has gained insight into the world of startup investing, and kindly shared some tips with us. How much of your investment portfolio should consist of startups? For European investors, Philippe recommends that 5-20% of their portfolio consist in alternative asset classes (including, but not limited to, startups). How much money should you invest in startups? The golden rule is to never invest more than you can afford to lose. Philippe recommends you start with CHF 5K distributed among several startups (preferably from different industries). You need to keep in mind that 90% of startups fail, so a good way to increase your chances of seeing a return on your investments is to invest in at least 10 startups. How should you define your investment strategy? Your strategy should be defined according to your risk tolerance and your personal financial situation. You should invest in startups you’re genuinely interested in, and whose products you understand. Geography-wise, you should pay attention to the regulations of different countries. When in doubt, ask for help from your peers! How can you get access to a good deal flow? Go to startup events, accelerator events, and in general networking events. Browse crowdfunding platforms. Join syndicates or investment clubs, and, once again, connect with your peers! Good luck. To listen to the other episode in our startup days 2023 bonus series, check out our conversations with Christoph Bertschi , Arman Anatürk and Fajer Mushtaq . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our <a href="https://twitter.com/swisspreneur"
S1 E309 · Wed, March 22, 2023
Timestamps: 6:42 - The freight industry 13:41 - The true cost of every vehicle 18:46 - From VP of Customer Success to CEO 27:00 - Operating system of a high growth company 39:13 - CEOs being hands-on with finance About Francine Gervazio: Francine Gervazio is the CEO at Avrios , an innovative fleet management software. She holds an MBA from the Babson F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, Massachusetts, and previously worked at companies like Aquila Institute and Rocket Internet SE. She founded her first and only venture, cargo32, back in 2015, but an incohesive founder team resulted in the failure of the company. She joined Avrios’ ranks as VP of Customer Success in 2018. Founded in 2015 in Zurich by a team of serial entrepreneurs, Avrios currently manages the fleet of more than 1.000 customers in Europe and is one of the fastest growing companies in the SaaS space. They make the lives of fleet managers much easier by using AI to automate all the data management which before was done manually. They also help companies calculate the “true cost” of each of their vehicles: this means not only fuel, maintenance, repairs, and etc, but also the environmental cost. They then provide companies with webinars, ebooks and even an academy in order to help them go green. They service companies with fleets as small as 20 vehicles and as big as 78’000. In 2021 Francine became CEO of Avrios, which altered her life quite a bit: a lot more traveling, a lot more responsibility, and many more sleepless nights. Avrios’ operational system is divided into 7 “departments” (finance & operations, people & culture, sales, marketing, customer success, product, and engineering), all kept on track through the use of OKRs. They credit their great company culture to the following factors: They hire in an unbiased way, which organically resulted in a quite diverse team; They’re adamant on their “no drama” policy. This means: speak openly, instead of gossiping; be humble and curious; and let go of “being right”; They take pains to make employees feel like they are cared about, but also challenged. In late 2022 Avrios was acquired by Battery Ventures to form an integrated company with Vimcar. M&A processes are extremely common in the freight industry, because it’s a hard-to-define, highly fragmented market (i.e., each company does something different), where growth happens slowly. This means M&A is a quick way for freight industry companies to grow and which also benefits their customers, because of the complementarity between the services of these companies. Memorable Quotes: "I’m fully against going fully remote, but I like giving employees the flexibility to stay home a few days out of the week." "Wh
S1 E308 · Sun, March 19, 2023
Timestamps: 9:02 - The problem of water contamination 15:29 - Nanotechnology and micro-pollutants 17:09 - Remediation vs tackling the source 19:52 - Oxyle’s customers 33:42 - Attracting talent as a cleantech startup About Fajer Mushtaq: Fajer Mushtaq is the co-founder and CEO at Oxyle , a cleantech startup with a game-changing water remediation technology. She holds a PhD in Micro- and Nanotechnology for Environmental Remediation from ETH and previously worked there as a BRIDGE Proof-of-Concept Fellow, before starting Oxyle in 2020. When we usually think of water pollution, we think of things like cigarette butts, plastic bags, or perhaps even bacteria or viruses. But what most of us fail to consider are micropollutants (like hormones, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, industrial waste, etc…), so called not because they’re found in small amounts, but because a small amount is enough to have a carcinogenic effect, or cause infertility or birth defects. 1 nanogram per liter (which is the equivalent of 1 drop in 20 Olympic-sized pools) is concentration enough to cause humans and their ecosystems harm. What’s more, these micro-pollutants are bioaccumulative (meaning if you keep drinking them, they keep increasing in concentration in your blood), and stay in bodies of water for decades on end unless treated appropriately. That’s where the ETH spin-off Oxyle comes in. Oxyle works at the last stage of water treatment to remove these micro-pollutants through their innovative nanotechnology. They do so in a sustainable, scalable manner by getting in touch with big companies looking to remediate the harm they’ve caused and prevent any more harm from being done. This is equally as important in Switzerland as it is in other places: the water Swiss people drink has 17x the amount of carcinogenic pesticides that is safe to consume. Fajer strongly believes that fighting climate change is done not only through innovative startups like Oxyle, but also through regulation. We need to hold polluters responsible, and nowadays, due to the growing sophistication of water analysis techniques, we definitely can. This way we can both remediate the harm that’s already been done, and stop future pollution at its source. "Having the ‘ETH spin-off’ label gives you credibility and opens up access to crucial infrastructure." Resources Mentioned: https://foreverpollution.eu/ (to learn about PFAS chemicals) To listen to the other episode in our startup days 2023 bonus series, check out our conversations with Christoph Bertschi and <a href="http
S1 E307 · Wed, March 15, 2023
Timestamps: 1:47 - From the US to Switzerland 10:37 - Teaching girls to code 25:43 - Non-profit & a day job 32:45 - How to spot burnout 50:51 - Rapid fire questions About Lara Riparip: Lara Riparip is the co-founder of and an instructor at GirlsCodeToo , a coding academy for girls striving to breach the gender gap in STEM. She holds an MSc in Neural Systems and Computation from ETH and previously worked as a Staff Research Associate at the University of California. She currently works as a Frontend Software Engineer at Avaloq, a global leader in digital banking solutions. Back in 2020, she co-founded an association called Girls Can Code, but unfortunately due to a lack of strict guidelines the founding team ran into disagreements which led to a separation, and out of this breach the GirlsCodeToo project was born in 2021. They’re a non-profit with the goal of motivating young girls across Switzerland to use coding as a way of expressing their creativity, and to inspire more girls to study computer science at a university level. They target 8-18yo and their workshops are held in English, German and/or French and/or Italian. They provide both introductory coding workshops as well as in-depth workshops in specific coding languages or technologies. They also provide workshops to boost confidence and interpersonal skills. The prices they charge, together with donations, crowdfunding and corporate sponsorships allow them to cover their costs. Lara is no stranger to the hardships of running a project on top of your day job, and she has learned how this can lead to burnout. She warns listeners to watch out for telltale signs, like no longer drawing any enjoyment from the activities which used to make you happy. She encourages listeners to schedule time for themselves and time for boredom, as well as quality time with friends and family. Memorable Quotes: "If I could talk to an 8 year old me, I’d tell her to try as many things as possible, even if you suck at first." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E306 · Sun, March 12, 2023
Timestamps: 2:32 - Startups and climate change 11:00 - The impact of food production/distribution 15:53 - Transgenic foods 18:10 - Vertical farming 21:42 - Food packaging About Arman Anatürk: Arman Anatürk is the co-founder of the cleantech fund HackCapital and a founding member at FoodHack , the world’s largest foodtech community. He previously worked for companies like CoderCourse and OneRoof Agency. Arman is very enthusiastic about the role cleantech startups can play in successfully navigating climate change, and especially the progress being made by foodtech startups. Some studies estimate that 34% of greenhouse gas emissions come from food production and distribution, and we will soon have 10B people in the world to feed, so this is a very pressing issue. Currently, ⅓ of all food goes to waste, and the plastic used in packaging our food ends up in landfills and in the ocean, contaminating the food we eat with microplastics. New technology will allow us to overcome these issues: plastics are nowadays being developed from algae or mycelium, and techniques like precision fermentation and cultivating meat will soon allow us to enjoy our favorite dishes without the huge expenditure of land and water (and animal suffering) that the current meat farming system requires. Running a cleantech fund himself, Arman encourages other investors to take a bet on these technologies, but warns them that certain industries, like, for instance, foodtech, simply do not adhere well to the 10 year fund cycle, but can nonetheless be successful and provide much needed alternatives. Memorable Quotes: "Foodtech companies can’t typically adhere to the 10 year fund cycle, and investors need to understand this." To listen to the first episode in our startup days 2023 bonus series, check out our conversation with Christoph Bertschi . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E305 · Wed, March 08, 2023
Timestamps: 16:47 - The idea for Worldcoin 21:49 - Proof of personhood 26:01 - People without access to smartphones 27:56 - What you can do with Worldcoin 37:50 - When Worldcoin will launch About Alex Blania: Alex Blania is the co-founder and CEO at Worldcoin , a startup issuing a new, decentralized global currency that will be distributed fairly to as many people as possible. He holds a BSc with a double major in Physics and Mechanical Engineering from the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and was previously a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light. In 2020 he co-founded Worldcoin together with Max Novendstern and Sam Altman, with the goal of connecting everyone to the global economy as fast as possible. Worldcoin plans to issue every single person on Earth one free share, which you keep in a non-custodial crypto wallet purely based on smart contracts. With it, you will be able to buy other tokens/stablecoin, buy more Worldcoin, send coins to your friends, and pay for goods and services. When building Worldcoin, the first problem the founders had to face was that of identity: How do you issue everyone an equal identity that is pseudonymous and privacy-preserving? The answer was biometrics, which allow you to prove that you’re an unique human without actually revealing who you are. The Worldcoin co-founders have built their own biometrics device. Without having solved this issue, Worldcoin might have possibly been able to operate in regions like Europe and North America, but the incentive to attack the system would be very high. Another issue that they will have to tackle in the pursuit of their vision is the lack of access to smartphones in certain parts of the world. For this, they draw inspiration from Safaricom, in Kenya, which has through their digital banking platform Mpesa allowed an entire country to gradually switch to digital payments, which can also be made via SMS – i.e., without a smartphone. Worldcoin does not, however, plan to charge Safaricom’s high fees of 8%. They have yet to undergo their global launch and are currently running field tests in many locations around the world. Memorable Quotes: "If I could stop time and just do what I enjoy the most, I would do research." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live s
S1 E304 · Sun, March 05, 2023
Timestamps: 11:40 - Where great ideas come from 15:07 - Founders should have a sales role 18:25 - Raising funds 21:22 - Making the first hires 30:15 - Physical and mental health About Christoph Bertschi: Christoph Bertschi is the co-founder and CEO at SmartBreed , a startup developing a decentralized upcycling technology to fully exploit the potential of insects. He holds a MSc in Banking and International Finance from Cass Business School, London and previously worked as a consultant at Simon-Kucher & Partners. Christoph co-founded SmartBreed in 2019. SmartBreed’s vision is to harmoniously blend nature with technology to sustainably improve our food chain. They enable zoos, farms and food manufacturers to breed their own protein-rich grasshoppers using their patented and automated grasshopper breeding boxes. Christoph’s time as a founder has taught him a few lessons which he has very kindly shared with us in this episode, and which we have summarized below. How do you find the right co-founder? There’s always the possibility of picking someone you’ve known a long time, like a family member. If you choose this, keep in mind that though shared values may seem like a given, they should still be discussed. Pick someone from a different area. Complementary skill sets are a plus. Pick someone who is always curious to learn more. Building a startup is one hell of a learning journey! Pick someone who’s willing to go out and talk to people, to get to know them and inspire them. They’ve gotta be ready to improve their selling game. Being a solo founder is of course an option, but know that the inevitable downturns building a startup involves will be harder to face on your own. Look for co-founders in universities, in impact hubs, or in your own industry. Regarding business ideas, Christoph warns that though building a product based on research has the advantage of making it harder for competitors to imitate you, it also adds a lot more complexity to your operations. He is a proponent of the idea that execution is far more important than the specific idea you come up with. Part of an excellent execution is to be curious about the nos you get from the people you pitch to: why was your sales strategy not effective? What are you not understanding about your customer’s problem? What about your product could be better? When it comes to raising funds, Christoph suggests starting with grants, then moving on to smart money from business angels, and finally, at a later stage, going for VC money. Hiring at SmartBreed is made easier by the fact that the founders’ research background comes with strong ties to universities. Because of this, they
S1 E303 · Wed, March 01, 2023
Timestamps: 9:54 - Preparing for an M&A 16:58 - The right time to sell 27:46 - Drafting a list of potential buyers 43:55 - Disagreeing on the purchase price 1:05:25 - What to do yourself vs delegate About Jonathan Roberts: Jonathan Roberts is the director and co-founder of Menalto Advisors, an IT-focused M&A advisory firm headquartered in Silicon Valley and with a strong presence in Europe. He holds a BSc in Accountancy & Management from Miami University and worked as a consultant for Deloitte before starting his own firm, Menalto Advisors, in 2016. Menalto decided to open up an office in Zurich partially because of its great startup ecosystem (high number of startups funded, large amounts of capital, high number of uni spin offs, but not that many exits) and partially because the city seemed like the ideal place for Jonathan and his wife to raise their first child. Jonathan has been working in M&A for over a decade, and during his episode with us he shared some valuable insights for companies looking for a trade sale exit. How should you prepare for an M&A? Build a valuable business with key differentiators. What are you the world’s first, only or best at? Make some noise! Revenue and team are important, but you need to understand your buyer landscape. Potential buyers can’t buy you if they don’t know you exist. But there is such a thing as reaching out too early, so make sure you have something to show first. When is it the right time to sell? // What type of trade sales are there? Promise Value Sale: this is what happens when a company sells quite early, on account of the strategic value it provides to the buyer. They’ve built and validated tech, the buyer sees how they could plug this tech into their product/ecosystem, and opts to pay a strategic premium. Valley of Death: this middle stage consists of having unique tech but choosing to raise money instead of selling. Raising money naturally raises expectations regarding the company: sales teams, marketing teams, HR, finance, and regulatory teams are all expected to grow. At this stage you’re deploying a lot of capital to build up infrastructure, but it takes time for this infrastructure to support the revenue generation that will get you to that Financial Value Sale stage, so you’re not really sellable yet. Financial Value Sale: this type of sale comes usually at a later stage, and is based on financial multiples like ARR, revenue, etc. Which KPIs are important to convince buyers? It depends! The bare minimum will probably be something like product-market fit, a couple million in revenue, and some operating history. Some buyers may demand at least CHF 10M ARR and a growth rate of 50%; Others may demand that your business be profitable. What if you disagree on the purchase price? If the proposals are too far apart, it makes no sense to continue the discussion. Example: 1M vs 1B. How much leverage do you have? Are there other buyers interested? Do you have other funding options? I
S1 E302 · Sun, February 26, 2023
Timestamps: 5:48 - Carbon should cost you 9:27 - Convincing Innosuisse 17:39 - How much you pay with PayGreen 25:02 - Why you can’t greenwash PayGreen 31:50 - Fundraising through daura About Roman Odermatt: Roman Odermatt is the co-founder and CEO at PayGreen , a startup developing an ecological payment method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Roman holds an MSc in Entrepreneurship from the University of Bern and previously helped build the pharma startup InnoMedica Holding. He created PayGreen in 2019. PayGreen is a payment method which calculates transaction fees for online shops based on the shop’s carbon footprint, which they assess themselves. Fees start at 2.5% (compared to 2.75% AMEX and 3% Paypal) and get higher or lower depending on the company’s progress. Customers incur no additional costs, and PayGreen serves as a sort of green checkmark for those looking to buy sustainably. This means the more popular PayGreen becomes, the more the reputation of the shops who don’t have the label will suffer, thereby creating an incentive for shops to commit to reducing their carbon footprint. PayGreen also has no incentive to help companies greenwash, since the less green these companies (actually) are, the more PayGreen earns. The Paris Agreement has predicted that the sustainability market will grow to USD 12t by 2030, which means it’ll become one of the biggest sectors worldwide. Research also shows that nowadays ⅓ of customers simply refuse to buy products which aren’t sustainable, so the future is looking bright for PayGreen. In the next few years, they’re looking to expand beyond carbon footprint emissions by running survey-based supplier checks. PayGreen digitized their shares with daura and are currently raising money through the platform. Memorable Quotes: "The Paris Agreement predicted that the sustainability market will grow to USD 12t by 2030. That means it’ll become one of the biggest sectors worldwide." If you would like to listen to more episodes on cleantech, check out our conversations with Mark Essam and Mikhail Kokorich . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on liv
S1 E301 · Wed, February 22, 2023
Timestamps: 3:36 - Lead generating strategies 10:09 - Cultivating a relationship with your leads 12:29 - Creating a sense of urgency 18:58 - Special offers and free trials 26:44 - Favorite tools About Lars Mangelsdorf: Lars Mangelsdorf is the co-founder and CCO at Yokoy , a spending management software company which enables companies to automate their expense and credit card processes using artificial intelligence. He previously worked as Senior Account Executive at Beekeeper. Back in Spring 2022, Yokoy raised a $80m series B round from Sequoia, and since then it seems like they can’t grow their team fast enough. They’ve also recently launched a prepaid Yokoy Mastercard. Lars currently leads his own sales team, and has over a decade of sales experience, during which he accumulated valuable insights. He shared some of these insights with us in this episode, and we’ve summarized them below. How can you generate leads? If your company is already of a certain size, of course it helps to have your marketing team generates leads for you; Otherwise, Lars recommends a multiple channel approach: calling, email, LinkedIn, you name it. Calls and email still work well in Switzerland. All of this can of course be automated with the right tool, so that it doesn’t become a huge time-suck. When contacting your prospect, mentioning other channels you tried to reach them through is a good conversation starter: “Hey, I sent you an email a few days ago, not sure if you saw it…” Don’t reach out to a company when they have just raised funds. That’s when they’ll be at their busiest and most “popular”. Once you have your lead, make sure to do proper lead qualification. You’ll want to have a checklist of things that need to happen for you to be willing to do a 1h demo call with them. How can you create a sense of urgency? If you know the solution your prospect has in place will be discontinued, that’s like hitting the jackpot — but this is very rare; Start your pitch by showing your prospect that if they continue using their current solution, they’re gonna run into problems. Show them stats about talent retention, for instance, and urge them regarding the importance of attracting Gen Z talent; Ask them about timelines. It makes no sense to be talking to a prospect now if they only plan on closing the deal in 2024. What are a buyer’s main motivations? Money: they want a solution that will make them more money, or that will save them money; Recognition: your prospect wants to be the greatest Chief HR Officer of all time; they want to change how their company works for the better. If you can prove to your prospect tha
S1 E300 · Sun, February 19, 2023
Timestamps: 01:55 - Getting into entrepreneurship 09:16 - IFJ, Venturelab and Venture Kick 17:34 - Where the name "Venture Kick" comes from 33:05 - The importance of foundations 45:12 - Where the Swiss ecosystem is headed About Jordi Montserrat and Beat Schillig: Jordi Montserrat and Beat Schillig are the co-founders of Venturelab , a set of flagship startup programs to support the best entrepreneurial talents in Switzerland, including Venture Kick, Venture Leaders, the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award, and Innosuisse Startup Trainings. Jordi holds a MSc in Rural Engineering/Geomatics from EPFL and previously worked at companies like ITV Geomatik and PSE Parc Scientifique. Beat holds a BA in Marketing from HSG, is the Founder and President of IFJ - Startup Support, and has been investing privately in startups since 2001. Venturelab was created by Jordi and Beat back in 2004. It began as the National Entrepreneurial Training initiative, which was mandated by the Swiss Innovation Agency to IFJ, the Institute for Young Entrepreneurs, based in St. Gallen. Today, Venturelab operates as an independent spin-off of IFJ. It arose out of a basic problem: Swiss startups would highly benefit from business training, but as they are startups, they cannot afford it. Jordi and Beat decided to create a startup program which would get funds from generous third parties interested in working with startups, and thus be able to train startups “for free”. They receive funding from big corporations, like Swisscom and Post Finance, but also from philanthropic foundations like Gebert Rüf. Different branches of the Venture family focus on different things: Venturelab serves to develop the startup’s pre-seed idea, IFJ helps startups with incorporation and other legal issues, and Venture Kick “kicks” them out onto the big bad world of investors, customers and competitors. They receive over 700 applications every year, and look at aspects like founder background, founder values and the viability of the business idea itself in order to select the startups they would like to work with. For the time being they have no ambitions of going beyond Switzerland. First they feel they must encourage a higher percentage of Swiss PhD graduates to go into entrepreneurship. But their results so far are by no means unimpressive: out of the CHF 4b raised in Switzerland raised by startups, CHF 1.6b was raised by Venture Kick alumni, and 90% of all Swiss startups have somehow participated in Venturelab initiatives. Memorable Quotes: "Foundations are much quicker in their decision making process than the state, and they’re free to make much bolder investments." "The money raised in Switzerland by startups
S1 E299 · Wed, February 15, 2023
Timestamps: 5:55 - 30yo millionaires & the dot com crash 9:02 - Starting from scratch 36:35 - How to stick to your goals 52:50 - Reaching unicorn status 1:05:50 - Hiring good sales people About Vincent Bieri: Vincent Bieri is the co-founder of Nexthink , a leader in digital employee experience management software and one of the rare Swiss unicorns. He studied Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences of Fribourg, and later went on to work for Cisco for 7 years, before starting his own venture in 2004. His time at Cisco, which coincided with the dot com crash, taught him to temper his expectations of wealth and success and ground them in what is real and measurable. In 2004, together with friends Pedro and Patrick, Vincent co-founded Nexthink, a B2B SaaS business monitoring user experience for large organizations. It’s estimated that people working for big companies lose on average 20 min per day dealing with computer issues – much of this technical failure is not even reported to upper management but merely dealt with, so companies are often unaware that such a problem exists. Nexthink allows you to monitor and proactively anticipate the problem, so that time lost to technical difficulties is greatly reduced, leading to higher productivity, higher employee satisfaction, and a lower churn. Since 2004 Nexthink has scaled up over 1'000 employees, equipped 15 millions users with its software and raised a total of $345M in funding. Reaching a 1.1B$ valuation in 2021, Nexthink earned the title of Swiss Unicorn. Vincent attributes the success of the company to several factors, both circumstantial and not, and he highlights a few rules of thumb: Don’t delegate: distribute. You should create a team structure which allows for absences, doesn’t overburden any single person, and doesn’t necessitate micro-management. Hire great recruiters. Recruiters tend to hire people like themselves, so this is a key first step in your scaling journey. Make sure as well to have a great onboarding process. Hire excellent sales people who come with a good network of other sales people, in order to increase the overall number of quality applicants. In 2019 Vincent left his operational role at Nexthink. He remains a shareholder, friend and advisor, but has since begun to enjoy having more time for himself and his other hobbies and projects. Memorable Quotes: "Anticipating major market transitions is the secret to a company’s success." "Don’t celebrate one-off successes too much. You never know how circumstantial they are. Focus on positive trends instead." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our <a href="https://twitter.com/swisspreneur" target="_blank
S1 E298 · Sun, February 12, 2023
Timestamps: 5:37 - Founding Selexis in 2001 11:46 - Acquiring the first customers 15:18 - Getting a patent 21:16 - IP and license deals 24:00 - Serving on the VentureKick board About Igor Fisch: Igor Fisch is the founder and former CEO/President/Chairman at Selexis , a life-sciences Geneva-based company, and current president of the Romandie innovation incubator Fongit. He holds a PhD in Biology from the University of Geneva and previously worked as an assistant professor at the University of Lausanne and the EPFL. In 2001 he co-founded Selexis as a university spin-off together with Nicolas Mermod, to change the way biologic drugs were developed. Selexis is nowadays the global leader in cell line development with best-in-class modular technology and highly specialized solutions that enable the life sciences industry to rapidly discover, develop and commercialize innovative biologic medicines and vaccines. From research laboratories and biotech startups to big pharma, Selexis has partners in over 42 countries. Their partners use Selexis technologies to advance more than 164 products in preclinical and clinical development and 10 commercial products. Igor and Nicolas acquired these partners by presenting hard-data arguments which would convince scientists, and make them Selexis evangelists. Selexis holds 210 granted patents that cover innovations in genetic elements, procedures/ transfection, cell line engineering, and devices related to cell line development and protein expression. They have pursued this path determinedly in order to keep their future options open and be in a better position to strike deals. Igor thinks the most difficult thing about filing the patent is writing the claims, which need to be drafted with a chess player’s finesse and strategic thinking. He advises startups to procure a provisional patent application in the case that they’re not yet ready to file a full patent but plan on being so in less than a year. In 2017 Selexis became part of the JSR Life Sciences group, and Igor left his operational role at the company. Nowadays he serves in the Venture Kick strategy board, as a way to give back the investment that was made in Selexis back in the mid 2000s. Memorable Quotes: "Regardless of industry, every entrepreneur faces the same challenges: what’s your product? Who are your customers? What’s your market?" "Swiss foundations, together with incubators, are a winning combination to get quality funds and education to upcoming Swiss startups." If you would like to check out our previous Gebert Rüf bonus episodes, check out our conversation with Tobias Kistler . Don’t forget to give us a
S1 E297 · Wed, February 08, 2023
Timestamps: 6:38 - GirlsinTech Venture 20:55 - Being a woman in tech 25:19 - The journey from an operational to an advisory role 29:32 - Starting WaaS Websites 44:10 - The future of tech About Stefany Barker: In addition to being a tech lead at Palantir , one of the world's leading data science companies, Stefany Barker is also an entrepreneur and investor. She pursued an MSc in management, information systems and innovation at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Stefany grew up in Switzerland, lived in different countries, and studied abroad to learn about other cultures, businesses and entrepreneurial mindsets, specifically about the different attitudes towards entrepreneurship. For example, Stefany learnt that Americans accept entrepreneurial failure more readily than their continental European counterparts. When Stefany returned to Switzerland in 2015, she became aware of the talent and gender gap in the Swiss tech sector. She was inspired to launch GirlsinTechSwitzerland in 2016 to establish an inclusive atmosphere for young women to learn and succeed in the Swiss tech industry. Stefany then founded TechFace in 2018 with the primary objective of changing the employment practices in the Swiss tech industry from transactional to relationship-based. This approach ensured that a candidate's team-fit potential was not only based on their CV. While being diverse and discussing diversity are important, they should not be the only subjects of conversation. The skills that an individual brings to the table are also essential. Stefany believes that if we continue in this direction, everyone's prospects in the tech space will improve. Furthermore, the out-of-date nature of CVs and the current job search process that sometimes asks you to include your marital status, personal photo, or address can unintentionally harm a candidate’s job search, divert focus from a candidate's real skills, and decrease equity in the hiring process. With the organizations she is involved with, she intends to implement better principles so that her ventures can continue to inspire and be pioneers in the tech space. In this episode you can find out more about Stefany's other businesses at WaaS Websites and her angel investing endeavors at Moonshot Network. Resources Mentioned: Moonshot Ventures Pivot , a tech podcast Blinkist <a href="https://www.am
S1 E296 · Sun, February 05, 2023
Timestamps: 11:32- Unhealthy Meat Alternatives 11:32 - The Fermentation Process 20:14 - Getting the Bio Swiss Label 25:47 - Getting into the biggest Swiss retailers 32:04 - Participating in Venture Kick About Tobias Kistler: Tobias Kistler is a co-founder of Luya , a foodtech startup creating deliciously sustainable vegan alternatives to meat. He holds an MA from the ETH Zürich and previously worked as a researcher at the Berner Fachhochschule. Luya has found a way to provide meat alternatives which are both delicious and healthy through a clever use of fermentation, i.e., the process which brings us beloved foods like beer and bread. Luya also manages to be incredibly sustainable, because what they ferment to make their delicious paddies is okara, the leftover pulp from soybean pressing, together with chickpeas. The 24h fermentation process changes these two ingredients in terms of texture (making it elastic and juicy), taste (delicious) and bioavailability (high for all of its compounds, which make up a full aminoacid profile). They source both their soybeans and their chickpeas from Switzerland and Northern Italy, and have managed to earn the coveted Bio Swiss Label. Adapting their product to match the Bio Swiss criteria meant being able to choose from a smaller pool of soybean/chickpea producers, and paying more for these raw materials, but this added cost is made up for by the fact that sporting a Bio Swiss label allows Luya to charge higher prices. They had a relatively easy time getting into big supermarkets, since nowadays the current health and sustainability trends are pushing these companies to want to be on the forefront of food innovation. Luya benefitted from funds from the Gebert Rüft foundation when they participated in the First Ventures program, in VentureKick, and in Innobooster (since these programs are all associated with the foundation). In between programs they also raised a bridge round with Gebert Rüft acting as an intermediary, and raised money from the VC fund Red Alpine. Memorable Quotes: “You want an ingredient that gives you freedom, that is a bit of a blank canvas for you to play with. That’s why chefs like using our product.” “At the end of the day, when you come from a stressful day at work, you want to be able to whip up a nice meal that’s healthy and makes you feel good.” To listen to more episodes on vegan alternatives, check out our conversation with Freddy Hunziker . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram</a
S1 E295 · Wed, February 01, 2023
Timestamps: 13:31 - Defining a Sustainable Business 23:14 - How to Measure Success as a Company 29:08 - Changing Governmental Sustainable Policies 35:26 - Dealing with Climate Change Deniers 37:19 - The Circular Economy About Christina Hertel: Christina Hertel is the project manager at LEVO , at the Enterprise for Society Center (E4S) , a joint initiative from 3 institutions of renowned excellence: the University of Lausanne, the Institute for Management Development and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Christina graduated from the Technical University of Munich with a BSc in Marketing, Strategy, and Leadership and an MSc in Sustainable Resource Management. She then went on to earn her PhD in Sustainable Entrepreneurship. In 2019 she founded LEVO to assist startups in incorporating sustainability in the early stages and to investigate how businesses can use entrepreneurship to address societal problems. Christina has always been interested in sustainability, but entrepreneurship had not always piqued her curiosity. However, she met a group of founders at an event, and after learning about their startup, she became intrigued. She started working with them as an intern. During her internship, she enrolled in a research program at a university. Working with a startup that integrated sustainability and pursuing research on sustainability confirmed her ideas that entrepreneurship can be used to solve societal problems. From her research and experience, she learnt that a company's success should be based on a number of factors, including its social and environmental contribution, in addition to its profitability. Additionally, organizations should avoid delaying assessing their sustainability until they are large enterprises. Starting as soon as possible will lay the proper groundwork and guarantee the best outcome. Although responsible entrepreneurship is crucial, Christina has found that many organizations still do not recognize the advantages of sustainability. Some businesses don't view sustainability as a critical component of their business model that should be non-negotiable and given top priority, but rather as a task to be completed. Nevertheless, the future of entrepreneurship is promising, as more and more businesses start integrating sustainability and as the world moves toward a more sustainable future. Memorable Quotes: “Entrepreneurship is one of the most effective tools to address societal issues.” "Responsible entrepreneurship involves evaluating where you are and identifying areas for improvement." Resources: LEVO - provides startups with a free operational sustainability asse
S1 E294 · Sun, January 29, 2023
Timestamps: 01:58 - How it all started 07:16 - What a franchising model is 16:53 - A company vs a franchise 22:53 - Franchise system FAQs 31:14 - Future scope & mission 100 About Julian Massler & Mathias Wegmüller: Julian Massler is the co-founder and CEO at AURUM Fit , a gym which provides innovative high-intensity fitness training. Julian Massler studied economics at the University of Konstanz. Mathias Wegmüller is an early investor and board member at AURUM Fit who studied environmental health at ETH. Since starting in Switzerland in 2018, AURUM has disrupted the entire fitness industry and has grown exponentially through franchising. Franchises are business models in which an established brand allows an independent entity to own and operate a franchise based on its brand, business model, and other intellectual property. The AURUM franchising model has been enormously successful since its inception. With a 9 out of 10 franchise success rate, it has achieved unprecedented profitability. It offers a scalable opportunity with a proven business model that provides quick cash flow to those with a passion for fitness and entrepreneurship. Franchise systems are sometimes underestimated, but AURUM Fit has demonstrated how profitable they can be. Mathias and Julian respond to the most frequently asked questions in order to address concerns about: The minimum amount of equity required to start a franchise How to promote the franchise Who the intended customer should be How the market operates Earning predictability As AURUM Fit expands, it wants to maximize its presence in Switzerland while also making its model more scalable globally. In the future, AURUM Fit intends to focus specifically on expanding its network in Zürich by doubling its locations, as well as opening more locations in lesser-known Swiss cities such as Thun. In the short term, AURUM Fit's focus is Mission 100: a goal to establish 100 locations in Switzerland within the next few years. AURUM Fit believes that its objectives are attainable, as there is an increase in investment from financial institutions due to the scalability and profitability trends of franchises. Furthermore, as more people adopt a healthier lifestyle, AURUM Fit's appeal has the potential to thrive because it combines health and the lucrativeness of franchising to offer great value to franchisees and end customers who recognize the value of a fitness-based franchise brand. Memorable Quotes: “We always say cash is the blood of entrepreneurship.” "Self-confidence is a crucial component to future success because if you fail at your
S1 E293 · Wed, January 25, 2023
Timestamps: 01:30 - The early days of Deux Frères 12:42 - Creating the perfect recipe 16:53 - The importance of building a good brand 23:09 - Market expansion & distribution 33:48 - Working together as brothers About Florian & Gian Grundböck: Florian and Gian Grundböck are the founders of Deux Frères , a gin company. Before founding Deux Fréres in 2016, Gian studied business administration and was a professional handball player at Grasshopper Club Zürich, and then went on to work for an architecture firm as an executive assistant. Florian, on the other hand, pursued a Bachelor's degree in Food Science and Technology from the Zürich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). The Deux Fréres story started when Florian secretly distilled gin in the student lab at ZHAW, creating a unique gin which changed colours. Gian and Florian saw the business opportunity in the uniqueness of the gin and began the journey of perfecting the recipe and finding the best distillery for their product. Reconnecting with their family roots in Austria proved useful, as it became the main location to source ingredients and the producing distillery of the gin, which led to the success of the company we see today. After 2 years of starting the company, Florian and Gian had to deal with competitors who were replicating their gin's unique feature: colour-changing. Florian and Gian struggled with the possible failure of their business as a result but remained steadfast in their belief that the quality of their product and the captivating essence of their branding would allow them to stand out and continue their success. They were right! Since its inception, Deux Fréres Gin has grown exponentially, expanding to other markets outside of Switzerland, with its most recent accomplishment being its distribution expansion in China. Florian and Gian hope to captivate the Chinese market with their craft gin and grow it extensively in the upcoming months. Memorable Quotes: "In the future, we aim to be more than just gin producers; we also want to be recognized as flavour producers." "Our entrepreneurial inspiration came from our parents. They enjoy what they do, and this inspired us to do the same." If you would like to listen to another founder's unique journey in the spirits industry, check out our episode with Christof Tremp , co-founder and CEO at Rebels 0.0% , a startup producing alcohol-free spirits. Don’t fo
S1 E292 · Wed, January 18, 2023
Timestamps: 06:01 - Life in Portugal 11:03 - Remote Work and its Appeal 20:43 - Dealing with Bureaucracies & Competitors 23:27 - Company Culture 34:14 - Getting to Unicorn Status About Job van der Voort: Job van der Voort is the co-founder and CEO of Remote.com , the world’s fastest-growing employment network that allows companies to easily and transparently hire worldwide. He studied his bachelor's in psychonomics and pursued a master's degree in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Amsterdam. After graduating from university, he worked as a software engineer while co-founding a startup with Marcelo Lebre . Despite the startup's lack of long-term success, he enjoyed starting a business and became more acquainted with the conventions of entrepreneurship. Job worked previously at GitLab , where he experienced what it was like to work remotely and saw the benefits of a virtual working environment. He created Remote.com in 2019 with Marcelo to address issues he had seen with remote working during his time at GitLab. The Remote.com software enables companies to transparently hire someone in another country by managing payroll, employee benefits, and legalities, easing the traditional burden of going through the tiring complexities of remote hiring. Since launching Remote.com, the platform has been used by businesses in many countries around the world and has grown from just a handful of employees to over 2000 employees working remotely from all over the world. In this episode, Job speaks more about how they cultivated a lucrative company culture. He also discusses how they got enough financing to launch the company and achieved unicorn status in such a short time. Memorable Quotes: “We want to make hiring from anywhere really easy and transparent.” “The only way to challenge someone is to fully understand what they're doing.” If you would like to listen to another episode discussing remote working, check out EP# 291 with Philipp Stauffer. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners!
S1 E291 · Sun, January 15, 2023
Timestamps: 02:42 - Pros of the Physical Office 05:28 - Cons of the Physical Office 09:09 - Advantages of a Fully Remote Setup 11:43 - The Hybrid Model Approach 13:11 - A Purposeful Meeting Place About Philipp Stauffer: Philipp Stauffer is the co-founder and managing director of FYRFLY Venture Partners , a venture capital firm that invests in companies using data and intelligence to build their competitive advantage. His investments have included AngelList , Philz Coffee , and Beekeeper , among many others. As well as being a founding board member of the Swiss Blockchain Federation, he is also on the Advisory Board of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation. Additionally, he serves on the boards of PubMatic, the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce, and the Digital Citizen Fund. Human beings are social animals and it's easier to build better trust by meeting in person than remotely — this is the value physical spaces may have over a remote working model. Philipp got a taste of the office environment when he started working at a Swiss private bank. When he got into consulting, he started working remotely. It became apparent to him how different office life is versus remote working: in terms of culture, habits and lifestyle. The serendipity of running into someone at the office who ends up being instrumental to your success is something that is hard to replicate in a remote space. Even though working in an office has its social advantages, some of the drawbacks of the physical space are the additional expenses in time and money that come with commuting. Despite this, going to the office versus working remotely was not something many companies thought about until the onset of COVID, which changed the work culture completely. It forced us to become more intentional about travel and taught us how to be more efficient with time. The appeal to a remote working environment grew as physical spaces, especially for startups, became an unnecessary additional expense. Furthermore, the distance became less of a factor when putting together a team, and more companies were able to hire talents from all over the world. Remote working became the ideal fix post-covid. However, as it became the norm, its challenges became more apparent. With these challenges came innovations that made the remote working experience less complicated and more profitable. Memorable Quotes: "Involve your team in your hybrid model approach." “The pandemic taught us how critical it is to make in-person meetings purpos
S1 E290 · Wed, January 11, 2023
Timestamps: 02:52 - The Swiss Blockchain Market 06:51 - Entrepreneurship in the Blood Line 12:51 - What is the eNote? 24:11 - Building Trust Around the Technology 27:58 - The Challenge of Raising Funds About Benedikt Schuppli: Benedikt Schuppli is the co-founder and co-CEO of Obligate , a blockchain company and the hub for tokenized debt. He studied law at the University of Zürich and always had a knack for the way financial markets work. After law school, he worked at a private bank, and in 2016 (right around the time when Benedikt took his bar exam) Switzerland started to become a hub for FinTech, which allowed Benedikt to see a completely new side of the Swiss financial market. He then began getting into blockchain from a legal perspective and joined Lykke Corp, his first job in the blockchain crypto space. Benedikt comes from an entrepreneurial family: both his father and brothers built their own businesses because there was a strong urge in all of them to challenge the status quo and do things their way. After working as a lawyer for a few years, Benedikt himself felt compelled to get more involved in business decisions and launch his own company. In 2019, he founded FQX. Along with his co-founders, he shared a vision to build a platform and infrastructure for tokenized debt assets that are recognized as legal assets. FQX is a blockchain startup that uses eNotes to enable companies to issue debt securities via the blockchain directly to investors, changing the way companies secure funding. In this episode, he talks more about his experience launching a blockchain company in Switzerland. He also goes into more detail about the e-Note concept and discusses the difficulties he encountered while attempting to obtain funding for his blockchain start-up. Memorable Quotes: “I think the financial market is one of the most complex things humans have created.” “Throwing a bunch of very smart people in a room doesn’t guarantee you’re going to build a great product.” If you would like to listen to another founder in the blockchain market, check out our conversation with Robert Lauko . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners!
S1 E289 · Sun, January 08, 2023
Timestamps: 01:33 - Building vs Selling the Product 06:01 - Outsourcing Sales 09:00 - How to Win Your First Customer 11:02 - Tips on Improving Your Sales Pitch 12:19 - A Founder's Unique Role About Julie Maples: Julie Maples is a co-founder and managing director at FYRFLY Ventures , where she has made investments in companies such as Boundless , Rosalyn.ai , and Mobi Systems , among others. She also serves on the board of the V Foundation , a non-profit organization that supports cancer research. At The Wharton School, she earned a BS in entrepreneurial management and an MA in Finance. It may appear strange to consider a founder being involved in the sales process. However, a founder's responsibilities extend beyond just running the business; a founder must make the first sales of their product or service to reap valuable lessons from these sales sessions. Some founders may enjoy building the product, but they may dislike selling it. It is important to change that mindset and replace the word "sales" with "partnership". It is critical to view your potential customers as evangelists who will be your biggest champions if they like your product or service, especially in early customer meetings. When you satisfy your early customers and learn from them, you learn what works and what doesn't. Even if you don't think you have a passion for sales, you can change the way you approach it by letting go of the idea that it must be done a certain way. You can simply speak honestly about your vision while listening to the person across from you. If you pass up the chance, you can miss out on important information from early customers that could help you develop a better product or service. It is also critical to recognize the value of the sales process, because outsourcing sales in the early stages of a business may not be the best move. It deprives you of the opportunity to learn and incurs additional costs. When your company has grown, it is a better time to outsource. As a founder, you'll always be doing sales. When you approach sales as a partnership, you will fall in love with sharing your passion with others as often as the opportunity presents itself. Memorable Quotes: “You don’t have to love sales; just share your vision authentically and learn from the person across from you.” “Your early customers are your biggest champions.” If you would like to listen to our previous episode with Julie Maples on fundraising, check out episode #287 . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our <a href="https://twitter.
S1 E288 · Wed, January 04, 2023
Timestamps: 07:35 - Curiosity Breeds Entrepreneurship 15:09 - The Fall of Dermintel 23:24 - Digital Transformation Best Practices for Companies 33:03 - Inclusivity in the Tech Space 39:14 - Cognitive Flexibility and the Future of Work About Tomoko Yokoi: Tomoko Yokoi is a researcher and advisor in digital transformation at the IMD Business School and a lecturer at ETH Zürich . She also co-founded a market research startup, Dermintel . Before working in business, she studied International Development and Human Rights at the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service. Although she had a huge passion for development and human rights, she wanted to venture into something different and decided to enter the corporate world. The more she learned about entrepreneurship, the more she realised the advantages of the entrepreneurial lifestyle, including time flexibility, which she felt was lacking in corporate life. In 2020, the covid pandemic forced Tomoko to pause Dermintel's development, allowing her to focus more on her passion for digital transformation. Digital transformation can be complicated, but Tomoko loves unpacking the complexity to help organisations succeed. For her, it's not just about technology: it's also about governance, innovation, culture change, leadership, and competency development. As part of her book, Hacking Digital: Best Practices for Implementing and Accelerating Your Business Transformation , Tomoko Yokoi shares more about how to implement digital transformation in the workplace by giving insight into: How to create the best business model that has value How to lead digital transformation New technologies in digital transformation Resources: Book: Hacking Digital: Best Practices to Implement and Accelerate Your Business Transformation Article: Emojis In The World Of Work Memorable Quotes: “So many opportunities exist, it really depends on how you can target what you need when you need it.” “It is important to think of inclusivity when you think about innovation.” If you want to tune into another conversation with a founder who left corporate to start a business, check out our episode with <a href="https://www.swisspreneur.org/podca
S1 E287 · Sun, January 01, 2023
For a free masterclass on angel investing with DART Labs founder Sophie Lamparter and SICTIC president Thomas Dübendorfer, click here . Timestamps: 03:52 - Building Trust with Potential Investors 07:54 - How to Split Your Time Fundraising and Managing Your Business 08:57 - Who Should be Involved in the Fundraising process 10:48 - The Advisory Board's Role in the Fundraising Process 15:29 - How Long the Fundraising Process Takes About Julie Maples: Julie Maples is a co-founder and managing director at FYRFLY Ventures , where she has made investments in companies such as Boundless , Rosalyn.ai , and Mobi Systems , among others. She also serves on the board of the V Foundation , a non-profit organization that supports cancer research. At The Wharton School, she earned a BS in entrepreneurial management and an MA in Finance. In this episode, Julie talks about raising funds and managing the demands fundraising takes on your time as a founder. As a founder, you should build trust with potential investors, determine who should be in charge of raising money, and divide your time well between fundraising and managing your business. It has always been difficult for entrepreneurs to separate their personal life and their professional lives. No single issue should consume all of your time as a founder, especially not fundraising. It's equally important to protect your mental health as it is to achieve your next milestone. It will always be an easier and more successful journey if you tend to yourself. Memorable Quotes: “As a founder, it is important that you have an advisory board that opens doors for you.” “It is important to keep a pulse on the status of the business to know when you are underperforming.” Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners!
S1 E286 · Mon, December 26, 2022
Timestamps: 01:46 - The Animal Kingdom and the Competitive Ecosystem 05:52 - Differentiation in the Marketplace 08:12 - Reacting to Your Competitors in New Markets 12:47 - Communicating with Your Competitors 14:17 - Coping with the Acquisition of a Competitor About Philipp Stauffer: Philipp Stauffer is the co-founder and managing director of FYRFLY Venture Partners , a venture capital firm that invests in companies using data and intelligence to build their competitive advantage. His investments have included AngelList, Philz Coffee, and Beekeeper, among many others. As well as being a founding board member of the Swiss Blockchain Federation, he is also on the Advisory Board of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation. Additionally, he serves on the boards of PubMatic, the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce, and the Digital Citizen Fund. In this episode, Philipp talks about how to handle competition in the workplace. He compares the competition ecosystem to the animal kingdom: highlighting the importance of knowing and understanding your place in the marketplace in order to respond more effectively to your competitor’s actions. In this episode, he gives insight into: The competitors you should worry about the most Why talents may leave your company and work for competitors What is the perceived differentiation in the marketplace With regards to differentiation in the marketplace, Philipp explains that differentiation is not just about how exceptional your product is, but it also expands to other aspects of your company: The market presence The distribution process The sustainability of the pricing structure Above all, Philipp believes that understanding your “why” is important. This greatly affects how you handle competition, especially when it comes to taking competitive action and understanding why your competitors take action as well. Memorable Quotes: “Don’t think you’re the lion if you’re the sheep.” “You don’t have to be paranoid about competition all the time.” Take a listen to our conversation in our previous episode with Philipp Stauffer to learn How to Nail Your Board Meetings . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners!</p
S1 E285 · Wed, December 21, 2022
Timestamps: 00:54 - What You Study Doesn’t Matter 07:18 - Starting Sunflower Labs 25:04 - Bureaucracy & The Drone Space in Switzerland 35:36 - The Evernote Network 39:00 - Why Some Investors Didn’t Invest About Alex Pachikov: Alex Pachikov is the co-founder and CEO of Sunflower Labs , a remote and autonomous drone solution for property security. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2003 with a degree in Astronomy and Sociology. A decade later, he co-founded Sunflower Labs with Chris Eheim and Nicolas de Palézieux. When he started Sunflower Labs in 2016, it was one of five ideas they had after brainstorming about several business ventures they wanted to do together. It was the perfect time for Sunflower Labs to launch since the drone industry worldwide was starting to gain traction. The idea of Sunflower Labs as an automated drone-in-a-box solution that integrates with your existing security cameras and sensors became revolutionary in the space of commercial drone security. With the push of a button, the drone flies from its hive and is able to plan a path and perform a sweep of a large property within seconds. The secret is the 3D property mapping and geofencing technology that allows the drone to navigate and stay within the property, detect unexpected obstacles, re-route to avoid collision and actively deter intruders and loiters with its presence. Despite Sunflower Lab’s revolutionary take on property security, they faced many challenges during their startup stage, including but not limited to: The bureaucracy in starting a company in Switzerland Some Investors deciding not to invest because they thought the idea wasn’t feasible Navigating the drone space at a time when several drone companies were plummeting What helped Sunflower Labs to be successful despite these challenges was the support of the Evernote Network. Alex worked at Evernote from 2006-2015, dedicating almost a decade of his life to it. He was Evernote’s 3rd official employee and was a member of the founding team, serving as VP of partnerships, developer relations and hardware products integration. When he had the idea of starting Sunflower Labs, the Evernote Founders Network was a valuable asset, providing mentorship as well as investing in his company. With their support having an integral role in their start-up stage, Sunflower Labs raised over 15 million dollars in seed funds. Memorable Quotes: “If you want a software to be executed with perfection you have to build your own hardware.” If you play a game, you don't want to play the same level over and over, at some point, you want to level up.” If you would like to list
S1 E284 · Sun, December 18, 2022
Timestamps 01:19 - The Role of a Board 05:21 - How Often a Board Should Meet 10:15 - The Board Meeting Agenda 13:35 - How to Make Decisions as a Board 17:25 - The Importance of Good Communication About Philip Stauffer Philipp Stauffer is the co-founder and general partner of Fyrfly Venture Partners , a venture capital firm that invests in companies using data and intelligence to build their competitive advantage. His investments have included AngelList, Philz Coffee, and Beekeeper, among many others. As well as being a founding board member of the Swiss Blockchain Federation, he is also on the Advisory Board of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation. Additionally, he serves on the boards of PubMatic, the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce, and the Digital Citizen Fund. In this episode, Philipp speaks about the operational aspects of being a founder specifically about how to plan and execute a successful board meeting. He gives insight into the different stages of a board meeting, from discussing how often a board should meet, to whether physical or remote board meetings are better. Phillip starts the episode by explaining the role of a board. The board has a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of those they represent, including: Evaluating the governance of the company Hiring or firing the CEO when necessary Looking out for the shareholders’ interests Overseeing corporate activities Assessing performance When it comes to who should sit on the board, he explains that for startups it is important to have members who will: Act in the company's best interest Invest adequate time Fit into the company's culture How often a board should meet is equally important. The normal practice is at least once per year; however, he advises boards to hold quarterly meetings, because each meeting has a different role. The first board meeting will focus on budgeting, planning and accountability, while subsequent meetings will change based on specific needs. In addition to quarterly meetings, board members can meet as often as necessary. For example, to encourage collaboration and keep everyone up to date, monthly board meetings may be most appropriate if you're in a high-property fundraising mode Memorable Quotes “Board members are a secret weapon to help you win the market." “Your own job as a CEO is to fire yourself if you're not doing your work. It’s important to look in the mirror.” Take a listen to our conversation with Jon Brezinski , co-founder and CEO of Inve
S1 E283 · Wed, December 14, 2022
Timestamps: 05:00- The Change in the Travel Market 16:10 - GetYourGuide’s Business Model 30:38 - The Dawn of the Pandemic 39:13 - Growth Strategies 49:22 - Navigating the Future About Tobias Rein: Tobias Rein is the co-founder and Principal Engineer at GetYourGuide , a leading online booking platform for travel experiences. He studied Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich). During his studies, he also worked for the design agency, Palindrome. In 2009, he and his four co-founders had an idea to create a marketplace for tours and activities, and from there GetYourGuide was born. What started out as a concept targeted at students morphed into a platform with a B2B business model aimed at professional suppliers and businesses, since students weren’t as interested in the initial concept of GetYourGuide as the team initially assumed. After they launched the prototype, companies started reaching out to them to get on the platform, which they took as a sign to go back to the drawing board and launch GetYourGuide 2.0, a platform for professional suppliers. Tobias thinks timing is one of the keys to any successful business model, especially businesses in the travel market. At the time GetYourGuide started, travel was just beginning to move slowly online. They decided to adapt to the market and created GetYourGuide as a forerunner of the online travel era in terms of online booking experiences. As they grew, new products started to launch in the market, and Google became one of their biggest competitors by integrating booking features in its software. Tobias believes that the key to standing out from big competitors such as Google is to provide unmatched customer service and to have a solid knowledge of the brand. In 2020, the pandemic disturbed travel as we knew it, and GetYourGuide, along with many other travel platforms, was deeply affected. With the rise in their competitor’s leverage and the onset of covid-19, Tobias and his team incorporated three main principles to help them outlive the crisis: Saving money Staying together as a team Prioritizing customer satisfaction By doing this, they cancelled tours that were no longer possible and set up a hassle-free process to refund customers. They avoided mass layoffs, though inevitably letting go of a few people. Finally, they were more frugal with their expenses, getting rid of non-essential items they were no longer using. Despite the changes they had to go through, Tobias believes that this experience made them more resilient and better prepared for any upcoming challenges. Post-pandemic, GetYourGuide has been redeemed, seeing their revenue skyro
S1 E282 · Sun, December 11, 2022
Timestamps: 1:47 - Building an Asian food company in the 90s 14:05 - Assembling the Loanboox co-founders 29:34 - UN’s development goals 36:08 - Meditation and entrepreneurship 40:00 - The Sparks IPO program About Stefan Muehlemann: Stefan Muehlemann is the founder, chairman and former CEO at Loanboox , the independent debt issuing platform that connects public sector, large corporate and real estate borrowers with banks and institutional investors. He holds an MBA in Business Administration and Management from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and previously worked as a foreign exchange trader at UBS and LGT, as well as having been a lecturer at HSG and UZH. His first business venture was back in the 90s, during his trading floor years, where he built Basel’s first Asian food chain, Asian Express, later sold in 1998. Much later, in 2015, he founded Loanboox, and Dario Zogg and Andi Burri joined later as co-founders. This arose from his own experience: as an investor (connected to companies like Omnibiz, Carvolution, and Futurae), Stefan was unsatisfied with conventional brokers. In contrast to conventional brokering, financing and investing through Loanboox is simple, transparent, safe and low-cost. They provide advice on financing strategy, bring together borrowers with financing needs and professional capital providers, and offer debt management tools, portfolio analysis and software solutions. Their track record is impressive: 170 active investors, transactions with a volume of EUR 28b closed in 12 countries, and 90/100 customer satisfaction. Memorable Quotes: "I’m not a person who’s easily satisfied. I don’t like rules. And that’s a sure recipe for an entrepreneur." "Oftentimes the founder personality isn’t suited to being the CEO of a publicly listed company." If you would like to listen to the story of another company in the Swiss financial sector, check out episode 227 with Simone Riedel Riley, general manager at the Swiss Technology Fund. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners!
S1 E281 · Wed, December 07, 2022
Timestamps: 1:37 - From Mexico to Switzerland 10:44 - Corporate innovation 27:26 - Validating an idea 39:37 - Calculating client ROI 48:28 - Looking for a different type of investor About Alan Cabello: Alan Cabello is the founder of SparkLabs , Sparkworks and Sparkademy , three sister companies working towards a common goal: business innovation in Switzerland. He previously co-founded the startup Kooku and holds a PhD in Strategy & Innovation Management from the EPFL. Around 2013/2014, while he was getting his PhD, Alan was a visiting researcher at Stanford, and there had a great experience with the d.school, where students and professors from different academic fields come together to tackle complex issues through a transdisciplinary and human-centered approach. When he returned to Switzerland, despite the prevalence of high-quality education, he found no such problem-solving approach. In 2014 he created SparkLabs, a cooperation between different Swiss universities with the purpose of educating and advancing a human-centered approach to product, service, and business model innovation. Then in 2015 he created Spark Works, a small innovation consultancy to tackle corporate innovation and transformation challenges. Finally, in 2020, Alan built Sparkademy, a digital-first institution bringing scalable and measurable learning to the corporate world. Sparkademy offers Online Courses, Practical Assignments, Knowledge Checks and access to a Method Kit, and also defines clear learning objectives and effective inputs, so as to help measure participant progress and provide feedback. Sparkademy runs on two business models: one is the classic business school model, where companies are charged per participant per course, and the other one is an engagement-based yearly fee (plus in-app purchases), meaning if engagement goes down, so does the price. Alan feels confident offering this alternative because Sparkademy’s average rate of course completion is 88-94% (stupendously higher than the online course average). These levels of engagement are possible firstly due to the fact that Sparkademy courses were built using behavioral science insights to keep learners motivated, and secondly because Sparkademy forms the learner cohorts using the Spark Check, a tool based on neuroscience research which helps them test employees' ability to deal with uncertainty and other people’s emotions. Memorable Quotes: "As an innovation consultant, at least half the time spent with your client goes into educating them on process basics. Which is not the best use of their time, or yours." "You want to make sure that people are on yo
S1 E280 · Sun, December 04, 2022
Timestamps: 00:07 - The Impact of GE on Ben James' Early Life 09:50 - The Start of TP24 21:45 - The Business Model: Secret Black Box 33:35 - Managing Mental Health: The Pressure of Being a Founder 48:38 - Six Sparks IPO Program About Ben James: Ben James , CEO of TP24 , is an engineer at heart. After completing an engineering degree at Leeds University and working in the sales and operations department there, he started working at GE Capital full-time in sales and operations. During his studies, he worked in the insurance and (profit and loss) P&L team for GE. Then, after moving to Switzerland, he became responsible for credit-based insurance and started managing all GE businesses in the Swiss market. He later worked in the IPO team for GE Capital and Money Bank, which led to the establishment of Cembra Money Bank, a leading consumer lender in Switzerland. During his career, he recognised a gap in the lending solution market and saw the opportunity to create TP24, a flexible funding opportunity for growth. In this episode, Ben speaks a bit more about his life before TP24 and gives insight into its early stages. , as well as how its business model differs from other lending solutions worldwide. He also examines several risks business owners go through for pricing segments for loan solutions and funding sources for their businesses and how TP24 provides a better model for the front end of their customers compared to their competition. Ben goes on to speak on the negative implications of running a business on one’s mental health. He talks about his own founder experience and the impact it has had on his personal and family life, and how he struck a balance between being a business owner, a father and a husband. He provides tips for other entrepreneurs on how to ensure that their company's success does not come at the expense of their mental health or life at home. Memorable Quotes: "Finance products hold great businesses back." "If we learnt anything from businesses around the world, it was to look after your customers. If you don’t other businesses will, and you’ll lose them." If you would like to listen to more episodes about other non-traditional lending solutions, check out our conversation with Robert Lauko . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to d
S1 E279 · Wed, November 30, 2022
Timestamps: 10:58 - Basecamp was born out of embarrassment 19:16 - Getting an offer from Bezos in 2005 38:50 - No email service is free 41:13 - What’s wrong with the cloud 47:56 - Quiet quitting About David Heinermeier Hansson: David Heinemeier Hansson , originally from Denmark, studied Business Administration at the Copenhagen Business School in the late 1990s. He is the founder of the open-source web framework, Ruby On Rails , and co-founder of 37Signals and HEY along with his business partner, Jason Fried. In 2001, he got his first official commercial job, after programming for only 2 years. At the time he envisioned programming not just as a tool, but as something he saw himself doing for the long term, which encouraged him to excel at programming, and later resulted in the creation of Ruby on Rails. David founded Ruby on Rails in 2003, a software used for creating high-performance web platforms. It has been very successful since its inception, with popular applications such as Airbnb, Square and Spotify being built on the platform. A year later, in 2004, David launched Basecamp , one of the first software-as-a-service applications, with his co-founder, Jason Fried. Basecamp is now a gold standard for easier and superior project management. It has been used by over 75,000 organizations across 166 countries and 5 continents. Some well-known organizations that have used basecamp include Shopify, and Accenture, among others. In 2020, HEY was created by David and his team as an alternative to Gmail and Outlook. It shifts the paradigm of the traditional email structure and allows users to better deal with spam and unread messages, helping customers to better track and filter incoming emails. Since launch, HEY has already attracted tens of thousands of users. During the episode, David explained his views on quiet quitting: he believes that quiet quitting is a lose-lose situation for both the employer and the employee, and that business owners should be more aware of the emotional and mental state of their employees. He advises that companies should be satisfied with having employees who do good work in a reasonable time, rather than desiring employees who share the same intense devotion to the company that a founder would have. He also urges against "deferred living" and encourages everyone to make the most of the time they have now by diligently doing gratifying work together with people they enjoy. David has employed this structure to create his own work-life balance, as he juggles many hats: being a founder of several companies, a father, a bestselling author, an investor and a Le Mans & WEC class-winning racing driver. Memorable Quotes: "Ruby really changed my traje
S1 E278 · Sun, November 27, 2022
Timestamps: 05:00 Wozu werden Führungskräfte gebraucht? 16:10 Die gemeinsame Vision 31:12 Verhältnis Präsident // Trainer 36:02 Die Wichtigkeit von Wertschätzung & Anerkennung 43:40 Werden Führungskräfte gemacht oder geboren? Über Bernhard Heusler: Bernhard Heusler ist Mitgründer und Partner der Heusler Werthmüller Heitz AG , mit Hauptsitz in Basel und spezialisiert auf die Erbringung von Dienstleistungen im Bereich der Wirtschaftsberatung, des Sports und der Kultur. Der in Basel promovierte Jurist war von 2000 bis 2014 Partner der Kanzlei Wenger Plattner, anschliessend bis Oktober 2017 Konsulent bei Walder Wyss AG. Im Sommer 2003 nahm er seine Tätigkeiten für den FC Basel 1893 auf, ab 2006 amtete er als dessen Vizepräsident und ab 2009 übernahm er die operative Leitung, um schliesslich dem Club von 2012 bis 2017 als Präsident vorzustehen. In Erweiterung seiner Verantwortung für den Verein hat Bernhard Heusler in diversen Exekutiv- und Entscheidungsgremien des internationalen (FIFA, UEFA, ECA) und nationalen (SFV und SFL) Fussballs Einsitz genommen. Zudem amtet er seit 2012 als Richter am Internationalen Sportgerichtshof (TAS/CAS) in Lausanne. Seit einigen Jahren tritt Bernhard Heusler zunehmend als Referent an Anlässen und Seminaren, namentlich zu Themen der Unternehmens- und Teamführung, auf. Seit rund zwanzig Jahren bekleidet er diverse Verwaltungsratsmandate. Memorable Quotes: "Eine Führungsaufgabe beginnt immer bei einem selbst. Man muss authentisch und echt sein." “Als ich nicht mehr die gleiche Freude spürte, merkt ich, dass es an der Zeit war meine Führungsaufgabe abzugeben.” “Anerkennung, Wertschätzung und positives Feedback sind wirksame gratis Tools für Führungskräfte.” Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.
S1 E277 · Wed, November 23, 2022
Timestamps: 2:42 - 25yo and COO at a big company 11:00 - Building a company with your brother 17:35 - The Swiss real estate market 22:55 - Taking on investors to support crazy growth 27:58 - Avoiding a second hit of burnout About Levent Künzi: Levent Künzi is the co-founder and CEO at Properti , a technology-driven real estate company modernizing residential real estate. He holds a BSc in Business Administration, Marketing and Business Communications from Kalaidos Fachhochschule Schweiz and previously worked at Betterhomes Real GmbH, where he quickly rose through the ranks and became CMO at just 25 years old. His success, however, was not without its drawbacks: after a total of 10 years there, he quit due to severe burnout. Levent then had to take some time to rest, recover and discover who he was outside of work. His journey of self-discovery resulted in him starting a business with his brother, Adrian Künzi, in 2019: Properti, which combines cutting-edge technologies such as robotics, virtual reality and artificial intelligence with years of experience, expert knowledge and digital marketing. They’re simultaneously a real estate company and also a software company, offering a 360º view of all real estate related transactions (buying, renting, moving, cleaning..), in which 80% of all processes are automatized. Properti real estate agents are thus able to handle several more listings than regular agents. Levent and Adrian bootstrapped Properti for the first 2 years, and just recently raised a $6.5M seed round. Memorable Quotes: "When I quit my job, it was very hard for me to find out who I am. Burnout turned into a real crisis." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E276 · Sun, November 20, 2022
Timestamps: 1:43 - PwC and entrepreneurship 9:49 - Investing in an alternative asset class 24:36 - What happens when the asset is sold 32:59 - How Splint Invest makes money 38:15 - Crowdfunding campaign closed after 5 days About Aurelio Perucca: Aurelio Perucca is the co-founder and CEO at Splint Invest , an alternative investment platform. He holds a MS in Business Administration from the University of Bern and previously worked at Stryker and PwC. Aurelio’s entrepreneurial journey all began in 2020, when he and some of his PwC co-workers started investing in rare whiskey. Prior to that, Aurelio had only invested in ETFs and stocks, but he soon realized that the high correlation between traditional assets and economic downturns meant that he had to diversify his investment portfolio. Further research led him to discovering that alternative asset classes such as cars, watches and whiskey had a much lower correlation with economic fluctuation. Specifically assets like whiskey or wine have the added advantage of their price being driven by their intrinsic value, which only increases with time (the older the whiskey, the better, the more expensive) – they’re not dependent on some hype. They are also, so to speak, “recession-resistant”. So in 2021 Aurelio and his co-founders created Splint Invest, an app with the mission to enable all private investors to invest in alternative assets, starting at just CHF 50. You can trade your “splints” with other investors or hold them until the asset is sold and you get to collect your profits. When an asset is sold, you’re charged a flat fee of 2% of the sales price on a pro-rata basis, which covers Splint Invest’s sales process expenses. There are no running costs when you invest in Splints: the variable costs for storage and insurance are already included in the splint price of CHF 50. However, it is true that stocks have a higher yield on average (despite also being a riskier investment) – but Aurelio makes it clear that alternative assets should only make up 5-15% of your investment portfolio (the rest consisting of stocks, real estate, etc…), and that they’re not something for beginners to dabble with. If you’re just starting out on your investment journey, you’re better off with low-effort investments, like ETFs. But if you want to take your investment game to the next level, sign up today at Splint Invest. Memorable Quotes: "At some point, you can’t just add more milestones, more proofs of concept, more validation… You actually need to trust the idea and go for it." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , <a href="https://www.instagram.com/swisspreneur/" target=
S1 E275 · Wed, November 16, 2022
Timestamps: 1:52 - From fossil fuels to clean energy 7:55 - Idealab and Energy Vault 14:20 - Hardware and software 29:03- Saying no to customers 43:50 - The intense schedule of going public About Robert Piconi: Robert Piconi is the co-founder and CEO at Energy Vault , a global energy storage company based in Ticino and publicly listed at NYSE. He previously worked at companies like BP, Alcatel and Spirent Communications. Despite his past in the oil business, Robert is currently dedicated to taking an active role in the transition to renewals. That’s why he co-founded Energy Vault in 2017, after having validated the idea at Idealab, the longest running technology incubator in the US, with a very impressive track record: almost half of its companies have either gone public or been acquired. Energy Vault aims to tackle the complicated issue of energy storage, i.e. electron storage. This storage is made difficult by the electrons’ limited “shelf-life”, by the costliness of the infrastructure, and by the fact that it is rather hard to find sustainable ways of doing it. Energy Vault combines innovative design, advanced materials science, and proprietary machine-vision software to orchestrate the storage and dispatch of electrical power by lifting and lowering composite bricks, made from eco-friendly materials. Energy Vault’s commitment to sustainability is reflected in a unique approach to the circular economy which utilizes local industrial and energy waste, including remediated coal ash and recycled wind blades converted to recyclable materials, to build the system’s composite bricks. They run their infrastructure and acquire their raw materials locally, so as to avoid greenhouse gas emissions and reinvest in the communities where they’re located. One major customer segment of theirs are utilities companies that distribute to a grid infrastructure, and which are currently in the process of shutting down their fossil fuel plants and making the switch to renewables. Energy Vault went public on the NYSE in 2022, through a merger with Novus Capital Corporation II (NYSE: NXU). The transaction raised approximately $235 million in gross proceeds, additive to its recently announced Series C of $107M and the $50M license fee from Atlas Renewable, to fund the execution of its growth strategy. Reflecting on the going public process, Robert advises founders to not go public before they’ve reached a scale which allows them to reliably predict the company’s future, or before they’ve hired enough people to maintain operational excellence during the IPO process. Memorable Quotes: "I felt like my potential could reach greater heights if it weren’t held back by corporate constraints." "Countries have no walls: gree
S1 E274 · Sun, November 13, 2022
Timestamps: 1:48 - Being passionate about music 9:32 - Helga’s origin story 18:25 - Management tasks in the music industry 32:22 - Creating trust 36:56 - Tokenizing shares with Daura About Vincenzo Neidhardt: Vincenzo Neidhardt is the Managing Partner at Helga , a hyper-focused digital manager that specializes in the use of data in the music world. He holds a BSc in Business Administration from HWZ and previously co-founded the booking agency Garasch Musig. Helga tackles an issue very relevant to our current music industry: unlike in the past, when music artists worked with a single label for a long stretch of time, today’s musicians work with several music labels simultaneously, and therefore have multiple pay sources – their main concern is, therefore, keeping track of whether or not they’re actually getting paid, and, if they weren’t adequately compensated, having the analytics software necessary to approach the defaulting party with the data to back it up. It’s estimated that there are $2.5b missing in the music market due to this type of occurrence. Helga has yet to properly launch, and most of their employees are also students on the side. They are currently raising CHF 600K and have chosen to tokenize their shares with daura. Learn more about the advantages of this unconventional financing route by visiting https://daura.ch . Memorable Quotes: "As a musician who studied business administration, I see every artist as a small company." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E273 · Wed, November 09, 2022
Timestamps: 8:00 - Sustainability and branding 23:01 - The yamo ingredients 32:10 - From baby food to snack bars 43:30 - The battle against regulation 1:03:34 - Raising a series B About Luca Michas: Luca Michas is the co-founder and CMO at Yamo , a B2C company revolutionizing the kid's food market with nutritious and organic options for kids of all ages. Luca holds an MA in Media & Communication / Marketing from the UZH and previously worked for companies like SodaStream International and the Campari Group. In 2015, while working at the Campari Group with his future co-founder, Tobias Gunzenhauser, Luca watched a documentary about veganism and decided to go vegan for a month, and Tobias joined him in this adventure. They soon discovered that healthy, plant-based products were very hard to come by in a Swiss supermarket, and – as a joke – decided to check out the baby food aisle, only to find out the baby food available on the market was tasteless and of dubious nutritional value. This was because the traditional process for creating shelf-stable baby food was heat-based sterilization, which, considering many vitamins are heat-sensitive, necessitated later re-adding the vitamins which the process destroyed. But friend and food scientist José Amado-Blanco soon clued them into a better way of making baby food: High-pressure pasteurization, which combines homemade flavor with proper nutrition, and lasts several weeks in a refrigerated environment. This was how Yamo was able to combine nutritional quality with convenience, and win the trust of Swiss parents all around. So as not to have their customers age out of Yamo products, the team has now also begun making kids’ food, like joghurts and snack bars. With their office in Zug, they currently sell in the DACH region, Belgium, Spain and Portugal. A Series B round is also underway. Memorable Quotes: "Branding makes a huge difference in whether your product succeeds or not. It’s not just pricing, it’s not just availability. You need to tell a story." "Nowadays sustainability is no longer something that sets your brand apart, but on the other hand, if you’re not sustainable, your brand is gonna have a problem." "Contrary to popular belief, we were not drunk when we came up with the Yamo product names." Resources Mentioned: Shoe Dog , by Phil Knight <a href="https://asana.com/pt?utm_campaign=BRAND--EMEA--RoEMEA--EN--Core--EX&utm_source=google&utm_medium=pd_cpc_br&gclid=CjwKCAiAvK2bBhB8EiwAZUbP1KGmKw4kguE6jbbuplI2_FWCxo5DQlgV2Dh
S1 E272 · Wed, November 02, 2022
Timestamps: 6:38 - Working for Flipboard in 2011 18:16 - Hacking a calendar extension 22:51 - Getting into Y Combinator 39:00 - The “Batman” life of solo founders 56:58 - Getting acquired by Notion About Raphael Schaad: Raphael Schaad is the founder and CEO at Cron , a next-generation calendar software. Raphael holds an masters from MIT and a bachelors from the University of Applied Sciences Bern. He previously was a designer and engineer at Flipboard and a researcher at the MIT Media Lab. He started working for Flipboard back in 2011, which meant moving to Palo Alto. Raphael remembers that back then, Apple was still a much smaller player than Microsoft, Steve Jobs lived on the same street as Raphael, and the Facebook team still operated from next to the Stanford campus. The tech scene, in general, was a whole lot smaller. Early on in his professional life, Raphael noticed that all the high-achievers around him were very intentional about their calendars, but never fully satisfied with the calendar software they used, and tried to compensate for this by adding extensions from third party apps. Apple, Microsoft, Google … They all fell short, and companies like Calendly seemed more like a calendar feature than a calendar itself. So, Raphael got to hacking together calendar extensions to turn his calendar into pro-mode, and nowadays Cron includes features like availability sharing, team overlays, time zones, multiple accounts, a menu bar calendar, multi-select flows, dark mode, and lots of keyboard shortcuts. Cron was part of the Y Combinator Winter 2020 batch, and though the experience was cut short by COVID (canceling their demo day), Raphael still benefited from it by laser focusing for 10 weeks straight with like-minded individuals. Cron was then launched in early access mode, both because they wanted to optimize for learning and because they had already gathered a very long waiting list from initial word of mouth success. Cron raised $3.5M in a seed round in April 2020 and was acquired by Notion in June 2022. Head over to to cron.com for early access. Memorable Quotes: "Knowing that Steve Jobs lived on the same block as me definitely infused me with an adventurous energy that was very special, back then." "All the high-achievers were religious about their calendars, but they all complained about their calendar software." "Participating in Y Combinator means, in all likelihood, sitting in the same room as 5 unicorns and the next Mark Zuckerberg." Resources Mentioned: Twitter thread Don’t forget to giv
S1 E271 · Wed, October 26, 2022
Timestamps: 2:48 - Being part of the FREITAG journey 12:27 - Meeting your romantic partner and co-founder 17:42 - Clean and ethical beauty 40:02 - Choosing to be bootstrapped 45:29 - Internationalizing the soap emporium About Hanna and Johan Åkerström: Hanna and Johan Åkerström are the co-founders of Soeder, a natural and ethical personal care product manufacturer based in Zurich, Switzerland. Hanna is a trained architect, and Johan studied International Working Science at the University of Gothenburg. They both originally hail from Sweden. They created Soeder back in 2013, when the clean beauty trend hadn’t really happened yet. The “soap” available on the market was 99% synthetic detergents, and there was a big lack of transparency regarding raw materials. So Hanna and Johan decided to start making “real soap” in a small garage, and sold their first batch of liquid Soeder soap at a Zurich Christmas market. People reacted positively, and so the pair began scaling the business bit by bit. In hindsight, Johan and Hanna think that if they’d had a huge demand right at the beginning, this would've killed them, because with no outside investment they would not have been able to keep up. They don’t regret being bootstrapped, however, as it allowed them to make all the mistakes they needed to make at the beginning. Besides, slow, organic growth has proven just as effective. Nowadays they sell soap bars as well, alongside shampoo, conditioner, sanitizers, etc. They use glass packaging which they encourage customers to refill – this practice might seem standard in 2022, but back when Soeder began, Hanna and Johan had to take the time to educate the market on why both these things were important and safe. This transparency has paid off: Soeder currently has a very large share of recurring customers who trust the brand and do word of mouth marketing for them. Hanna and Johan continue to feel confident that the only way for a bootstrapped company to compete with the big fish is to take the time to do things differently, and focus on quality and the customer relationship. Memorable Quotes: "Building a company with your romantic partner brings you much closer together." "If you make a good product, the person who buys it will sell the next one for you." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/10531767/admin/" target="_bla
S1 E270 · Sun, October 23, 2022
Timestamps: 4:34 - Coming from a family business 10:37 - A hand-over from father to son 21:05 - Financial defenses against COVID 32:13 - Being a sustainability trailblazer 35:08 - The SIX IPO program About Sebastien Tondeur: Sebastien Tondeur is the CEO at MCI group , a global next-gen platform for marketing which was founded as a conference organizer in 1987 by Sebastien’s dad, Roger Tondeur. Sebastien studied Finance and International Business at Northeastern University in Boston and joined the family business immediately after his studies, doing all sorts of tasks. In 2010, Sebastien took over from his dad as CEO of the company, and Roger remained as Chairman. Sebastien soon drafted a new business plan that would allow the group to adapt to the current market and expand their business offers: besides organizing live and virtual events, MCI nowadays also offers strategic and digital communications, and consulting and community solutions. Events organizing have historically been their biggest revenue stream. Sebastien scaled MCI to a global company, with operations in Europe, the US and China (and managed to do so by investing early on in client relations with big multinationals, as well as in hiring great teams), so the team really saw the COVID wave make its path from East to West and reacted very quickly in restructuring the business: they analyzed which areas of the business would be the most resilient and therefore worth investing time, effort and money into. They scaled back their events operations and invested in hiring creative teams to work as consultants with their customers, who were equally shaken by the COVID crisis and in need of new ideas. They have recently participated in the SIX Sparks IPO Academy. MCI is interested in going public because this would mean greater shareholder trust and greater access to large amounts of capital, which may help them weather the next crisis. Memorable Quotes: "COVID made us realize what our key assets were, that we had other businesses not directly linked to events which we could build on. " If would like to listen to the previous episodes of this SIX Swiss Exchange bonus series, check out our conversation with Michele Bomio and Manuel Aschwanden . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedi
S1 E273 · Wed, October 19, 2022
Timestamps: 10:10 - The Gymhopper story 22:00 - Stepping down from the CEO role 25:47 - How Silvan met Christian Hirsig 30:28 - Juggling two jobs plus Swisspreneur 36:52 - Where the Swiss ecosystem is headed About Silvan Krähenbühl: Silvan Krähenbühl is the host and managing director at Swisspreneur and current CEO at Rentouch, a Swiss enterprise software company developing products geared towards e-collaboration, and best known for the PIplanning app. He holds a BA in Business Administration from the University of St Gallen. After his bachelors at HSG, Silvan created Gymhopper, a B2B SaaS startup which gives individual gyms the network of a big chain, together with his co-founder Louis, whom he had met at HSG’s Young Entrepreneurs Club. This partnership turned out to be an unfortunate one, since Louis and Silvan did not have shared values. But this realization would come later – in the meantime, Gymhopper hired its CTO, João Sobral, in Lisbon, and grew within the span of 6 months to be the biggest gym network in Switzerland. Investors then wanted them to expand and become the biggest network in all of Europe, but the Gymhopper team soon realized that their business model was Swiss-specific and would not work in other countries, because abroad there is often a legal preference for monthly gym memberships (in contrast to the Swiss annual membership model). Their expansion to Denmark and Austria was therefore not very fruitful. They tried to counteract this through a corporate fitness model, which not only brought in more revenue but also attracted the attention of the Austrian company myclubs, who wished to expand their corporate fitness offering in Switzerland. Gymhopper was acquired by myclubs in 2018 and Silvan stepped down from the CEO role, switching to a part-time Head Of Business Development position at myclubs. It was also in 2018 that Silvan joined Swisspreneur. One of the startup coaches that he’d met while building Gymhopper was Christian Hirsig, a serial entrepreneur and former Swisspreneur host, who invited Silvan to take over from him as host. Silvan was at first quite hesitant about being on camera and taking on such a large role, but was eventually convinced by Chris and nowadays feels very thankful for having made this decision. From 2018 to 2022, Silvan and his team grew Swisspreneur from a show with 16 published episodes to the biggest Apple Podcasts business podcast in Switzerland, with its own coaching service, masterclasses and syndicate. Silvan credits the success of Swisspreneur to his amazing team. In 2020 Silvan started working at Rentouch as Enterprise Account Director. In 2021 he left his position at myclubs and started working full time for Rentouch, and in 2022 he became the new Rentouch CEO. Ansuya Ahwalia, founder of Anamii and host of this episode, will be joining Silvan in the host team,
S1 E268 · Sun, October 16, 2022
Timestamps: 7:02 - Building a startup in 2008 14:08 - Selling to several different industries 18:06 - Growth to SME level 20:25 - The cultural fit 32:38 - The Sparks IPO Academy About Manuel Aschwanden: Manuel Aschwanden is the co-founder and CEO at Optotune , a company which develops optical components that allow customers around the globe to innovate. Prior to Optotune, Manuel has gained experience in engineering at Avalon and ABB, and he holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Nanotechnology from ETH Zurich. Founded in 2008, Optotune started out with their core technology of focus tunable lenses, which was inspired by the working principle of the human eye. Laser speckle reducers, 2D mirrors, tunable prisms and beam shifters have been more recent additions to their product lines. The fact that they created their company right at the height of the 2008 financial crisis turned out to be an advantage rather than a disadvantage, because a fair number of talented people at the time found themselves out of a job. Nowadays Optotune serves several industries, from space tech all the way to consumer applications. They recently participated in the SIX Sparks IPO training program and are planning on going public sometime soon. In Manuel’s view, going public means profitability becomes all the more imperative, and also that creativity is sometimes sacrificed due to pressure from public opinion. Nonetheless, an IPO would bring enough advantages to outweigh these downsides. Memorable Quotes: "I believe that to be successful in Europe, you need to have unique engineering." If would like to listen to the previous episode of this SIX Swiss Exchange bonus series, check out our conversation with Michele Bomio . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E267 · Wed, October 12, 2022
Timestamps: 5:04 - Adela’s role model mom 14:18 - Creating a spin-off business 18:55 - Spin-off trade-offs 24:35 - Setting up your headquarters in Switzerland 35:40 - Growing and innovating About Adela Wiener: Adela Wiener is the co-founder & CEO at Aurachain , a simple and intuitive low-code platform that allows rapid creation of digital applications. She previously worked as a business development manager at the Romanian software company AGYS AG, and holds a PhD in Theory of Systems from Universitatea Politehnica din București. Aurachain was created back in 2009 and has since switched from a customer solutions provider to a B2B SaaS company, which naturally means that nowadays most of the team’s time and knowledge goes into the product, and not client projects. Currently, Aurachain is an horizontal low-code platform suitable for all sorts of industries, but which focuses on financial services companies as a go-to-market strategy. Low code gives companies quick time to value by allowing them to rapidly deploy apps without the need for code, which reduces technical depth and therefore also the company’s dependency on the developer talent pool. Shorter implementation cycles also mean increased agility. Usually low code platforms are either extremely user-friendly, but not very customizable, so that they are only suitable for simple apps, or not user-friendly but very customizable, so that they can be used to build complex apps but only by people with previous low code knowledge or people willing to invest the time needed to learn. Aurachain prides itself on being “the best of both worlds”: both user-friendly and capable of building highly complex apps. Memorable Quotes: "Low-code development means a team can create something like 11 apps in less than 3 months." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E266 · Sun, October 09, 2022
Timestamps: 3:04 - Building a startup in 1990 13:01 - Joining Securecell 22:38 - The SPARKS Academy 30:09 - Clinical trials 31:16 - Medtech market trends About Michele Bomio: Michele Bomio is an investor and board member at Securecell , a high tech life sciences company focusing on biotech & medtech. After having built his first venture, SAM, in the 90s (an ETH spin-off delivering predictive modeling to the food industry), Michele was an external CEO at companies like Navyboot and Orell Füssli Thalia. He holds a degree in Food Science and Biotechnology from ETH Zurich. At Securecell, he helps the team in their mission of developing innovative solutions in bioprocess technology for Biotech and BioPharma development digitalization and automation. Securecell is developing Seraccess, an innovative technology for the fully automated, high-frequency automatic on-line collection, processing, and analysis of minute quantities of blood for the monitoring and control of critical blood parameters. This is aimed at diabetes type 1 and 2 patients. They are close to having their first interactions with the FDA and beginning clinical trials. Securecell recently participated in the SIX IPO Academy , aimed at preparing high-potential scale-ups for going public. Michele says going public has the advantage of forcing you to be disciplined and think about your organizational structure at every level, though it also has the downside that every risk taken must be accounted for, since everyone will have an opinion on the direction your company is taking. Memorable Quotes: "If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to be a salesperson first." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E265 · Wed, October 05, 2022
Timestamps: 1:40 - Having too many interests 11:11 - Testing an idea for a year 17:45 - Focusing on which problem to solve and how 19:30 - Building trust in the cybersecurity space 27:55 - What it takes to be an entrepreneur About Sandra Tobler: Sandra Tobler is the co-founder and CEO at Futurae Technologies , a startup providing future-proof, end user-centric authentication. She previously worked at IBM and the Switzerland Global Enterprise and holds an MA in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Futurae solutions enable seamless 2FA with fallbacks, compliant transaction confirmations, secure helpdesk authentication, and anything in between. They also help companies meet risk and compliance requirements, fraud monitoring, security analytics, and much more. The company was created in 2016, back in the early days of cloud options, when the cloud was still regarded as “evil”. Their product was actually the first that the majority of their customers deployed in the cloud. This meant Futurae had to become an expert in building trust, and they did so not only by having an extremely talented team overall, but specifically a really strong support team (and not just a killer sales team). Memorable Quotes: "Over 93% of all information technology startups are still around after 5 years. That’s a super high number." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E264 · Wed, September 28, 2022
Timestamps: 13:46 - Being an external CEO 17:48 - Surviving in a saturated market 24:50 - Acquiring users and partners 33:14 - Going public on the Swiss stock exchange 38:17 - Choosing a direct listing About Jan Luescher: Jan Luescher is the CEO at ASMALLWORLD , an exclusive travel & lifestyle community. He previously worked as a Principal at Bain & Company and holds a MA in Strategy and International Management from HSG. ASMALLWORLD was founded in 2004 by a wealthy Swedish couple, and started out as an invitation-only club for their friends. Changes in ownership over the years altered some aspects of the product, but in spite of this, and despite the product’s success, the team could not find a successful way of monetizing it, so investment began to wane. Jan Luescher stepped in as an external CEO back in 2016 and has been steering the ship ever since. It isn’t ideal for ASMALLWORLD to grow a lot in terms of membership numbers, since exclusivity is part of the package deal (for which users annually pay CHF 100), so they’ve chosen to do so through creating a booking service on their website, in partnership with a number of luxury hotels. Their goal is to ultimately be able to offer a fremium model (especially also considering that, even among those with disposable income, willingness to pay for a social media service is quite low), but for that they need to offer services to their users, so that the revenue coming from this will help support the non-paying users. They’re also aiming to improve the technical aspects of their social media functionality and their booking service. ASMALLWORLD has bought a 10% stake in Global Hotel Alliance, a loyalty program for independent hotels, which has in turn bought 3% of ASMALLWORLD. The goal is to offer Global Hotel Alliance members a free ASMALLWORLD membership as part of the status benefits. Memorable Quotes: "The risk of entrepreneurship always seemed scary to me. It took me a while to take on the ASMALLWORLD project." "When ASMALLWORLD was publicly listed, the financial press in Switzerland thought the world was going to end." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E263 · Wed, September 21, 2022
Timestamps: 4:20 - Reading business books in engineering school 11:50 - The lean startup methodology 19:30 - The lean canvas 39:52 - The entrepreneurial renaissance 51:54 - The lean workshop About Ash Maurya: Ash Maurya is the founder and CEO at Leanstack , a leading provider of Lean Startup and Lean Business Modeling tools, content, and coaching resources. He is also the author of the book Running Lean . Prior to Leanstack, he worked at companies like telecom technologies and Sonus Networks and founded the startup Wired Reach in 2002, which enabled the creation of simple peer to web applications that blurred the boundaries between the desktop and web. He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology. The Lean Canvas came about as a way to combat the preconceived notion of business ideas as overnight successes. It helps aspiring founders take their idea and deconstruct it to learn what needs to be tackled first and how to chronicle the process. It helps you get specific (because if you try to build a product for everyone, you end up building a product for no one) and helps you find out whether the problem you’re looking to solve is big enough. The Lean Startup Methodology can also help you figure out things like pricing. Founders tend to want to price their product in terms of solution (meaning, based on how much it costs to produce the product/solution) instead of pricing it according to the problem (figuring out how big of a pain the problem is, and how much people are willing to pay to fix it). It can also help founders find paths to customers, whether that be through paid advertising or through posting original content, or through being featured on other people’s original content, like Ash just did with Swisspreneur. Memorable Quotes: "Being too early to market is almost as bad as being too late." "When we try to build a product for everyone, we end up building a product for no one." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E262 · Wed, September 14, 2022
Timestamps : 11:20 - Giving up your salary for a startup idea 12:58 - Moving to California 23:25 - Marketing a solution with broad applications 32:19 - Tweaking your pricing 40:03 - Convincing investors to invest About Chris Bach: Chris Bach is the CSO/CCO at Netlify , a platform for building highly-performant and dynamic websites, e-commerce stores and apps. He studied film and media science at the University of Copenhagen but then pivoted to the business world, and created Netlify in 2015 together with co-founders Mathias Biilmann. By uniting an extensive ecosystem of technologies, services and APIs into one workflow, Netlify unlocks new levels of team productivity, while saving time, money and the planet. Their idea was to change the architecture of the web and provide a viable workflow for developers, since nowadays it’s known that the biggest overall challenge companies face is reducing time to market, and that the number 1 way of doing so is to invest in developer tools and workflow. They knew that Netlify would have to be venture-backed in order to have the right time-to-market and create the desired impact. Europe was much too risk averse in terms of capital, so they decided to raise funds in the US. To date they’ve taken on $212M in investment from investors such as A16Z, Kleiner Perkins, Bessemer, EQT, BOND and Menlo Ventures, and angels such as the founders of Github, Heroku, Rackspace Cloud, Slack, Yelp, Figma, and many more. Memorable Quotes: "Venture capital was much too risk-averse in Europe. What we needed was the Silicon Valley approach." "The mission is not money. The mission is building a better web." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E261 · Wed, September 07, 2022
This episode was produced in cooperation with the ETH Entrepreneur Club. Timestamps: 3:20 - IoT 10 years ago 20:02 - Subscription based models and high margins 25:09 - Going international from day one 30:02 - Picking Ariel Lüdi as an investor 45:00 - Scaling your team About Samuel Mueller: Samuel Mueller is the co-founder and CEO at Scandit , the leading technology platform for mobile computer vision and augmented reality (AR) solutions for enterprises. He holds a PhD in Computer Science and Temporal Logics from ETH Zurich. Together with Christian Floerkermeier and Christof Roduner, he created Scandit in 2009. Their goal with Scandit was to create a bridge between real world objects and the digital information available about them. Barcodes were then the natural entry points, especially at a time when phone cameras were just starting to become ubiquitous. Nowadays they work with 4 key verticals: Large retail organizations Logistics organizations Big manufacturers Health organizations Scandit runs a subscription-based model which allows customers to “go as they grow”, meaning the bigger they get, the more Scandit services they can accrue. It's also a very high margin business, because a lot of the heavy lifting, the computer vision magic, is happening on the user devices, so there’s no distinct cloud need. Memorable Quotes: "As an entrepreneur, if you don’t get really good at saying ‘no’, you’re gonna get terribly distracted." "Today’s customers are really smart. If you don’t have an answer ready for them, they’re already on their way to check out the product somewhere else." If you would like to listen to our previous episode on Scandit, check out our conversation with Christof Roduner . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E260 · Wed, August 31, 2022
Timestamps: 9:25 - Netcentric’s focus 23:17 - Growing your headcount 26:45 - Choosing holacracy 38:36 - Getting acquired 49:08 - Building a wine marketplace About Elian Kool: Elian Kool is the co-founder and former CEO at Netcentric , a Zurich based company that develops CX marketing solutions. He previously worked at companies like Acommit AG, Namics and Logica Deutschland. Elian co-founded Netcentric in 2012, right around the time that Adobe Experience Cloud (the focus of their business) was first emerging. They were quite precocious, in the sense that they always competed at eye level with big consultants like Deloitte and Accenture, and very early on set up an office in Barcelona. They were also quick to take on a holacratic organizational method, in order to create a work environment that was both extremely efficient and attractive to its employees. In 2017 they were acquired by cognizant in order to grow more quickly at an international level. Memorable Quotes: "In my view it’s much better to stay focused and know what you’re good at than trying to mitigate every potential risk." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E259 · Wed, August 24, 2022
Timestamps: 7:21 - The right time for scaling up 26:36 - Why hire in Belgrade 32:02 - Scaling while bootstrapped 42:42 - Growth engines 53:15 - Growing towards an exit About Dennis Just and Mathis Büchi: Dennis Just is the current CEO at Smallpdf , a company offering a suite of clever document management tools for everyone. He holds a BSc in Economics and Engineering from Technische Universität Berlin and previously founded companies like Numbrs and Knip. Mathis Büchi is co-founder and chairman at Smallpdf and Taxfix , a digital tax accountant. He studied International Business and Global Management at the University of Hong Kong and previously founded Encounter Korea, a company organizing tours to North Korea. Dennis and Mathis recommend that you only scale once the following conditions are met: You’ve achieved product-market fit, meaning you found a problem that’s big enough and that you solve well enough for people to have recognized the value in your solution. There’s room to scale: either the market for the problem you’re solving is big enough or you’re able to solve different problems closely connected to the original one. You have either the money or the profitability to scale. You’ve hired the right people to scale. Do you always need to raise funds in order to scale up? Not always, no, but if you’re solving a problem that is too big or too complicated to make money from right away, then you need to raise funds. Or if, for instance, you need to beat your competition in a winner-takes-all market by outspending everyone, then you need to raise funds. Memorable Quotes: "Even if a problem seems boring, like PDFs or taxes, it’s still engaging to solve it, and you still get to help a lot of people’s lives." (Mathis) "You need to define your entrepreneurial identity: why are you doing what you’re doing? What’s your goal?" (Dennis) If you would like to listen to our previous conversations with Dennis Just, check out episodes 85 and 87 . For Mathis B üchi, listen to episode 208 . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , <a href="https://www.facebook.com/swisspren
S1 E258 · Wed, August 17, 2022
Timestamps: 1:44 - Falling in love with machine learning 15:03 - Developing a prototype at HackZurich 23:05 - Podcasts as the world’s largest knowledge base 40:43 - Doing B2C in Switzerland 49:15 - Benefiting from the Swiss startup mafia About Kevin Smith: Kevin Smith is the co-founder and CEO at Snipd , an AI-powered podcast player built to unlock the knowledge in the podcasts you listen to. Originally from England and Germany, Kevin came to Zurich to get his MA from ETH in Quantitative Finance. After a time working for banks like Julius Baier and UBS, Kevin decided to join the startup Contovista, where he worked up to becoming head of analytics and AI. In 2020, he decided to put his love for machine learning to good use and participated in Hackzurich together with his ETH friend Ferdinand Langnickel, at a time when a breakthrough in self-supervised learning had just happened. Having originally planned to create a prototype around the topic of meeting notes, they eventually pivoted to podcasts, and ended up winning that year’s Hackzurich. In 2021, Kevin, Ferdinand and third co-founder Mikel Corcuera Lejarreta created Snipd. The problem Snipd solves is pretty intuitive: the audio medium is great for both consuming and producing content, but not so much for interacting with it, i.e., for storing it and consulting it. It’s pretty hard to skim through a 2h podcast episode to find what you’re looking for. Through its AI algorithm, Snipd allows you to do just that: when you’re using their podcast player, whenever you listen to something which particularly interests you, you press a button in the app or you triple click your headphones, and then AI will analyze the content you just selected to determine the appropriate start and end point, provide a transcript, a summary and a title. Snipd also provides you with automatic chapters (with titles and summaries) for each podcast episode. By providing this service, Snipd is able to collect data about which podcast moments are interesting to each user, and this data will soon allow them to make predictions on what each specific user may be interested in listening to. Memorable Quotes: "I’ve come to the realization that creating things is something which fundamentally makes humans happy." "Something you should ask yourself before you start a startup is: Can you see yourself working on this for 10 years?" Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/10531767/admin/" target="_bl
S1 E257 · Wed, August 10, 2022
Timestamps: 2:01 - How consulting makes you a better entrepreneur 7:27 - Spending your sabbatical in Rheinfeld 31:18 - Staying healthy as a founder 42:18 - Complex and non-complex system 47:35 - Getting acquired by Zoom Info About Roy Raanani: Roy Raanani is the co-founder, former CEO and current president of Chorus.ai , a B2B SaaS platform that helps sales teams improve the quality of their conversations and sales processes by analyzing how top performers engage with customers in calls and video meetings. He holds a BA in Engineering Science from UoT and an MBA from Stanford, and previously worked for companies like Bain & Company and Innovation Endeavors. After quitting his consultancy job and spending a sabbatical in Rheinfeld thinking about business ideas, Roy developed an interest in undervalued data sets in business, specifically conversations – he wanted to use machine learning to discover what makes a conversation end badly and what makes it end well. He founded Chorus.ai in 2015 and has since grown it to millions in revenue and over 100 employees, and raised over $65M in capital from Emergence Capital, Redpoint and Georgian Partners. But the sailing wasn’t always this smooth. Thinking back to when they were first building the product, Roy recounts an interesting cycle he observed: When you’re building a product, the feedback you get from your first customers will be mostly negative, which decreases both your motivation and your customer’s excitement level about the product. However, simultaneously to this, your product’s quality level is slowly going up. At some point these first customers might lose their patience and stop using your product. But then you acquire new customers whose excitement level is just as high as your first customers’ once was, and this time your product is starting off from a slightly better position. Rinse and repeat. Finally you reach a point when your new customer doesn’t have a bad experience! And the only thing that kept you going through this entire process was the fact that, flaws and all, people were still using your product, so you must be answering a real need. In conclusion, so long as you don’t run out of hope or cash, perseverance will get you to product-market fit. In Chorus.ai’s case, it also got them to a tradesale. They were acquired by Zoom Info in 2021 for $575M and have since seen their yearly growth rate double from 100% to 200%. Memorable Quotes: "A lot of investors are too comfortable giving entrepreneurs advice having never been in their shoes." "We’re always focused on older, experienced people, but I think it’s just as important to get to know the amazing people that are maybe a couple years beh
S1 E256 · Wed, August 03, 2022
Timestamps: 3:52 - Breaking up and getting back together with McKinsey 9:36 - Gathering the Oviva team 12:01 - Certified dieticians vs nutritionists 16:52 - Working with health insurers 34:59 - Keeping in touch with your investors About Kai Eberhardt: Kai Eberhardt is the co-founder and CEO at Oviva , an app which provides personalized advice and individual support for targeted dietary changes. He holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from ETH and previously worked for McKinsey and Groupon. Kai left McKinsey to get a taste of the startup life at the rapidly growing Group, but ended up having a mixed experience. Due to its IPO goal, Groupon cultivated unsustainable company growth, which often came at the expense of employees and customers, and was, in Kai’s experience, a “ruthless” environment – which explains the crash they suffered right after going public. Kai nonetheless considers his time there a valuable personal growth opportunity. In 2014 he founded Oviva together with co-founders Manuel and Mark, and the inspiration actually came from his past: during his time as a student, Kai suffered from cancer (which fortunately was treatable), and this motivated him to help people live healthier and happier lives. Kai and his co-founders saw that dieticians weren’t meeting often enough with their patients, and hypothesized that a much better way to reach these patients would be through their phone, which they already used for copious amounts of time anyway. Oviva offers not only one-to-one nutritional assessment, advice and continual support, but also nutritional tracking, through pictures that patients take of their meals with their phones, and which dieticians review. Oviva employs these dieticians and tries their best to have users be reimbursed by their health insurance providers. They mainly acquire users through their doctors, and to both doctors and health insurers Oviva shows metrics like program completion, weight loss (when relevant), a calculation of the hospital visit reduction, and also how many patients were able to go off (expensive) medications by following their dietary protocol. This proves to doctors and insurers that Oviva saves hospitals their resources and insurers their money. Memorable Quotes: "I didn’t want to stay at McKinsey forever because there you never get to own anything you work on." "Nowadays integrated medicine only happens in specialist clinics, despite the fact that obesity and type 2 diabetes are absolute epidemics." If you would like to listen to more conversations on medtech apps, check out our episode with Bettina Hein . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our <a href="
S1 E255 · Wed, July 27, 2022
Timestamps: 12:50 - Alcohol-free drinks for the new decade 18:17 - Choosing Switzerland as a production site 21:40 - Who’s buying alcohol-free drinks? 22:53 - Reaching a crowdfunding goal in 11 hours 28:37 - Selling B2C and B2B About Christof Tremp: Christof Tremp is the co-founder and CEO at Rebels 0.0% , a startup producing alcohol-free spirits. He holds an MA in Business Administration from HSG and has previously worked at Kraft Foods Group, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Lindt & Sprüngli. Rebels 0.0% currently produces alternatives to gin, rum and aperitif, aiming to capitalize on the current trend of declining alcohol consumption, especially prevalent among younger generations. However, they take good care not to position themselves as anti-alcohol: they are merely providing an alternative. These concoctions, which taste incredibly like the real thing, are the result of double distillation using organic botanicals. Their production site is Switzerland, since the company cares deeply about sustainability. Since their production process is more complicated than regular alcohol and obeys a series of ethical standards, the finished product is not cheaper than its alcoholic counterpart. Rebels 0.0% recently met a crowdfunding goal in just 11h, which gave them an extraordinary proof of concept. Despite having gone the bootstrapped way early on, they have now also begun to raise funds in equity rounds (recently 1M ) in order to really accelerate their marketing. Memorable Quotes: "I never really looked at entrepreneurship as a risk. If I failed, I could just go back to my old life." "Switzerland will always be our home, but it’s too small a market." Resources mentioned: Foodtech_network Crowdfoods If you would like to listen to more episodes on selling spirits, check out our conversation with Alexander Curiger . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E254 · Wed, July 20, 2022
Timestamps: 5:02 - Picking the right co-founder 14:14 - Going B2B 18:07 - Getting better at sales 21:42 - Fundraising as a spin-off 31:59 - Getting inspiration as an entrepreneur About Patrik Deuss: Patrik Deuss is the co-founder and CEO at LEDCity , a cleantech startup specializing in smart lighting solutions. Patrik holds a BS in Energy and Environmental Engineering from ZHAW and previously worked at m-way agm and blitzzcar GmbH . With LEDCity’s solution, AI-trained algorithms control the light autonomously and dynamically. This means that rooms are only lit when it actually makes sense to do so. The duration and intensity of light can thus be adapted to actual lighting needs, and energy spending is cut by about 90%. This is an incredible win considering that lighting makes up 12% of Swiss energy consumption. LEDCity initially relied only on research grants money and otherwise bootstrapped their operations, which turned them into a very efficient team. They later raised an equity round (CHF 2M), and this capital combined with their efficiency has given them a great growth rate. Memorable Quotes: "In the beginning our sales person was calling people way too much. It’s never good to come across as desperate." "If your startup doesn’t have an impactful mission, your motivation will suffer." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E253 · Wed, July 13, 2022
Timestamps: 5:00 - The ideal human future 7:27 - Reversing aging vs curing common diseases 10:22 - Longevity tips 13:11 - Societal costs to longevity 20:22 - Recs for 20 year olds About Alexander Schueller & Tobias Reichmuth: Alexander Schueller is the founder and CEO at cellvie, a seed-stage venture developing mitochondria-based therapies. Tobias Reichmuth is a founding partner at maximoon, a venture studio company builder which has already built 2 longevity startups, with 3 more to follow this year. Nowadays we know that there are 9 reasons for human aging, all cell-based: - Genomic instability; - Telomere attrition; - Epigenetic alterations; - Loss of proteostasis; - Deregulated nutrient sensing; - Mitochondrial dysfunction; - Cellular senescence; - Stem cell exhaustion; - Altered inter-cellular comms. Nowadays average life expectancy is at 83. Alexander’s and Tobias’ companies aim not to extend life indefinitely, but significantly, and insure quality of life right up until the very end. Longevity companies typically have a hard time raising money because their research results require several decades; funds looking to focus on health topics usually go for companies whose products treat diseases, and which can therefore return the investment max. 14 years after it was made. However nowadays the World Health Organization already recognizes aging as a sickness – it’s therefore time for venture funds, research granters and healthcare insurers to start doing so as well. Alexander’s & Tobias’ general tips to improve longevity: - Eat less and do intermittent fasting; - Do HIIT training or some other form of exercise; - Quit bad habits like smoking or drinking; - Cultivate a good social life; - Take both hot and cold showers; - Take certain supplements (this will depend on each individual’s case). Greater longevity will naturally result in societal changes such as: - People putting up with poor labor conditions for much shorter, since their working life will be longer; - Co-living solutions for active seniors; - Changes to the pension system: if labor conditions are good, people will not want to retire so early, even if they no longer continue to work 100%. A good life requires purpose, and a good job can serve as that; - Employers may begin to offer benefits such as a sabbatical semester every 10 years, plus an educational stipend, so that every 10 years you may reinvent your career if you so choose. Memorable quotes: "The ideal human future is one in which you are free from disease and have a strong purpose up until the very end of your life." "Our goal is for people to die as late as possible, with a body as young
S1 E252 · Wed, July 06, 2022
Timestamps: 1:08 - From ETH to Carnegie Mellon 5:28 - Not going to Silicon Valley 8:03 - Freemium and philanthropy 10:22 - A/B testing at Duolingo 18:23 - The Duolingo IPO About Severin Hacker: Severin Hacker is the co-founder and CTO of Duolingo , the world’s most popular language learning app. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University and previously worked as a research intern at Microsoft. It was during his time at Carnegie Mellon that he met his co-founder, Luis von Ahn, with whom he soon began to work on a research project which would later become Duolingo. The project aimed to identify what the hardest part of language learning was and how to make it easier — they soon discovered the power of gamification in this respect and ran hundreds of A/B tests in order to make the Duolingo experience as fun as possible, resulting in a much higher retention rate than other language learning apps. In fact, Severin identifies A/B testing as Duolingo’s “secret sauce”, and says these tests focus on assessing 3 things: how well the new feature teaches, how engaging the new feature is (i.e., retention) and how it contributes to monetization. Duolingo’s mission is to make great education universally accessible, which is why it uses a freemium model that allows free users to access all of the content under certain conditions, and paying users to access this same content with much less restriction. In order to maintain their independence and keep working towards their mission, Duolingo did not aim for a trade sale but instead went public on NASDAQ in 2021, with a market capitalization of $3.5B. Their IPO behind them, they hope to expand the Duolingo offer to first language acquisition and math learning. Memorable Quotes: "You should only pursue a PhD if you want to become a professor. It’s not necessary for entrepreneurship." "By this point, Duolingo is too expensive to be acquired." If you would like to listen to a conversation with the founder of Duolingo's main competitor, Babbel, check out our episode with Markus Witte . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E251 · Wed, June 29, 2022
Timestamps: 6:26 - MBAs aren’t just for managers 12:22 - Covering any distance in less than 2h 15:43 - When hydrogen will become cheaper 24:34 - Building a hyperplane prototype in 4 months 29:33 - Dealing with aviation regulation About Mikhail Kokorich: Mikhail Kokorich is the founder and CEO of Destinus , an aerospace company building hyperplanes to provide the fastest transportation on earth. He studied business administration back in Russia and also went on to complete executive programs at Stanford, and co-founded several companies such as Astro Digital , Exact Farming and Momentus . Founded in 2021, Destinus is developing an extremely fast aircraft capable of moving cargo between continents in 1-2 hours. This vehicle will be a hybrid between an airplane and a rocket— they call it a hyperplane. It runs on hydrogen, which allows you not only to build incredibly powerful engines but also to cool them, so that overheating does not become an issue at that type of speed. Hydrogen-fueled hyperplanes are also carbon neutral. Hydrogen is not yet affordable, but from his talks with hydrogen producers Mikhail estimates that within 3-5 years, some selected airports will have it available at a reasonably low price; in 5-10 years, almost any airport will have it; and after 10 years it will hopefully become one of the primary fuels for aviation. After having built their first prototype in just 4 months, Destinus estimates that within 3 years a hyperplane MVP will be available for testing, but not yet for commercial use — for that they require certification. In the meantime their MVP will allow them to start generating some revenue and prove customer interest. Memorable Quotes: "With Hyperplanes, you will be able to fly to Tokyo to have dinner with your friends, fly back afterwards and sleep in your own bed." "In ten years’ time hydrogen will hopefully become one of the main fuels for aviation." Resources Mentioned: Y Combinator If you would like to listen to more episodes about aviation, check out our conversations with André Borschberg and Patrick Thevoz . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook a
S1 E249 · Wed, June 22, 2022
Timestamps: 1:07 - From Canada to Denmark 7:32 - Convincing your parents about entrepreneurship 16:20 - The 3 ways to do payroll in Switzerland 21:57 - Convincing Swiss SMEs 30:32 - Preparing to acquire a company About Bassil Eid: Bassil Eid is a co-founder of Earny , a startup providing simple automated payroll in 10 mins or less for startups & SMEs. Bassil’s family moved from Lebanon to Canada when he was young, and it was in Canada that he studied Business Administration and Economics and began working as a project manager in the freight industry. He then moved to Denmark after his masters to work at eMagCreator , a startup selling online magazines — this was his first entrepreneurial experience. When it came time for him and his wife to settle down, and his wife got a job at UBS, they chose to settle in Switzerland. In Switzerland, Bassil noticed that despite there being some momentum in the cap table space, for instance, no one was tackling payroll yet. By talking to accountants he discovered that Swiss SME payroll got done in one of 3 ways: People do it themselves using one of the available softwares. This requires some previous payroll experience, and even then, you’re bound to make your fair share of errors. People hire an accountant at a rate of 30-60 francs per employee per month, on average. This still means you have to gather all the documentation yourself to email to the accountant. People hire internally, if they can afford it, which they often can’t. And often the person they hire ends up having to speak to an accountant anyway. With Earny, anyone can run payroll with no experience needed, since most of the process is automated. It is also still possible to work with an accountant. In fact, earny has 3 interfaces: one for companies, one for employees, and one for accountants. Charging 10 francs per employee per month, Earny comes at about a third of the price of regular accountants. Memorable Quotes: "A lot of successful entrepreneurs are immigrants. They have a strong drive to surpass the status quo." "In the startup world you don’t wanna assume anything too fast. But you also want to be agile enough to fill the demand once it comes in." Resources Mentioned: All In podcast Gary V NFT content Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , <a href="https://www.facebook.com/swisspreneur" target="
S1 E249 · Wed, June 15, 2022
Timestamps: 3:35 - Not having a clear goal for your PhD 7:54 - Starting your own company 22:04 - From old acquaintance to co-founder 27:32 - Selling to retail and logistics 43:53 - Life after unicorn status About Christof Roduner: Christof Roduner is the co-founder and CIO at Scandit , the leading technology platform for mobile computer vision and augmented reality (AR) solutions for enterprises. He holds a MSc in Business Administration and Computer Science from the University of Zurich. It was during his time as a researcher at ETH that he met one of his future co-founders, Christian; together with Samuel, whom Christof knew from UZH, they created Scandit in 2009. Their goal with Scandit was to create a bridge between real world objects and the digital information available about them. Barcodes were then the natural entry points, especially at a time when phone cameras were just starting to become ubiquitous. It was when they began getting some coverage from the press that they realized the true commercial potential of their product. Their scanning app was rather shaky at first though: it only worked on a certain type of phone, the barcode had to be in perfect condition, there had to be perfect lighting, and it was tricky to deploy the app itself regardless of how perfect the rest of the setup was. Another challenge that they faced at an early stage was finding real world applications and knowing which one to focus on, from price comparison, to ethical shopping, to vegan/vegetarian shopping, etc. Nowadays their main two verticals are retail and logistics. Scandit helps its customers at several points, from self checkout, to inventory counts, etc. They currently have over 1M users worldwide and have offices in 6 countries. Scandit has also recently achieved Unicorn status. Memorable Quotes: "As an entrepreneur you need to accept that you can’t control everything, and sometimes that means that you can’t deliver perfect results." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E248 · Sun, June 12, 2022
Timestamps: 3:33 - Range anxiety with electric vehicles 10:40 - Incubating in both Switzerland and France 14:41 - Why award recognition is key 20:42 - Identifying the right launch customers 23:26 - Organizing a demo day About Alexandre Laybros: Alexandre Laybros is the co-founder and deputy CEO and CMO at WattAnyWhere , a startup offering off-grid renewable electricity for BEV fast-charging. He holds a masters in Electrical Engineering from ENSEA and previously worked for companies like Thales and Honeywell. EV owners now require ultra-fast chargers of renewable energy, anywhere, but the deployment is currently slow and costly, mainly due to lengthy studies (up to 2 years), and high cost to connect to the grid. Together with EPFL, Helbio and Elcogen, WattAnyWhere provides a long-term solution with Solid Oxide Fuel Cell-based mobile generators that consume ethanol, are ultra-silent, and deployable anywhere within 1 month. WattAnyWhere recently successfully closed a pre-seed round and are currently enjoying market traction provided by trusted partners, such as charge point operators and utility companies in Switzerland and France. Memorable Quotes: "There is no single solution to the electrification of all our equipment and industries." If you would like to listen to the previous Energy Startup Day episode, check out our conversation with Deborah Learoyd . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E247 · Wed, June 08, 2022
Timestamps: 1:39 - The freedom of entrepreneurship 11:25 - Getting access to deals in the 00s 17:15 - Borrowing money to invest in startups 34:12 - Team and timing 43:43 - The Swiss tendency to miss out About Philippe Bubb & Martin Altorfer: Philippe Bubb and Martin Altorfer are the co-founders of session.vc , a fund investing in early stage companies in the software and consumer space. Philippe has an MBA in Business Administration and Finance from HSG and previously worked as a financial analyst. He also co-founded several companies, namely the wealth management boutique IFS , BCAP AG and Focus Capital. Martin is a serial entrepreneur, with companies like Celeris AG , replica GmbH , BCAP AG and Active-Net under his belt. Philippe and Martin have been angel investors for over two decades. Back in the 00s, there was hardly a structured approach to finding and securing deals: you just had to keep your eyes open, speak with lots of people, and take opportunities as they came. In the case of the ON founders, whom they invested in, there existed already a previous friendship. As for the money they invested, Martin made use of the money he made when selling his first company Active-Net at 29, whereas Philippe took out a loan from his parents (this is a setup he definitely does not recommend). Philippe and Martin pride themselves on being active investors, but they also make a point of showing that an active investor does not equal a founder. In the past, they made the mistake of accruing too much responsibility on the operational side, which shielded the actual founders from the true hardship of entrepreneurship. Nowadays Martin and Philippe make an effort to preserve some distance. In 2019 they founded Session VC. Their fund focuses on the software and consumer space because these are the industries that Martin and Philippe understand best, and it focuses on early stage companies because this is the phase they find most fascinating and in which they believe they can contribute the most. Together they’ve also created Session Lab, where they discuss interesting topics and later either find a founder who will pick that project up or a founder who is already doing something similar, whom they can invest in. When investing, Martin and Philippe look for a good team and the right timing. They don’t think the idea is crucial — just look at ON, a running shoe company. They consider it a red flag if the founders have day jobs or if their cap tables look a mess (50 angels, 7 convertibles, etc…). Resources Mentioned:<
S1 E246 · Sun, June 05, 2022
Timestamps: 4:17 - The prettiest solar panels you’ll ever see 7:09 - A team of two engineers 11:27 - Not competing with solar panels 13:04 - Tiles with greater ROI 15:53 - Scaling up to a sustainable size About Deborah Learoyd: Deborah Learoyd is the co-founder and managing director of Freesuns , a company designing beautifully integrated solar roof tiles for residential, commercial and heritage buildings. She worked at the technology company Honeywell for 20 years before going all-in on her startup in 2022. Originally from Sidney, Australia, she and her husband have resided in Switzerland for several years. Freesuns came to be when Deborah and her husband decided to purchase a house in Switzerland which needed a new roof. Since they were environmentally committed and even already owned an electric car, they decided they’d like to generate their own electrical power, but solar panels were not a viable option for them, because they did not match the look nor the shape of the house. The couple put their engineering background to good use and designed a solar tile which combined functionality with flexibility and aesthetic appeal. They soon contacted a manufacturer and had prototypes made. After due testing they applied the solar tiles to their house and nowadays produce more than enough power for the entire habitation and their electrical car as well. Freesuns does not seek to compete with solar panels. They address the market of people who would like to make an environmental contribution but cannot/will not use solar panels, either because they don’t like the look, their commune doesn’t allow it, or their roof is unusually shaped. When getting started, Freesuns sold directly to end users, but nowadays they work closely with partners (roofers and other solar installers) so as to scale up their business. Memorable Quotes: "Switzerland is a great market to test out buyer interest. It’s quite diverse. If we succeed in Switzerland, we’ll have already understood many of the challenges we’d face globally." If would like to listen to last year's Energy Startup Day bonus series, check out our conversations with Liliane Ableitner , Laurent Coulot and Sreenath Bolisetty . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/comp
S1 E245 · Wed, June 01, 2022
Timestamps: 1:37 - Studying STEM 11:29 - Patent and a seed round 24:06 - Educating the market and closing the deal 27:53 - Landing a partnership with SONY 31:18 - Filing patents is depressing About Séverine Gisin: Séverine Gisin is the co-founder and CCO at IDUN Technologies , a neurotech startup with a vision of creating a more connected and empathetic world using brain-sensing headphones. She has a background in Health Science and Technologies from ETH. Together with her co-founder Simon Bachmann, Séverine began the IDUN project at ETH by pitching to startup-friendly professors. Together they developed sensors which turn brain signals into actionable insights and can be worn discreetly: they come in the form of headphones. There are two main use cases: sleep health and hearing health. Sleep-wise, their product helps track the sleeping patterns of narcoleptics, which helps physicians make decisions about dosages. Hearing-wise, IDUN Technologies has partnered up with an app that provides hearing fitness: they train your ear to spot different frequencies, some of which you may have forgotten how to detect. They recently enrolled in a SONY accelerator program in Sweden and were selected for investment. Memorable Quotes: "Engineering is the safest way to be creative." "In other countries, entrepreneurship is a means of survival. In Switzerland, entrepreneurship is a privilege." Resources Mentioned: Institut für geistiges Eigentum The hard thing about hard things , Ben Horowitz Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E244 · Wed, May 25, 2022
Timestamps: 1:31 - The value of an MBA 9:30 - How to validate a business idea 15:27 - Working with your romantic partner 28:33 - How to acquire customers 38:21 - Picking stores to work with About Andreas Lenzhofer: Andreas Lenzhofer is a co-founder & chairman at Dagsmejan , a company that develops innovative clothing for better sleep. After a UK MBA and an impressive corporate career, Andreas and his romantic partner decided to become entrepreneurs, and identified self-care as one of the lasting mega trends of the future. Within the self-care space, they decided to zero in on sleep, and joined Andreas’ operational/supply chain experience with his partner’s marketing background and the University of Stockholm’s research on sleep. The basic premise of Dagsmejan is this: your circadian rhythms depend on your melatonin levels and your body temperature — if something is amiss with either of these, your sleep quality will be poor. If the problem is temperature, then naturally it is important to regulate room temperature, but what you wear to bed is also crucial. Andreas and his partner choose to produce the Dagsmejan pajamas out of botanic fibers made in Europe, since cotton requires very high water consumption and recycled fibers still ultimately come from oil. They’re also testing out a more sustainable packaging material this year. Andreas recommends 3 strategic thrusts for going to market: - P.R.: get coverage on your product. If no one ever knows about it, how could they buy it? Here it might be a good idea to engage some agencies. - Partnerships: trusted stores on the ground in every market which offer customers the opportunity to touch the product physically. - Digital marketing: there’s no reach like digital reach. Invest in scaling up your company through killer digital marketing campaigns. Memorable Quotes: "One of the benefits of starting your own company when you’re older is that you’ve already handled quite a few complex challenges by then." "As long as we continue to believe that we’re the best people for the job, we’re not gonna sell the company." Resources Mentioned: Why we sleep , Matthew Walker Oura ring If you would like to listen to more conversations about Swiss clothing brands, check out our first episode with <a href="https://www.swisspreneur.org/podcast/ep-99-swiss-sustainable-fashion
S1 E243 · Sun, May 22, 2022
Timestamps: 3:05 - Running a coffee shop from a dorm room 9:50 - Why biology is the most advanced tech on Earth 13:32 - How to program proteins 15:05 - Vegan, sustainable collagen 23:30 - Surviving climate change About Mitchell Duffy: Mitchell Duffy is the CEO and co-founder at Cambrium , a next-generation materials company utilizing the molecular programmability of proteins to re-imagine the products you use everyday. Originally hailing from the US, he majored in Biology and Computer Science at Tufts University, did his masters in Synthetic Biology in London and his PhD in Molecular Imaging in Germany. Shortly after finishing his PhD he became an Entrepreneur in Residence at Merantix, the ML incubator created by Adam Locher. It was here that he developed his idea for Cambrium, which he founded in 2020. Cambrium’s crede is that biology is the most advanced tech on Earth: from robots, to swarm intelligence, to carbon removal, nature has already perfected what we are still struggling to achieve. The problem that Cambrium tackles is that materials make up 23% of greenhouse gas emissions, the vast majority of them having been gouged from the Earth, pumped from the ground or sliced from the bodies of animals. Man-made materials have, in fact, already surpassed all the biomass on Earth. Cambrium wishes to go from an extractive to a generative way of producing materials, and they plan to do so through the programming of proteins. How do you program proteins? Well, proteins are made of 20 amino acids — you put these amino acids in different orders and you get completely different properties, different materials. Ever since the protein folding problem was solved in 2020, people have been able to program and test protein designs in their labs. Cambrium has done this with collagen, and created a completely vegan and sustainable version of it for cosmetic products. Memorable Quotes: "Materials represent 23% of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2020, the weight of man-made materials came to outweigh every biomass on Earth." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E242 · Wed, May 18, 2022
Timestamps: 1:40 - Consulting prepared Loïc for entrepreneurship 7:45 - Building an agency 12:58 - Solving someone else’s problem 24:24 - Focus vs offering a multifaceted product 33:39 - Being bootstrapped for several years About Loïc Schülé: Loïc Schülé is the co-founder and CEO at denteo , a software provider for dentist offices. He studied computer science at EPFL and worked in consulting before pivoting his career and landing at Impact Hub in 2015. He co-founded denteo in 2017 with 3 other co-founders. Loïc picked dentistry because it was an underserved niche market to which he had no prior connection, which would make failure feel less upsetting. Denteo’s cloud technology offers easy online booking for patients, a well laid-out calendar, seamless medical history, a quick way to record positions, tidy billing management and reliable recalls. The delay in digitization within the dentistry space creates a generational divide between older dentists, who think their current systems work totally fine, and younger dentists, who are frustrated and yearning for something better. Part of denteo’s challenge is therefore to educate the market and breach this generational gap. Memorable Quotes: "Being naïve is dangerous but it’s also super exciting." Resources Mentioned: The Hard Thing About Hard Things , Ben Horrowitz If you would like to listen to more conversations about dentistry, check out our episode with Tobias & Anne Richter . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E241 · Sun, May 15, 2022
Timestamps: 3:21 - Balancing entrepreneurship and politics 9:23 - How politics can help startups 16:58 - Measuring economic impact 22:28 - Making Switzerland more startup 26:59 - Mainstreaming impact accounting About Gerhard Andrey: Gerhard Andrey is a Grüne Schweiz member and national councillor on the Swiss Parliament. He also co-founded the Swiss digital agency Liip , is a board member at Alternative Bank Schweiz , and has a background in engineering. Gerhard felt drawn to politics because he strongly believes political decisions should be made democratically by individuals, and not by corporations. However, being an entrepreneur himself, he thinks politics and entrepreneurship can act in a mutually beneficial way, and he’s especially passionate about SME’s potential to drive real positive societal impact. He’s a fan of the Verantwortungseigentum movement and thinks companies should be “owned by” their purpose and not their capital — he would like to see the development of a new legal structure in Switzerland to represent this kind of company. At Liip he’s had to say no to a long list of opportunities because of his commitment to not harm planet Earth. Recently, Liip has also begun to strive to live up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Gerhard is also adamant about maintaining a healthy work-life balance, both for his own sake and for the sake of his children. He’s currently working on creating a Swiss green bank which would finance cleantech projects. Memorable Quotes: "I don’t believe in a Unicorn economy." "SMEs are the most important companies for generating positive contributions to society." "To make Switzerland more startup we shouldn’t try to replicate Silicon Valley’s unicorn economy. We need to grow sustainably and look beyond pure financials. We have the brains, we have the universities. So let’s do it." If you would like to listen to the first four episodes in our Startup Days co-production, check out our conversations with Laura Matter , Olivier Laplace , Lars Mangelsdorf and Roland Siegwart . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram ,
S1 E240 · Wed, May 11, 2022
Timestamps: 1:41 - Switching from engineering to law 8:52 - Visiting the US blockchain scene 13:01 - Leaving DFINITY 22:03 - Explaining Liquity to a 5yo child 44:17 - Whether VCs own the blockchain About Robert Lauko: Robert Lauko is the co-founder and CEO at Liquity , a decentralized protocol that enables interest-free borrowing on the blockchain. He studied Microengineering at EPFL but then switched to Law at UZH. Robert worked for several years as a lawyer before pivoting to blockchain research. He worked as a researcher at DFNITY for 2 years before creating his own venture. To understand what Liquity allows you to do, let’s compare two lending scenarios: 1. You take out a loan from a bank to buy something like a house or a car. Whatever you have bought will then serve as collateral for the bank, meaning that if you default on your loan (= fail to pay it back), the thing you bought gets taken away and is sold by the bank, so that the bank can cover its costs. 2. You buy Ether and place it in the Liquity platform (or simply use the Ether you already owned), and then you take out a loan against it, meaning the Ether is your loan’s collateral. The loan you take out is in LUSD, a fully backed stablecoin pegged to the US Dollar that's maintained by an algorithmic monetary policy. The value of the Ether has to be 110% of the loan, otherwise you can get liquidated. You pay no interest and there is no repayment schedule. Memorable Quotes: "It’s yet to be seen how sustainable the NFT craze is, but I don’t think it makes DeFi redundant. There are good ways for combining the two, and either way there’s enough space for the both of them." Resources Mentioned: Binance Academy If you would like to listen to more episodes about the blockchain, check out our most recent conversation with Julian Liniger . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E239 · Sun, May 08, 2022
Timestamps: 3:43 - What makes ETH special 8:13 - Commercializing research at ETH 13:03 - Switzerland sells itself short 15:31 - Making Switzerland more startup 19:17 - Where our ecosystem is going About Roland Siegwart Roland Siegwart is a professor of Autonomous Systems at ETH Zurich and board member for Sevensense Robotics, NZZ, Komax and Evatec. He has been a visiting scientist at both EPFL and Stanford, and holds a PhD in Mechatronics from ETH Zurich. Roland’s original ambition was to become an entrepreneur; however, he does not regret having become a professor instead, since teaching at ETH Zurich has allowed him to help and watch grow a vast number of startups. Roland attributes ETH Zurich’s prominent role in the Swiss startup scene to the very clever students that it successfully attracts, and he suggests that if we want to further motivate students to become entrepreneurs, we should first and foremost offer them role models. He also would like to see ETH Zurich collaborate more with business-focused schools like HSG, so that the expertise of tech and business leads can be brought together. Roland is not of the opinion that every Swiss startup needs to scale massively. However, if scaling massively is the goal, then two things are needed: Founders must change their Swiss mentality and relinquish the desire of staying in control. Switzerland shouldn’t necessarily mimic Silicon Valley, but it needs to be faster to get bigger, and there is a lot of outstanding tech for us to do this. More financial support is naturally required. Memorable Quotes: "If you want to build a perfect product, you’ll never be on the market." "In order to motivate students to become entrepreneurs, we need to give them role models. And we have to create a stronger link between established companies and startups." If you would like to listen to the first three episodes in our Startup Days co-production, check out our conversations with Laura Matter , Olivier Laplace and Lars Mangelsdorf . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. T
S1 E238 · Wed, May 04, 2022
Timestamps: 6:00 - What makes a co-founder “the one” 9:47 - Solving your own problem 15:51 - Pricing strategy 27:29 - Technical challenges 34:41 - Getting acquired by Norstat group About Oliver Ganz: Oliver Ganz is the co-founder and CTO at Testing Time , a UX test and market research recruiter founded in 2015. Oliver has a Masters in Computer Science and previously worked at Amazee Labs and Doodle, at the latter of which he met Reto Lämmler. Testing Time was acquired by the Norstat Group in 2021. Reto and Oliver’s goal was to create the “uber” of UX testing. Market research is a rather old business which has, in many ways, missed the digitization wave: many companies still keep an excel sheet of test users whom they have to manually call and screen — Reto found this to be a huge pain at Doodle. Testing Time, on the other hand, allows UX departments to get a direct contact with their target audience and test their products and services in an early stage, saving them not only time but also money. Testing Time’s target customers are UX teams and project managers across several industries, from banks to B2Cs. They have several ways of finding test users: - Organically: test users google how to create an additional income stream and find Testing time. - Through campaigns: LinkedIn ads, Facebook ads, and sometimes even paper flyers. - Through referrals: good test users can refer their friends and have them join the platform. Testing Time pays users in real cash (through Paypal or eBank transactions) and the pricing for companies is based on the target group (how difficult the profiles are to find). For more info on their pricing, check out our episode with Reto Lämmler . In order to prevent future technical challenges, Oliver recommends: - To pick well-known programming languages and frameworks. The tech you pick should outlive your startup, otherwise you risk having to migrate stuff and incur huge costs. - Not to fall into the trap of trying to do everything yourself. Don’t build your own CRM software or your own call center — use cloud services for all they’re worth. They may be pricey at times, but it’ll pay off in the end. Memorable Quotes: "Building a startup means proving your idea at every level. First you solve your own problem, then you find the first paying customers, and then you start scaling." Resources Mentioned: Robot vacuum cleaner
S1 E237 · Sun, May 01, 2022
Timestamps: 1:01 - Starting Yokoy 5:08 - Scaling from 40 to 200 employees 12:14 - Monthly company updates 16:42 - Asking for help 19:42 - Making Switzerland more startup About Lars Mangelsdorf: Lars Mangelsdorf is co-founder and CCO at Yokoy , the all-in-one spending management solution automating the expenses, invoice & credit card processes of medium and large firms. He previously worked as a Senior Account Executive at Beekeeper. After successfully raising over $100M in less than a year, Yokoy is now focusing on expanding its team, and has grown from 40 to 200 employees in the past few months. Lars is no longer down in the sales trenches nowadays but more so focusing on Yokoy’s international expansion and scaling up the team. In order to scale up their team, Yokoy works with both an internal recruiting team and external recruiters (for foreign markets).They’ve also begun having monthly company-wide updates, where things like strategy and funding updates are discussed. A new communication strategy has been put in place to make sure processes go through the right people and not everyone is stuck in meetings all day long. Memorable Quotes: "Sometimes when a company grows very fast, you try to include everyone in every meeting, and end up with your whole team in meetings all day long. That’s not good." If you would like to listen to the first two episodes in our Startup Days co-production, check out our conversations with Laura Matter and Olivier Laplace . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E236 · Wed, April 27, 2022
Timestamps: 1:41 - The internet in the 90s 9:53 - Companies should digitize their shares 19:44 - Why you should use the blockchain 23:24 - Educating the market on the blockchain 35:25 - Deploying 1 feature per week About Peter Schnürer: Peter Schnürer is the CEO at daura , a digital equity platform which helps companies keep a digital share registry. Peter has a background in Business Administration and has worked for several banks and IT companies. 60% of Swiss companies aren’t sure their share register is correct — with daura, not only can you avoid this issue, but you can in fact manage the whole company lifecycle, from founding, to fundraising (which necessitates printing shares to sell them to people), to shareholder assemblies (which are significantly facilitated by having shares printed as tokens) to an exit scenario (where shares will of course be sold). Listeners should note, however, that daura is not like a stock exchange: a stock exchange is a secondary market, where shares that have already been printed may be traded; daura, on the other hand, focuses on printing the shares and distributing them to shareholders, who may then decide to sell these in a secondary market or transfer them to another person. daura’s business model consists of charging issuing companies a yearly fee for their share register, an additional fee for running a capital increase, and an additional fee for doing a general assembly. Memorable Quotes: "The blockchain empowers people to be responsible for their own assets and not rely on 3rd parties." Resources Mentioned: Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind , by Yuval Noah Harari Principles For Dealing With A Changing World Order , by Ray Dalio From The Earth To The Moon , Jules Verne Astronomical Telescope If you would like to listen to more bloc
S1 E235 · Sun, April 24, 2022
Timestamps: 1:22 - Wanting to be a VC 5:08 - Investing in B2B SaaS 8:32 - Getting more Swiss VC money 15:42 - Making Switzerland more startup-friendly 20:28 - Where the Swiss ecosystem is going About Olivier Laplace: Olivier Laplace has been a partner at the VC fund VI Partners since early 2022. He previously worked as head of corporate VC at Swiss Post and founded a company called Balumpa, which provided users a geo-localized social network. Throughout the years, his investor portfolio has included companies like TestingTime, Beekeeper and guuruu. At VI partners Olivier mostly invests in B2B SaaS. His typical day as a VC includes: - 2-3 phone calls with new potential companies - 2-3 calls with potential co-investors - A few random calls, like helping portfolio companies with day-to-day issues A common complaint within the Swiss ecosystem is that there isn’t enough gross capital. Olivier thinks this should be solved in two ways: - Swiss pension funds need to start investing in VC. There’s 1 trillion CHF in the Swiss pension fund system. Nowadays 1% of that (10B) goes into private equity, but very international private equity, and mostly into the buyouts. - Building innovation in-house might not be the best way to do it anymore, so Swiss corporations need to buy out more startups. Despite popular perception, IPOs are very rare ends to the startup journey — it’s mostly tradesales. Memorable Quotes: "In 15 years of work experience, I changed careers about 5 times — these changes were always based on opportunities." Resources Mentioned: Deep Tech Nation , Dominique Mégret The Power Law , Sebastian Mallaby If you would like to listen to the first episode in our Startup Days co-production, check out our conversation with Laura Matter . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://www.link
S1 E234 · Wed, April 20, 2022
Timestamps: 1:38 - Journalism during the dot com crisis 20:40 - Fostering female financial independence 24:13 - Sexist backlash 37:28 - Building media leverage 42:30 - Raising a family on a startup salary About Patrizia Laeri: Patrizia Laeri is a business journalist and the co-founder and CEO of elleXX , an independent money media platform for women. She studied business administration and then went on to start her journalism career in 2003 at SRF. During her time in Swiss television she reported on a number of subjects, like the World Economic Forum, Nobel Prize winners, and countries like Iran and North Korea. In 2020 she joined CNN Switzerland as editor in chief, only to see it declare bankruptcy soon after. In that same year, she decided to launch her own company, elleXX. Being well aware of the dire financial situation of Swiss women (56% of which are not able to support themselves independently), Patrizia was tired of simply raising alarm on the issue and wanted instead to become a part of the solution. Besides the financial independence issue, it is also a fact that Swiss women invest much less money than men, are very rarely targeted by wealth management companies (with 86% of them addressing men), and receive less than 1% of Swiss venture capital. During the pandemic, Swiss women also quit their jobs in larger numbers than men. elleXX has a few ideas on how to foster female financial independence: Offering financial literacy courses: to fix a problem, you first must understand it. elleXX regularly offers “money hacks” courses. Raising awareness about the importance of the 3a pillar: lots of Swiss women don’t have 3a insurance. Together with Vontobel, elleXX offers you a 3a pension solution to help you make sensible provisions. Offering legal protection against gender-based work discrimination: if you’re a Swiss woman in the workplace, chances are you’ll need a lawyer at some point throughout your career. Together with CAP, elleXX offers you legal advice and representation in court. Memorable Quotes: "25 years ago I didn’t know any founders personally, let alone female founders." "35 years ago Swiss women couldn’t open a bank account without the signature of their husbands." Resources Mentioned: The Double X Economy , by Linda Scott <a href="https://www.amazon.de/Influence-New-Expanded-Psychology-Persuasion/dp/0063138794/ref
S1 E233 · Sun, April 17, 2022
Timestamps: 0:57 - Why start a dating platform in Switzerland 5:45 - Rising up to the fundraising challenge 12:23 - Getting money from FFFs 15:12 - Transparency in the Swiss ecosystem 19:32 - Upcoming startup trends About Laura Matter and noii: Laura Matter is the co-founder and CEO of noii , a video chat-based dating app. noii combines sophisticated algorithms with psychological know-how to find suitable partners and then allows you to join them on a video chat speed dating round. You are then free to follow-up with the people you click with. Laura has a background in marketing and created noii out of a personal dissatisfaction with the available dating apps. From her recent experience fundraising for noii, Laura recommends raising money from people who already know you, because then you don’t have to convince them of your virtues as much — they already know you’re a hard worker with integrity. She also recommends focusing on landing a lead investor, since it exponentially smoothes things along. Despite the difficulties, Laura is of the opinion that compared to building a product, fundraising is nothing. Laura praises the amount of info available on the internet about starting a company in Switzerland, but she wishes there were more transparency between older and younger founders. She can also speak to the Swiss female entrepreneur experience — check out her recent article for the elleXX blog here . Memorable Quotes: "B2C is difficult in Switzerland. There’s not a lot of Swiss investors who invested in B2C success stories." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E232 · Wed, April 13, 2022
Timestamps: 1:24 - The UNIC mafia 3:08 - Right and wrong reasons to sell your company 10:16 - M&A KPI threshold 26:15 - Sending out one-pagers 48:42 - What to share with a potential buyer About Heiner Grüter: Heiner Grüter is the CEO at Meridium Partners , a strategy and M&A consultancy company. He was previously the CEO at UNIC , one of Switzerland’s first digital agencies and one of the Swiss Startup Mafia’s “mother” companies, having given rise to major players like Rentouch , Students.ch , Fashion Days and Qmram . But why was UNIC so special? Timing: UNIC employees were weathering the boom and bust storms of that era, and this gave them a clear picture of what works and what doesn’t. Hiring: UNIC made a point of hiring only very talented people. Founding team: the UNIC founders were very entrepreneurial themselves, and cultivated that sort of environment. Why should you sell your company? - You should sell your company if you believe somebody else would be a better owner for it than its current shareholders. - You should not sell your company simply because you’re tired and want somebody to take your job. This results in a fire sale, usually with very mediocre results. What’s the right time to sell your company? You need to wait long enough for your company to build a track record: KPIs and other metrics which show the strength of your business and support your projection of its future. It’s okay to go into a financing round without a track record, but never an M&A process. Don’t wait so long that you run out of cash half-way through the M&A process. Time pressure to finish the deal is something you want to avoid at all costs, or you’ll risk ending up with a pretty crappy deal. Memorable Quotes: "Selling your company means you believe someone out there is a better owner for it than your current shareholders." "Being successful in Switzerland doesn’t say a lot about your expansion potential." Listen to the full episode for more info on M&A outreach, due diligence and conclusion. And if you’d like to hear more conversations on this topic, check out our episodes with experts Thomas Hofer & Vito Gigante and Jürg Tauss , and real life case <a href="https://www.swissp
S1 E231 · Wed, April 06, 2022
Timestamps: 1:50 - Bridging the gap between different ecosystems 11:40 - How the pandemic changed the VC world 24:35 - Building an eye-catching pitch deck 31:06 - Dealing with investors who don’t follow through 40:40 - Hitting inflection points About Sophie Lamparter: As founder and managing partner at DART labs , Sophie is a Silicon Valley VC with Swiss roots. She and her team focus on finding the best European technology startups and turning them into global players. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, she worked in media relations. In a livestream with Swisspreneur host Silvan, she answered some of the most common fundraising questions, like: Is your company VC-backable? First things first: if you can scale your startup by bootstrapping it, don’t take investors in. How scalable is your company? And how scalable would you like it to be? VC money only goes to the most scalable companies. The goal of every VC is to have an investment be an entire fund returner — that’s how they look at startups. Should you choose a VC fund or a business angel? Both can work: it really depends on your case. Look for the person with the most insider knowledge/network in your industry. If that person happens to be a business angel, great. If it’s a VC fund, that’s great too. How many investors should you talk to? As many as you can handle. Your goal as a fundraising startup is to create FOMO (fear of missing out) in investors. If you’re only talking to one, he or she will feel perfectly at ease to drag things out, but if you’re talking to several investors simultaneously, each of them will be afraid that you’ll close a deal with someone else. Doing this in a condensed timeframe will allow you to really build up momentum. What’s an inflection point? An inflection point is anything that validates your business in the eyes of an investor. Examples: Entering a new market, launching the next version of your product, acquiring a big customer, reaching time milestones, sheer growth, etc. Memorable Quotes: "The goal of every VC is to have an investment be an entire fund returner. That’s how they look at startups." "Getting into Y Combinator can mean the difference between being valued at 6 million or 15 million." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can
S1 E230 · Sun, April 03, 2022
Timestamps: 4:54 - Das erste Meme in einer schlaflosen Nacht 12:23 - Erster Umsatz als Personal Brand 19:44 - Umgang mit Bekanntheit 30:11 - Typischer Tagesablauf von Zeki 40:07 - Was motiviert dich am morgen aufzustehen? Bio: Zeki Bulgurcu ist der Gründer von Swissmeme und Zekisworld . Aufgewachsen in Basel, startet Zeki seine berufliche Laufbahn mit einer Berufslehre als Detailhandelsfachmann. Seine ersten Memes veröffentlicht er 2013 - schnell entwickelt sich sein Instagram Kanal "Swissmeme" zu einer festen Grösse in der Schweizer Social Media Szene. Neben Instagram ist der Meme-König persönlich, aber auch mit weiteren Comedy Profilen auf Facebook , Youtube und TikTok unterwegs. Nicht selten zählen diese Accounts mehrere 100'000 Follower und so ist der Baselbieter einer, wenn nicht der erfolgreichste "Social Media Typ" der Schweiz. Dank des starken Personal Brands, welchen er sich in den letzten Jahren aufgebaut hat, ist er immer wieder als Werbegesicht in Online aber auch Offline Medien zu sehen. Neben über zehn erfolgreichen Social Media Accounts hat Zeki Bulgurcu eine eigene Sucuk Wurst , welche in vielen Migros Filialen zu finden ist. Zudem plant er aktuell einen eignen Kino-Film. Memorable Quotes: "Hör auf dein Bauchgefühl. Wenn du eine Leidenschaft hast, welcher du in deiner Freizeit gerne nachgehst - bleib dran! Vielleicht explodiert es und du kannst ein Business daraus aufbauen." "Als ich kündete und auf Social Media setzte, sagten alle 'Du spinnst doch'. Doch das machen einige heute immer noch." Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.
S1 E229 · Wed, March 30, 2022
Timestamps: 2:55 - Choosing between research and entrepreneurship 7:08 - Meeting a co-founder and future husband 13:09 - Global supply chain 14:34 - The challenge of certification 20:06 - Running a startup with your husband About Olga Dubey: Olga Dubey is the co-founder and CEO of AgroSustain, a one-stop-shop solution for biological plant protection that she created following her PhD in Plant Pathology, during which she met her husband and future AgroSustain co-founder. AgroSustain produces natural, biological crop protection solutions. These solutions serve to reduce food waste by preventing the formation of molds both in the field and on the shelf. The product, which is invisible and does not smell, creates a very thin barrier around the food which leads it to reduce its respiration — according to Olga, this is the plant equivalent of “falling asleep”. Memorable Quotes: "A researcher isn’t just someone who sits in a lab all day. It’s someone who’s constantly developing their analytical abilities." "When you run a startup, you learn something new every day. You never get bored." If you would like to listen to more foodtech episodes, check out our conversation with Mark Essam . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E228 · Wed, March 23, 2022
Timestamps: 1:42 - Studying what you truly love 6:13 - From solo founder to co-founder 15:13 - Skin Match use cases 20:14 - The product database 25:54 - Business model sustainability About Estella Benz: Estella Benz is the co-founder and CEO at Skin Match , a retail technology which uses AI to take the beauty industry to the next level. In her university studies she combined marketing with the beauty industry, after failing to get into her desired fashion design school. Her interest in the beauty industry stems from the fact that it just takes a miniscule difference in a brand’s angle for this brand to find a completely new market, even if the industry as a whole seems saturated. The predecessor to Skin Match was RUE CINQ, a luxury eCommerce store which targeted customers’ specific needs through its powerful algorithm. However, soon enough Estella started being asked by other brands for the use of this algorithm, and this was what in the end truly became a business, under the name Skin Match. Skin Match offers beauty quizzes for brands’ websites, an “INCI-Explainer” for every single ingredient on the website (which is of course based on their growing product and ingredient database), and “beauty insight” — the google analytics of beauty products. Whatever new feature or tool they push out first gets tested by 100 customers with their likes. Estella recommends that you never assume you’ve reached product-market fit definitively, and that you be willing to ask the questions you don’t want the answers to. She says oftentimes founders know what’s wrong with their products, but aren’t willing to go through all the work required to fix them. Memorable Quotes: "We could earn a lot of money in corporate. But we still believe that entrepreneurship is the right path, and that keeps us going." "Be open to ask the questions you don’t want the answers to." Resources Mentioned: The eMyth Enterprise, Michael E. Gerber Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E227 · Wed, March 16, 2022
Timestamps: 1:33 - Studying abroad 11:28 - Why the Swiss Tech Fund doesn’t give out loans themselves 17:55 - The cost structure 28:18 - What the fund offers besides loan guarantees 36:53 - What happens after defaulting on your loan About Simone Riedel: Simone Riedel Riley is the general manager at the Swiss Technology Fund , which grants loan guarantees to Swiss cleantech startups. She got her MBA from UZH and also studied at Harvard and Indiana University. She then came back to Switzerland to work as a CFO for a number of companies, before joining Emerald Technology Ventures in 2010. In 2014 Emerald Technology Ventures won a mandate by the Swiss government: as part of the passing of a CO2 law, the government wished to set up a fund which would help cleantech startups receive loans from banks, and ETV won the mandate together with South Pole. So the Swiss Technology Fund was born. The companies the Swiss Technology Fund works with are 90% startups and 10% SMEs. Most of these startups would simply not get a bank loan without the fund’s help, and while the SMEs could eventually secure themselves a loan, they would certainly have to pay higher interest rates without the Swiss Technology Fund’s stamp of approval. Why does the Swiss Technology Fund facilitate loans instead of equity rounds? Because the Swiss government did not wish to get too involved: with loan guarantees, the government only has to pay in the case of a default. In the case of a default, the government formally becomes that company’s new lender, and the bankruptcy administrators take a couple of years to fully dissolve the company, selling all the assets. The Swiss Technology Fund receives nothing, but that is a risk they are willing to take: out of 135 companies, only 7 have thus far defaulted on their loans. The fund can also help companies by providing contacts from their wide cleantech network, in case of a funding round. To receive the guarantee, companies pay the fund an annual fee of 0.9% of the loan guarantee. Then of course they also pay an interest rate for the loan, which usually lands somewhere between 1 and 2% — quite cheap, compared to equity. Companies are also required to submit quarterly and annual reporting to the fund, as they would to any investor. Memorable Quotes: "If we only support high-flyers, then we’re not doing our job as a startup fund. We should support the startups that actually need us." "The climate crisis won’t be solved by technological innovation alone." Resources Mentioned: signNow </
S1 E226 · Wed, March 09, 2022
Timestamps: 4:33 - Meeting your co-founders at a corporate job 14:31 - Taking advantage of inbound leads 16:31 - The Covid effect 22:54 - Standing out in the job market 30:51 - Preparing early for a round About Ivan Cossu: Ivan Cossu is the co-founder and CEO at Deskbird , a people-centric solution for a hybrid workspace. He has a background in economics and worked for a number of banks and consulting companies before venturing out onto entrepreneurship. Deskbird came about during the start of the pandemic: Ivan and his co-founder Jonas Hess quickly came to the conclusion that Covid would cause a huge disruption in the workplace, and initially planned to tackle this with a B2B co-working marketplace. However, upon gathering customer feedback, they decided to pivot it to its current model, where each office is exclusive to each company but employees can book desks as they please for their in-office days. Ivan is a strong believer that a strong culture can be built remotely just as well as in-office, as long as the team actively works to build it. Remote-first teams also benefit from much bigger talent pools, which may grant an advantage culture wise in the long run. Memorable Quotes: "I believe you can have a stronger company culture in a remote setting than in an in-person setting." "As a remote-first company, you have a much wider talent pool." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E225 · Wed, March 02, 2022
Timestamps: 1:33 - From India to Germany and Switzerland 10:57 - Why build a startup 22:00 - Solving sleep disorders 36:36 - Marketing to B2B and B2C simultaneously 40:33 - Vertical and horizontal expansion About Soumya Dash: Soumya Dash is the co-founder and CEO of Sleepiz, a startup which produces remote sleep monitoring devices. Originally from India, he grew up constantly relocating to different regions of this country due to his father’s job, and this allowed him to develop an incredible degree of adaptability. This adaptability was then put to good use when he chose to do his masters at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology as a fully funded scholar. During his masters he visited Switzerland as an Erasmus student. Soumya’s time there made such an impression on him that when the time came to choose were he would do his PhD, he turned down an offer from Stanford to study at ETH. It was during the last years of his PhD that he started Sleepiz, which leverages the power of sleep insights with a device that is simply placed next to the bed. The device operates in a non-contact fashion and measures movements originating from heart contractions and breathing patterns, as well as body motions with medical grade accuracy. This is quite simply the first time we’re able to measure cardiopulmonar activity without actually touching the body. Sleepiz is catered towards respiratory illnesses, namely sleep apnea. Most people who suffer from sleep apnea do not get diagnosed, which is concerning considering that this condition makes it likely that at some point in their lives these people will suffer a fatal stroke. However, even if people do make an effort to be diagnosed, it is a cumbersome process involving a night at a sleep clinic with a bunch of wires strapped onto you. Sleepiz has come to change all of that. Memorable Quotes: "I lived in many different places throughout my whole life. This has made me capable of seamlessly fitting into any environment." "I don’t think I’m the type of person that takes no for an answer, at face value." "We’re risk takers but not stupid ones. We needed to ask ourselves: is the impact worth all the pain?" Resources mentioned: Thinking Fast And Slow , Daniel Kahneman If you would like to listen to more ETH co-productions, check out our episode with Martin Eichenhofer . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , <a href="https://w
S1 E224 · Wed, February 23, 2022
Click here to answer the 2022 Swisspreneur Survey. Timestamps: 1:45 - Co-founding START Global 09:17 - Turning btov into umantis 19:13 - Starting a company during the dot com bubble 23:14 - Switzerland is the most open of the DACH countries 41:02 - When a fuck-up turns out okay About Hermann Arnold: Herman Arnold is the co-founder and ex-CEO of the talent management software company umantis . He was also a co-founder of btov and START global. START global, the (nowadays) international organization promoting entrepreneurship among young people, was co-founded by Hermann during his Zwischenjahr at HSG. The inspiration for it was actually another project of his: during this time Hermann also created a computing school for kids in his home country, Austria; he then felt it was necessary to create role models for these kids, so that they would feel they had more career options than going into banking or consulting. He himself comes from a family of entrepreneurs and feels this area is a much better use of great talent than areas like finance, seeing as they nowadays don’t provide much value to people, according to Hermann. In 2000, after finishing his studies, he co-founded btov — brainstoventures, a matchmaking platform to connect great companies with great venture capital. The founding team, Hermann reflects, underestimated how difficult it would be to make money with their business model — they wanted to take a cut from the equity the way Y Combinator does, but after one year they realized this model wasn’t going to work for them and they had to pivot. Coincidentally, companies had previously approached the btov team saying it would be great to have their matchmaking software to use with their own employees, as they had little clue about the skills their people had. And that’s how btov was pivoted into the HR software Umantis, one of the first Swiss Software as a Service companies. In 2014 Umantis merged with the Haufe group: after realizing that one of their competitors was going public in 2011 with 30M revenue, 45M losses and an evaluation of 1B (which were crazy numbers back then), the Umantis team knew it was their time to start actively pursuing an exit scenario. Memorable Quotes: "When doing business, you should always be very clear with your terms and write them down — especially if you’re doing business with friends." "It’s hard to see your company go in a direction you don’t agree with." If you would like to listen to a conversation with another co-founder of START Global, check out our episode with <a href="https://www.swisspreneur.org/p
S1 E223 · Wed, February 16, 2022
Click here to answer the 2022 Swisspreneur Survey: https://swisspreneur.typeform.com/to/LDhwEC5x Timestamps: 4:45 - Film directors and entrepreneurs 9:03 - Studying and bootstrapping a company 20:45 - Pabio, or renting your furniture 32:10 - Giving up recurring revenue opportunities 51:17 - Y Combinator About Carlo Badini: Carlo Badini is a co-founder and CEO at Pabio , the startup which allows you to decorate your apartment with high-quality furniture through a monthly subscription. He studied Business Administration and Psychology at the Universität Bern. Back in high school, he wanted to be a movie director, and so borrowed money from his parents to buy an expensive DSLR camera. To pay back his loan, he began producing short explainer videos for companies around Bern — and so Cleverclip was born. After graduating, Carlo took a gap year to focus on Cleverclip and travel, and it was by traveling that Carlo realized his privilege as a middle class Swiss person, and decided to put his “luck” to good use. While at university, he bootstrapped Cleverclip as a solo founder, which he nowadays does not recommend. In 2020 he decided to step down from his role as CEO at Cleverclip to start a new venture: Pabio. The idea for Pabio is based on the premise that it’s cheaper to rent high-quality furniture than to periodically replace “fast” (= low-quality) furniture. In case a customer really likes a piece, they can eventually buy it out. Carlo says that this is obviously the best option for the customer, and that Pabio can afford to lose out on that recurring revenue. In 2021 Pabio got accepted into Y Combinator’s Summer Batch. Carlo relates that though very expensive (Y Combinator takes 7% for a post-valuation of 2.1M), it was a really great experience: in 3 months Pabio tripled its sales and learned how to grow fast while still focusing on market fit; afterwards they raised a great seed round from both European and US investors. Memorable Quotes: "Entrepreneurship is one of the most efficient ways to change the world." "Usually the problems you don't anticipate are the ones that actually end up making your life more difficult." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin</stron
S1 E222 · Wed, February 09, 2022
Timestamps: 1:17 - From creative work to the business world 11:37 - The graveyard of brand names 20:21 - Responsible consumption and emotional attractiveness 30:32 - Storytelling and investors 52:17 - Focused internationalization About Lena Jüngst & Simon Nuesch: Lena Jüngst and Simon Nuesch are the co-founders of Air Up , a revolutionary scent-based drinking system. Lena has a background in product design and Simon studied technology, management and business administration. They both come from Germany. During her bachelor's, Lena and fellow student Tim Jäger stumbled upon the topic of retronasal smell (tasting with your nose) when they were looking for a topic for their bachelor's thesis. Their interest led them to connecting this topic with our modern diet, which is currently both a huge threat to our health and to the environment. Our early evolutionary history taught us that food which tastes nice is good for us, but today that is certainly no longer the case. So if you want the sensory benefits of drinking a fizzy drink without the health and environmental costs, what do you do? You trick your brain into thinking water tastes like a fizzy drink, of course. Air Up's first prototype was simply putting one straw inside a cup full of water and another straw inside a scent diffuser and slurping both simultaneously. This was the rudimentary beginning of the "pods'' for sale today, which can be conveniently attached to water bottles. Memorable Quotes: "Sustainability is THE product design question right now." "Entrepreneurship means feeling constantly overwhelmed and constantly fascinated by your work." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E221 · Wed, February 02, 2022
Timestamps: 3:09 - Finding co-founders 11:24 - Giving up the McKinsey partner salary 15:10 - Arrogance and stress 21:06 - Setting your own agenda 23:35 - Why entrepreneurship pays off About Pascal Koenig: Pascal Koenig is the co-founder, former CEO and current board member at AVA women , a startup manufacturing wearable fertility trackers for women. He studied business in St Gallen and New York and worked at McKinsey for a few years before being invited by one of his university professors to join a startup project — Cardiosave. After having started 4 companies, here’s some of the advice Pascal has for young entrepreneurs: Pick your co-founders very carefully. Most people do so randomly or without much thought. Having studied alongside them and being confident in how knowledgeable they are is not a good enough reason; When building your product, don’t strive for perfection right away and know that ideas aren’t worth much. The real magic happens when you buckle down, get it done, and then iterate, iterate, iterate; Switzerland is more or less the same country whether you live on 100’000 or 1’000’000 CHF. So if you’re hesitant whether or not to take the entrepreneurial leap, take it; The best place to start when building a product is with a real problem that you know quite well. Memorable Quotes: "If you’re not embarrassed when you launch your first product, it’s too late to launch it." "Switzerland is more or less the same country, whether you live with 100’000 or with 1’000’000." If you would like to listen to our conversation with AVA women co-founder, Lea Von Bidder, click here . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E220 · Wed, January 26, 2022
Timestamps: 1:07 - Is university overrated? 8:55 - Why be an external CEO? 21:16 - Conflict with the founding team 23:10 - Co-CEOs and holacracy 45:41 - There is always a better you About Boris Manhart: Boris Manhart is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Growth Unltd , a company that helps scale your business. He was previously involved with CodeCheck and Numbrs, and studied for a couple of years at the Universität Zürich. Boris is actually a university dropout: he quit after 2 years of studying to co-found the communication and promotion agency Compresso AG, which he ended up leading for 10 years. When looking back, he thinks a university education may give you a good background, but it's not all that's necessary to turn you into a successful entrepreneur. Despite having co-founded Numbrs and Compresso AG, Boris has also been the external CEO at several companies, namely CodeCheck and TRIQ. This can sometimes be a challenge, because founders typically look at their startup as their baby and have a very hard time establishing emotional distance and creating space for someone else to come in and take things in a new direction. Here are 5 things Boris wished he'd known before starting his first company: - You shouldn't start without a solid foundation: what kind of values do you want to share with your team? What is the purpose of this company? What skills do you need to build a company that is successful? - Choose your core team wisely: it is more important that people add strength to the company through their personality than through any specific skill. - Leadership is not a competition: learn to delegate responsibility and to worry more about the team's collective talent than your own personal abilities. - Stick to best practices: data based approaches always win. Find proof for your hypotheses! - Listen to your gut feeling: though this contradicts the fourth point, there are certain situations in which you simple have no data. In those cases, trust your deepest instincts. Memorable Quotes: "If you do something out of passion, it usually turns out well." "There is always a better you. Be willing to learn." "As a founder, you should never pay too much attention to compliments." If you would like to listen to more conversations with serial entrepreneurs, check out our episodes with Marc P. Bernegger. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our <str
S1 E219 · Wed, January 19, 2022
Timestamps: 5:54 - Being a trend scout in Silicon Valley 11:27 - The Swiss pension system concern 21:33 - What makes or breaks a pilot project 31:41 - The success book and the failure book 40:05 - Next trends coming up About Lorena & Alice: Alice dal Fuoco is the head of innovation at VNTR , an innovation and venturing project by Postfinance . Lorena Tschirky is the lead of one of VNTR's successful ventures, miira. Before joining VNTR, Alice's work at Postfinance consisted of trend scouting the data economy in San Francisco. Alice and her colleagues were interested in discovering which US startups and research projects would end up having an impact on Europe, and especially on Switzerland. Lorena's main project is miira, a solution to optimize your pension with just a few clicks. Lorena's research told her that financial security and the ability to keep up living standards is a rising concern, even in Switzerland, and that due to a lack of transparency on the part of official entities, and the lack of an incentive to start saving, Swiss people do so too little too late. Out of this research, the "DESIRE" (Design Your Retirement) was born, but as it had an over-abundance of features, Lorena and her team simplified it into an MVP which tells user what their income is going to be upon retirement, and whether there is a gap between their ideal standard of living and that income. This MVP would later become miira. Another one of VENTR's initiatives was the "Failure" and "Success" books — the former originated from a huge excel file a co-worker of Alice once had to compile, listing every innovation project VENTR ever did and at what stage it failed. The 500 copies originally printed turned into 2000 once HR got wind of it: they wanted every employee at Postfinance to own one, to foster a more failure-positive culture. This bred a wish for a book celebrating VNTR's successes, and so the Success book was born. Memorable Quotes: "Never fall in love with your first prototype. I've never heard of anyone whose first prototype was their golden ticket." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date wit
S1 E218 · Sun, January 16, 2022
Timestamps: 2:14 - When to go international 9:00 - Franchising 13:02 - Associations that help you go abroad 17:26 - Receiving payments in other countries 20:29 - Trade finance About Markus Meyer: Markus Meyer is responsible at UBS Switzerland for payments, trade finance and leasing business. He has been working for UBS since 1996, and holds a PhD in Information & Technology Management and Banking from HSG. According to Markus, there is no universal right timing for going international, but it is something Swiss companies should start working on as early as possible, considering the size limitation this country necessarily imposes. Before going international, companies should take care to: - Clearly define their USP/differentiating factor; - Find out where their clients are, world-over; - Ascertain what the competition is like in the countries they're looking into, and what the pricing level currently is. Common challenges when going international: - Sometimes you are simply not allowed to sell your product in a certain country, especially countries which already rely heavily on imports and therefore wish to protect their economy; - Even if you are allowed to sell in a certain country, you will have to face different rules, regulations and taxes; - Regarding distribution, companies would do well to remember that mindset changes greatly from country to country. Are you really catering to local needs? Are you falling into the (typically Swiss) trap of over-engineering? Memorable Quotes: "If you're a Swiss entrepreneur with a good idea, you have no choice but to go international." If you would like to listen to our other episodes from this UBS co-production, check out our conversations with Jürg Tauss , Fabian Humbel , Thomas Hofer and Vito Gigante , and Martin Eng and Patrick Forte . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest in
S1 E217 · Wed, January 12, 2022
Timestamps: 1:33 - Spending many years at university 7:15 - Meeting your co-founder at university 9:52 - A very technical founder team 31:40 - Finding promising partners 41:05 - Communicating your vision About Martin Eichenhofer: Martin Eichenhofer is the co-founder and CEO at 9T Labs , a startup making 3D printed carbon composites for high volume production. He has an impressive academic background, with one BA, one MA, one MBA and one PhD under his belt. His university path is actually deeply tied to his entrepreneurial career, since the idea for 9T labs occurred to him during his masters, his MBA was motivated by his desire to build 9T labs, and he got his PhD after realizing he didn't have enough of a scientific foundation for it yet. Martin also met one of his co-founders, Chester, during his PhD. When commercializing an idea which originated in academic research, the 9T labs team relied heavily on market insights and treated the transition as a very gradual process. They also opted to sell to different industries/application fields, instead of hunkering down on a single one. In their book, it's better to partner up with the champion companies of each industry than to pursue every single company in a given industry. Memorable Quotes: "US companies get a lot more funding than us, but the fineprint of those deals often shapes the exit negatively." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E216 · Sun, January 09, 2022
Timestamps: 1:31 - Meeting the ON co-founders for the first time 7:30 - Loans are preferable to equity rounds 26:05 - An investor's sleepless nights 34:18 - Swiss IPOs in the future 39:49 - Get help with industry leaders About Martin Eng & Patrick Forte Martin Eng is a senior client advisor at UBS, and Patrick Forte works there as the head of corporate finance. Martin has been a part of the UBS team for a total of 15 years, Patrick for 18. The ON team won the SEF (Swiss Economic Forum) award for Innovation in Production of Sporting Goods, which earned them the SEF.growth (at the time called SEF for KMU) label. SEF growth companies get easy access to loans from UBS, and this was how Martin and Patrick met the ON founders. They were very impressed from the very beginning with the ON team's commitment and with their expertise: despite being a young company, they had systems and automation in place which allowed them to know their global sales with a 30 min delay — and this in the early 2010s. ON needed the loan money in order to pre pay all their orders, since their choice to invest all revenue into growth meant that it took them a long time to start generating cash. The loan amount was adjusted periodically based on the influx of ON orders. UBS also provided expertise for the decision making process. Memorable Quotes: "If you can get get funds through loans instead of equity rounds, then that's always preferable as a startup, because it means you get to keep your baby." If you would like to listen to our other episodes from this UBS co-production, check out our conversations with Jürg Tauss , Fabian Humbel , and Thomas Hofer and Vito Gigante . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E215 · Wed, January 05, 2022
Timestamps: 1:04 - Dropping out of college 6:53 - Selling a company for $26M at 30 13:00 - Evernote in 2007 38:18 - The out-of-office world 40:40 - Choosing where to live About Phil Libin: Phil Libin is the co-founder and former CEO at Evernote , the world’s best known note-taking app. Prior to Evernote, he built Engine5 and CoreStreet . He holds a BA in Computer Science from Boston University, which he began in 1989 and only finished in 2019. He originally dropped out shortly before graduating. Phil did not originally plan to become an entrepreneur, but despite his ambitions of working a steady job for a large company, he just couldn’t commit to that sort of life and instead prefered to build companies with his friends. It was only 20 years into this career that it occurred to him entrepreneurship was a valid option. He sold his company Engine5 for $26M in January 2000, right before the dot com bubble burst. Phil was 30 years old at the time. 25% of the money earned by the founders was held in escrow for 2 years — which turned out to be a very good thing, because the remaining 75% they invested into companies which then very quickly went bust. Around 2007, Phil and his team got to thinking about building something like a cognitive prosthesis, a second brain — the note-taking app to conquer all. Their research led them to a California team of scientists working on a very similar product, and they decided to combine the teams. Originally, Evernote was a product intended for journalists and investors. In 2015 Phil Libin stepped down from his CEO role at Evernote (remaining as Chairman until 2016) and moved on to new projects, such as the product studio All Turtles and the video communication company mmhmm . Memorable Quotes: "As young entrepreneurs, we always felt like we were failing. Like the reason we were starting these companies was because we couldn’t get real jobs." Resources Mentioned: Continuous Glucose Monitor 1491 , by Charles C. Mann Kindle Don’t forget to give us a follow on our <a href="https://twitter.com/swisspreneur" rel="noopene
S1 E214 · Sun, January 02, 2022
Timestamps: 1:32 - How not to sell your company 6:46 - KPIs to reach before selling 20:40 - Finding the right price 26:32 - Whoever wants to deal less wins 32:04 - Your role after the sale About Thomas Hofer and Vito Gigante Thomas Hofer is the head of the transaction advisory at UBS ' corporate finance department, and has been working for UBS for over 20 years. Vito Gigante has been the head of SME M&As at UBS ever since 2016. Here are a few common mistakes when it comes to selling/buying companies: - Sellers often underestimate the difficulty of the selling process; - Sellers often neglect to undertake the necessary preparation (i.e., mostly the documentation process); - Buyers often focus on the aspects they have expertise on, and neflect to ask for advice on other topics. Thomas and Vito recommend that you sell your company while it still has a bright future ahead, and not when it's about to tank. You should also pay close attention to the political and technological zeitgeist when assessing the right time for the deal. UBS provides transaction financing services, where they act as a sparring partner for the buyer the whole way through. Their internal experts provide a 2nd opinion on various aspects of the deal, and they also coordinate the closing process to ensure utmost transaction security. Memorable Quotes: "The best time to sell your company is as soon as a promising future comes on the horizon. Don't make the mistake of waiting too long." If you would like to listen to our other episodes from this UBS co-production, check out our conversations with Jürg Tauss and Fabian Humbel . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E213 · Wed, December 29, 2021
Timestamps: 1:01 - A family full of role models 8:23 - The doubts of an entrepreneur 18:56 - Moving back to the US 29:41 - A partnership in equality 40:41 - Working with your spouse About Bettina Hein: Bettina Hein is the co-founder and CEO at juli Health , an app for managing chronic health conditions, and an investor at the Swiss Shark Tank Höhle der Löwen. She also co-founded START Global when studying at HSG, as well as Svox and Pixability. She’s married to Andreas Glödi, who is an investor at btov partners. Bettina grew up in a family full of entrepreneurs and so was never short for role models; despite this, she did not feel confident to jump straight into entrepreneurship after her university studies and ended up interning and working for a series of corporates instead. She particularly remembers her unpleasant experience at McKinsey, which she says had a cutthroat environment. During her time at HSG, she co-founded the largest student-led entrepreneurship conference in the world, START. The people she co-founded it with would go on to start btov ventures, and also put her in touch with an engineer developing text-to-speech technology - and so Svox was born. Due to the telecom bust in 2001, Svox went through a number of difficulties, having had to fire more than half of their staff and place the rest on short time work. Despite the hardships, Svox turned the tide and was eventually sold to Nuance for $25M. By this point, Bettina and her husband Andreas decided to get a mid-career masters at MIT, and it was out of MIT that Bettina built Pixability, the video advertising software company. She left Pixability after 12 years to support her husband in moving back to Switzerland. Shortly after moving back, she was invited to star on Höhle der Löwen. In 2020 Bettina co-founded juli Health, an app for managing chronic health conditions. Juli Health is geared towards US customers, since it aims to help compensate for the US healthcare system’s many inefficiencies. Memorable Quotes: "No one in my family ever had a 9 to 5 job, so it was rather easy for me to envision myself becoming an entrepreneur." "Before starting my first venture, I told myself 'If this doesn't work, I can always get a job at McDonalds.'" Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin</
S1 E212 · Sun, December 26, 2021
Timestamps: 2:10 - What liquidation is 6:30 - When liquidation is enforced by a creditor 19:50 - Liquidation agreement 23:31 - The emotional toll 28:20- If liquidation happens to a supplier/partner About Fabian Humbel: Fabian is an executive director and the head of special segments, credit and recovery solutions at UBS , of which he has been an employee since 2006. He has an MBA from the Chicago Booth School of Business and a BASc in Business Administration from HSG. 3 misconceptions about liquidation that he believes founders must deconstruct is the idea that liquidation is not a valuable option, the idea that liquidation is in fact a failure, and the notion that liquidation is necessarily connected to an insolvency procedure. There are 2 types of liquidation: - Privately initiated liquidation: your business model didn't work out, and you've chosen to shut down in style. This may even involve a sale at the end. - Forced liquidation, under the insolvency procedure: you have not been able to pay your creditors. In this situation, you may find an agreement with the creditor and manage to have some of your debt forgiven. If you do not reach an agreement, insolvency it is. Fabian stresses the necessity of reaching out for external psychological support should you find yourself dealing with an insolvency procedure. You do not have to bear the brunt of it by yourself — and having an external, neutral perspective on your situation may end up benefiting you more than you know. Memorable Quotes: "Liquidation does not mean insolvency, and it is not necessarily a bad thing." If you would like to listen to the previous conversation in this series, check out the episode with Jürg Tauss . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E211 · Wed, December 22, 2021
Timestamps: 5:43 - Traveling for 4 months to think 9:34 - Building a highly-scalable business 21:20 - Sustainability and pricing 35:37 - A new way of experiencing online shopping 42:56 - Selling tokenized shares About Roy Bernheim Roy Bernheim is the co-founder of the men's underwear brand T-Bô , the first clothing brand to be community driven. His background is in European Social and Political studies, and after university he went on to work in private equity and brand management. Roy and his co-founder Allan Perrottet built T-Bô in 2017. They were interested in creating a highly scalable business with a large target audience, and soon discovered that men's underwear was an interesting category from this point of view, because: - Online businesses with a physical component need a basket size that is not too big (because then people wouldn't convert, or would take too long to) nor too small (because then it's difficult to compensate for the acquisition cost). Men's underwear had a happy medium; - It had an interesting customer acquisition cost; - Even if you don't establish a subscription model, men's underwear is a product people will buy more of if they like it; - You can ship it inside an envelope up to three pieces of underwear, which is highly cost effective from a logistics standpoint. T-Bô menswear is Direct By Consumer, meaning that the products are co-created together with the T-Bô community — they're not personalized, but they are highly subject to democratic changes based on feedback. This demand-driven production means the returns are very few and they don't have to factor in wastage into their margin structure, which allows them to have competitive prices while still maintaining a very nice margin. Memorable Quotes: "The clothing brands of the future will be built in a collaborative and open way." Resources Mentioned: Exponential Organizations , by Salim Ismail, Michael Malone & Yuri van Geest Give and Take , by Adam Grant Science News If you would like to listen to more conversations on sustainable clothing brands, check out our episode with Nicholas Hänny . Don’t
S1 E210 · Sun, December 19, 2021
Timestamps: 0:52 - How NOT to do valuation 3:56 - Why do a company valuation 27:26 - Discounted cash flow 34:30 - How to influence your company value 37:49 - How often to do valuation About Jürg Tauss: Jürg Tauss is an executive director at UBS and the head of the M&A valuation desk at the corporate finance Switzerland team. The first thing Jürg thinks founders should know is that value is in itself subjective, and guided by the individual who looks at the asset. What the UBS M&A valuation desk tries to do is identify a market consensus regarding the value of this asset. Why should you do a company valuation? To prepare for the acquisition of your company, or for the buying of equity by other parties. What should you take into consideration? - Do not look to big company valuations as a reference, since your knowledge about their journey and inner workings is woefully incomplete. - Mind the difference between the value potential of your company and its time value: you cannot just calculate the supposed value of your company taking into consideration the best case scenario of your company's future progress; you have to consider all sorts of possible scenarios, good and bad, and then base your valuation on that. To prepare for a company valuation, you should first gather all knowledge about the future of your company in a transparent and easy-to-understand way. Memorable Quotes: "Large company valuations are often taken as a reference point by startups. This can go very wrong." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E209 · Wed, December 15, 2021
Timestamps: 6:02 - The psychology of flash sales 10:30 - People lie in surveys 11:51 - Selling teslas and Picassos 25:43 - Picking the right idea 43:33 - What the german part can learn from the Romandy About Pascal Meyer: Pascal Meyer is the solo founder and CEO of Qoqa, a flash sale e-commerce platform in Switzerland created in 2005. He previously worked for AMPCO Metal and Buchheim Communications. At the time of Qoqa's founding, e-commerce was quite new to Switzerland and brands were extremely hesitant about it, so the first Qoqa customers were so-called "internet geeks", who, having some knowledge on the subject, were afraid of getting their credit card details stolen by e-commerce websites or things like that. The first product Qoqa ever sold was an mp3 player, which at the time was at the cutting edge of technology. Nowadays it is through its forums, email and social media interactions that Qoqa receives feedback on what sort of products to make available next. In March 2020, during lockdown, Qoqa stepped up to the challenge by creating a platform where small brick and mortar shops and farmers could advertise their products, so that Swiss customers wouldn't just buy necessities from large companies with internet media reach. This platform, which is still up and running, is called Direqt. Memorable Quotes: "Better to try and fail than do nothing at all." Resources Mentioned: Delivering Happiness , by Tony Hsieh It Doesn't Have To Be Crazy At Work , by Jason Fried If you would like to listen to more episodes on e-commerce, check out our conversations with Alan Frei . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E208 · Wed, December 08, 2021
Timestamps: 5:43 - Organizing tours to North Korea 10:37 - Generating revenue from the start 19:38 - Being a chairman 24:13 - Taxfix makes taxes easy 41:33 - Time to leave About Mathis Büchi: Mathis Büchi is the co-founder and chairman at the pdf software company smallpdf and the digital tax accountant Taxfix . His background is in International Business and Global Management and he previously ran a tour company organizing trips to North Korea together with an NGO. His university studies, as well, took place in Asia: he frequented the University of Hong Kong and Korea University (in South Korea). When the political climate in North Korea intensified, his tour company came to an end and he took the trans Siberian railway train back to Switzerland, where he would go on to found smallpdf in2013. Smallpdf was bootstrapped from the very beginning, as their business model allowed them to generate enough revenue from day one to pay themselves a salary and keep things afloat. In 2016 he co-founded Taxfix and became itsCEO, not because he had a background in taxes or any particular expertise on it, but due to the fact that he himself found taxes an aggravating an confusing task. Taxfix got started in Germany because tax filing is even more complex there, so much so that 25% of Germans don't even file their taxes, thereby losing out on an average of 1000€. Taxfix tackles this issue by radically simplifying the process: an automated questionnaire on your phone simulates the conversation you would have with a tax accountant and the tax relevancy of your replies is then analyzed by the app. Memorable Quotes: "Building something out of nothing is what excites me the most." Resources Mentioned: FitXR, the VR boxing app No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention , by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly gi
S1 E207 · Sun, December 05, 2021
Timestamps: 1:25 - Business is psychology 9:19 - Validating the Relai idea 18:34 - Building an MVP during a Hackathon 33:47 - Simplifying bitcoin 54:06 - Showing investors traction About Julian Liniger Julian Liniger is the co-founder and CEO at Relai , the world's easiest Bitcoin investing app. His educational background is in Business Administration and Psychology an he has previously worked for Gsponer Consulting Group International and synfluence. He was originally introduced to bitcoin by a nerdy friend of his, through whom Julian bought his first bitcoin. Despite having had little talent for "techy" things all his life, he eventually grew to understand cryptocurrency. The idea for Relai came from Julian's own experience. Before, if you wanted to start buying or trading bitcoin, you had to: - Find an exchange and create an account, which required uploading all of your personal info and having it checked, which took a couple of days; - Wiring money from the bank to the exchange and waiting for that process to be completed, so that you could then exchange the money into bitcoin; - Creating a wallet, then withdrawing the bitcoin from the exchange to the wallet (since exchanges — and the bitcoin that is stored within them — are at the mercy of hackers). The whole process took about 1-2 weeks and required 2-3 different service providers. The fact that the process needed to be simplified was a no brainer. Together with his co-founder Adem Bilican, Julian started the pre-seed fundraising process. It took them 5 months to raise a meager 20k. In hindsight, Julian blames his lack of track record and the typical Swiss hesitancy, but also the fact that they were approaching the wrong investors: people who didn't understand crypto and sometimes weren't even that interested in fintech. Once they got the money, Adem and Julian built the MVP in 3 months and went live — from this point onwards, investors were the ones approaching them. And it's no wonder: Relai allows you start buying, trading and saving bitcoin within just 1 minute, and they don't even need to know your name. Memorable Quotes: "More than half of Gen Zs and Millennials say they'll be investing in bitcoin. These are the people who are gonna control more than half of all money in the future." If you would like to listen to our previous episode with Julian Liniger, click here . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , <str
S1 E206 · Wed, December 01, 2021
Timestamps: 2:17 - The problem Linia solves 7:23 - Acquiring your first international customer 10:00 - The biggest competitor 15:18 - Product market fit by trial and error 19:53 - Being bootstrapped About Lorenzo Arizzoli-Bulato Lorenzo Arizzoli-Bulato is the co-founder and managing director at LINIA , a startup manufacturing drone software for power line inspection. His educational background is in Electrical Engineering and before starting LINIA in 2018 he worked for companies such as IASTE, Axpo Group and EWZ. Despite being in a rather niche market, Lorenzo has no trouble finding customers, in part because he knows the problem and buyer persona intimately (having worked in the industry for a while himself), and in part because power grid operators are under a lot of pressure: - Due to the climate emergency, weather impact on power grid infrastructure is worsening; - Due to decarbonization, more and more traffic is being brought to existing power grids; - Building new power lines is usually met with quite a lot of resistance from local communities, so operators are wary to do so; - The time frame for maintenance work is getting shorter as more and more people need to use electricity all of the time. In November 2021 LINIA won the Energy Startup Day 1st place Public Choice Award. Memorable Quotes: "I see companies which offer similar products more as partners than as competitors." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E205 · Sun, November 28, 2021
Timestamps: 01:00 - What we mean when we say "strategy" 2:22 - Knowing you value proposition 11:13 - Strategy and KPIs 26:06 - Humility and seeking out help About Elisabete Ramalho Elisabete Ramalho is an international executive with 20 years of experience in digital transformation, technology, manufacturing and consumer goods, who is currently active as an industry lead at Google. For Elisabete, strategy is, naturally, about making choices. These choices should be informed by answers to the following questions: - What is my product really about? - How am I gonna market it? - Should I target B2B? B2C? B2B2C? When answering these questions, there is no exact "right" or "wrong" answer; only answers which mean accruing more or less risk. Another thing which needs to serve as your strategy's compass is the value proposition. If you have yet to land on a definitive value proposition, consider these questions: - Does your product already exist in the market? - Could your success be detonated by lower prices from the competition? - Do you have a core competence relevant to building this product? Speaking of competition: Elisabete recommends that you be aware of what they are doing, but that you don't fixate on it — you only know what their current and past moves are, not what they're ultimately aiming at, so you may severely misinterpret their actions. When drafting an actual plan, try to answer these three points: - Where are you going? - How much do you need? - What role will each team member have? You might also want to work with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). Your annual OKRs should tie in with the team OKRs, which in turn connect to the individual OKRs. When setting goals, do so in a way that will push you out of your comfort zone. If you know full well you'll reach them, then those aren't goals — they're a checklist! Lastly: allow your team members to shape the company strategy with you. They'll be more personally committed to achieving the goals if they themselves had a role in determining them. Memorable Quotes: "The right product to sell isn't necessarily the cheapest one. Because when you start pricing down, you cannot price up again." "If you set yourself goals you know you will reach, then those aren't goals. It's a checklist." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/10531767/admin/" rel="noo
S1 E204 · Wed, November 24, 2021
Timestamps: 5:03 - Going all in from the beginning 14:00 - The problems of marketplace entrepreneurs 20:22 - The Covid effect 26:22 - Höhle der Löwen appearance 33:37 - Canton-specific regulation About Oliver Huber Oliver Huber is the founder and CEO of Nomady, a Swiss sustainable camping platform. Previously he worked for VP Bank and Schwyzer Kantonalbank, and has a background in Business Admin, Finance and Banking from Hochschule Luzern. Oliver has always been an outdoors and camping enthusiast, so the Nomady idea — landowners becoming hosts and renting out their campsites — seemed only natural to him. Having successfully flipped a house in the past, he had enough capital to quit his day job and start going all in on Nomady from day one. When answering whether Nomady is capitalizing on the sustainable tourism craze, Oliver replied that wanting to get away from crowded places and connect with nature has always been a human necessity, so the growth of this market comes as no surprise. He also feels a responsibility to play his part in answering the climate emergency. He began in earnest by going around his hometown and pitching the idea to landowners — 5 or 6 of them said yes and this allowed him to test his MVP. His first customers had a very positive experience, and word of mouth really helped Nomady expand, as well as some Facebook posts from Oliver himself. Covid had both a positive and negative effect on his business: on the one hand, when the pandemic crisis began in March 2020 Oliver was in the middle of negotiations with investors, after having spent 1 year and a half bootstrapped, and his investors immediately quit. But on the other hand, since during the pandemic people couldn't travel abroad and felt safer vacationing in remote places, Nomady came as a perfect solution for their tourism needs. Memorable Quotes: "It was important for me to have real entrepreneurs on the board and as investors, because in an early stage you need to call them up and ask them difficult questions." Resources Mentioned: The Packraft: https://packrafteurope.com/ If you would like to listen to more episodes on camping, check out our conversation with Michele Matt. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives.
S1 E203 · Sun, November 21, 2021
Timestamps: 5:00 - The essence of entrepreneurship is timeless 10:08 - What makes a good leader? 18:55 - Biased language 25:46 - Being inclusive in a cost-efficient way 28:34 - Few women in top positions About Elisabete Ramalho: Elisabete Ramalho is an international executive with 20 years of experience in digital transformation, technology, manufacturing and consumer goods, who is currently active as an industry lead at Google. Elisabete's maternal grandparents were a big inspiration for her. They ran a successful bakery in a small town in Portugal during the 50s and travelled all over the world. Elisabete's grandparents taught her the value of working hard and of staying humble, and also of intimately knowing the needs of each of your clients — they knew everyone's name and order as soon as they walked through the door. During her career Elisabete has formed a clear opinion on what it takes to be a good leader. According to her, a good leader: - Allows their team members to co-create the company strategy; - Is always ready to acknowledge they're wrong, and always eager to learn; - Focuses on a person's strengths when giving feedback; - Avoids biased language and promotes diversity in hiring; - Makes people feel comfortable enough to speak up, and gives credit where credit is due. At Google, good leadership is measured by cross checking someone's annual performance review with employee retention, talent acquisition and team satisfaction rates. Memorable Quotes: "If you have the right people on your team, goals should be co-created. It can't just be up to one person to decide." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E202 · Wed, November 17, 2021
Timestamps: 4:14 - The business model of uploading old exams onto a server 17:19 - Winning clients with basic functionalities 28:51 - Acquiring competitors 32:47 - Using investor money for acquisitions 49:20 - Your main competitor is yourself About Philippe Willi Philippe Willi is a co-founder and CFO/COO at TrekkSoft , a booking solution for the tour and activities market. He studied business administration at HSG and soon after started his first business, the web agency zimtkorn, together with DeinDeal co-founder Adrian Locher and Valentin Binnedijk. There they built websites for SMEs. In 2007 he met Jon Fauver, a former raft guide and American living in Switzerland, who invited Philippe to join him at the water sports company Outdoor Interlaken. Then in 2010, Philippe and his old co-founder Valentin started TrekkSoft, as a booking solution for Outdoor Interlaken. They even put in their own money, to ensure they really had skin in the game. TrekkSoft's main innovative feature was its "book now" button — though nowadays it seems absolutely obvious, this button was at the time quite revolutionary. Philippe describes finding product-market fit as a moment when things suddenly just click, and you can stop relying solely on assumptions. However, Trekksoft's whole addressable market was rather large, so this product-market fit was only truly valid for certain market segments. Since trying to address the whole market with just one service seemed too risky to them, they opted instead for acquiring a number of competitors which addressed other market segments, and used investor money to do so. Being in the travel industry, the TrekkSoft Group was hit hard by Corona. Though one company in their group made 1M in net profit in 2020, the group overall lost 30% of its revenue (which put them close to breakeven) and had to let go of a number of employees. Several other employees left of their own accord due to the lack of immediate careers prospects. Memorable Quotes: "Solving your own problem means product-market fit comes easier. But it also might result in conflicts of interest." Resources Mentioned: Weg zum erfolgreichen Unternehmer , by Stefan Merath The Entrepreneurial Operating System Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram</st
S1 E201 · Sun, November 14, 2021
Timestamps: 8:47 - Getting people to join a revolutionary platform 17:10 - Diseo's revenue sharing model 36:25 - Financing a social platform 38:00 - Regulation ruins scaling 42:05 - Doing a security token offering About Urs Aebischer: Urs Aebischer is the CEO at Diseo , a decentralized ecosystem of interconnected social platforms of brands and organizations where users exclusively control their data and earn from it. Urs is also the co-founder and CEO at Swiss Impulse Group, which focuses on disruptive digital media. He has a background in Physics. Urs has always been one to search out new ideas. Back in 1995, when he was getting his PhD in Atmospheric Physics at the ETH, he was one of the first people to have an email address. In today's world of ubiquitous social media networks, Urs (as well as many others) has identified a problem: people's data is being harvested, used and monetized by third parties, without people ever receiving any sort of compensation for the value they provide. Urs does not believe we can legislate our way out of this; the social dilemma requires a solution built from the ground up. That's why he created Diseo. On Diseo, sharing data and giving something your attention creates revenue which can be shared between up to 16 different people. Every time a user clicks on an advertisement, they earn income for doing it and for giving permission to be targeted by this advertiser. When a user clicks an ad, they also see which of their friends have already bought the product/used the service — this is what Urs calls "social selling". Users can also recommend ads to their friends, who, if they see it, will also receive money. Every single action in favor of the product creates a revenue share. Additionally, both users and companies on Diseo have a trust rating and get to rate each other. If a company uses child labor, they get downvoted. Urs hopes that through this process dialogue and reform will follow. Memorable Quotes: "Facebook and Google could easily copy what we're doing. But that would ruin their entire business model." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-a
S1 E200 · Wed, November 10, 2021
Timestamps: 1:51 - The ideal founder team 7:09 - When to quit your day job 19:51 - Life after MVP 41:40 - Hiring for skills and culture 49:40 - The exit to Google About Alain Chuard Alain Chuard is a Swiss serial entrepreneur best known as the founder and Chief product officer of Wildfire Interactive, the social media marketing technology company acquired by Google in July 2012. At Google, Alain was responsible for overseeing Wildfire’s strategy, integration into Google’s Display Ads Division, and external representation of the product. He also co-created Swisspreneur with Christian Hirsig in 2016. Here are some of his answers to every founder's burning questions: - What's the ideal founder team? Alain prefers 2 founder teams with complementary skills: 1 product rockstar with an eye for design and strategy, and 1 marketing and sales machine. The founders should of course also share similar values. - Where should I search for my co-founder? Look for high talent-density places, like Ivy League universities, On Deck Fellowship and Y Combinator. - When should I quit my day job? Keep your day job during the idea validation phase, but go all in once that phase is through. You want to give your startup the best chance possible, and that requires you to give it your all. - How do I know if I've got a good business idea? Start with your own problems and look for inflection points, or shifts in tech and user behavior. Ask yourself: why was this idea not possible 5 years ago? How do I currently have an unfair advantage? - What makes a good MVP? MVPs should be barebones in terms of features and design but still provide a solution that captures a pivotal need the customer has. Basically: it should have achieved product market fit. - How do I know whether or not to pivot? You should pivot if you're consistently failing to see demand or if you have a high churn rate. - Should I bootstrap my company or raise funds? If you have a product that can scale through tech, raise funds. If you're running a business which grows in a more linear fashion, it's worth it to bootstrap. Either way, if you should choose to fundraise, approach it as a partnership rather than a transaction. Currently Alain is the president of Prisma , a digital first school that adapts to every child's unique needs and abilities and to every family's lifestyle. Memorable Quotes: "I see a lot of founders that look at the fundraising process like a transaction, rather than as a partnership." Resources Mentioned: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1PMUW1K4ICC6Y&keywords=the+hard+thing+about+hard+things&qid=1636555049&sprefix=the+hard+thing+ab%2Caps%2C22
S1 E199 · Wed, November 03, 2021
Timestamps: 2:17 - A family of feminists 15:25 - Finding a job in Switzerland as a foreigner 27:05 - Most people in Velandia's team are women 30:27 - The refugee crisis 51:55 - The nationalist sentiment About Valentina Velandia Valentina is a co-founder and partnership curator at Capacity Zurich , an incubator for startups built by refugees or migrants. She is originally from Colombia, but moved to the US after finishing high school to study Communications at California State University. She then went on to work for the UN in Singapore while getting her master's in Diplomacy and Gender Policy. Despite coming from a family of matriarchs, Valentina initially had some misgivings about feminism: she thought feminism and femininity were mutually exclusive. However, this and many other opinions of hers changed when she took a class at University with a really amazing teacher. When Valentina moved to Switzerland, she worked in Geneva for a time, after which she relocated to Zurich. Despite having worked in Geneva, being highly qualified and speaking several languages (namely German), it took her more than a year to find a job. Naturally, this took a toll on her self-esteem — she blamed herself. One of her co-founders to be, psychiatrist Alexa Kuenburg, also came to this conclusion while working with war victims and refugees: the higher someone's education level, the more difficult the integration process becomes, because there is often difficulty in finding a job which matches the person's abilities, and this mismatch can put into question a fundamental part of people's identity. Initially, Valentina and her co-founders wanted Capacity Zurich to be a labor market integration program for refugees and migrants, which would also educate Swiss companies on how to navigate the bureaucratic hoops of hiring people with a migrant or refugee status. It ended up becoming a startup incubator. Memorable Quotes: "Diversity-wise companies are beginning to realize that if they don't jump on the bandwagon soon, the wagon is gonna run them over." Resources Mentioned: Afghan Laziz, the foodtruck project Don't ask me where I'm from, ask where I'm a local TED Talk White Fragility , Robin DiAngelo <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0141029196/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3TBS
S1 E198 · Sun, October 31, 2021
Timestamps 03:17 – Schritt in die Digitalisierung 10:54 – Der typische Atlanto-Kunde 15:22 – Atlanto’s Geschäftsmodell 18:11 – Kundengewinnung 23:28 – Lessons learned About Oliver Baumann: Oliver ist der CEO des Helvetia Spinoffs Atlanto AG , einer digitalen Administrationsplattform für KMU. Ursprünglich war Atlanto als Projekt innerhalb von Helvetia geplant und wurde schliesslich als Tochterunternehmen ausgegründet. Oliver, welcher in einer Unternehmerfamilie gross wurde, war immer interessiert daran, in die Selbstständigkeit überzugehen. Nach seinem Studium an der HSG in St. Gallen , wo er sein Bachelor- und Masterstudium absolvierte, arbeitete er fast sechs Jahre bei Helvetia. Seit Januar 2021 ist er nun CEO der Atlanto AG. Memorable Quotes: "Der Prozess, Dinge manuell abzutippen, liegt in Zukunft einfach nicht mehr drin. Dafür werden wir keine Zeit mehr haben." "Wir wollen das Leben von kleinen Unternehmen vereinfachen." Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.
S1 E197 · Wed, October 27, 2021
Timestamps: 1:03 - Going to Stanford after EPFL 7:41 - The hardware/software combination 17:50 - Meeting Bill Gates 21:13 - Saying no to Apple 55:18 - 6 grandchildren and 1 boat About Daniel Borel Daniel Borel is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Logitech , the world's largest manufacturer of computer peripherals — with headquarters in Switzerland! After studying Physics at EPFL, Daniel went on to do his masters at Stanford. In the 70's, Stanford was on fire. The Apple computer had just been created, as had Bill Gates' Microsoft, and the first microprocessors, operating systems and programming languages were just coming up. It felt like a technological revolution was imminent, and Daniel wanted to be a part of it. Together with fellow Stanford student Pierluigi, Daniel developed a word processing system, and their company address was "165 university avenue" — famously shared by Google and Paypal. Unfortunately, this project didn't take off, and Daniel ended up moving back to Switzerland to accommodate his wife's wish of setting up her own veterinary practice (which was not possible in the US since they did not recognize her diploma as valid). Then in 1981, at his father-in-law's farm in the canton of Vaud, Daniel founded Logitech together with co-founders Pierluigi and Giacomo. Their product was a mix of hardware and software, which is a notoriously difficult thing to pull off, but Daniel believes that that's where you can really make a difference, and that this is what ensured their survival in an extremely competitive world. How competitive, you may ask? Well, after meeting Bill Gates at a beach party in 1982, Daniel began talks with Microsoft — but they soon realized that the tips they were giving Microsoft on why not to buy from Logitech's japanese competitor, Alps, were actually being passed on to Alps. This made Daniel give up on Microsoft altogether. With the rise of competition between computer manufacturers in the early 90s, prices went down dramatically, and Logitech had to move its manufacturing to China in order to produce cheaper and be able to compete. In 1998 he decided to step down as CEO: after a crazy, decades-long ride, it was time for a rest. Nowadays, he keeps himself busy with his many grandchildren, his boat, and his philanthropic endeavors: Swiss-up, a foundation dedicated to fostering excellence in Swiss education, and Defitech, which manufactures computer technology for people with disabilities. Memorable Quotes: "Try and fail, and never fail to try, but don't put all your eggs in the same basket." "Success is never final." "By having a passion, you avoid having a job." If you would like to listen to more conversations with Swiss people in America, check out our episode with <a href=
S1 E196 · Sun, October 24, 2021
Timestamps: 08:12 – 2. Säule: das Wichtigste zum BVG 10:10 – UVG Pflicht 13:32 – empfehlenswerte Versicherungen 21:48 – Cyberversicherung 32:18 – Beratung und Orientierung im Versicherungsdschungel Über Gianluca Lombardi & Andreas Stöckli: Andreas und Gianluca sind beide bei Helvetia tätig. Andreas ist Marktverantwortlicher für Unternehmen in der Generalagentur in Aarau . Dabei hat er mit Firmen-, wie auch mit Privatkunden engen Kontakt. Gianluca ist als Versicherungs- und Vorsorgeberater in der Generalagentur in Baden aktiv. Er durfte bereits seine Lehre bei Helvetia absolvieren und konnte sich danach seinen Weg in den Aussendienst schrittweise erarbeiten. Memorable Quotes: "Bleibt auf eurem Weg, bleibt fokussiert." "Redet aktiv über Fehler, weil das Veränderungspotenziel bei Fehlern sehr gross ist." "Mut ist sehr wichtig. Seid mutig, neue Dinge auszuprobieren." Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.
S1 E195 · Wed, October 20, 2021
This episode was produced in co-operation with Startup Days. Visit their website here: https://www.startupdays.ch/ Timestamps: 4:12 - Having the courage to be yourself 17:35 - The beginning of Powercoders 27:59 - The power of telling stories 31:27 - Cultural shock in Switzerland 36:34 - A purpose-driven organization About Bettina & Mannar Bettina Hirsig is the co-founder and lead at Powercoders , a coding academy for refugees. She has a background in marketing and business administration. Mannar Hielal is a junior software engineer at Liip , a Bernese digital agency. Originally from Aleppo, Syria, Mannar fled her war-torn country for Turkey, and then eventually Switzerland, where she would join Powercoders. Just after the birth of their second child, Bettina's husband Chris was invited to the Global Entrepreneur Summit in San Francisco. There he met two female entrepreneurs: one who had founded a coding academy for women, and one who'd founded a catering company which hired exclusively refugees. It was then that the Powercoders idea was first born. In the beginning, Powercoders was funded partially by the Switzerland's state department for migration, and partially by a number of foundations. Nowadays, it is funded by the canton and by the companies to which Powercoders provides employees — the Powercoders graduates. One such graduate is Mannar, who back in Aleppo studied Computer Engineering and constantly went against her mother's expectations of her by working two jobs and even practising martial arts. When the Syrian war came to Aleppo, public transportation stopped working and water and electricity were cut. There was no internet, Mannar couldn't get to work and neither did she feel it was safe to call her co-workers — there was no way of knowing whose hands would pick up the phone. Aleppo was being bombarded, which forced Mannar to move to a safer neighborhood within the city (one which experienced bombardments less frequently). Though she was not afraid of death, Mannar did not want to end up a nameless corpse on the streets of Aleppo, and so she left for Turkey, which is just 45 min away. However, she soon realized that Turkey used Syrian refugees as political pawns, and that the threat of repatriation hung above her at all times. She also was deprived of several rights in Turkey (since she did not actually receive asylum, but was only there on some sort of humanitarian stay), and could only access a bare minimum of healthcare services. She decided to leave Turkey for Switzerland. In Switzerland, Powercoders seemed like a natural first
S1 E194 · Sun, October 17, 2021
Timestamps: 11:40 – Stage & Ticket size: Gründe für die Frühinvestition 17:24 – Entscheidungsprozess für oder gegen Investitionen 26:18 – Die Gunst der Investoren gewinnen 31:31 – Red flags für die Investoren 36:09 – Unterstützung der Startups nach der Investition Über Stefano Saeger: Stefano Saeger ist Investment Manager beim Helvetia Venture Fund, ein Investment Fund von Helvetia Versicherungen, welcher in Startups investiert. Der Fund wird extern durch btov betrieben. Nach seinem Betriebswirtschaftsstudium an der HSG absolvierte Stefano den Master of Arts in Business Innovation, wobei er davon ein Semester in Johannesburg ablegte. Nach verschiedenen Tätigkeiten im Bereich von Business Development ( Fanpictor AG ) und als Projektmitarbeiter im Lehrstuhl für Controlling und Performance Management absolvierte Stefano ein 19-monatiges Trainee Programm bei der ABB in Zürich und San José USA. Als ABB Trainee kam Stefano sehr schnell mit allen Themen der Startup Welt in Berührung und fand seine Begeisterung dafür. Seit Oktober 2019 ist er als Investment Manager im Venture Fund von Helvetia tätig und mag den grossen Perspektivenwechsel, welcher durch den Mix von Makro- und Mikroebene entsteht. Memorable Quotes: "Was ich einfach unfassbar toll finde, ist, mit viel Enthusiasmus die Leute da dran sind." "Jeder, der daran arbeitet macht es gerne und macht es, weil er überzeugt davon ist, was er macht." "Ein bisschen Skepsis ist sinnvoll, weil sie uns auch weiterbringen kann, in allem was wir tun." Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.
S1 E193 · Wed, October 13, 2021
Timestamps: 1:55 - Being a medtech entrepreneur 9:57 - Managing 2 businesses and 3 kids 17:05 - Setting company and family goals 29:17 - Why not start a company together 36:19 - The right to disconnect About Anne & Tobias Richter Anne Richter is the founder and CEO of Knecker , a startup which produces vegan protein-rich snacks. She got her MA in Economical Engineering from the Technische Universität Berlin and afterwards worked for a series of energy companies, before starting her own venture in 2020. Tobias Richter is the founder, former CEO and current Chairman of TRI Dental Implants , a Swiss emerging leader in innovative modern implant dentistry. He got is BA in International Business Studies from the International School of Management (Germany). In 2011, after a decade of working in a corporate environment, Tobias took the leap and founded his own business. Tobias chose medtech entrepreneurship to have the best of both worlds: though he grew up in a family of doctors, he felt studying medicine would be too limiting, so he studied business instead and later focused on the medtech industry, specifically dental work — which, being very digital, benefits a lot from integrating AI components. Together Tobias and Anne have 3 children. Life with 2 startups and 3 kids can often get very hectic, so the couple has developed a system: - They have an Au Pair who lives with them, which really helps; - They keep a joint timetable, to always know what the other will be doing. This is especially important for events happening before 9am or after 6:30pm, when the kids are at home; - They organize two weekly "family meetings": one with the kids, the other one without them. The meeting with the kids, called Basilikum, is a half-an-hour get-together where the family discusses the previous week ("What was good?" "What was bad?") and plans for the week ahead ("What are your expectations regarding next week?"). Often the deal is sweetened with some sweets or chips for the kids, facilitating their cooperation. Tobias and Anne also utilize a tool called The Wheel Of Life , which allows you to reflect on the previous year and plan for the year ahead by having you evaluate your life according to 8 different aspects: health, finance, career, family, personal development, spirituality, your romantic relationship, and social life. The results are shown on a "spiderweb" type of graph, which easily allows you to spot weaknesses. For instance, when their kids were younger, Anne and Tobias tended to neglect their romantic relationship, so they decided to institute a weekly lunch just for the two
S1 E192 · Sun, October 10, 2021
Timestamps: 1:17 - Warum Mitarbeiterbeteiligungen? 16:20 - Ab wann sollte man als Startup Mitarbeiterbeteiligungen prüfen? 30:55 - Vesting vs. Sperrfrist 43:34 - Steuerliche Sicht beim Verkauf von Aktien 1:00:14 - Umgang mit unvorhersehbaren Ereignissen Über Adrian Tüscher und Sarah Gassmann: Adrian Tüscher ist der Leiter des Bereichs HR Legal Services. Er berät nationale und internationale Kunden im Arbeitsrecht und ist spezialisiert auf Immigrations-, Sozialversicherungs- und Steuerfragen im Zusammenhang mit internationalen Entsendungen, Personalleasing und Mitarbeiterbeteiligungsprogrammen. Adrian verfügt über umfassende Erfahrung im grenzüberschreitenden Arbeitsrecht, in der Gestaltung und Umsetzung von Mobilitäts-Compliance-Prozessen sowie von Vergütungs- und Beteiligungsplänen. Sarah Gassmann ist diplomierte Steuerexpertin und Manager bei KPMG in Zug. Sie verfügt über umfassende Erfahrung bei der Umsetzung von aktienbasierten Vergütungsplänen für börsenkotierte und nicht börsenkotierte Unternehmen. Darüber hinaus berät sie zu nationalen und internationalen Aspekten der Sozialversicherungen. Sarah verfügt über ein langjähriges und ausgezeichnetes Netzwerk zu den Steuerbehörden in der Zentralschweiz. Wann sollte ich über ein Mitarbeiterbeteiligungsprogramm nachdenken? Welche rechtlichen Aspekte gilt es bei der Umsetzung zu beachten? Und wie viele Anteile sollte ich für meine Mitarbeitenden reservieren? Diesen und weiteren Fragen gehen wir mit den Experten Sarah Gassmann und Adrian Tüscher von KPMG nach. Nach dieser Episode weisst du, welche Aspekte du bei der Umsetzung eines Mitarbeiterbeteiligungsprogramms unbedingt beachten solltest, wo du Gestaltungsspielraum hast und, was du machen kannst, wenn die Dinge nicht nach Plan laufen. Memorable Quotes: "Schweizer sind zwar lieb miteinander, aber auch ein wenig missgünstig. Daher haben sie oft das Gefühl sie bekommen weniger als die Anderen." Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.
S1 E191 · Wed, October 06, 2021
Timestamps: 4:27 - The early days of Knecker 13:00 - The Knecker recipe 20:09 - The Knecker buyer persona 22:24 - Packaging 31:58 - Going for bigger retailers About Anne Richter Anne Richter is the founder and CEO of Knecker , a startup which produces vegan protein-rich snacks. She got her MA in Economical Engineering from the Technische Universität Berlin and afterwards worked for a series of energy companies, before starting her own venture in 2020. Anne met her co-founder Susanne while volunteering at the local Ludothek. Since Anne had just had her third child, she was especially impressed by Susanne's success as both a mother and entrepreneur. Together they developed the idea of a vegan Kneckerbröt, for an age which requires climate-friendly snacks. The base ingredient of Knecker is organic soy, sourced from a local family farm. The recipe then also contains sesame, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and lin seeds. It's gluten-free, and comes in three different flavours: mountain salt (geared towards sporty-people), rosemary (usually eaten as an appero), and curry and thyme (for chip lovers). Knecker's proof of concept phase began right after lockdown, making buyers twice as enthusiastic about having the product in their stores. Knecker's buyer persona is an outdoorsy, sporty, environmentally-conscious person between the age of 20-55. Keeping in line with the climate-friendly theme, Knecker packages are refillable and available at "unpacked shops" — meaning zero waste, package-free shops. While Anne would love to start expanding Knecker as soon as possible, it's getting harder and harder to enter the EU market these days, so she feels she still needs more volume in Switzerland before she can finally take that challenge on. Memorable Quotes: "I'm alive in order to change things. I think it's part of my DNA." "Everyone who has a company should be on Instagram." Resources Mentioned: Femtech Alumnae If you would like to listen to more episodes on climate-friendly food, check out our conversation with Mark Essam . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/10531767/admin/" rel="noopener
S1 E190 · Sun, October 03, 2021
Timestamps: 1:26 - The birth of a startup mafia 9:36 - The blue card in Germany 20:05 - Will there be a dot com bubble for AI? 33:48 - Financing an startup fund 46:49 - Launching a fund from a legal perspective About Adrian Locher Adrian Locher is the co-founder and former COO at the Swiss shopping platform DeinDeal , which was bought by Ringier in 2011. Adrian stayed at DeinDeal until 2015, after which he took a 1 year sabbatical to explore internet hotspots acorss the world. In 2016 he settled in Berlin, where he co-founded the Merantix venture studio. Adrian chose Berlin as his new home due to the presence of great schools for his kids and also because he enjoys Berlin's cosmopolitanism and diversity, not only from a lifestyle point of view, but also in times of finding talent. While he finds Zurich one of the most beautiful places to live, he thinks people there are noticeably less ambitious, as is the trend in Europe overall. In order to compete with America and China, Adrian thinks Europe should start putting aside nationalistic fervor and thinking at a continent-wide scale. Adrian chose to build a venture studio because this allows him to both be an investor and remain involved on the operating side as well. He thoroughly enjoys the "0 to 1" phase, where ideas are iterated and validated in the market, and step by step something gets built. Merantix is an AI-focused venture studio because Adrian and his co-founder Rasmus think AI will transform our industries as radically as the internet did decades ago. AI essentially automates and optimizes complex decision making based on a lot of experience — any process which involves this will sooner or later be revolutionized by AI. When asked if AI would ever see its own bubble burst like the internet did in the early 2000s, Adrian replied that that has already happened at a more discrete level, with industries such as autonomous driving: the initial hype turned into disillusionment when our expectations for rapid progress came crashing down. Business ideas at Merantix go through 3 stages: - Ideation: Here the team considers how the industry may be transformed and what role AI would play in that. If it looks like there's a strong shift ahead, the team starts evaluating different business models. Their ultimate goal is not to become an AI SaaS company, but a value chain integrator. - Incubation: If clients show interest, the product starts getting built. Here it should be noted that Merantix only starts hiring team members once they know exactly in which direction they want to go. - Scaling: Here Merantix takes a step back and starts looking for outside investors, remaining more as
S1 E189 · Wed, September 29, 2021
Timestamps: 10:44 - Wefox's boring origin story 28:32 - Distinguishing between good and bad risks 36:20 - Not having a full calendar 37:22 - Working through stress with a coach 42:53 - Raising $650m in 4 years About Julian Teicke Julian Teicke is the founder and CEO at wefox , Europe's largest digital insurer. Having studied Business Administration at the University of St Gallen, Julian joined Groupon in 2009 as an intern, only to be handed much more responsibility than originally predicted, due to his boss having had a burnout. In 2010 he co-founded DeinDeal , and became its COO. After having left the company in 2015, he started wefox. When he was originally approached by his would-be co-founder with the idea for wefox, Julian rejected it outright, because his own father was in the insurance business and he did not wish to follow in his father's footsteps. Eventually, though, he was won over by the idea's potential and decided to give it a fair shot. The biggest insurance companies, despite their size, are nowhere near as big as the tech giants — their growth is too slow. Wefox wanted to become the exception to the rule and grow 100% per year. Here are some of the challenges they've faced: - Margins in the insurance business are typically extremely low. This wasn't a problem in the past, because insurance companies had a second income stream: capital returns. Meaning, they invested the money they got from customers into capital markets and made capital returns. But in the 0 interest environment we're currently in, there are no more capital returns, so the focus needs to be on risk returns. This demands 3 things: using tech and data to reduce the loss ratio (= claims payout), decreasing administrative costs, and boosting sales. - Capital efficiency: Julian's time at wefox has made him aware of the need for capital light models, where all the money they have is put to use in innovation and growth. - Innovation: Big insurance companies have always been in a catch 22 situation. Over decades they attracted the most risk averse investors that request yearly dividends, meaning the money spent on these dividends did not get invested into innovation. But if they stop paying dividends, investors drop out. This is a complicated problem to puzzle out. In just over 4 years, wefox's success won them $650m in a series C and a $3bn valuation. According to Julian, they'll be using the money to fuel further international expansion, and to transform their insurance products from reactive to proactive, in order to make a real impact in harm-prevention. Memorable Quotes: "The ultimate success for any startup is motivating people to do it themselves."
S1 E188 · Sun, September 26, 2021
Timestamps: 0:55 - Do Europeans take way too long to launch? 7:00 - Always start from a problem 12:08 - What changes from MVP to the growth stage? 23:18 - The constant cycle of product development 30:59 - What's nearshoring? About Laurent Decrue Laurent Decrue is the co-founder of the moving company MOVU and the software company Holycode , and is currently also the CEO at Bexio . At Holycode, Laurent turns people's product dreams into reality, so there's no process he knows more intimately than product development. The company headquarters are in Serbia — this is called nearshoring: outsourcing your operations to another country, but one that is nearby and usually even in the same time-zone. Is there a set framework for product development? No: it depends on the stage. But if there's something Laurent can recommend, it's that before you start developing, you should create a business canvas. Think about what a prototype could look like, especially a UX prototype that is clickable. Next you should figure out the smallest possible version of it — something that can be cooked up in 3 weeks. Even if it works, you'll inevitably end up throwing it away because you need to build a bigger version, but having built it in the first place allows you to decide whether a bigger version is worth it. Similarly, it's best not to invest in a crazily complex back-end architecture right away. Build something that works and have your customers test it and give you feedback — even if they do so in a simple spreadsheet. Taking inspiration from The Lean Startup, Laurent talked about the 2 hypothesis you need to prove: - Value hypothesis: are people willing to spend money/time interacting with your tool? - Growth hypothesis: is it scalable? It's possible that a very good product is not actually scalable. At this stage, marketing, sales and process optimization become cruzial. The age-old debate: Scrum or Kanban? Laurent recommends Kanban for really creative solutions. This tool is all about making sure you don't have more than one or two tasks in each phase of the process, and it also really helps you keep focus. On the other hand, Laurent sees the utility of Scrum for good quality, fast results. Memorable Quotes: "Don't invest in a crazily complex backend architecture before you've actually verified that this is the right architecture to build." If you'd like to listen to our previous episode with Laurent, click here . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our <a href="https://twitter.com/swisspren
S1 E187 · Wed, September 22, 2021
Timestamps: 5:10 - The DeinDeal mafia 18:53 - The biggest mistakes at MOVU 23:40 - Going bankrupt 28:07 - Saying no to a lot of money 42:34 - Why stay at MOVU About Laurent Decrue Laurent Decrue is the co-founder of the moving company MOVU and the software company Holycode, and is currently also the CEO at Bexio. He grew up with a headstrong grandfather who pressured him to take a corporate job at UBS. Despite getting along well with the people there, his problem with authority made UBS too stifling an environment for his entrepreneurial spirit. When he got layed off due to the financial crisis, he decided to join DeinDeal. Laurent thinks there were two main reasons for DeinDeal's "mafia status": - It was an unprecedentedly fast growing company, which attracted a certain type of personality; - It was a very big company overall, which, statistically, means spin-offs are bound to happen. Unfortunately he suffered a small burnout during his time at DeinDeal, which motivated him to take a break from working before starting his own ventures. During this break he got his masters' degree. He never received any professional help to overcome the effects of his burnout, which in hindsight seems to him like poor decision making. He also feels a certain resentment towards the people he'd been working for, for not having helped him spot the warning signs. Laurent feels guilty himself about not having been able to do this either with two of his own employees later on. The idea for MOVU came from his own frustration at the slowness of the existing moving services. Despite the company's success, they also underwent a series of challenges: - From the beginning they knew they wanted to develop a subscription model around a cleaning service, but it took them so long to get to it that by the time that they did, another company had already jumped on the bandwagon and was having great success; - Their original CTO left, and it was difficult to make sure he got fair compensation: they ended up assigning some of his shares to the new CTO and buying out some of his shares as well; - More than once they neared bankruptcy, as investment rounds often hinged on a few yes's and no's. This was particularly nerve-wrecking considering some of the people in the MOVU team were parents; - They received a very generous offer for MOVU early on but declined it, because it did not make strategic sense. They risked a lot to play the long game, but it ended up paying off. In 2016 Helvetia acquired Moneypark. This let Laurent know that other insurance companies would soon start making investments, and so he made sure to get in contact with the lot of them. MOVU eventually got sold to Baloise. Simultaneously to creating MOVU, he also founded Holycode, which provides nearshoring services. He remains there as a b
S1 E186 · Sun, September 19, 2021
Timestamps: 1:03 - Young founders and taxes 9:39 - Cantons and tax advantages 24:00 - The wealth tax burden 32:19 - Employee participation plans 40:33 - Tax pitfalls in structuring a sale About Peter Kempin and Patrick Arnold Peter Kempin is a Team Head of Executives & Entrepreneurs at UBS , where he has been working for the past 15 years. Patrick Arnold is a tax expert at UBS and certified financial planner. Decades in the industry have taught Peter and Patrick that young founders don't think much about taxes. They're heavily focused on their business idea, and taxes aren't a very sexy topic to begin with. But they are nonetheless a crucial step of every business journey. The first thing you should concern yourself with is the business plan: - Take into consideration the liquidity needs of the company. This is the basis for your financial requirements: is it possible for you to bootstrap the business and "keep a large portion of the cake" or if there is a need to bring on investors in order to grow the company? - If you have a business plan for your company, you need one for your personal life as well. How much money can you contribute to your own business? Is it possible to draw pension assets? Do you want to? Should you have a private, non-touchable reserve? - Keep in mind the founders' financial situation. Do they all have low fixed costs, which will allow you to bootstrap and keep costs and income low? Or do some of them have families already, and aren't able to take on as much risk? Profit taxes vary from 12-20% depending on the canton. At the beginning of a company, when you haven't broken even because you're not even profitable yet, tax benefits aren't really on your mind — so founders usually choose a domicile in the geographical zone most relevant to their business. But you should take into consideration that the corporate tax reform gives you different advantages/disadvantages depending on the canton you choose, so choose wisely. But even if you make the wrong decision, you can always change domicile later on. Many founders wonder whether they should set up an individual company or a corporate one. Here are some differences to consider: - If you're running an individual company, you're taxed on your business profit with the income tax, together with all the other private factors you have: rental income, investment income, etc... But if you're running a corporate company, you're taxed with profit taxes. The income tax only applies if you draw a salary. - If you have a corporate company and you sell it, you can benefit from tax free capital gains. If you sell an individual company,
S1 E185 · Wed, September 15, 2021
Timestamps: 1:05 - Getting started in the agency business 7:07 - Thinking about monetization 11:09 - Evaluating an exit scenario 28:26 - Co-founder chemistry 45:06 - Accidentally becoming CEO About Christian Reiter Christian Reiter is a co-founder and board member at Kingfluencers , the leading Swiss social influence agency. After getting his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from ETH, he created a number of ventures, most notably Hitz Dev/Bitspin and Panamove, before building Kingfluencers. Hitz Dev was founded during Christian's university studies, as a result of a project done in collaboration with SBB. As it transitioned from an agency business to a product-centered business (more specifically, an android app), Hitz Dev became Bitspin, and got acquired by Google in 2014. Then in 2015 he created the personal trainer app Panamove, but ended up shutting it down in less than a year. Though the company was able to secure revenue after 2 months, there were a few aspects of the core business model which the team was never able to figure out, which hindered the sustainability of the whole endeavour. Christian does not identify with the Swiss fear of failure: he thinks if you need to fail, fail fast — so instead of persisting with Panamove for years and years, he let it go. In 2016 he became interested in influencer marketing and decided to embark on a new venture: Kingfluencers. Their business model was simple: they had influencers, and they had customers. The difficulty lay in execution, since the field was completely new to Christian — and it was also relatively new to Switzerland, so Kingfluencers needed to become a market educator. Nowadays this market has grown to become relatively big. In 2020 Christian stepped down from his CEO role and became a board member, which, according to him, was not very hard, since he never wished to be CEO in the first place. His core motivation was to build something which would stand on its own feet, grow and evolve — and this development cannot take place if people refuse to have their roles change. Memorable Quotes: "If it's not working, don't invest another 3 years into it. Move on to something new." Resources Mentioned: Techcrunch To listen to more episodes on digital marketing, check out our conversation with Lukas Stuber . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , <stron
S1 E184 · Wed, September 08, 2021
Timestamps: 1:00 - From the US to Engelberg 14:30 - The vending machine market 20:56 - A disruptive business model 32:51 - Who stands in the way of disruption? 44:45 - Thinking about the exit About Jon Brezinski Jon Brezinski is the co-founder and CEO at Invenda , a company disrupting the machine industry with connected smart technology. Invenda offers smart vending machines, digital signage and smart fridges, as well as business intelligence, customization and integration services. Their partners include Microsoft and Intel. Jon comes originally from the U.S., having studied Information Systems at the University of North Carolina. His first job after college was at a startup. Experiencing a work environment where everybody had a fixed job but also evolving responsibilities showed Jon that this was the path for him. In 2016 he founded Invenda, having originally been inspired by a trip to Philadelphia, where he had been working on a ticket machine project. Their MVP provided clients with a 20-80% sales increase, which is no wonder: Invenda machines have shopping carts, allowing customers to buy several products at a time, which means that for every product sold by traditional vending machines, Invenda sells 4. In the first 3 years, Invenda only invested 3% of its budget on sales and marketing, which means they ended up with a pretty solid and attractive product — but they are now ready to start shifting their budget priorities. Even though the vending machine market is quite large (with over 15m of these machines all over the world), Jon is interested in a accessing markets whose products have not traditionally been sold by vending machines, like socks or luxury chocolate. Jon thinks one of the biggest challenges startups face is knowing which opportunities are worth pursuing, since there's no shortage of them. But how do you maintain the right focus? - Try to keep things fun. Choose things that your team would find interesting; - Use market research from your core customers; - Consult your partners. Jon is also a big proponent of hiring for culture and not skills. People can learn almost anything, and having someone "rock the boat" is dangerous. Don't get blindsided by someone's beautiful CV. He also tells his employees that every conversation they have should be a job interview, since finding the right people is an ongoing process that everyone can participate in. Invenda has had a couple of companies approach them about exit scenarios but thus far none seemed like the right fit. Jon also doesn't feel like Invenda is done with its journey yet. Memorable Quotes: "One of our main challenges as a startup is to figure out which opportunities are w
S1 E183 · Wed, September 01, 2021
Timestamps: 1:02 - How studying abroad can change your life 5:56 - How is an investor trained? 19:47 - How an investor finds companies 25:55 - How to lose an investor's trust 48:20 - Attracting institutional investors About Gina Domanig Gina Domanig is a managing partner at Emerald Technology Ventures , a globally recognized investment and venture capital firm with a focus on cleantech. Before becoming an investor, Gina spent 10 years working at Sulzer as head of M&A, where she met her Swiss husband. Gina is originally from the U.S. but has since given up her U.S. citizenship and has been living in Switzerland for several decades. In the early 2000s, Gina left Sulzer and joined the cleantech fund Emerald Technology Ventures, because she wanted a job which combined strategy/transactions with something she could believe in. During their early days they made several mistakes: - They invested in early stage, capital intensive ventures (which, during the dot com crash, seemed like "real" investments); - They approved/rejected investment deals by voting yes/no, which turned out to be too reductionistic: too many deals were progressing which partners were not really that excited about. Nowadays they give deals a score of 1-5 and the deal must have an average score of 4 to pass. Two decades in the cleantech space have taught Gina that industrial incumbents really have the power to block innovation — however, she feels we are now at a tipping point where there's finally enough regulatory and consumer pressure for industrial incumbents to start looking for alternatives. But naturally, they always look for a way to shift the blame to some other sector (for instance, plastic producers blame waste managers, and vice versa). Memorable Quotes: "Just because you believe something should happen doesn't mean it's going to. Even if all of your analysis points towards that conclusion." "An investor needs to know that management teams tend to be unbelievably optimistic." "Look forward with confidence and back without regrets." Resources Mentioned: Leadership is Language , by L. David Marquet Humour, Seriously , by Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas To listen to more episodes on VC f
S1 E182 · Sun, August 29, 2021
Timestamps: 1:07 - The fundraising momentum in Switzerland 3:25 - Setbacks in Swiss investing today 11:53 - Going beyond the pitch 15:43 - How to approach investors 27:38 - An overview of Swiss brokers About Lukas Reinhardt Lukas Reinhardt is the head of UBS' Growth Advisory , the leading partner for fast-growing Swiss companies, such as On Running, VIU Eyewear and farmy.ch. He first joined UBS in 2006 as a Graduate Trainee and since then worked in different M&A and Corporate Finance positions for UBS in Zurich and New York. In 2020 over $2bn were invested in Swiss startups and scaleups, so it's never been more relevant to discuss the intricacies of fundraising in Switzerland. Some main fundraising challenges are: - Being ready: knowing what your most recent milestones were, having your documentation in order, gaining some pitching experience; - Access to investors: this can be tricky, especially if you don't make a habit of proactively networking with them; - The Valley of Death: seed stage money can be relatively easy to acquire, but growth stage money not so much (since the amount needed is bigger). How to approach potential investors: - The best possible option is already knowing one — this requires constant networking on your part; - The second best thing is to get a warm introduction; - A pitching event can be a good platform, but one-on-one conversations are usually more fruitful, because you can tailor your pitch to a specific investor and build trust more quickly; - If all else fails, there's always cold emailing/calling. After the initial contact: - Send a one-pager/teaser document quickly summarizing the investment case; - In case of a positive reaction, send them a pitch deck. Why you might want to work with a broker: - It frees up resources: fundraising is not something you can just do on the side, but you also don't want to let it steal time away from operational tasks; - Brokers have transaction expertise and know-how which you yourself might not possess; - Brokers have easier access to investors; - The good reputation of a broker can elevate your own reputation within the market. But naturally, brokers charge fees, and demand a certain exclusivity. Memorable Quotes: "Fundraising is not just something you can do on the side, but at the same time, you can't dedicate all your time to it and neglect operational tasks. That's why you should outsource it to an advisor." If you would like to listen to more episodes related to UBS, check out our conversation with <a href=
S1 E181 · Wed, August 25, 2021
Timestamps: 1:05 - The Goldman Sachs epiphany 9:28 - Getting into impact investment 18:53 - Women in developing countries & traditional banks 32:44 - From a 20$ loan to an SME 51:23 - Investing in European startups About Roger Müller Roger Müller is a board member and managing partner at Enabling Qapital , an microfinance advisory company. His background is in traditional asset management. During the 2008 financial crisis, he was working at Julius Bär's Asset Management — at that time, a conversation with a colleague about the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy made it clear to him that he needed to pursue a more independent path, because he did not want to suffer the risk of losing everything from one day to another. He began to pursue entrepreneurial projects. But it was only in 2014 that he became involved in the impact investment world by joining Blue Orchard . Years later, in 2020, he built his own impact investment fund: Enabling Qapital. What is impact investing? It's a small loan you dispense to someone in an emerging market, helping them raise their living standard and become financially independent. The minimum amount is around $20, and the maximum is $30'000. Any higher than that is considered an SME loan. Which precautions should you take? You cannot take anything for granted. Make sure the person knows what a loan is, how they will repay it, and what to do if business goes south. Before dispensing loans to people, Enabling Qapital execute a due diligence process with more than 100 checks. Why is microfinance necessary? People who live in remote areas and only wish to borrow a small amount of money have trouble getting loans from traditional banks because the operational costs offset the profits for banks. Whether you give out a $50 loan or a $20'000, the due diligence process is the same. Enabling Qapital is active in all emerging markets except for North Korea, South Sudan, Cuba and the Central African Republic. Once per year they produce a Social Impact Report, showcasing the achievements of the previous 12 months. Memorable Quotes: "My finances were stable, and I felt like I'd stopped growing as a person. It was time to start taking risks." Resources Mentioned: The Happiness Lab Business Wars Naval Ravikant Yuval Noah Harari If you would like to listen to more episodes about impact startups, check out our conversation with <a href="https://www
S1 E180 · Wed, August 18, 2021
Timestamps: 1:50 - From farm boy to computer geek 10:13 - Being greedy for positive feedback 16:56 - Ending up in a broken team 23:18 - Perseverance 25:05 - Getting close to burnout About Igor Susmelj Igor Susmelj is the co-founder of Lightly , where he helps companies improve machine learning models by curating vision data. He has previously worked at SIX Group and Unicorn Labs , and holds a master's in Electrical Engineering from ETH. Igor grew up on a riding stable, where he spent much of his time helping out his parents. He had to fight tooth and nail for his first computer, and struggled with his family's expectations for his future career. It was at ETH that he first came into contact with the field of machine learning. After finishing his master's, he co-founded Lightly (originally called Mirage/What To Label), which aimed to make the machine learning process for autonomously driving cars more efficient and human. Several things went wrong at first: - He mismanaged his team: Igor did not take care to discuss either the expectations or the roles of everyone in the team early on, and then when they finally did, it was extremely hard to make everyone happy. - He became obsessed with the success of the company and neglected his interpersonal relationships. A loved one died during this period of Igor's life, and he feels he did not spend enough time with this person in their final days. Nowadays he calls his family every second day. - He understood success as completely dependent on other people's perception of him and his team. He changed his business model too hastily based on external feedback. There was even a time when, having run out of money, Igor found himself having to flip cars in order to support himself and his project. But thankfully, there was no difficulty too great for Igor to overcome, and nowadays Lightly is back on track and has in fact just been accepted to a very famous accelerator (more details to follow soon). Memorable Quotes: "I used to define success as what other people thought of me." If you would like to listen to more fuck-up stories, check out our most recent episode with Cédric Waldburger . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , F
S1 E179 · Wed, August 11, 2021
Timestamps: 6:02 - Saying goodbye to Big Pharma 18:26 - Fulfilling your parents' expectations 47:53 - Stepping down from the CEO role 58:56 - Joining Dezentrum 1:05:18 - A do tank, not a think tank About Malik El Bay Malik El Bay is the co-founder of the household management app Flatastic and a partner at Dezentrum , a think-tank concocting positive scenarios of the future. His background is in interdisciplinary natural sciences and he has previously worked for Fit Analytics and Modum . He also co-founded Yeppt, an app which aimed to be a mix of Facebook events, Whatsapp and Doodle, and which participated in the Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator . After graduating from ETH, Malik discovered lab work and the world of Big Pharma weren't what he was most suited for. This identity crisis led him to send out a great deal of job applications, namely to Fit Analytics, where he eventually had his first startup experience. Here he was able to run experiments dealing with data about people and products. By then, he was sharing an apartment with a group of entrepreneurs who encouraged him to become one himself, so he did — but after a failed project, he felt he needed to go back to ETH to study some more. At this time Malik also participated in the ETH Entrepreneur Club. Fresh out of university once again, he co-founded the social network Yeppt, and even managed to get in the Axel Springer Accelerator. Looking back, Malik can pinpoint a few mistakes: - They received great feedback because they asked the wrong questions. - Accelerators serve as social proof and as a stage, which they thought would easily permit them to achieve viral growth. For this reason, they didn't prioritize fundraising. - They lost sight of what their ultimate company vision was. After dedicating his time to Flatastic (2014/present) and Modum (2016/2020), Malik joined the think-tank Dezentrum, after having originally received a one-pager from them for feedback and remained in contact. Dezentrum calls themselves a "do-tank" because, more than write papers (which they don't enjoy doing all that much), they are able to build in-house prototypes based on their ideas. They're financed by private companies, academic institutions and foundations. They mainly discuss Universal Basic Income, remote work and decentralized companies. Malik is of the opinion that UBI should be a top societal priority, since poverty sincerely hinders decision-making and prevents human flourishing. However, he also thinks that citizens need to take into account that a UBI will have to
S1 E178 · Wed, August 04, 2021
Timestamps: 8:16 - Leaving your well-paying corporate job 13:29 - The business model behind a free product 22:08 - Is Revolut a competitor? 27:29 - Being on Höhle der Löwen 29:35 - Doing a 5M tokenized crowd investment About Simon Youssef Simon Youssef is the co-founder and CTO of neon , a transaction account for everyday finances. Before starting his own company, he was an associate at the management consulting company Strategy& . His educational background is in Physics, and he holds a PhD from the Microsoft Research Lab . Simon and his co-founder Jörg Sandrock worked together at Strategy&, where they became well acquainted with the Swiss banking market. After a few unfulfilling projects, Simon went on a surfing sabbatical in Indonesia. During this time, Jörg proposed the neon business idea to him, and Simon decided to take the leap. Whereas typical banking apps cater to the bank's sales interests, merely replicating the organizational structure of a traditional bank, neon offers a client-focused product free of charge, with the lowest fees in Switzerland. Neon manages this because, having a team of around 20 employees, they can live on much slimmer margins. Their revenue comes from card interchange, premium plans like neon Green, and finance fees (from when clients buy partner products on the app). Revolut and Transferwise don't pose a very big threat, since they're more travel cards than anything else. neon, on the other hand, is a Swiss banking product, meaning they can offer you a Swiss IBAN, e-bills, and so on. Having been the first of its kind in the small Swiss market, neon has already amassed 70 000 users, in part due to the large amount of press coverage they received. Their participation in Höhle der Löwen, while helpful cashflow-wise, did not bring them as much of a boost as they initially imagined. Memorable Quotes: "Leaving our corporate careers was a huge risk, so we did not want to fuck this up. Not wanting to fuck up is a big motivator." Resources Mentioned: - How I Built This - The Happiness Lab If you'd like to know more about the neon story, check out our episode with Simon's co-founder, Jörg Sandrock . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our <a href="https://twitter.com/swisspreneur" rel="noopener nor
S1 E177 · Wed, July 28, 2021
Timestamps: 4:45 - The importance of a good social circle 10:51 - The right to disconnect 26:40 - Taking care of your body 38:32 - A good night's sleep 47:49 - Taking care of your mind About Mathias Wegmüller Mathias is an accomplished entrepreneur, board member and investor, with multi-year expertise in digital transformation. Together with Simon Scheurer, Mathias co-founded Qumram in 2011 and led it in different roles - CEO, Head of Business Development and Sales - until the successful exit and trade-sale in November 2017 to Dynatrace. Throughout his entrepreneurial journey, Mathias learned by trial and error how to best maintain his health. Below are a few of his tips. Cultivating your social circle: - It's a good idea to make friends with your co-workers, because you spend a good deal of your time at work. - When having quality time with your family, don't go on and on and on about work. - If necessary/possible, you can take your romantic partner on business trips. - The number of close friendships you can have really varies from person to person. Managing your stress: - If you have lots of muscle pain, can't sleep, and have a hard time focusing, these might be the side effects of chronic stress. A healthy person should be free of pain most of the time. - Make sure you exercise regularly and that your job is not incompatible with your in-built stress tolerance capability (which varies genetically from person to person). - Exercise-wise, if the workout you've picked leaves you in pain, and/or doesn't help you build muscle or flexibility, it's probably not the right workout for you. Balancing your diet: - You might wanna consider investing money in a test that tells you how well you digest carbs. Not everyone is intolerant. - Before you splurge on supplements, make sure you've already got the "carbs/proteins/fat" balance right. - You might wanna look into the 16/8 intermittent fasting regime. Improving your sleep: - If you can power nap to make up for lost sleep, do it. But investing in a good night's sleep is better. 6h of good sleep is the ideal number, in Mathias' opinion. - Go to sleep at more or less the same time everyday or you'll mess up your circadian rhythm. - Invest in a good mattress, a good pillow, and black-out curtains. - Avoid screens in the last 1-2h before bedtime. Final takeaways: - Don't sacrifice your health for work performance. A life full of professional failures can still be a rich life as long as you are healthy. - You can try to stay on top of your health through metrics like your resting heart beat, but at the end of the day qualitative feedback is much better. When you run into someo
S1 E176 · Sun, July 25, 2021
Timestamps: 04:40 - How market dynamics affect young companies 8:38 - Validating the market 20:35 - Why startups should participate in the SEF Growth initiative 22:23 - How SEF assesses companies 33:26 - The UBS growth advisory About Alexander, Lukas and Tom Alexander Curiger is the managing owner of the spirits company Silverbogen , which he co-founded in 2010. Since 2010 he has also been a board member at the family business Curiger Immobilien . Lukas Reinhardt is a corporate finance professional and head of the UBS Growth Advisory . He previously worked at UBS as a corporate finance specialist and M&A analyst. Tom Schlup is a financial analyst and the head of the SEF Growth initiative . He previously worked at Scout24 as an M&A project manager. The Silverbogen story began when Alex's younger brother, Raphael, came back from his study exchange in St Petersburg with 4 bottles of Beluga Vodka which both brothers really enjoyed. They started importing bottles of Beluga and selling them in Switzerland, but it eventually dawned on them that selling just one product would be difficult, so they began adding more brands to their portfolio. By moving their business online, they saw some growth, but also had to face the difficulty of getting brands to agree to this different route to market. To test a possible european-level scale up, they have recently expanded to Germany. Silverbogen participated in the SEF Growth initiative. Tom Schlup indicates the following as the biggest challenges for SEF Growth companies: 1. Cash handling: young companies don't necessarily have a CFO, and are usually always short of cash. 2. Market orientation: young companies don't always understand the market well, even though they may have a very good product. 3. Team: Tom advises you build your team before you actually need it, since growth stages happen fast and require stable structures. Why should companies participate in the SEF growth initiative? - There are not many offers for growth companies out there, but mainly early stage or seed stage. - SEF has a wide network of experienced entrepreneurs. - SEF companies also benefit from a wide range of partner offerings, namely with their main partner UBS. Why did UBS choose to be a part of SEF growth? - They wished to strengthen their position in the SME and startup growth market, where they feel they can be impactful. - It seemed to them that SEF was offering something t
S1 E175 · Wed, July 21, 2021
Timestamps: 1:06 - Summarizing your life in 10 year spans 6:32 - Deciding to focus on just one thing 11:11 - What made UNIC special? 19:53 - Escaping the bootstrapping trap 50:06 - Being acquired by Dynatrace About Mathias Wegmüller Mathias is an accomplished entrepreneur, board member and investor, with multi-year expertise in digital transformation. Together with Simon Scheurer , Mathias co-founded Qumram in 2011 and led it in different roles - CEO, Head of Business Development and Sales - until the successful exit and trade-sale in November 2017 to Dynatrace . He met his co-founder Simon at UNIC, one of the mother companies of the Swiss Startup Mafia. Mathias thinks what set UNIC apart was its founder team's commitment to hiring entrepreneurially-minded people who could handle a lot of responsibility. When he first heard about Simon Scheurer's idea to start recording the internet's history, Mathias decided to take the entrepreneurial plunge himself, and so qumram was founded. During his time at Qumram he learned many valuable lessons, namely: 1. Bootstrap at your own peril: If you bootstrap, you'll be so dependent on your first customers and on your next deal that you will most likely pivot too much, and lose sight of your long term strategy. 2. It's your product: Always making the customer happy is not the way to build a big company. Always be very customer-centric, but don't let your customer own your product roadmap. 3. What not to do: If you've got generalists for founders, your first hires should be specialists, for the sake of focus and strategy — because strategy is less about what to do and more about what not to do. 4. The most important "win" comes from sales — then fundraising, and only then stuff like awards. 5. Having a bunch of money is useful if you want to scale up; otherwise it's not necessarily a recipe for success. 6. When managing the exit, if you go for the best possible price, you might not get the best possible fit, and then the earnout period can be a bit rough. Memorable Quotes: "When you move to a foreign country, no one knows you. It's a great time to start finding yourself." "The 'always make your customer happy' mindset is not really ideal to build a broader company." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , <a href=
S1 E174 · Sun, July 18, 2021
Timestamps: 3:45 - Die ersten Startup Ideen 7:48 - Wie entstand die Idee zu yamo? 15:30 - Die erste Produktion 22:10 - Tipps an Studierende die etwas starten wollen 30:50 - Gebrandete Kühlschränke im Coop Über Tobias Gunzenhauser: Tobias Gunzenhauser ist Mitgründer und CEO von Yamo , einem Startup, welches mit seinen gesunden Snacks für Kinder und Babies den Markt revolutioniert. Bevor er selbst zum Gründer wurde, arbeitete er im Bereich Purchasing und Marketing Controlling bei Coop und später als Brand Manager bei Gruppo Campari . Parallel studierte er BWL, Marketing und Kommunikation an der Hochschule Luzern . Durch seine Passion für’s gute Essen bemerkte er während eines veganen Experiments, dass Babynahrung sowohl geschmacklich als auch inhaltlich Verbesserungspotenzial bietet. Da er Spass daran hat etwas aufzubauen, entschied er gemeinsam mit einem der späteren Mitgründer mit einer neuen Produktart in den Baby- und Kindernahrungsmarkt einzutreten. Für Tobias sind Arbeit und Freizeit keine getrennten Bereiche. Deshalb ist es für ihn enorm wichtig, dass er etwas macht, woran er Spass hat und er etwas verwirklichen kann. Die Zusammenarbeit in einem kleinen Unternehmen, mit tollen, divers aufgestellten Mitarbeitenden, welche etwas anpacken wollen geben ihm Energie und machen Freude. Memorable Quotes: "Ich sagte, wir müssen Kühlschränke in die Regale reinstellen. Das war wohl etwas frech oder naiv, aber ich dachte einfach 'Let's do it!'" Wenn du mehr über SEF startups erfahren möchtest, hör dir unsere Episode mit Sergio Studer , Andreas Lenzhofer , Jörg Sandrock , Martin Stadler , Jeannette Morath , Carlo Loderer , David
S1 E173 · Wed, July 14, 2021
Timestamps: 6:51 - Why invest your money at all 9:53 - Explaining compounding interest 20:46 - How much you should invest 26:14 - What to invest in 40:30 - Whether you can time the market About Remo Uherek Remo Uherek is a founder, investor and content creator who has been active since the early 2000s. He co-founded the marketing agency Trigami, a pioneer in Swiss influencer marketing, which in 2011 merged with ebuzzing and in 2014 with Teads to create a global network. In 2012 he left this group and became the CEO at the sharing economy marketplace Exsila, one of Trigami's former customers. He has since co-founded the crypto ATM network Vardex Suisse and been active as an investor, blogger and content creator. He invests in stocks, since VC funds, wealth management and being a business angel bring on too much work besides the investments themselves. Why should you invest? You can't become wealthy nowadays just with a good salary and longterm savings. You need to make use of compounding interest. Remo explains this term through a gardening analogy: when you plant a tree and get some seeds, you can either eat the seeds or plant them to grow more trees; from the trees that grow you will get more seeds, and can plant even more trees. This is what compounding your assets means. Remo recommends having 25 times your costs in assets. Why not just "eat the seeds"? Here Remo introduces the term "hedonic treadmill": whenever you upgrade your lifestyle, it feels great for 6 months or maybe even a year, but then you get used to it and you want the next upgrade, and then the next, and then the next... Remo himself does not value material things. Stoic philosophy has taught him to be happy with what he already has, by making him imagine losing it (eyesight, two legs, house...). By comparison, what he already has seems a world of wealth. Before you start investing, make sure you: 1. Spend less than you earn 2. Pay back any debts 3. Build up a cash reserve 4. Leverage unique skills and personality into more income: maybe build a side business. 5. Also, obviously, learn the basics of investing. Only invest in things that you really understand. How much should you invest? That depends on your investment strategy and what you want to get out of it. In Remo's case: except for his cash reserve, he basically invests everything, because cash is a really bad store of value. Your cash reserve should be enough to last you anywhere from 6 to 36 months. How does Remo budget? He periodically compiles a personal financial statement, meaning a profit and loss statement for his personal life. This statement should include things like your tax bill, yearly insurance costs, the depreciation and amortization costs for you car,
S1 E172 · Sun, July 11, 2021
Timestamps: 2:09 - Der Weg ins Unternehmertum 5:50 - Wie aus Spesen ein spannendes Thema wurde 9:28 - Tipps für die Unternehmensgründung 20:59 - yokoy in drei Ländern 26:20 - Der Deal bei 'Die Höhle der Löwen' Über Melanie Gabriel: Melanie Gabriel ist Mitgründerin des Schweizer Fintechs Yokoy , welches mit künstlicher Intelligenz den Spesen- und Lieferantenrechnungsprozess von Unternehmen automatisiert. Bevor sie 2019 die Rolle als Mitgründerin und Chief Marketing Officer bei Yokoy einnahm, studierte sie BWL, VWL und Soziologie an der Universität Basel und absolvierte das Masterstudium in Business Management an der Universität St. Gallen . Während dem Studium gründete sie bereits eine Kleidertausch-App und war mit Leidenschaft in der Musik- und Kulturbranche tätig. Anschliessend arbeitete sie während vier Jahren als Marketing Managerin, später als Head of Marketing bei der B2B Software Firma dizmo . Nebst ihrer Leidenschaft für Musik und Nachhaltigkeit setzt sich Melanie passioniert für Diversität in Teams ein und fördert dies unter anderem mit ihrem Engagement als Board Member bei We Shape Tech . 2021 wurde Melanie vom Female Innovation Forum als Innovator of the year ausgezeichnet. Memorable Quotes: "Auch wenn uns Österreich und Deutschland sehr nahe sind, gibt es doch Unterschiede, welche man durch digitale Kommunikation nicht immer direkt feststellt." Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Di
S1 E171 · Wed, July 07, 2021
Timestamps: 5:24 - Starting an influencer marketing agency in 2006 28:39 - Merging cultures 50:03 - Receiving an acquisition notice 54:07 - Burnout, anxiety, depression 1:07:01 - Can you build a startup without burning out? About Remo Uherek Remo Uherek is a founder, investor and content creator who has been active since the early 2000s. He co-founded the marketing agency Trigami, a pioneer in Swiss influencer marketing, which in 2011 merged with ebuzzing and in 2014 with Teads to create a global network. In 2012 he left this group and became the CEO at the sharing economy marketplace Exsila, one of Trigami's former customers. He has since co-founded the crypto ATM network Vardex Suisse and been active as a blogger and content creator. The biggest lesson he learnt during his time at Trigami was that any publicity is good publicity. Trigami's first campaigns, with brands hiring bloggers to review their products, quickly went viral and generated a lot of buzz, though a good deal of it was criticism: they were being accused of bribing bloggers. Remo stood out from the crowd by answering the criticism calmly and truthfully, and all of this publicity ended up working in their favor. From this he surmized that as a startup, the worst possible situation is people not talking about your company at all, and that in crisis situations, waiting things out is not a good idea. Another big lesson came when in the middle of his entrepreneurial career Remo hit his breaking point. Depression had always been a recurring thing for him, but it was only in 2018 that he completely burned out and had to take time off. He was so miserable that he didn't even want to be an entrepreneur anymore, but admitting this conflicted with what was his fundamental identity. He experienced insomnia, heart palpitations, panic attacks, and a constant feeling of being trapped. During his 9 months off, he did a lot of traveling and experimented with therapy, but found it didn't click with him, just as meditation never had either. What actually helped him was discovering stoic philosophy, and developing the determination to constantly compare what his life is to what he would like it to be. Nowadays he's doing much better. Memorable Quotes: "It felt wrong to study entrepreneurship instead of putting it into practice. A shopify store is a better learning experience than a masters." "Building something in public is the best kind of marketing." Resources Mentioned: Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech Remo's Reading Lists <a href="https://www.amazon.com
S1 E170 · Sun, July 04, 2021
Timestamps: 2:11 Vom Polymechaniker zum veganen Käser 7:20 Der Weg zum veganen Käse 12:53 Traditionelle Berufe für innovative Produkte 22:00 Wann kommt der vegane Hartkäse? 27:04 Die neue Produktion in Oberdiessbach About Freddy Hunziker: Freddy Hunziker ist der Gründer von New Roots, einer Firma, welche nachhaltige und vegane Alternativen zu Milchprodukten herstellt. Bevor Freddy zum Unternehmer mit einer Mission wurde, absolvierte er eine Lehre als Polymechaniker und fuhr halbprofessionell Mountainbike-Rennen. Durch einen Unfall, welcher ihn ein halbes Jahr nur an Krücken gehen liess, setzte sich der Berner intensiv mit den Themen Regeneration und Ernährung auseinander. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt lebte er bereits vegetarisch und entschied daraufhin gemeinsam mit seiner Freundin und späteren Mitgründerin Alice Fauconnet aus tierethischen Bedenken auf eine vegane Ernährung umzustellen. Mit der Umstellung waren die beiden mit der überschaubaren Anzahl von veganen Alternativen zu tierischen Milchprodukten konfrontiert. Besonders die fehlende Alternative zu Käse erschwerte den Schritt zur veganen Ernährung. Daraufhin begann Freddy für sich und seine Freunde veganen Käse in der WG Küche herzustellen. Nach einigem Herumtüfteln und ersten Erfolgen, wurde 2015 New Roots gegründet. Heute arbeiten über 20 Mitarbeitende am Standort in Oberdiessbach an der gemeinsamen Mission nachhaltige und ethische Alternativen zu Milchprodukten herzustellen. Für Freddy hat der Teamzusammenhalt einen enorm hohen Stellenwert, da jede/r einzelne Teil der nachhaltigen Vision von New Roots ist. In seiner Freizeit schwingt sich Freddy nach wie vor oft auf das Mountainbike und verbringt gerne Zeit mit seiner Familie und seiner Freundin. Memorable Quotes: "Mit unseren Produkten wollen wir zeigen, dass es nachhaltig, transparent, ethisch und vor allem auch lecker geht. Das Ziel ist, dass unsere Kunden auf nichts verzichten müssen!" Wenn du mehr über SEF startups erfahren möchtest, hör dir unsere Episode mit Sergio Studer, Andreas Lenzhofer, Jörg Sandrock, Martin Stadler, Jeannette Morath, Carlo Loderer, David Gugelmann, Simon Ittig und Léa Miggiano an. Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.
S1 E169 · Wed, June 30, 2021
Timestamps: 1:16 - Discovering HIIT training 12:06 - How an injury leads to a company 22:30 - How a 6 min workout delivers results 35:18 - When COVID hit 51:41 - How Aurum stands out in the fitness market About Julian Massler: Julian Massler is the co-founder and CEO at Aurum Fit , the data-driven high intensity strength training startup that promises results with just 6 min per week. Before starting his own company, Julian was a junior investment banker at GCA Altium , and he holds a bachelor's in Economics from the University of Konstanz. Back in his gymnasium days, Julian belonged to Germany's national sailing squad, where he was told he needed to bulk up in order to really be competitive. This was when Julian was first introduced the team to the highly-effective High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT teaches you that the most important thing is not the workouts themselves, but the resting periods in between, since our bodies were built to experience brief and intense bursts of exercise, followed by a lot of time laying around. After university, Julian started working at GCA Altium as an investment banker, with the ultimate goal of reaching FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early). One day, his cubicle buddy Philipp asked him for fitness advice, and was surprised to hear Julian trained only once a week. Julian introduced Philipp to HIIT and thus a business idea was born. Julian and Philipp felt gyms were not an adequate answer to people's needs: all they basically do is rent out equipment — which 1. most people don't know how to properly use, 2. has to be set up again and again, and 3. is sometimes quite the safety hazard. The results you obtain are also a pain to properly quantify and keep track of. Julian and Philipp wanted to build facilities where coaches would always be available and where strength training was done with something better than weights — and so they built automated and highly sophisticated machines which measure the strength you're putting in and offer the same resistance, and which allow you to keep track of your achievements and break them down analytically. Unlike regular gyms or fitness apps, Aurum Fit targets people who don't particularly enjoy exercising, and don't really know much about it. Their main customer personas are busy professionals, well-off retirees, and people recovering from injuries. Currently they're trying to scale the company through franchising, and would like to venture further out into elderly care. Memorable Quotes: "I have a lot of empathy for people, and that makes me a really good marketer." "Strength is the most underrated health marker out there." Don
S1 E168 · Sun, June 27, 2021
Timestamps: 2:00 - Warum Léa zu Beginn wöchentlich das Auto wechselte 6:20 - Wie die Idee zu Carvolution entstand 15:06 - Die ersten Kunden 19:23 - Welches Auto wird am Meisten vermietet? 28:00 - Was macht Léa stolz? Über Léa Miggiano: Léa Miggiano ist Mitgründerin des Auto-Abo Anbieters Carvolution , mit welchem Kunden ihr Auto in einem all inclusive Paket zu einem monatlichen Fixpreis abonnieren können. Heute ist Léa eine der Top 100 Women in Business im Bereich Digital Startups und wurde als Forbes 30 under 30 ausgezeichnet. Bevor sie zur Gründerin wurde, hat Léa ihren Bachelor in Betriebswirtschaft an der an der Universität St. Gallen abgeschlossen. Anschliessend absolvierte sie einige Praktika wodurch sie Einblicke in die Startup Welt gewann, in welcher sie sich heute wohl und gut aufgehoben fühlt. Die Idee für Carvolution kam Léa aus einem eigenen Bedürfnis. Auf dem Land aufgewachsen, machte sie ihren Führerschein so früh wie möglich. Da sie sich mit 18 noch kein Auto leisten konnte, lieh sie sich immer wieder Autos von Bekannten aus. Ihr Mentor machte sie auf existierende Carsharing Angebote aufmerksam, worauf sie gemeinsam einen ersten Business Case für Carvolution aufstellten und sich anschliessend auf Investorensuche gemacht haben. Heute zählt Carvolution nebst den drei Mitgründern rund 50 Mitarbeitende, welche sich um die ganze Customer Journey kümmern. Zukünftig stehen der Ausbau des Auto-Angebots sowie die Weiterentwicklung der Customer Experience anhand der Carvolution App an. Persönlich ist für Léa wichtig, dass sie jeden Tag Freude hat an dem was sie macht. Sie umgibt sich gerne mit inspirierenden, positiven Menschen, welche ebenfalls freudig durchs Leben gehen und mit welchen man anregende Gespräche führen kann. In ihrer Freizeit kriegt Léa den Kopf auf dem Rücken ihres Pferdes frei. Memorable Quotes: "Ich bin froh, ging ich mit
S1 E167 · Wed, June 23, 2021
Timestamps: 3:47 - Becoming an angel investor full-time 9:43 - Tomahawk success stories 12:12 - The Hong Kong ecosystem 10 years ago 21:34 - Failing to communicate with your co-founder About Cédric Waldburger Cédric waldburger is a startup investor, essentialist and explorer. He invests in early-stage technology companies through his VC firm Tomahawk.vc, with a focus on fintech and decentralized finance companies. Prior to that, he built companies in the agency, consumer and blockchain sector. Most recently, he co-founded DFINITY, the Silicon Valley unicorn. He also has a Youtube channel where he regularly vlogs about his life experiments and shares his insights as an entrepreneur. In 2011, during an exchange semester in Hong Kong, he co-founded an online tailor together with "Gabriel", whom he met playing rugby. Though they had complementary personalities and skillsets, there was one crucial thing missing: trust. This made open communication very difficult, which meant that despite all the friction and all the disagreements regarding what their product should look like, Cédric kept things to himself and let his resentment grow. Eventually, Cédric lost all respect for his co-founder and decided to leave the company. He was owed money which Gabriel deceitfully refused to pay, and so Cédric, at the height of his frustration, used the company card to wire the money to his account. 24 hours later, he logged onto Facebook to find his wall full of accusatory messages from friends of Gabriel, and his inbox full of threats. Overwhelmed, Cédric returned the money, gave up on ever getting payed, and signed over all his shares. For a year he felt too ashamed to even speak of the ordeal. The silver lining was, of course, what he learned: it's great if you and your co-founder are friends, but that should not be the sole criteria. Both people need to be very conscious of what the roles and expectations are. If you feel something is not right, bring it up immediately. And if you feel yourself becoming miserable, pushing through it might not be the best option: sometimes you just have to call it quits, and move on to better things. Memorable Quotes: "You're gonna be a lot healthier if you focus on the portfolio companies that do well, instead of trying to save the ones which struggle." "Smart people learn from their mistakes. Wise people learn from others." "Failure is when I learn. Success is what allows me to learn more." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook </
S1 E166 · Sun, June 20, 2021
Timestamps: 5:03 - Der Weg zur Krebsforschung 9:18 - Vom Doktorat zum Unternehmen 11:00 - Wann kommt das Produkt an den Markt? 28:02 - Die grössten Herausforderungen Über Simon Ittig Simon Ittig ist Mitgründer und CEO von T3 Pharma , einem Spin-Off der Uni Basel, welches eine Krebstherapie mit genetisch veränderten Bakterien entwickelt. Bevor er eher zufällig zur Krebsforschung kam, studierte er Biochemie an der Universität Bern und Biotechnologie in Strasbourg und Wien. Von 2008-2012 absolvierte er sein PhD im Gebiet der Bakteriologie am Biozentrum der Universität Basel . In seiner Zeit als Postdoc wurde sein Doktorvater pensioniert, womit sich Simon Ittig seiner hinterlassenen Forschung widmete und erfolgreich mit dieser herumexperimentierte. 2015 gründete er mit seinen beiden Forschungskollegen Marlise Amstutz und Christoph Kasper das Spin-Off T3 Pharma, mit der Vision das Leben von Krebspatienten zu verbessern. Simon Ittigs’ erstes unternehmerisches Vorbild war sein Grossvater, welcher verschiedene Unternehmen führte. Des Weiteren hat Simon bereits in seiner Jugend erste unternehmerische Erfahrungen gesammelt: Er hat gemeinsam mit Kollegen Events für bis zu 2000 Menschen organisiert. Privat ist Simon Ittig ein Familienmensch, welcher viel Wert auf gemeinsame Zeit mit seinen drei Kindern legt und ihnen seine unternehmerischen und menschlichen Werte mitgeben möchte. Memorable Quotes: "Das Wichtigste ist nicht aufzugeben und nicht zu schnell zufrieden zu sein. Auch bei Investoren, Consultants und Mitgründern." Wenn du mehr über SEF startups erfahren möchtest, hör dir unsere Episode mit Sergio Studer , Andreas Lenzhofer , Jörg Sandrock , Martin Stadler , Jeannette Morath , Carlo Loderer und <a href="https://www.swisspreneur.org/podcast/david
S1 E165 · Wed, June 16, 2021
Timestamps 1:08 - What an OKR is 5:02 - Why startups aren't too small to work with OKRs 13:47 - What a bad OKR looks like 21:18 - Who should own the OKRs 30:20 - How often you should discuss OKRs About Martin Voynikov Martin Voynikov is the director of product at Gtmhub, an OKR software for missions that matter. He previously helped create a mobile AR game called Visualz Inc, which guided kids through museums in a fun, enriching way. More recently, he was the product manager at eezy.ai, the mobile personal assistant, and Babbel, the language learning app. He is also a guest lecturer at the University of St Gallen, teaching product management analytics and heuristics. Before coming up with some OKRs, you should make sure you have a good idea of your vision ("what will we become in 10 years?") and mission ("what purpose do we serve?"). How to create a good OKR Let's say your startup wants to be the best in terms of product: a good objective would be something like "becoming the category leader". The key results would be: 1. Have an NPS of +50 2. Have 100 5 star reviews on the app stores 3. Have the product team launch a new feature each month This last key result is debatable: some might say that's just output, not outcomes. But if you tie it to another OKR, like "0 bugs introduced", or "all new features having a customer effort score of 5", you're basically counter-balancing it. How many OKRs do you need? Answering this question requires making two important distinctions: 1. How many key results should you have in your objectives? 2. How many objectives should you have? Data has shown that the most successful objectives are the ones who have up to 4 key results. Numbers have also shown that an individual should usually own no more than 2 objectives. Teams, depending on their size, can accomodate between 2 and 3. What timeframes should be used for OKRs? The vast majority of companies are using quarterly OKRs, that tie to an annual OKR, which in turn might tie to a 3 year plan. Circumstances for companies change pretty fast, so monthly OKRs are probably the optimal option — but the quarterly basis might also work for you. If you feel like even a quarterly OKR is too time-critical for you, keep it nonetheless and transfer it to the next quarter if need be. How often should you check OKRs? In order for OKRs to really work for your company, you should create some ceremonies around them: your cadences of review should be regular. Gtmhub sees clients using mostly weekly reviews, but bi-weekly can work as well. OKR meetings should be quick and should focus on the next steps and on your learnings. No need to let peo
S1 E164 · Sun, June 13, 2021
Timestamps: 2:33 - Unternehmerischer Antrieb 13:20 - Wie sich das Exeon Gründerteam gefunden 25:15 - Budgetplanung bei langen Sales-Cycles 27:50 - Als Speaker an einer NATO Konferenz 36:12 - Challenges der Zukunft Über David Gugelmann David Gugelmann ist der Gründer und CEO von Exeon Analytics , einem cyber security ETH Spin-Off, welches mit seinem Algorithmus versteckte Hacker-Angriffe detektiert und Firmen so vor teuren Datenverlusten schützt. Nach seinem Studium an der ETH forschte David Gugelmann in seinem PhD zum Thema Netzwerkforensik und Machine Learning. Dabei arbeitete er eng mit grossen Unternehmen zusammen und hat somit früh erkannt, mit welchen cyber security Problemen diese konfrontiert sind. Seine innovative und anwendungsnahe Forschung weckte rasch das Interesse der Industrie. Aufgrund der starken Nachfrage potentieller Kunden entschied sich David Gugelmann im August 2016 seine Forschung in ein Produkt zu übertragen und eine Firma zu gründen. Ende 2016 stiess Adrian Gämperli als CTO dazu und heute arbeiten rund 25 Mitarbeitende, vorwiegend ETH Absolventen, für Exeon Analytics. Seinen unternehmerischen Antrieb hat David Gugelmann einerseits von seiner “Tüftler-Familie”, andererseits stört ihn Ineffizienz: “Wenn man etwas zwei, dreimal manuell machen muss, kann man es sicher auch automatisiert erledigen”. Mit Exeon Analytics hat er eine automatisierte Lösung für ein Problem entwickelt, welches potentiell für jedes Unternehmen relevant ist und manuell nicht lösbar wäre. Persönlich ist David Gugelmann wichtig einen positiven Impact zu haben. Dies einerseits für seine Kunden, aber auch für die Menschen in seinem nahen Umfeld, wie beispielsweise die Mitarbeitenden. Privat ist er gerne sportlich unterwegs und schwingt sich zum Abschalten auf sein Fahrrad. Memorable Quotes: Das Bedürfnis ist nicht mehr eine reine Präventionslösung, sondern eine Lösung die reagieren kann, falls es trotzdem einmal einen Angriff gegeben hat. Wenn du mehr über SEF startups erfahren möchtest, hör dir unsere Episode mit Sergio Studer , Andreas Lenzhofer , <a href="https://swisspreneur.org/podcast/jorg-sandrock-ep156/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_
S1 E163 · Wed, June 09, 2021
Timestamps: 1:06 - Hating school, loving learning 4:58 - A good vs successful entrepreneur. 10:21 - The early days of Babbel 19:22 - How doubt helps us 23:29 - Picking the paid subscription model About Markus Witte Markus Witte is the co-founder and former CEO at Babbel, the top-grossing language learning app which has been around since 2007. Nowadays he serves as its executive chairman. Markus is based in Berlin and has a background in academia, specifically the social sciences. A passion for learning, not school Although Markus has always been in love with learning, he often struggled to find motivation at school, since it seemed to him that most of his teachers mechanically repeated the same information over and over again. He fit in much better in academia, where people had more of a passion for their subjects. What makes a good entrepreneur? Markus says entrepreneurs are not made, they happen. There's no such thing as an entrepreneurial DNA, only entrepreneurial moments — and what we make of them. He also thinks it's important to distinguish between "good" and "successful." You can be reckless and still get lucky. To be "good," you need the ability to convert everything around you into success, even your limitations. It seems to Markus that the mindset of "just following your gut" is a luxury. He says you shouldn’t let it guide you if you don't have a cushion to fall back on. In fact, you should cultivate doubt. Creating and pivoting Babbel Markus and his co-founders created Babbel because they thought language learning was something everyone would need at some point in their lives, and also because they knew nothing about the subject and were keen on learning more. Their first prototype was nice-looking, but nobody could learn a language with it. Out of arrogance, they assumed this was a tech problem, but soon realized that it was more a matter of didactics, and so called in some specialists: teachers. Even though these were rare in 2009, they opted for a subscription-based business model, since they figured you can't optimize both for building advertising revenue and for building a good learning product. Investing money in a subscription, they think, also helps learners stick to their goals. Memorable Quotes: "In school, a lot hinges on good teachers." "I was too in love with learning to feel like school was worthwhile." "The entrepreneurial thing is to find strength where you feel you have weaknesses." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , <a href="https://www.instagram.com/swisspreneur/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_b
S1 E162 · Sun, June 06, 2021
Timestamps: 8:40 - Zippsafe's Intelligenz 11:05 - Warum der Gesundheitsbereich? 16:05 - Ist der normale Spint die einzige Konkurrenz? 29:38 - Firmengründung & grösste Ängste zu Beginn 41:03 - Die nächste Schritte Über Carlo Loderer Carlo Loderer ist co-founder und CEO von Zippsafe , dem Pionier für smarte, platzsparende Personalumkleiden. Vor bzw. während er Zippsafe gründete, studierte er Maschinenbau und Engineering an der ETH . Das Bedürfnis nach einer praktischen Garderobenlösung hatte Carlo Loderer bereits vor einigen Jahren selbst verspürt, als er anfing Silvesterpartys für über 400 Leute zu organisieren. Die konkrete Idee selbst eine solche Lösung zu entwickeln, kam ihm jedoch erst 2014, während eines Zwischenjahrs im Anschluss an das Bachelor Studium. Während einer Südamerika Reise rief er seinen langjährigen Freund David Ballagi an und pitchte ihm seine Idee. Daraufhin tüftelten die beiden während ihrem Engineering Masterstudium an einem MVP, welches sie zum Patent anmeldeten. Nach einem Pilotversuch mit Fokus auf Shoppingcenter, bedient Zippsafe heute hauptsächlich Kunden aus den White Coat Industrien mit ihrer innovativen Personalgarderobenlösung. Bereits über 64 Institutionen setzen auf das platzsparende System, so zum Beispiel das Kantonsspital Winterthur und das Städtische Klinikum Karlsruhe . Für Carlo Loderer ist es wichtig, dass er Freude und Leidenschaft verspürt, bei dem was er macht. Das und der Wunsch von guten Leuten umgeben zu sein spornten ihn an mit seinem Jugendfreund etwas eigenes aufzubauen. Privat unternimmt er regelmässig Abenteuerreisen in exotische Länder, so reiste er zum Beispiel mit dem Fahrrad durch Ruanda. Memorable Quotes: "Wir haben uns zu Beginn vorallem auf zwei KPI's konzentriert: "Call-to-Meeting Ratio" und die "Bereitschaft für einen Test zu bezahlen." "Es benötigt in unserem Business aufgrund der Sales-Cycles und Lead Times relativ viel Zeit bis zu einem Abschluss - das muss einberechnet werden!" "Die grössten Erfolge waren immer, wenn wir etwas zum ersten Mal gemacht haben. Zu Beginn haben wir uns gesagt: "Wenn wir jemals eine solche Schliesstasche verkaufen.." Und drei
S1 E161 · Wed, June 02, 2021
Timestamps: 2:33 - Does the Ivy League open doors? 15:14 - Turning down a unicorn job 22:00 - From the Midwest to Zurich 40:17 - Trying to run yourself out of business 1:00:14 - Taking on your first investor late in the game About Daniel Protz Daniel Protz is the founder and CEO of FlavorWiki , a B2B digital service supporting the food and beverages industry with customer insight and data management. With an impressive track record in reputable corporate companies such as Goldman Sachs , Deutsche Bank and Groupon , Daniel’s interest in the food industry grew as learned about its complex internal logistics and bureaucratic standards from his wife, a food scientist. As of now, Daniel describes the field as heavily concentrated in a small number of players. It also maintains low levels of disruption , and consequently slow cycles of change — after all, childhood experiences and cultural identities aren’t easily displaced, so eating habits are inherently emotional . Daniel’s original problem statement stemmed from gaps in online retail platforms. Taste is the number one reason why people care about a certain food product , but it can differ radically according to gender, ethnicity and age , a reality most recommendation models often ignored. Also, traditional market research processes were slow and expensive, so Daniel wanted to find a solution for better digital food-selling that really finds its core in large-scale, honest customer review . By accelerating data treatment on taste and personal preference , Daniel’s vision wants to provide an affordable research model that is accessible to big companies and small players alike. As an experienced entrepreneur and sportsman, Daniel told us his two cents of advice for those fearing the entrepreneurial roller coaster: Rely on the small moments of validation to boost your confidence. User feedback is the most valuable tool for building new features . Accept that failure is an inevitable part of the journey : a “no” can actually give you priceless directions on where to go next. Overcome emotional clouds to read better into criticism . Don’t underestimate the value of family for honest feedback and kind support along the way. <l
S1 E160 · Sun, May 30, 2021
Timestamps 4:50 - Warum ReCIRCLE günstiger ist als Einwegverpackungen 11:30 - Warum sogar Greta Thunberg, Einfluss aufs Geschäft hatte 17:00 - Warum Kunststoff nicht nur schlecht ist 25:45 - Die Laufbahn von Jeannette 37:00 - Neue Produktentwicklungen Über Jeannette Morath und reCIRCLE Jeannette Morath ist die Gründerin von reCIRCLE , der Schweizer Branchenlösung für Mehrwegverpackung in der Unterwegsverpflegung. Vor der Gründung ihres eigenen Unternehmens war sie als Projektmanagerin im Veranstaltungs- und Marketingbereich tätig. Unter anderem als Projektmanagerin für bike to work, und in der Kommunikation und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit bei Entsorgung und Recycling Stadt Bern . Das Ausmass der Müllproblematik von Wegwerf-Verpackungen wurde Jeannette Morath bereits mit 20 Jahren bewusst, als sie auf Korsika Beachparties für Gäste organisierte und der Strand am nächsten Tag verwüstet aussah. Deshalb entschied sie sich im Bereich Nachhaltigkeit tätig zu werden. 2014 startete sie als Co-Initiantin das Pilotprojekt « Grüne Tatze » in der Stadt Bern, welchem dasselbe Konzept wie reCIRCLE zugrunde liegt. Der Pilot sollte aufzeigen, ob überhaupt ein Bedürfnis nach diesem Produkt besteht. Nach einer erfolgreichen Pilotphase entschied sich Jeannette Morath das Konzept auszubauen. Das Produkt und das Geschäftsmodell wurden weiter verfeinert und 2015 reCIRCLE gegründet. Das reCIRCLE Netzwerk umfasste zum Startzeitpunkt 24 Restaurants, heute sind es über 1'500 und reCIRCLE expandiert erfolgreich international. Damit kommt Jeannette ihrer Vision, dass Essen in einer Mehrweg-Box zur Normalität wird, immer näher. Privat fährt Jeannette Morath mit dem Fahrrad zur Arbeit, betreibt Carsharing mit ihren Nachbarn und verreist mit ihrer Familie entweder mit dem Fahrrad, ÖV oder dem Auto innerhalb Europas, um so Flugreisen möglichst zu vermeiden. Für sie ist es jedoch wichtig, nicht zu missionieren oder sich selbst und ihrer Familie strikte Nachhaltigkeitsregeln aufzuerlegen, so isst sie zum Beispiel beim Grillieren im Sommer auch ab und zu gerne mal ein Stück Fleisch. Memorable Quotes "Wir wollen eine Lösung die für 80% der Mahlzeiten und Restaurants passt." "Wir wollen keine Lösung für 3%, das würde sich nicht lohnen." "Unsere Vision ist es, dass sich das Aubergine-violett als die Farbe für 'reusable'
S1 E159 · Wed, May 26, 2021
Timestamps: 1:08 - The entrepreneur DNA 7:20 - Deciding to quit your job 15:45 - Introducing a new technology to the market 34:02 - Struggling with regulations 38:26 - 3 childless men making baby food About Tobias Gunzenhauser Tobias Gunzenhauser is co-founder and CEO of yamo, a B2C company revolutionizing the kid's food market with nutritious and organic options for kids of all ages. Tobias’s academic background is in Business and Marketing. However, corporate jobs never motivated him, as he felt there was little he could fix with his own hands. It all changed in 2015, while Tobias was working as Brand Manager for the Campari Group and he and his coworkers decided to go vegan for a month. The new vegans struggled to find healthy lunch alternatives near the office and, being natural problem solvers, turned to baby food for convenient and affordable meals. As an accidental consumer of baby food, Tobias was amazed at the shelf life of these products: was something that lasted 3 to 5 years left on its own truly safe for kids? With a bit of surveying, he found out that parents shared the same safety concerns, and, in the lack of more sustainable options they could trust, they often batch-cooked purées at home during the weekends, which can become a time-consuming chore for sleep-deprived parents. After his first hand experiences with baby food, Tobias collaborated with food scientist, close friend and current co-founder, José Amado-Blanco, who knew just how to turn this traditional industry upside down with the help of technology. The commonly used heat sterilisation technique boosted product longevity, but it also killed necessary vitamins. High-pressure pasteurisation methods changed the game for yamo: their product may not last more than a couple of weeks, but it can really achieve that comforting homemade flavour without compromising on proper nutrition. Yamo’s stance on innovation with exotic recipes and nutritional conscience really makes their product shine. However, they too have had their hard days between navigating strict regulations and battling lawsuits from HiPP. But yamo has always managed to look on the bright side, and they have plenty of reasons to do so! With their early crowdfunding campaign, they were able to pre-sell product worth 52K CHF within a month. In July 2020, they raised 10.1M CHF in a Series A round, and can now lean on a great network of investors like Five Seasons Ventures. Other recent milestones include expanding to the Spanish market and Carrefour and launching their new plant-based Yamoghurt. Listen to the episode to learn more about yamo’s journey on the food tech rollercoaster! Resources Mentioned: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers, by Ben Horowitz The High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups From 10 to 10,000 People, by
S1 E158 · Sun, May 23, 2021
Timestamps: 1:38 - Altoo in 30 Sekunden 8:08 - Wie Altoo Hackerangriffe abwehrt 16:37 - War das Timing richtig? 24:15 - Corporate Job oder Unternehmer? 35:23 - Welchen Einfluss hatte COVID für Altoo? Über Martin Stadler und Altoo Martin Stadler ist CEO von Altoo , einem Software Unternehmen, welches ein digitales Cockpit für die einfache Darstellung von komplexen Vermögensstrukturen anbietet. Bevor Martin selbst zum Unternehmer wurde, startete er 1996 seine berufliche Laufbahn als KV Lehrling bei der UBS in St. Gallen und studierte im Anschluss berufsbegleitend Wirtschaft an der Fachhochschule St. Gallen . Während 20 Jahren machte er intern Karriere als Senior Kundenberater an verschiedenen Standorten, so unter anderem in Singapur. 2016 war er bei der Flynt Bank als Ambassador für die Kundengewinnung verantwortlich, wo er bereits mit den beiden weiteren Mitgliedern der zukünftigen Altoo Geschäftsleitung Stefan Thiel (CTO) und Stefan Weber (CDO) arbeitete. Für Martin Stadler persönlich ist Authentizität von hoher Bedeutung: die eigenen Werte müssen im Privat- sowie im Geschäftsleben übereinstimmen. Er schätzt Menschen, welche in guten wie in schlechten Zeiten nicht Augen und Ohren verschliessen, sondern den Ursachen auf den Grund gehen wollen. Eine gute Stimmung und Humor sind für ihn geschäftlich wie auch privat unverzichtbar. 2017 kam es zum Buy-Out der Flynt Technologie durch zwei Schweizer Unternehmerfamilien. Dadurch bot sich für Martin Stadler die Gelegenheit als CEO die Verantwortung für das neu entstandene Fintech Unternehmen Altoo zu übernehmen. Aus diesem Grund sehen sich die Mitglieder der Geschäftsleitung auch nicht als Gründer, sondern als Teil eines grossen gemeinsamen Efforts. Dies zeigt sich auch im Namen Altoo, welcher für “all together” steht. Aktuell expandiert das Software Unternehmen in ausländische Märkte. Memorable Quotes Altoo muss einen Hackerangriff überstehen können. Wir sind wie ein Haus ohne Fenster und ohne Türen - so haben wir unsere Sicherheitstechnologie gebaut. Wenn du mehr über SEF startups erfahren möchtest, hör dir unsere Episode mit Sergio Studer , <a href="https://swisspreneur.org/podcast/andreas-lenzhofer
S1 E157 · Wed, May 19, 2021
Timestamps: 1:16 - An international background 5:00 - 3 crucial factors for a good investment 10:23 - Losing an investment 16:30 - Launching a student fund 23:42 - How they pick the students About Cynthia Jurytko Cynthia Jurytko is a professional Business Angel and President of the Board of S2S Ventures , Switzerland's first student-run Venture Capital firm. In 2012, Cynthia left the path of management consulting to become Head of Investment Strategy and Portfolio Management at Neue Zürcher Zeitung . This was when she also started her journey as a business angel — as of now, her points of focus are healthcare and sustainability , two traditional fields that could really benefit from extra impact and entrepreneurial innovation according to Cynthia. However, Cynthia's endeavors didn't end there! She realized how universities were often contacted by outside professional funds , but were lacking in cross-campus initiatives . Following the footsteps of American role models such as the Dorm Room Fund , S2S knows how the upcoming generations can lead the way to innovation, because they have an unbiased view on tech trends and are close to their peers and vital infrastructures , such as research centers and university clubs. The project receives its funding exclusively from board members and private investors interested in academic funds. At S2S, students are not only the focus of investment practices, but they run the fund themselves ! Two students from each major university are chosen for membership. Their learning process is completely autonomous : they are the ones contacting early-stage startups with no limited industry focus and deciding the ticket sizes, which can range from 20-150k CHF. Change is never a problem: the constant renewing of students benefits the initiative with fresh ideas each academic year. As new campus funds spring across Europe, Cynthia is keen on keeping her ideals of transparency while hoping her project soon expands internationally. Resources Mentioned Village Global's Venture Stories Brené Brown 's leadership advice Memorable Quotes "No investment has zero risks or weaknesses. You always find something." “With Series A startups, you evaluate it a bit differently, because you can make more fact-checking, you
S1 E156 · Sun, May 16, 2021
Timestamps: 2:12 - Neon onboarding in 10 Minuten 7:45 - Das Neon Gründerteam 12:30 - Warum der Name Neon 17:00 - Welche Kreditkarte nutzt Jörg 20:56 - Vertrauensaufbau bei Kunden Bio Jörg Sandrock ist co-founder und CEO von neon , der ersten Schweizer Smartphone Bank ohne Kartengebühren. Vor seiner Karriere als Unternehmer, war der studierte Wirtschaftsingenieur ( Karlsruher Institut für Technologie ) über 11 Jahre im Beratungsunternehmen Strategy& tätig, wo er auch zwei seiner drei Mitgründer kennenlernte. Während eines Beratungsmandates für einen Kunden, der sein digitales Retail Banking Angebot erweitern wollte, erarbeiteten sie ein Konzept, welches zwar für Begeisterung sorgte, jedoch aus internen Gründen nicht umgesetzt werden konnte. Daraus entstand die Motivation die Beratung zu verlassen und das Fintech Startup neon zu gründen. Neon hat bis heute Investitionen von über CHF 10 Mio. aufgenommen. Zu den Investoren gehören unter anderem die TX Group , Roland Brack und Bettina Hein . Die Smartphone Bank ist seit ihrem Markteintritt im Jahr 2019 bereits auf über 60’000 Kundinnen und Kunden gewachsen. Memorable Quotes "Das teilweise in den alten Köpfen vorherrschende Bild, dass eine Bank für Vertrauen steht, geht beim Durchschnitt der Bevölkerung eher verloren." Wenn du mehr über SEF startups erfahren möchtest, hör dir unsere Episode mit Sergio Studer und Andreas Lenzhofer an. Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu blei
S1 E155 · Wed, May 12, 2021
Timestamps: 1:00 - Growing up in the Soviet Union 10:41 - Recommendations for going international 13:53 - How and when to acquire companies 16:18 - Helping your company as a scientist 21:05 - Valuation About Serguei Beloussov Serguei Beloussov is Founder and CEO of Acronis , a global company focused on cyber protection , recovery solutions and storage management services . A scientist by training raised in the former Soviet Union, Serguei started his first business in graduate school. Then, in 2000, he founded SWsoft (later Parallels ), a leading software in automation and cross-platform connections for businesses, public entities and individual customers. Parallels would later on launch Acronis, its own spin-off targeting storage and backup assistance. Serguei's early endeavors were based in Singapore , a friendly and safe growth environment. However, the founder soon weighed his operations, and came to the conclusion that up to 40% of all transactions took place in Europe . Switzerland was a happy choice for the new corporate headquarters : according to Serguei, Switzerland is a politically stable and wealthy environment for company growth , despite the difficulties of the Swiss ecosystem in hiring foreign talent . For companies itching to go international, here are Serguei’s tips: Study your goal-market carefully before making the big leap; Remember that markets are often determined by geopolitical standards ; Master culturally-specific terminology . This is a big deal in deep tech: concepts and names will vary widely across the globe , so make sure you do your research. As we write, Acronis is thriving! The company currently employs more than 1600 experienced collaborators across 33 countries , and its recent fundraising campaign raised 250M$ from CBC capital at a 2.5B$ valuation . This self-made entrepreneur has also co-authored more than 280 US technology patents while juggling many board membership positions , and he’s looking forward to seeing how machine intelligence and digital literacy progress in the upcoming years. Listen to the episode to learn more about Acronis’s story and Serguei’s personal outlook on data safety!
S1 E154 · Sun, May 09, 2021
Timestamps 5:10 - Besser schlafen durch Thermoregulierung 8:00 - Skepsis beim Markteintritt 13.08 - Die USP's eines Dagsmejan Pyjamas 27.27 - Ehepartner und Co-Gründer 35.05 - Kurz vor der Kapitulation Bio Andreas Lenzhofer ist co-founder und CEO von Dagsmejan , ein Unternehmen, welches innovative Bekleidung für besseren Schlaf entwickelt. Bevor der Aargauer selbst zum Unternehmer wurde, studierte er Finance an der FHNW in Olten (früher HWV) und verfolgte anschliessend für knapp 20 Jahre eine Karriere in der Unternehmensberatung (u.A. bei PWC und Strategy& ) mit dem Fokus auf Supply Chain Management, Operations und Finance. Als er und seine Frau Catarina Dahlin sich ‘mid-life’ in ihren jeweiligen Corporate Karrieren befanden, entschieden sie, dass sie die zweite Hälfte ihres beruflichen Pfades als Entrepreneurs verbringen möchten. Nach einer umfangreichen Trendanalyse gründeten sie 2017 das High-Tex-Startup Dagsmejan, um die Schlaf- und Lebensqualität global zu revolutionieren. Memorable Quotes: "Wenn man unternehmerisch tätig war, ist es fast unmöglich wieder in einem Corporate Umfeld zu arbeiten." Wenn du mehr über SEF startups erfahren möchtest, hör dir unsere Episode mit Sergio Studer an. Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.
S1 E153 · Wed, May 05, 2021
Timestamps: 1:06 - Being obsessed with running businesses 6:28 - Creating the mulesoft open source project 12:15 - Should you solve your own problem? 21:00 - Open sourcing software 1:01:30 - Getting prospective clients to follow through 1:04:08 - Letting go of your CTO position 1:07:51 - Falling into a depression 1:11:14 - Ringing the bell at the NY stock exchange 1:35:10 - Adapting to a slower paced life About Ross Mason Ross Mason is the founder of MuleSoft Inc. and Dig Ventures . He is also a Board Member at Stackin' and Syncari . Ross has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and jokes that at the ripe age of seven, he was already running his own bootleg Lego club! His parents were business owners, and taught Ross two important lessons for his future projects: you should never lower your bar , and working hard isn't necessarily a bad thing if you enjoy what you do . In 1997, Ross graduated in Computer Science from the University of the West of England and started his career in corporate work. However, he knew he wanted to build his own path , and open source software was his prime choice , since it gives you widespread distribution and insight about potential product/market fit . That’s exactly how The Mule Project was born. The platform started out as a SourceForge project in April 2003, and its aim was to make programmers’ lives simpler by allowing them to easily enable the sending of data between their SaaS (software as a service), on-premise software and legacy systems platforms which was previously hard and tedious to do. This philosophy of avoiding “donkey work ” became a guiding star for his endeavors. Born in 2006, MuleSource, later MuleSoft, got the timing just right: many open source companies were becoming commercial , and investors were starting to realize it’s actually a viable distribution model . Ross had a strong drive for building the next game changer in a fragmented market. Though integration had taken a big hit after the rise of web services, MuleSoft kept the ball rolling by uniting many different approaches in one platform , with all the proper testing, monitoring, debugging and graphical environment. Don’t forget to give us a follow o
S1 E152 · Sun, May 02, 2021
Timestamps 07:14 – Die Bereitschaft halb so viel zu verdienen 13:35 – Point of no return und die vermeintliche Auto-Garagen-Mafia 21:33 – Von Shopify zum Aufbau einer eigenen Technologieplattform 23:50 – Unzufriedene Kunden for the win 35:47 – internationale Märkte, aufmerksame Mitbewerber und gefragte Investoren-Qualitäten Bio Sergio Studer ist Co-Founder von CARIFY , der grössten Schweizer Auto-Abo Plattform. Vor der Gründung studierte er Betriebswirtschaft an der Universität St. Gallen und arbeitete anschliessend als Sales Manager und später als Head of Sales im Software Startup SHERPANY , wo er auch seinen Mitgründer Raffael Fiechter kennenlernte. Nach vier lehrreichen und prägenden Jahren entschieden sich die beiden gemeinsam den Weg in die Selbständigkeit zu gehen und haben 2019 CARIFY ins Leben gerufen. 2020 trat das Gründer-Duo bei der TV Sendung « Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz » auf und erhielt ein Investment von CHF 900'000. Sergio liegt das Unternehmertum im Blut, seine Eltern führen ein Baugeschäft, in welchem er schon früh an den Wochenenden mitangepackt hat. Dieses hätte er zwar übernehmen können, entschied sich aber dafür etwas Eigenes zu machen und sich dem Baugeschäft nur in der Rolle des Verwaltungsrates zu widmen. Die wenige Zeit, die Sergio nebst seinem Wirken als Gründer bleibt, verbringt er am liebsten mit seiner Partnerin und seiner Familie. Memorable Quotes: «Wenn ich einen Tipp habe für jemanden […], der etwas starten möchte: fang einfach mal an, du merkst nach 2, 3, 4 Wochen, wenn du irgendwo anstehst, dann kannst du immer noch ändern.» «Ich glaube es ist niemand böse, wenn man zu seinen Fehlern steht. Gerade auf Kundenseite geht viel schief, gerade am Anfang.» «Wir haben bei uns die Kultur entwickelt, dass wir den Kunden in die Problemlösung einbeziehen.» «Ich glaube das Wertvollste was man erhalten kann ist eine ehrliche Meinung und Kritik. Gerade wenn du erfolgreich bist oder in den Medien, dann merkt man auch von Freunden, dass viele nicht mehr einfach offen reden und dich kritisieren, aber das ist eigentlich das Wertvollste.» Folge uns auf Twitter , Instagram , Facebook und <a href="https:/
S1 E151 · Wed, April 28, 2021
Timestamps: 1:08 - Studying computer science and meteorology 8:49 - What does transparency mean? 28:11 - Finding perseverance 36:55 - Acquiring clients 58:00 - Thinking over a business strategy About Oliver Marchand Oliver Marchand is Managing Director and Global Head of ESG Research and Models at MSCI Inc ., a worldwide provider of support tools and services for investment needs. Marchand finished his PhD in Computer Science and Meteorology from ETH Zürich in 2003. In 2005, he took a role as Head of IT at Fisch Asset Management . His small team managed to build the entire portfolio management system for FAM, and his decade-long stay provided many valuable lessons for building a company, like negotiation skills , IT security skills and transparency — according to Oliver, “ there’s really no other way to do business ”! These tools were soon put to good use. After leaving FAM, Oliver joined forces to found Carbon Delta , a financial technology B2B service evaluating the ecological footprint and possible environmental impacts of companies. Building a social impact company, especially by bootstrapping, was no easy feat. The product was also met with intense skepticism by the investing community of Germany and Switzerland. As an alternative, browsing in America for interested investors and employees meant heavy relocation costs that were just too much for the young company. Climate change is definitely a hot topic these days, and understandably so. According to Marchand, 50% of the economy desperately needs to decarbonize , and it was precisely this feeling of urgency that made Carbon Delta push forward to overcome their funding struggles. In the first year, their biggest support came from Climate-KIC ’s Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Booster Flagship Programme . This valuable help eventually led the company to reach amazing milestones: some of their victories include the Europe’s Best Climate Venture 2016 award and the European Fintech Award 2017 for Risk, Intelligence and Security . Other major players supporting Oliver’s project include the <a h
S1 E150 · Wed, April 21, 2021
Timestamps: 6:18 - How Tobias got into online advertising 9:11 - Working at Google in 2007 20:31 - Launching Webrepublic in 2009 29:30 - How to assess talent 51:02 - A marketing family About Tobias Zehnder Tobias Zehnder is Co-Founder and Partner at Webrepublic AG , a Swiss digital marketing agency boosting your company’s online performance through meaningful business value strategies. Zehnder caught the entrepreneurial bug early on: during his student days in the 2000s, Tobias was a freelancing DJ and blogger posting reviews on his favourite records, having taught himself to monetize those endeavors. Then, in 2010, Tobias finished his MA in Socioeconomic History and Linguistics at the University of Zürich with a thesis entitled Online Advertising: the Stepchild of Media Agencies , which would later serve as a blueprint for his agency. It was during his graduate studies that Tobias got a fantastic internship at Google Zürich as a Sales Planner and met Tom Hanan , the team's Head of Sales and his future co-founder at Webrepublic. The timing couldn’t have been better: cloud working was just starting to take off, and the office felt both small and international. Unfortunately, the markets took a deep dive in the 2009 financial crisis, but not all was bad. In hindsight, Tobias sees many advantages in starting a business during those rough times: performance marketing was fairly new, so they could build from the ground up and still see results, and though companies were saving funds, the small demand gave customers the most cost-efficient solutions. Twelve years down the road, Tobias admits that positioning a company in the market landscape is much more complex nowadays, but that there should always be space for integrated services and for small players to shine through. Today, Tobias also holds a position as a lecturer of Digital Leadership at HWZ Zürich, a job that helps him stay focused, inspired and on the freshest page with innovation. His main concerns include responsible leadership, conscious integrating partnerships and market evaluation with a global focus. Keep listening to learn more on building an incredible path during a major crisis! Resources Todoist , a task managing app currently freeing up the mental space of more than 25 million users. Memorable Quotes “Performance marketing is not something that you do in waves. It’s something that’s always on. You don’t switch it on and off. As long as there’s custo
S1 E149 · Wed, April 14, 2021
Timestamps: 2:20 - "Stiff" Switzerland 8:13 - Crucial business angel skills 11:32 - Average ticket size 25:44 - Covid trends 34:08 - Picking 3 markets About Adrienne Perramond Adrienne Perramond is Mediator at GDC Médiation and Board Member at Business Angels Switzerland , one of the leading angel investing networks nationwide. Adrienne grew up in a multicultural environment between Switzerland, the US and England, where she completed her BSc in Business at the University of Buckingham. In 2001, she sold Transfer Solutions, her own relocation service agency in Neuchâtel. After many years in local politics as a Liberal Party councilor in Colombier, Adrienne is now a committed angel investor with a focus on diversified sectors and conscious team building. Through BAS, she has invested in 11 startups, 5 to 7 of which may lead to a great exit in 3 years’ time. Of a total of 16 exits, 9 have profited the club members with a multiple 2,5 return: such is the work of experts! Adrienne’s main interests for the upcoming years include healthcare diagnosis, delivery logistics, remote working and food tech solutions, and she has great predictions about the post-pandemic future to share! Resources Goodwall for amazing networking and exposure opportunities. Memorable Quotes "You've got to have the right mindset. Are you angel material? Do you have a long-term view? You can't be in it just for the money, but if you are, can you afford to lose it? What's your tolerance for risk and failure? You can have the thrill of victory but also the agony of defeat. Most importantly, you’ve got to have respect and love for entrepreneurs and startups." "In Switzerland, getting to an exit is not a matter of two years. Usually, it takes more, at least five to seven years. We're a deep tech nation and that's bound to make things slower." If you would like to listen to more conversations with business angels, check out our episode with Carole Ackermann . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="http://bit.ly/1RV1x1m" rel="ugc noopene
S1 E148 · Sun, April 11, 2021
Timestamps: 9:21 - Putting an end to your startup 11:12 - How does a 0 equity accelerator make money? 15:24 - Wingman Ventures' investment focus 24:14 - Launching the Wingman Campus Fund 34:45 - Dealing with an ever-changing group of students About Edouard Treccani Edouard Treccani is Head of Partnerships at Wingman Ventures , Switzerland's leading fund for tech projects in pre-seed and seed stages. From 2012 to 2014, he worked as an intern for Crédit Agricole Suisse and BCV while balancing a smashing GPA in Quantitative Economics and Finance. However, he realised deep down he craved a creative spark that the banking game couldn't give him. In 2015, he founded Incidee and built a valuable media product: his journey took off! Edouard is passionate about helping young founders build something outstanding from the get-go, and this motivation for supporting bold innovation led him to create the Wingman Campus Fund , a small-scale VC fund boosting the entrepreneurial dreams of many university students. Edouard says "the Swiss startup ecosystem is just starting to write its best success stories", and we couldn't agree more! Resources AngelList for finding your next dream opportunity. Sifted for trusty reporting and analysis. Jason Calacanis ' work on Angel Investing. Naval Ravikant and his inspiring mindspace. Memorable Quotes “After my first two internships in banking, I knew I’d never enjoy my work. Sure, I could do it by default, get a decent wage and get by month after month. But I would certainly not have been happy.” “You should constantly think about how to build your network, how to make it more meaningful and resilient.” “In an ecosystem like Switzerland, which is maturing more and more, it’s important to get to know founders early — it’s never a given that you’ll be able to invest in the startups you prefer." If you would like to listen to more conversations on VC investment, check out our episode with Tanja Dowe . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , <a href="http://bit.ly/1t0kRpw" re
S1 E147 · Wed, April 07, 2021
Timestamps: 1:25 - Dropping out of university 12:29 - The early days of Seedtable 19:38 - Adding a pay wall 26:25 - The future of the European ecosystem 36:37 - An outsider's perspective on the Swiss ecosystem About Gonzalo Sanchez Gonzalo Sanchez is currently Head of Growth for On Deck , an educational community for those willing to learn about technology and innovation through creativity and self-improvement. Gonzalo is a natural learner: his writing skills and curiosity for new ideas led him to found Seedtable , a weekly newsletter on European tech reaching more than 60,000 monthly visitors. Memorable Quotes: "The European ecosystem has been able to weather this pandemic pretty well." "For the past 40, the US has been the startup hub for ambitious founders. But nowadays that's changing — Europe might be catching up." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E146 · Sun, April 04, 2021
Timestamps 1:55 - Biggest mistakes in digital administration 4:00 - Monthly, quarterly, and yearly tasks 30:01 - Where to find resources 38:30 - Core functionalities of a good financial tool 47:13 - How to find a suitable accountant/trustee About Monica Maurer Monica Maurer is a certified trustee and Swiss Certified Fiduciary at ACT Audit & Tax . In her role, she helps startups and SMEs with their accounting questions. Based on her many years of experience, here are some of her recommendations for founders who are just getting started with their accounting: It’s not rocket science. Monica recommends getting some help for the set up of your accounting systems and then running with it yourself for the first couple of years. This saves you money and also keeps you closer to the vital signs of your company, i.e. the cash flow. If you have investors, find out about their reporting requirements and make sure your accounting is set up in a way that allows you to easily produce the numbers that your investors want to look at on a regular basis. This will save you a lot of time and frustration. Starting Jan 1, 2021, if you have employees without a Swiss passport or residence permit C, you are responsible for their withholding tax. Monica recommends updating your employment contracts to make it mandatory for your employees to inform you about any tax relevant changes in their lives (e.g. marriage, child birth or similar) so you can adequately reflect that in your withholding tax declaration. Memorable Quotes "Was man nicht vergessen darf, ist die kontinuierliche Kontrolle. Auch wenn alles elektronisch ist und man nur noch den Knopf drücken muss, sollte man sicherstellen das alles stimmt." If you would like to listen to more episodes on accounting, check out our first and second conversation with Renato Stalder. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our lates
S1 E145 · Wed, March 31, 2021
Timestamps: 1:33 - Working a minimum wage job in America 8:12 - Finding out what you're passionate about 26:20 - The dot com bubble 53:49 - Getting acquired for $240M 1:08:17 - Merging two teams About Jean-Michel Pittet Jean-Michel Pittet is Vice-President of Engineering of Adobe since 2013. With his decades-long expertise of management and product development, Jean-Michel believes any tech-savvy person can become a skilful leader. His main concerns include creating meaningful digital experiences, cultivating purposeful customer/business connections and promoting a healthy leadership spirit. Memorable Quotes "If I don't understand something, that motivates me. I want to understand." "You don't have to be extroverted to be passionate." "Even when you're at the top, you gotta ask yourself: Can't I do better?" "If after ten years of being acquired you can say "this was the right move", then you know you made the right decision." Resources: Fitbit for grounding the intellect in a healthy physique . Adobe Photoshop for creative minds. Evernote and ConceptDraw MINDMAP for note taking on the go. If you would like to listen to more episodes on big exits, check out our conversation with Ariel Lüdi . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly
S1 E144 · Sun, March 28, 2021
Timestamps: 1:49 - First entrepreneurial activities 7:05 - The start of the NIKIN story 20:47 - Where NIKIN finds its employees 27:35 - The unplanned marketing success 39:29 - Hardcore fans tattooing the NIKIN logo About Nicolas Hänny and NIKIN Nicholas Hänny is the co-founder and CEO of NIKIN , a sustainable fashion startup. Nicholas started NIKIN in 2016 together with his childhood friend Robin Gnehm after having been rejected by several large consulting companies he applied to intern with. Within only 4 years, he grew the company to 30 employees and CHF 7.2 m revenue. In 2019, Nicholas received the “ Aargauer of the Year Award ” as recognition for his work with NIKIN. Nicholas has a background in marketing and business administration. He holds a Master of Arts in Business Innovation from the University of St. Gallen and was part of the CEMS program. Memorable Quotes " Konzentriere dich besser auf 6 KPI's in Marketing und Sales, anstelle von 30-40 KPI's die wir momentan haben." If you would like to listen to our previous conversations with Nicholas, check out episodes 99 and 101 . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E143 · Wed, March 24, 2021
Timestamps: 2:29 - Having a surgeon and a business woman for parents 6:13 - Are entrepreneurs born or made? 25:04 - Tanja's investment focus area 29:44 - Red flags for an investor 44:52 - The Finnish and Swiss ecosystems About Tanja Dowe Tanja Dowe is CEO for the Debiopharm International Innovation Fund and Board Member for Novadiscovery and Oncomfort . Using her expertise in strategic business and market demands, Tanja’s work encourages commercialization of innovative healthcare technologies and patient care solutions for a brighter, healthier future. Memorable Quotes "Of course everyone can turn themselves into an entrepreneur. But some people are just born that way: curious, risk-taking, and eager to create something which will outlive them." "The health industry is very focused on treating diseases. We need to start thinking about how to prevent them. And we need to start catering to the digi-native generations." If you would like to listen to more episodes about medtech, check out our conversations with Luiza Dobre , Lea Von Bidder , Michael Friedrich , Katja Berlinger , Sophia Borowka and Dorina Thiess . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E142 · Sun, March 21, 2021
Timestamps 2:46 - Why Lukas Speiser was the right co-founder 8:45 - The beginning of Amorana 18:12 - How to sell sex toys in conservative Switzerland 35:20 - Alan's online marketing framework 49:20 - Amorana acquisition About Alain Frei and Amorana Alan Frei is the co-founder of amorana.ch , an e-commerce platform for sex toys and lingerie. In 2020, he sold a majority stake in Amorana to the British Lovehoney Group . Before starting Amorana, he experimented with a variety of other projects such as nachhilfeportal.de and LooksOfLove, from which he learned what it takes to make a company successful. Alan is a University of Zurich alumni and headed the University’s startup center. He lives a minimalist lifestyle, counting less than 120 items in his personal possession. After the acquisition of Amorana by Lovehoney Group, he stayed on as CMO of Amorana with the intention of expanding the brand internationally. He also decided to take his minimalist lifestyle to the next level by giving up his apartment and permanently living out of hotels. Memorable Quotes: "Zuerst versuchst du die Conversion Killer zu minimieren, um dann anschliessend oder auch leicht versetzt Traffic auf deine Website zu schicken." If you would like to listen to Alan Frei some more, check out our previous episodes with him here and here . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E141 · Wed, March 17, 2021
Timestamps: 2:11 - A solution-oriented family 17:21 - Investing in diversity from day one 22:43 - Becoming a mother and founding WeShapeTech 30:14 - Gendered language 48:25 - How to recruit About Valérie Vuillerat Valérie Vuillerat is CEO of Nine Internet Solutions , the leading provider of platform management solutions in Switzerland. With ample experience in board membership, business administration and entrepreneurial expertise, Valérie was also CEO for Ginetta and co-founder of Witty Works , helping tech companies boot out unconscious bias through inclusive language choices suited for all walks of life. Memorable Quotes "I grew up in a very solution-oriented family. Complaining was not an option." "In the future, diversity will be a differentiator for attractive job opportunities." "Diversity leads nowhere if not everybody has a voice." If you would like to listen to more episodes on female entrepreneurship, check out our conversation with Estefanía Tapias . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E140 · Sun, March 14, 2021
Timestamps: 3:16 - What is Appentura? 20:26 - The Höhle der Löwen deal 28:43 - Offline vs. online marketing 33:30 - Marketing with Google 41:41 - Next milestones About Stefan Flück and Appentura: Stefan Flück is the founder and CEO of Appentura , a provider of surprise experience gifts. Stefan started Appentura in 2014 when he pitched the idea at a startup competition. The original idea was to offer customers the possibility to buy a surprise for themselves within a given timeframe and budget. Stefan, however, soon realized that customers were much more willing to spend money on surprising others rather than themselves and consequently, Appentura changed its offering to what it is today. Contrary to many of its competitors, Appentura sells its gift certificates almost exclusively online. Over the years, they built strong expertise in online marketing and digital sales channels which now results in a competitive advantage. The first 5 years, Stefan completely bootstrapped the company, investing every CHF earned back into online marketing. In 2019, the company participated in the “ Höhle der Löwen ” show and was able to win Bettina Hein as an investor. Going forward, Stefan plans to expand the business internationally. They have already run successful “test experiences” in Germany and the US and are planning to roll out larger scale offerings as soon as Covid permits. He also sees large untapped potential in the surprise gift market for businesses and wants to position Appentura in that area as well. Memorable Quotes: "Offline Werbung machen wir praktisch nur noch, wenn sich eine einmalige Chance ergibt. Mit unserem Budget ist es aber momentan nicht wirklich ein Thema." If you would like to listen to other episodes on online marketing, check out our conversation with Lukas Stuber . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E139 · Wed, March 10, 2021
Timestamps: 0:58 - Why companies need an e-government solution 3:45 - Switzerland vs Estonia 20:48 - The startup lifecycle on EasyGov 25:27 - Covid loans 34:55 - Collecting data and protecting privacy About Martin Godel Martin Godel is the Head of Small and Medium Size Enterprise Policy at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) , based in Berne. In 2002, he earned his Master’s Degree of Law and Diplomacy from Fletcher School, administered by Tufts and Harvard University. For nearly two decades, Martin has held various positions in business endeavours, including Head of the Swiss Business Hub for the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan (2007-2010) and Counsellor for the Swiss Government (2002-2004; 2005-2007). Godel’s main concerns are relieving the administrative load through e-government tools and assuring prime conditions for SME’s access to funding. Memorable Quotes "We currently have 32 000 registered companies, and the more companies we have, the easier it is to show just how much the benefits outweigh the costs, for these companies." "At the moment the tech offerings are quite concentrated on the big players. But I'm confident that we'll start to see much more diversity soon." If you would like to see more episodes on startups and politics, check out our conversations with Karim Maizar , Simon Enderli and Judith Bellaiche . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E138 · Sun, March 07, 2021
Timestamps 5:18 Challenges at Dacuda 9:25 Lead up to the Magic Leap acquisition 13:29 How PXL vision emerged 29:02 What is digitization 33:46 Tools to help with digitization About Karim Nemr Karim Nemr is the co-founder and CBO (Chief Business Officer) at PXL Vision, an ETH spinoff focused on digital identity verification. Karim started his career as a business developer at Dacuda, the company founded by Swisspreneur guest Michael Born . He joined the company at a very early stage and was heavily involved in their later exit to the American company Magic Leap in 2017. After Dacuda had been acquired, he soon decided to leave the company for a new venture - PXL Vision - which he had conceived with 4 of his former Dacuda colleagues. To date, PXL Vision is most renowned as the technology provider for the SwissID solution and for their customer verification and onboarding solutions for enterprises. In May 2020, PXL Vision secured CHF 4.6 m in seed financing. The investment round was led by SIX Fintech Ventures. The company has also been awarded the Swiss Economic Award and was admitted to the SEF Upscaler Program. Going forward, PXL Vision wishes to expand geographically and also branch out into additional use cases beyond customer onboarding. Karim holds a Bachelor in International Business Administration and Hospitality Management from É cole Hôtèliere de Lausanne . Memorable Quotes "Aus KMU Sicht gilt es wirklich komplett neu zu denken. Digitalisierung ist nicht nur der Weg wie man den Kunden digital erreicht." To meet two other PXL co-founders, check out our conversations with Michael Born and Roxana Porada . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest
S1 E137 · Wed, March 03, 2021
Timestamps: 1:03 - A day in the life of a VC 3:15 - Accidentally becoming a VC 4:35 - Working for Goldman Sachs 7:13 - Looking after yourself 8:38 - How to get in touch with a VC 10:45 - Vision-based pitch vs Problem statements 13:24 - What a pitch deck should look like 19:44 - Who has the higher leverage — the VC or the startup 22:42 - How VCs finally make a decision 26:30 - A VC's criteria for a startup 43:25 - How a VC actually supports a startup 49:00 - Conflict between investors and founders 57:31 - Being a female VC About Aleksandra Laska Aleksandra Laska is a partner at Redalpine and expert Venture Capitalist with broad experience in board management and investment operations. With a background in Law and Finance, she spent 5 intense years on Goldman Sach’s trading floor. In 2013, she started her own business journey with MobileDots Ltd. Believing “people are the foundation for any company’s success”, she holds strong commitment and enthusiasm for solving problems in creative, sustainable ways. See Aleksandra’s LinkedIn here . Check out Redalpine’s website here . Memorable Quotes "VCs really like it when they see that founders have taken the time to assess their competitive landscape." "I think the money aspect is a very small part of what a VC does. Investors can open doors for your business that will make it go through the roof." Resources : The TLDR Newsletter Sifted: Startup Europe explored through grown up reporting Daily Pnut WIRED TechCrunch If you would like to listen to more episodes on being a VC, check out our conversations with Cédric Waldburger and Alex Fries . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/10531767/admin/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" targe
S1 E136 · Sun, February 28, 2021
Timestamps: 1:54 - Startups disrupt the economic establishment 3:23 - Launching a parliamentary group for startups 9:05 - Misconceptions regarding startups 13:32 - The startup visa 21:07 - What's coming next? About Judith Bellaiche and the Parliamentary Group for Startups and Entrepreneurship Judith Bellaiche is a Swiss national politician (Swiss Green Liberal Party, GLP) and co-initiator of the Parliamentary Group for Startups and Entrepreneurship. She was first introduced to the Swiss startup landscape during her tenure in the Zurich cantonal parliament. In 2016, she, together with other politicians and lobbyists, pressured the administration to abandon a new, disadvantageous way of calculating the wealth tax for early stage founders. In 2019, Judith was elected to the Swiss National Parliament (Nationalrat). There, she teamed up with fellow parliamentarian and former Swisspreneur guest Andri Silberschmidt to launch the Parliamentary Group for Startups and Entrepreneurship. Through this working group which managed to attract politicians from across the political spectrum, they hope to improve the framework conditions for startups in Switzerland, starting with easier access to talent from non-EU countries through a dedicated startup visa. Judith holds a Law degree from the University of Basel and an executive MBA from the University of St. Gallen . Memorable Quotes "The broader our reach, the more support we have from every party, the stronger we will be." "We need to make people realize how important startups are to the economic prosperity of our country." "We need to engender in Switzerland an appetite for risk and for success." If you would like to listen to more episodes on startups & politics, check out our conversations with Andri Silberschmidt , Karim Maizar and Simon Enderli . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , <a href="https://www.facebook.com/swisspreneur/" rel="ugc noop
S1 E135 · Wed, February 24, 2021
Timestamps: 5:26 - What is a business angel 30:47 - The investment process 42:15 - Whether angels accept board mandates 46:05 - Managing a portfolio of over 30 investments 59:29 - Why angels are important for the ecosystem The Episode in 60 seconds What you need to know about angel investing in Switzerland. The most common mistakes of new angel investors: - Accepting the first deal they are offered: many new angel investors fall into the trap of investing into the first deal they are offered without due diligence. Even if the founders are people you know, this can still end very badly and potentially destroy friendships and/or your future ability to invest. - Failing to consider the business model: too much excitement about the team or idea can cover up a lack of a working business model that will allow the company to scale and be sold at a profit. The investment process: - First contact with a pitch deck and fact sheet - Meeting to get to know the team and clarify questions - Proposal / term sheet: details of how much money is getting raised at which valuation - Due diligence - Notarizing the issuance of new share capital - Great templates for most of these steps can be found at SECA Make sure you are covered — the shareholders agreement: - The shareholders agreement sets out the rights and obligations of shareholders and is an important part of any investment deal. - If you hold less than 50% of the shares, it should include some type of minority protection so you have a say on important business decisions such as the business moving abroad or changing the business purpose. - It should also include a liquidation preference for shareholders, meaning that if the company goes bankrupt, shareholders will be paid out any remaining capital first before the founders receive any money. Full-time business angels: - It’s possible to be a full-time business angel i.e. to live from the returns you get on your investments. - This takes some ramp-up time because there may be a considerable gap between your first investment and your first successful exit that allows you to live off of the returns. - Diversification is key. It is unavoidable that some investments will be lost. Diversification protects you from losing your entire investment. Advantages angel investors bring to a business: - Experience: angel investors are often former entrepreneurs themselves, so they’ve "been there, done that" in most of the situations a young company encounters. - Credibility: an angel investor on the board can give other investors confidence to invest. - Network: especially if the angel investor has a large portfolio, they may be able to connect their companies amongst each other so th
S1 E134 · Sun, February 21, 2021
Timestamps 1:58 - Founding SWESA 3:45 - Being a "working president" 5:00 - Taxes, talent and funding 13:33 - Misconceptions regarding Swiss politics 23:20 - What's the difference between the SSA and SWESA? About Simon Enderli and SWESA Simon Enderli is the CEO of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation (SEF) and President of the Swiss Entrepreneurs & Startup Association (SWESA). Before joining the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation as Deputy CEO in 2019, Simon spent 8 years at PostFinance , the financial services unit of the Swiss postal service. In 2020, he took over the CEO position at the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation from his predecessor, Peter Stähli. Shortly after, SWESA was established to work more closely with national parliamentarians and represent Swiss startups in the political decision-making process. Simon was nominated as the association's first president and within only one year, the organization was well on track to launch its first political initiative: a startup visa to facilitate the access to talent from countries outside the Schengen Area for Swiss startups. Simon holds a degree in Business Administration from the Berner Fachhochschule . Memorable Quotes "Don't romanticize the word "president" — what it actually entails is a whole lot of work." "I actually do think there are plenty of ideas in Switzerland. Our true weakness is knowing how to commercialize those ideas." If you would like to listen to more Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation co-productions, check out our conversations with Michele Matt , Roxana Porada , Hanspeter Fässler and Karim Maizar . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly gi
S1 E133 · Wed, February 17, 2021
Timestamps 0:57 - Academia or entrepreneurship? 2:17 - Working at Google 4:38 - What does Google do differently? 26:40 - Beating out the competition 41:55 - Creating a business angel club About Thomas Dübendorfer Thomas Dübendorfer is the president and co-founder of Swiss ICT Investor Club (SICTIC), the most influential angel investing association in Switzerland, with a scope of work deeply focused on technology start-ups in their earliest developmental stages. Thomas holds a doctoral degree in Computer Science from ETH Zurich , his alma-mater. In January 2006, he started his career as a tech lead and software engineer at Google Zürich , where he worked in fraud-prevention projects for advertisement systems. After 7 years, he left the company and devoted his life’s work to entrepreneurship and angel investment in seed-stage ICT start-ups, currently numbering more than 20 entrepreneurial endeavours in his portfolio. Beyond his accomplishments in industry and investment, Dübendorfer has ample experience in academic settings, having worked as a researcher and lecturer in institutions as the University of Zürich and ETH Zürich, where he co-lectured a module on Network Security for 10 years. Memorable Quotes "If you're in a market where there's no competition, something is wrong." "People nowadays want to measure everything in their lives. We at Contavista realized that that obviously extends to a person's financial insights." Resources Mentioned Google Docs Google Sheets If you would like to listen to more episodes on business angels, check out our conversation with Carole Ackermann and Daniel Gutenberg . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E132 · Sun, February 14, 2021
Timestamps: 2:00 - Joining SWESA 4:46 - Political hurdles facing Swiss companies 8:52 - The solutions SWESA proposes 16:04 - Misconceptions regarding Swiss politics 20:17 - Does Switzerland have more money than ideas? About Karim Maizar and SWESA Karim Maizar is a partner at Kellerhals Carrard and Board Member of SWESA , the Swiss Entrepreneur and Startup Association. He is the co-founder and head of Kellerhals Carrard’s startup desk and in this capacity has advised some of Switzerland’s most promising technology and life science startups through all stages of their growth. As a board member of SWESA, Karim is lobbying and working with a group of Swiss national parliamentarians to improve the legal conditions for startups and innovative SMEs in Switzerland. Currently, the association’s top agenda item is easier access to foreign talent for companies in Switzerland. While Switzerland’s technical universities ensure a steady supply of top talents, it’s often not enough to meet the needs of fast growing startups. This is why Karim and SWESA propose to introduce special immigration rules for highly skilled workers and founders from countries outside the European Schengen Area. Karim was recognized for his work by Bilanz/Handelszeitung/Le Temps as one of the “ Top 100 Digital Shapers ” of Switzerland in 2019. Memorable Quotes "I'm totally convinced that a political lobbying organization speaking on behalf of startups and the venture capital ecosystem is required." "The digital wave that came with the Covid crisis has mitigated Switzerland's difficulties with searching for talent." "Until now Covid has had a very small impact in the startup and venture capital world." If you would like to listen to more episodes on startup lobbying, check out our conversation with Andri Silberschmidt . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin account
S1 E131 · Wed, February 10, 2021
Timestamps: 4:32 - Red Bull being illegal did wonders for its sales 18:01 - Recovering from failure 32:24 - Building on top of an existing brand 44:39 - How important is timing? 54:40 - Turning down most investors About Leif Langenskiöld and FocusWater Leif Langenskiöld is the founder of FocusWater , a Swiss vitamin water. After obtaining his degree in International Relations from the University of St. Gallen, Leif originally planned to join the United Nations. His plans changed significantly when a summer job at Red Bul l turned into an 11-year tenure with the company, eventually advancing him to Director of Business development and Motorsports marketing based in Los Angeles, CA. Having started at Red Bull as employee #16, Leif got to know what it takes to get a beverage startup off the ground — and in 2005, he decided to leave Red Bull’s increasingly corporate structures to make it on his own. His first two attempts at beverage-related ventures failed. Unfazed, he continued his hunt for the right idea and eventually found FocusWater. The brand was struggling because it had a very low repurchase rate (meaning customers bought it only once and never again). Leif, together with his co-founder, took over the brand from its original owners and completely revamped the contents of the product. The new Focus Water was a hit, growing from CHF 3 m in sales in 2018 to 10 m in 2020. In 2019, he sold the company to Rivella ’s innovation team for an undisclosed amount. Memorable Quotes "When I joined Red Bull in 1995, it was a startup. With time, as it grew bigger and became more corporate-like, it became less interesting for me." "I think you learn much faster by making mistakes than through a series of successes." If you would like to listen to more conversations about the food and beverages industry, check out our episode with Andri SIlberschmidt . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse f
S1 E130 · Sun, February 07, 2021
Timestamps: 2:00 - Developing a product at ETH 3:40 - Deciding which market to focus on 6:20 - Successful financing round 7:58 - Swiss or international investors? 15:45 - The Upscaler experience About Hanspeter Fässler and Anybotics Hanspeter Fässler is the co-founder and chairman of Anybotics , an ETH robotics spinoff with a focus on autonomous, walking robots for industrial inspection tasks. Hanspeter started the company in 2016, together with 5 co-founders. At this point, he was already looking back on a successful career which had allowed him to accumulate a wealth of business experience. Amongst other roles, Hanspeter served as the CEO of Implenia , a large Swiss construction company from 2010-2012 and subsequently as Senior Vice President, Business Unit Grid Systems at ABB , an electrical equipment provider. With Anybotics, Hanspeter made his first foray into entrepreneurship. Since 2016, the company has grown from the co-founder team of 6 to a team of 55. In 2020, the company took part in the SEF Upscaler program and subsequently closed a CHF 20 m Series A round with Swisscom Ventures as lead investor. Anybotics has also been recognized with the Swiss Economic Forum Award. In 2021, the company plans to ship the first commercial version of their inspection robot, going up directly against their large American competitor, Boston Dynamics . Next to his role at Anybotics, Hanspeter also holds a variety of other board mandates, amongst them Axpo and Dätwyler Holding . Memorable Quotes " I've always seen myself as more of a builder. Usually I'm not the one who comes up with the crazy ideas — I'm the one who makes them happen." If you would like to listen to more conversations on robotics, check out our episode with Gianluca Cesari and Gregory Hitz . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , <a href="https://www.facebook.com/swisspreneur/"
S1 E129 · Wed, February 03, 2021
Timestamps: 1:39 - Adapting to the post-exit life 9:07 - Becoming an investor 27:37- Overcoming post-exit depression 37:01 - How do you spend the money? 44:37 - Peace of mind from financial freedom The Episode in 60 seconds Life before and after the exit. Balancing family and business - If you happen to already have a family when you start your own venture, you’ll face trade offs between your family and your work life. Don’t try to sugarcoat this. Be honest with yourself and your loved ones about the choices you make in this trade off. - Having a partner by your side who is willing to “watch your back” while you are focusing on your venture is invaluable. Consider making an explicit contract / commitment about what you each expect from each other. - Find a model that works for everyone (e.g. your partner stays at home full time with the kids but always gets Sundays off for Golf) and define a time period for which you’ll stick with this model before you reevaluate. This helps to reduce stress from constant negotiations and uncertainty. Earn out periods - When your company gets bought, it’s customary to agree on a so-called “earnout period”. This means that crucial members of your (management) team commit to continue working at the new mother company for X amount of time in order to receive additional compensation. - Earnout compensations are usually tied to a performance metric (such as earnings or gross sales) but sometimes just depend on the founders staying with the mother company for the agreed period of time. - Typical earnout periods last between 2-4 years. Life after the exit - Some founders describe feelings of “post exit depressions”, a feeling of emptiness and sadness. This is probably a result of unrealistic expectations about how great the exit will feel coupled with a sense of loss and / or burnout. Whatever it may be, talk to others about the way you are experiencing the situation and don’t hesitate to get help. - Make a plan for how you are going to make your money work for you. Getting professional help with investing is usually advisable. Rely on your network for recommendations about investment professionals. Memorable Quotes "I'm just not a corporate guy. I like new things and I don't like being told what to do." "Wealth for me is just an instrument that allows me to be independent and happy." If you would like to listen to more conversations on exits, check out our conversations with Marc P. Bernegger and <a href="https://swi
S1 E128 · Sun, January 31, 2021
Timestamps: 1:41 - Wanting to build something meaningful 5:16 - $6m Investment round 11:22 - The Upscaler experience 17:37 - Entering the growth stage 20:37 - More about Roxana About Roxana Porada and PXL Vision Roxana Porada is the co-founder and CPO of PXL Vision , a software provider for digital identity solutions. Roxana obtained a degree in Cybernetics and Statistics and subsequently worked as a software developer. In 2012, she joined Dacuda, the company founded by Swisspreneur guest Michael Born . When Dacuda was acquired by Magic Leap in 2017, she started PXL Vision together with three colleagues. To date, PXL Vision is most renowned as the technology provider for the SwissID solution and for their customer verification and onboarding solutions for enterprises. In May 2020, PXL Vision secured CHF 4.6 m in seed financing. The investment round was led by SIX Fintech Ventures. The company has also been awarded the Swiss Economic Award and was admitted to the SEF Upscaler Program. Going forward, PXL Vision aims to expand into the DACH region beyond Switzerland and branch out into additional use cases beyond customer onboarding. Memorable Quotes I wouldn't like to be a leader without also being a team-player. If you would like to listen to more episodes on the Upscaler program, check out our conversation with Michele Matt . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E127 · Wed, January 27, 2021
Timestamps: 1:53 - Majoring in Mathematics, Physics and Sociology 16:36 - Persisting through difficulties 25:55 - From co-workers to co-founders 36:57 - Managing competition 46:15 - Deciding whether you should sell About Simon Scheurer and Qumram Simon Scheurer is the co-founder and former CTO of Qumram , a provider of session replay technology for digital compliance. Simon holds a Masters in Physics, Mathematics and Sociology from the University of Berne. He started his career as CTO at the digital agency Unic - the same company as Swisspreneur guest and Fashion Days Founder Markus Okumus . After 7 years in consulting, Simon left the company with the desire to start a product business. He started Milgram Media which at the time was a direct competitor to Doodle. The company struggled to stay ahead of Doodle with its offering and after losing several important deals, the founders decided to exit for a modest sum. Not at all discouraged by the failure, Simon started Qumram. The idea for the product had emerged years prior and he decided to turn it into a business when large corporates started asking for digital compliance solutions. With Qumram, Simon was able to get several renowned investors on board, among them Swisspreneur guest Ariel Lüdi and Investiere. In 2017, Qumram was acquired by Dynatrace for an undisclosed amount. Memorable Quotes "When the employee number goes above 100 or so, maintaining the entrepreneurial spirit starts getting really tricky." "People are very reluctant to change. So you have to be massively better than the tool that they already know, use and like." Resources Mentioned The Calorie Myth , by Jonathan Bailor Why We Sleep , by Matthew Walker Aurum Fit If you would like
S1 E126 · Sun, January 24, 2021
Timestamps: 1:55 - Motivation for taking the leap as a founder 6:27 - Expanding to Sweden 9:20 - Losing investors over Covid 13:18 - The Upscaler experience 18:14 - Shady accelerator programmes About MyCamper and Michele Matt Michele Matt is the co-founder and CEO of MyCamper, a peer-to-peer camper rental platform. Michele started MyCamper in 2015 when he realized that his own camper, Charly, sat idle for a large part of the year. What started as a project to rent out his own vehicle soon turned into a two-sided marketplace idea. In spring of 2020, the company was closing their fist fundraising round with the Covid 19 pandemic in full swing. During the course of 2020, MyCamper hit the CHF 1 m threshold in revenue and now boasts 1000 campers on their platform. The MyCamper founding team also participated in the SEF UpScaler Program , which supports companies in accelerating international growth. For the next 3 years, MyCamper wants to drive an aggressive growth strategy, before focusing on profitability. In 2021, MyCamper wants to focus on doubling their numbers from 2020 and becoming the number #1 player in Sweden while keeping their position in Switzerland. From there they plan to expand across the entire Nordic region of Europe, beating their competitors in local markets. Memorable Quotes " I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, and it really inspired me. I wanted to have the freedom to explore my ideas." If you would like to listen to more conversations on accelerator programs, check out our episode with Nicolas Bürer . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E125 · Wed, January 20, 2021
Timestamps: 2:24 - Gianluca's international background 4:42 - Gregory's academic background 8:08 - Having 8 co-founders 11:47 - The robotics market 27:15 - Getting support as a startup About Gianluca Cesari, Gregory Hitz and Sevensense Robotics Gregory Hitz and Gianluca Cesari are two of the 8 co-founders of Sevensense Robotics , as well as CEO and Business Development Lead, respectively. Gregory obtained his PhD from ETH Zurich later continued as Postdoc. Gianluca also received his Masters in Robotics, System and Control from ETH Zurich and afterwards continued as Robotics Engineer at the University's Autonomous Systems Lab . The two worked together with their 6 co-founders on an autonomous robotics project together with two industry partners while still at university. Out of this initial research group, Sevensense Robotics was born. Running a business with 8 co-founders would be a challenge for many. Sevensense decided to mitigate the problem by clearly distributing roles. While some members of the founding team took on managerial duties, others stayed with their passion for engineering and have contributed to developing the product. Autonomous robots have applications in various industries: Sevensense currently focuses on logistics. By applying Sevensense’s technology, logistics providers can enable their machines to safely and autonomously navigate in dynamic spaces shared with humans, in- and outdoors. To date, Sevensense has been able to work together with several important customers, such as Jelmoli and Wetork . Memorable Quotes " Many people are actually really willing to help you — you just have to ask." Resources Mentioned Thinking, fast and slow , by Daniel Kahneman The Harvard Business Review Venture Kick Wyss Zurich If you would like to listen to more episodes on robotics, check out our conversations with <a href="https://swisspren
S1 E124 · Sun, January 17, 2021
Timestamps: 1:49 - From ETH Researcher to startup founder 9:00 - Winning Investor's Choice 10:35 - Clean tech competitors 12:43 - Having a hard time with sales 17:55 - Moving from India to Europe at 19 About Sreenath Bolisetty and Blue Act Technologies Sreenath Bolisetty is the co-founder and CEO of BluAct Technologies , an ETH spin-off which provides a technology for water purification from heavy metals through milk proteins. In 2020, the company won the Expert’s Choice Award at the Energy Startup Days . Originally from a small village in India, Sreenath obtained his PhD from the University of Bayreuth . He went on to work as a Senior Researcher at ETH Zurich and in 2016, started BluAct Technologies as his first company. BluAct’s purifying system differentiates itself through its high level of effectiveness at a low cost point. Being able to run without electricity, it is the perfect choice for water purification in remote areas - something which BluAct Technologies has proven through their various pilots in remote communities around the world. Their milk protein membranes are suitable both for water purification in individual households and at large scales of thousands of cubic meters of water. With 2 products already on the market, BluAct Technologies wants to expand its offering to cover purification for radioactively polluted water. The company is planning to raise USD 3m in their next investment round to help with the commercialization and certifications of its products. Memorable Quotes " A very strong motivation to start BluAct was the fact that I come from India, where water problems are a very real day-to-day issue." If you would like to listen to more episodes on ETH spin-offs, check out our conversations with Mark Essam and Mina Kamel . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date wit
S1 E123 · Wed, January 13, 2021
Timestamps: 4:18 - Why is culture so important? 16:17 - How to establish a culture 21:39 - Hiring the right people for your culture 37:45 - When employees leave 41:53 - Rapid fire questions The Episode in 60 seconds Getting company culture right. Common mistakes around company culture - Underestimating its importance: Your company vision makes sure everyone pulls on the same rope. The culture ensures everyone pulls in the same direction. Having a strong culture helps employees take good decisions without always referring to their managers for guidance, therefore making the company more efficient and agile. - Getting started too late: while a team of 5 might not need an explicit culture statement, it’s easy to miss the right moment to “get started with culture”. This is especially detrimental if you’ve already hired employees who are not a great cultural fit. Finding and growing your culture - Company culture is the result of shared values. Most often, these will be the values of the founding team. - If you aren’t sure what your values are, a good place to start is by observing your feelings in your day to day business interactions. Do you get frustrated when someone doesn’t appreciate the work you do? Maybe appreciation is a value you hold dearly. Do you love to receive candid feedback from others? Maybe openness is important to you. - Once the founding team is aligned on their values, make them explicit and talk about them often. Base your decisions (particularly around hiring and firing) on these shared values. Scaling culture - While you grow, it’s extremely important to stay true to your values and not to accept a culture misfit just because someone is good at their job and/or you struggle to find someone to replace them. - Everyone is responsible for nurturing company culture and calling out cultural incompatibility. Don’t outsource this important task to a “Chief Culture Officer” or similar. - Nobody is perfect and employees (and you as well) will sometimes fail to live up to your values. That’s okay, as long as you and the person in question clearly see the problem and a path towards improvement. Measuring culture - While there is no “right” or “wrong” culture, there is culture that works and culture that doesn’t. A way to measure the “health” of your culture is via employee happiness and employee Net Promoter Score (NPS). - To add more color to the employee NPS, co
S1 E122 · Sun, January 10, 2021
Timestamps: 1:46 - Developing the next generation of solar modules 7:29 - Does winning awards help a startup? 8:56 - Fierce competition from China 12:03 - The non-liberalized energy market in Switzerland 14:32 - What will 2021 bring? About Laurent Coulot and Insolight: Laurent Coulot is the co-founder and CEO of Insolight , a photovoltaic startup. Laurent started Insolight in 2015, together with his two co-founders, Mathieu Ackermann and Florian Gerlich . Within 5 years, the company has grown to over 15 employees. With Insolight, the co-founders focus on a very specific area of the photovoltaic market which is not yet well served by mass produced photovoltaic panels - agrivoltaics. Insolight’s solar panels are both translucent and highly efficient. These properties make the panels uniquely suited to be deployed on top of areas which are used for growing crops - therefore reducing the land use competition between agriculture and photovoltaic by allowing them to coexist in the same space. In 2020, Insolight closed a $ 5m series A and received its first orders from industrial customers. The company was also awarded the public choice award at the Swiss Energy Startup Days . In 2021, Insolight plans to build and ship more than 1000 panels. Before starting Insolight, Laurent worked as an Applications Engineer at Melexis . He holds a Masters in Micro and Nanosystems from the EPFL . Memorable Quotes: "We think market regulations should reflect the fact that solar energy has a pretty much non-existent carbon footprint." If you would like to listen to more episodes on solar power, check out our conversations with André Borschberg , Anaïs Matthey-Junod , Sébastien Jaffaux and Liliane Ableitner . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , <a href="http://bit.
S1 E121 · Wed, January 06, 2021
Timestamps: 2:34 - Why study law and not business? 18:06 - Can you work on a startup part-time? 34:46 - Being motivated by challenges. 48:31 - Having a big client not renew the contract 59:58 - Companies asking for discounts About Tobias Häckermann and Sherpany: Tobias Häckermann is the co-founder and CEO of Sherpany, a provider of meeting management software for leadership meetings. Tobias started his first company right out of high school. As a long time practitioner of martial arts, he was the go-to person if one of his friends needed a bouncer for a party or other event. Seeing an opportunity, Tobias started PNC security. Through his first venture, he met Nathanael Wettstein , who would later become one of his co-founders at Sherpany. Tobias sold PNC security to a competitor for CHF 70k. He went on to start easyComm, a platform for digital events which he sold to Alphablue Eventmanagement . During this entire time, Tobias was still obtaining his law degree from the University of Zurich . During his semester abroad at University of Siena , the idea for Sherpany was born. Originally, Sherpany was conceived as a communication tool between companies and their shareholders. For nearly two years, Sherpany was trying to bring the product to the market, until the founders realized they were not solving the right problem for their customers. The company pivoted to providing software for agile meeting management in leadership teams and has since grown to a multinational company with offices in Paris, Lisbon, Milano, Wroclaw, Berlin and Zurich. Memorable Quotes "It's okay to work part-time on a startup at the beginning. But at some point you've got to start giving it your all, otherwise you're gonna iterate too slow and you're gonna get frustrated, because you're going nowhere." "I always thought the bigger your company gets, the more things it should be able to do. But it's the opposite — the bigger you get, the more focus you need." Tobias Häckermann's Favorite Resources Blinkist If you would like to listen to other episodes on organizational matters, check out our conversation with Christian Burger . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our <a href="http://bit.ly/1YscSvK" rel="ugc noopen
S1 E120 · Sun, January 03, 2021
Timestamps: 2:00 - Why start your own company? 7:29 - Winning Investor's Choice at Energy Startup Day 12:15 - How to stand out from competition 28:24 - Closing a funding round 33:23 - Choosing between Germany, Switzerland and Austria About Liliane Ableitner and Exnaton: Liliane Ableitner is the co-founder and CEO of Exnaton , a software provider for energy communities, allowing neighbors to trade renewable energy amongst each other. Before starting Exnaton, Liliane was a Doctoral Researcher at the Bits of Energy Lab at ETH Zurich. She met her two co-founders, Arne Meeuw and Anselma Würner, during her work on the research project " Quartierstrom ", funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The project resonated well with all stakeholders involved and the three PhD students decided to spin it out into an independent company in 2019. Since then, Exnaton has signed 2 pilot customers and is currently fundraising. In December 2020, they won the Investor’s Choice award at Energy Startup Days , which helped the company to gain exposure amongst relevant stakeholders. Contrary to some of their competitors, Exnaton doesn’t sell their software to end consumers. Rather, they cooperate with local utility companies and allow them to white label their solution and distribute it to their customers. Exnaton is greatly benefiting from the liberalization of European energy markets because it has been driving competition for innovative products between utility companies. They are hoping to further benefit from an opening of the Swiss market, which has traditionally been very protected. Memorable Quotes " If you're in a market with 0 competition, then you're in the wrong market, because either you're on a completely wrong track or you're way too early." If you would like to listen to more conversations on green tech, check out our episodes with Mark Essam , Anaïs Matthey-Junod , Alessandra Rojas and Sébastien Jaffaux . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , <a href="http://bit.ly/1t0kRpw" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" targe
S1 E119 · Wed, December 30, 2020
Timestamps: 2:11 - Typical pivoting mistakes 5:41 - Finding the right customer 15:32 - Generating your first revenue 18:49 - Maximizing growth 25:19 - Product-market fit The episode in 60 seconds Pivoting your business idea to success. Mistakes to avoid - Waiting too long to pivot because you have gotten emotionally attached to the solution or somehow locked yourself in too early. - Iteration cycles which are too long. Building out a finished and polished product for every iteration will make you slow and waste large amounts of resources. The Startup Pivot Pyramid by 500 Insights - The Pyramid gives you an idea of how aspects of your product build on each other (customer, problem, solution, tech, growth). - This helps you understand, for one, which areas you need to define first in order to move up the pyramid, and two, how consequential a potential pivot in one area is for other areas of your business (i.e. a pivot in customers you are addressing is far more consequential than a pivot in the tech stack you are using) Customers and their problems - Finding enough customers in a big enough market that have the same problem is always the first problem you’ll want to solve when looking to achieve product-market-fit. - Talking to potential customers under the pretense of collecting data for a survey can be a subtle entry point to start a conversation. - Your primary goal in customer conversations should be to evaluate how the problem you are trying to solve for them ranks amongst their other problems and how much they’d be willing to pay for solving it. Ideally, if the problem is big enough, customers will ask about buying your solution once it’s live already at this stage. - Try to interview 50 to 100 potential customers and narrow down the hypothesis about your customer profile as you go. - Analyze the results of your conversations based on the $ amount each type of customer is willing to pay to have their problem solved. - Clarify the 3 whys for your customers in detail: why buy anything, why buy us and why buy now. As for the “why buy now”, it often pays off to have a fix point to create urgency: a product release, a trade show, a board meeting or something else your customer cares about and that encourages them to move the deployment of your product along quickly. Solution - Once you think you have an idea of who your customer is and what problems you are solv
S1 E118 · Wed, December 23, 2020
Timestamps: 2:18 - Being André Borschberg's son 15:45 - The market for voice AI 21:08 - A co-founder leaves the company 26:52 - How to look for advisors 32:59 - Having offices in several countries About Teo Borschberg and OTO.ai: Teo Borschberg is the co-founder and CEO of oto.ai , an AI-powered voice intelligence solution. Teo started his entrepreneurial career after obtaining his maturité (high school diploma). He relocated to China, where he spent 8 months working in a factory, 6.5 days a week. During this time, he started to resell paintings and furniture from China to Europe, and his first company, Artefact Co, was born. Three years later, upon the completion of his Bachelor in Hospitality Management at Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne , Teo returned to China to start his second company, the media advertising business Good Media. In 2015, he sold Good Media and reoriented himself towards the US. He joined SRI International , a renowned non-profit research institute as Entrepreneur in Residence. In this position, he was tasked with finding business opportunities for the cutting edge technologies the Institute was developing. This is where the idea for OTO.ai originated. Three years later the company has raised $ 5.8 m in seed financing, has analyzed over 10 m conversations and serves 10 large customers globally. While OTO.ai was originally selling mainly to call centers, they - as so many others - had to pivot during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Within a few short months, the company set itself up to offer an API / SDK to its product in order to let developers use it in almost any context imaginable - from wearables to smart home devices, and even telemedicine. Memorable Quotes "It's always dangerous to have a technology and be looking for a market, instead of having a market and be looking for a technology." "I will only say we have a product-market fit the day we have customers kicking down our door to get their hands on the product." If you would like to listen to more episodes on AI, check out our conversations with Aldo Podestà , David Alain Bloch and Martin Keller . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our <a href="http://bit.ly/1YscSvK" rel="ugc noopener nore
S1 E117 · Sun, December 20, 2020
Timestamps: 1:39 - The START Lausanne 6:07 - The team 9:25 - The Covid challenge 11:58 - The resources of the Romandy ecosystem 15:09 - What's next for Tatiana? About Tatiana Cogne and START Lausanne: Tatiana Cogne is the President of START Lausanne and Head of Communication at Swiss Solar Boat . Tatiana joined START in 2019 as an event organizer, after having participated in START Hack and START Summit in St. Gallen. After 9 months as Event Organizer, she advanced to President of the chapter in June 2020. Under her leadership, START Lausanne has been reinventing itself over and over again during the last couple months in order to comply with ever changing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Beyond that, Tatiana initiated the forming of a network of entrepreneurship organizations across the Swiss Romandy: rather than each organization working independently in their city, they now collaborate on news distribution and other opportunities. START Lausanne offers events, workshops and mentoring to students and other people interested in entrepreneurship. They also participate in the "Road to START Summit" initiative, a 6 month competition where startups receive support to refine their business idea and potentially win a CHF 30k prize. START Lausanne is one of 10 chapters of the START Global organization in Europe. START Global was founded in 2005 out of the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and has since become one of Europe’s top startup events. Memorable Quotes "When I finish my presidency at START Lausanne, I want to do so with the knowledge that I motivated every single one of my colleagues to surpass themselves." If you would like to listen to more conversation with entrepreneurs from the Swiss Romandy, check out our conversations with Anaïs Matthey-Junod , Alessandra Rojas , Sébastien Jaffaux and Aldo Podestà . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date wi
S1 E116 · Wed, December 16, 2020
Timestamps: 1:26 - From Milano to Zurich 9:08 - The problem with the inspection of inaccessible areas 17:13 - Getting business know-how for your all-tech team 20:56 - New drones in town 32:44 - Preparing for the future About Mina Kamel and Voliro: Mina Kamel is the co-founder and CEO of Voliro, a producer of robotic drones for inspection and light maintenance at height. Mina obtained his Bachelors in Automation Engineering Technology from the Politecnico di Milano before moving to Zurich to obtain his Masters and eventually his PhD in Mechatronic, Robotics and Automation Engineering from ETH Zürich. During his PhD, he contributed to the Aeroworks project, where much of the inspiration for Voliro was drawn from. He also met his 4 co-founders, Timo Müller, Dr. Marius Fehr, Dr. Anurag Vempati and Dr. Thomas Schneider, during this time. With all five co-founders coming from a technical background, they supplemented their business knowledge through advisors and coaching by Venture Lab . The team quickly realized that the timing for Voliro was right. Not only had the technology for robotic drones matured, but there was a strong pull from the oil, gas and infrastructure industries to lower operational costs through increased efficiency in maintenance. Voliro closed a CHF 2m seed round in 2020 with Alex Fries' s Alpana Ventures as lead investor. They will use the seed round capital to get their product to the market faster and are planning to raise a series A round towards the end 2021 for CHF 5-10m. Memorable Quotes " Falling from a great height is the number 2 biggest cause of workplace injuries. With our solution, robots do the dangerous work, and people stay safely with their feet on the ground." "Product development is a skill you can develop, but it takes a very long time. Sometimes it's just more practical to hire professional help." Mina Kamel's Favorite Resources Garmin Sports Watch Dare To Lead , by Bréne Brown If you would like to listen to more of our ETH co-productions, check out our conversations with Caspar Coppetti and Mark Essam . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitte
S1 E115 · Sun, December 13, 2020
Timestamps: 1:29 - Why create an AI startup? 9:00 - Having a great team 10:33 - Combining vision with short-term strategy 16:57 - Creating a company narrative 19:07 - Tips for students today About Aldo Podestà: Aldo Podestà is the founder and CEO of L2F, the company behind the platform Giotto.ai , which builds and hosts high performance machine learning applications. Before starting Giotto in 2017, Aldo Podestà worked in Sales Strategy at Philip Morris , in Lausanne. The idea for Giotto was born when he presented at a high level management meeting and was asked to provide an explanation for the recommendations his machine learning based strategy model had provided. When he was unable to explain the recommendations of his own model, he suspected that there would be tremendous value in a solution that would increase a machine learning model’s interpretability. Not long after its inception, Giotto.ai won a competition on Kaggle , one of the most prestigious data science platforms globally. In 2019, the company closed a CHF 3.2 Series A round which allowed them to pursue their ambitious vision. As a CEO, Aldo initially struggled to assemble the right team around him: betting on exclusively young and ambitious employees proved to be a mistake. Today, he counts on a more mixed team with various levels of experience. Memorable Quotes: "You don't run a company alone. You run it with every single one of your employees." Resources Mentioned: - VentureLab ( Venture Kick ) - Innosuisse If you would like to listen to more episodes on AI, check out our conversations with David Alain Bloch and Martin Keller . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-
S1 E114 · Wed, December 09, 2020
Timestamps: 2:19 - Why doesn't Europe get employee participation plans right? 7:04 - How much equity should you give your employees? 16:26 - How to communicate stock option plans to your team 23:35 - The politics of stock option plans 27:53 - Rapid fire questions Episode in 60 seconds Getting employee participation plans right. Why participation plans are important - As a startup, you’ll often struggle to compete with established companies on the salary front. Stocks are your secret weapon to attract top talent in spite of limited cash. - Holding stocks factually makes the employees co-owners of the company. It’s easy to see the positive influence on mindset and attitude that co-ownership can bring. Participation plans in Europe vs the US - Employees in Europe hold less than half of the company stock than their US counterparts. This is among other things due to lower awareness of the value of participation plans amongst the European workforce. The mechanics of participation plans - How much stock should you reserve for employees? Generally good bench marks are 5-10% in the early stages of your company and up to 20-30% in later stages - Who should receive stocks? Ideally, everyone. Large companies like Google still offer stocks to every new employee which joins the company. Long term employees should get regular “refreshers” i.e. more stock added to their portfolio - How do you decide who gets what? There are 3 dimensions to get you started. Depending on your priorities and culture, you might to weigh them differently - Seniority level: more responsibility means more stock - Employee number: early joiners took a higher risk when betting on your company and should be rewarded accordingly - Tech vs non tech talent: the truth is, tech talent is much harder to compete for in today’s labor market, so it’s common to offer them larger participation options Pitfalls of participation plans - When you are short on cash, it’s tempting to think you can make up for a low salary with stocks. This is not a fair way to treat your employees as you are forcing them to bet their financial security almost entirely on the success of your company. - It may also be tempting to oversell the value of participation plans to your employees. Wile it’s certainly not wrong to strive for a unicorn valuation, the truth is most companies will never get there and you should be honest with your employees about this. - Be aware that in Europe, every country has their own rules for how employees participation plans work and how they are taxed. Consider getting some legal help when you want to internationalize. If you want to
S1 E113 · Sun, December 06, 2020
Timestamps 1:21 - Motivation for starting your own business 4:24 - Rocking with your friends 7:46 - Struggling with team management 10:54 - What is the Swiss Romandy ecosystem doing well? 16:07 - More about Sébastien Biography Sébastien Jaffaux is the founder and CTO of the Swiss Solar Boat Association, a project created by engineering students from EPFL and HEIG-VD. Swiss Solar Boat aims to create a solar powered racing boat from scratch, to compete in contests such as the Monaco Solar & Energy Boat Challenge 2021. Swiss Solar Boat is not your typical startup. It emerged from the EPFL Hydrocontest Team which represented the EPFL at the Hydrocontest competition for maritime energy efficiency. Sébastien started out as communication manager at the Hydrocontest Team and became president of the association in 2018. As president, he led the transition from Hydrocontest to Swiss Solar Boat in 2019. Today, the Swiss Solar Boat Association is made up of over 60 students from various technical backgrounds who work together to create a solar powered boat from scratch, including producing the individual boat parts. Currently, Sebastien lives and breathes his project and enjoys pulling off such a challenging feat with some of his closest friends. But due to the nature of the association, he will be handing over his responsibilities as CTO and Vice President once he finishes his Masters degree in mechanical engineering at EPFL in the Summer of 2021. Memorable Quotes " The Swiss Romandy is missing a place where all entrepreneurs can meet to exchange know-how and enrich their perspective." For more marine tech episodes, check out our conversation with Christian Fehr . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E112 · Wed, December 02, 2020
Timestamps: 2:37 - From studying physics to becoming an entrepreneur 9:55 - Splitting roles 18:01 - The initial idea for Ledgy 22:10 - Finding your first clients 30:12 - Dealing with American competitors Biography: Yoko Spirig is the co-founder and CEO of Ledgy , an equity management company for startups and high growth companies. Yoko studied Physics at ETH Zurich , the University of Oxford and CERN . She was also project lead of Swissloop , helping to build the first Hyperloop pod in Switzerland. Yoko met her two co-founders, Ben Brandt and Timo Horstschaefer , during her time at university. It was also during that time that they were first made aware of the problems related to equity management that many young companies (and their investors) face through a conversation with the Doodle founders, Michael Näf and Paul Sevinç, who were looking for a startup team on cofoundme . After graduating from ETH Zurich, the three friends went on a journey with the transsiberian railway from Vladivostok to Moscow where they read up on startup business strategy and sharpened the idea which would eventually become Ledgy. The company pivoted after 1.5 years from a free product to introducing business pricing and targeting larger companies rather than early stage startups. In the early days, the co-founding team also toyed with the idea of using Blockchain technology to enable their product. They however abandoned that plan after evaluating the regulatory framework and their customer needs. Today, Ledgy serves companies like Frontify , VIU and Sherpany and employs a team of over 10 people. Resources Mentioned: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_0/132-8528755-5358543?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0804139296&pd_rd_r=e7b3c176-
S1 E111 · Sun, November 29, 2020
Timestamps: 1:34 - The reason behind Tech For Impact 7:20 - Who's the target student? 11:51 - Milestones so far 17:40 - Toughest challenge 25:56 - More about Alessandra About Alessandra and Tech4Impact Alessandra Rojas is the manager of the EPFL Changemakers program , an incubator program which is part of the EPFL’s Tech4Impac t initiative for accelerating ground-breaking and sustainable technological solutions to create positive societal and environmental impact. She was also a co-initiator of Versus Virus , a hackathon to develop solutions against the COVID 19 crisis. As one of the world’s top universities for technology and science, EPFL is one of Switzerland’s most significant hubs for innovation. The EPFL Changemakers program emerged from the EPFL’s grant program and belongs to the unit of the Vice Presidency for Innovation at EPFL. Where previously entrepreneurs at EPFL were mostly supported through financial means such as grants, the goal of the Changemakers program is to provide more holistic support to early stage entrepreneurs and to make sustainability a cornerstone of what it means to be an EPFL startup. The program was launched in October of this year with a first cohort of 20 students across the Bachelor, Master and PhD level. Due to the challenging circumstances presented by the pandemic, the program has had to evolve rapidly over the past months. Nevertheless, the 20 students will receive 6 months of intensive training and mentoring through peers and experts and are on track to graduate successfully from the program in February 2021. Memorable Quotes: "Our GameChangers program has shown to us that the EPFL's students' interest in sustainable solutions is much higher than we had originally anticipated." "The changes that Covid has brought about have really helped startups with founders spread all across Switzerland cooperate better among themselves." If you would like to listen to more episodes on green startups, check out our conversations with André Borschberg , Anastasia Hofmann & Naomi MacKenzie , <a href="https://swisspreneur.org
S1 E110 · Wed, November 25, 2020
Timestamps: 7:35 - Reasons for leaving the corporate world 16:19 - Finding the right problem to solve 23:11 - Do solo founders work? 38:09 - Dealing with rejection 46:07 - The scalability issue About Luiza Dobre: Luiza Dobre is the founder and CEO of Komed Health , a healthcare communications platform. She started Komed Health in 2016, after a long time toying with different ideas and struggling to find the right co-founder. Komed Health emerged from the realization that while communication is a challenge in every sector, in healthcare, the consequences of failed communication can be the difference between life and death. Four years onwards, Komed Health helps health practitioners all over Switzerland communicate faster and more effectively among themselves, which results in better decisions, a happier staff and healthier patients. With Marc Bornträger, Luiza has also finally found a technical co-founder to complement her skill set. Before starting Komed Health, Luiza worked as a marketing and sales specialist for major brands like Swarovski and Schindler . She also obtained a CEMS Master of International Management from the University of St. Gallen and ESADE Business School . Resources mentioned: Be Obsessed Or Be Average , by Grant Cardone Shoe Dog , by Phil Knight. If you would like to listen to more medtech episodes, check out our conversations with Lea Von Bidder , Michael Friedrich , Katja Berlinger , <a href="https://swisspreneur.org/podcast/ep-82-startup-of-the-week-ca
S1 E109 · Sun, November 22, 2020
Timestamps: 1:22 - Starting a student project 8:32 - The team behind sun'n'go 16:15 - Tips for making remote teams work 17:34 - Advice for future entrepreneurs 22:07 - The French-speaking Swiss startup scene About Anaïs and Sun'n'go: Anaïs Matthey-Junod obtained a BA in Environmental Science and Engineering and an MA in Energy Management and Sustainability from the EPFL . In the last year of her masters, the idea for sun'n'go was born, after a trip to India with EPFL in 2019. In the following months, they developed their idea further, creating a portable energy center which can be used in impoverished communities to light up the community's households and charge phones. These energy centers are sold through micro credit schemes. Running entirely on solar power, they are a green catalyst for economic development. In December 2020 Anaïs and her co-workers will be finalizing their prototype. In parallel, they are preparing to conduct their first field study in Malawi, as well as a pilot project in the first half of 2021. Anaïs Matthey-Junod is currently also a research assistant at the EssentialTech Centre , and has just joined the NORCAP Accelerator Program at NRC . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E108 · Wed, November 18, 2020
Timestamps: 2:30 - Meeting future co-founders 9:19 - Deciding to go up against Nike and Adidas 21:35 - Finding a business partner 47:14 - Dealing with competition 49:47 - Investors About Caspar Coppetti: Caspar Coppetti is co-founder of On, one of the world’s fastest growing sports brands. Caspar started On together with his two co-founders Olivier Bernhard and David Allemann in 2010 based on their patented CloudTec® technology. On shoes have famously been worn by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and of course, their brand ambassador, tennis star Roger Federer. Over the last 10 years, the company has expanded to over 55 countries and has become one of the top 5 leading running shoe brands in the DACH area and in the US. Now On is expanding into the trekking shoe market, launching their extremely lightweight Cloudrock trekking shoe in 2019. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E107 · Wed, November 11, 2020
Timestamps: 10:22 - Understanding your clients (needle question) 14:55 - Getting your customers to use your product more often 17:00 - Achieving negative churns, incentivizing referrals 24:51 - The best lifetime value vs customer acquisition costs ratio 36:53 - When to pull the plug on a certain channel The Episode in 60 Seconds How to find, optimize and scale your sales funnel from early stage to exit. The early mistakes to avoid - Sell like the incumbent: just because one sales funnel is working well for incumbents in your field doesn’t mean it will work for you. Especially if your unit economics are different (think for example on-premise software vs SaaS). - Ignoring the unit economics: especially if you are entering the market with a new kind of business model, it’s very important to know your unit economics in order to understand if you are selling your product in a margin enhancing way or if every sale you achieve actually incurs a net loss. - Only focusing on closing the deal: your long term goal will be to achieve negative churn (gaining more customers than you lose in a certain interval). This will not happen if your product does not delight customers across the entire lifecycle. On data and experiments - Data is your best friend when it comes to finding your most effective sales funnel. Don’t allow your organization to go astray on hunches and gut feelings. - Becoming a data driven organization starts with the mindset and the mindset starts with the people you hire. - Run experiments, and run them often. There is no way you’ll know from the start which funnels will work for you, so testing (and failing) is the only way to find out. - To run a meaningful experiment you need two things: a quantifiable definition of success (and therefore failure) and a significant sample size. Leave either one out and the experiment will not deliver its value. Customer Lifetime Value and Customer Acquisition Cost - A good way to measure success of your sales funnel is the ratio between customer acquisition cost (CAC) and customer lifetime value (LVT). So what you spend to acquire a new customer and what they in turn spend on your product during all the time they are your customer. - There are a variety of ways how to calculate these two numbers. Whichever you choose, make sure it is comparable to benchmarks in your industry. - A good ratio of LTV/CAC is 3-4. If you are higher, you are not spending enough on marketing / growth. If you are lower, you either have a lifetime value problem or you are not spending your marketing / sales budget effectively. Scaling and optimizing your sales funnel - Don’t forget that once your sales funnel works and you have an acceptable and proven LTV/CAC ratio, this will help you get money from investors, because you can sa
S1 E106 · Wed, November 04, 2020
Timestamps: 12:56 - Turning a company tool into a product 25:00 - Developing a brand with 25 other people 34:53 - Dealing with the complexity of a growing company 43:23 - Being laughed at by more traditional companies 56:38 - Finding work-life balance About Jeremias Meier: Jeremias Meier is the co-founder and managing director of Bexio , a company offering SaaS around payrolling, invoicing and accounting. Bexio was born out of Jeremias’ first business iBrowse, that he started while still at university. The team had built Bexio (called Easysys at the time) for their internal invoicing needs but found that a lot of agencies like themselves were interested in using the product. In 2014, they separated the product and agency business and spun out Bexio into an independent company. iBrowse was acquired by PwC in 2015 and transformed into a digital experience center. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E105 · Wed, October 28, 2020
Timestamps: 5:11 - Getting fired 18:42 - The business model behind vertical farming 22:19 - Having to change your founding team 32:40 - Having an employee steal data from you 37:17 - The ETH Entrepreneur Club About Mark Essam: Mark Essam is the co-founder of YASAI, a vertical farming startup and ETH spin-off. The idea to pursue vertical farming originated from the book " The Vertical Farm: How to feed the world in the 21st century " by Dr. Dickson Despommier, which Mark read during his exchange semester in Mexico City in 2016. He subsequently wrote his thesis at ETH Zurich on the following topic: "How to integrate Vertical Farming within the Swiss landscape?". The building material manufacturer, LafargeHolcim supported an initial feasibility study of the hypothesis brought forward in the thesis and allowed YASAI to grow. In October 2020, YASAI secured a collaboration with fenaco for a industrial-scale vertical farming pilot project in Zurich through a joint investment of CHF 1.5 m. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E104 · Wed, October 21, 2020
Timestamps: 3:54 - Most relevant digital marketing channels 13:50 - How do you know you're on the right track? 19:33 - Talking budget 31:15 - When should you switch to an offline marketing channel? 38:41 - Best tool setup About Lukas Stuber: Lukas Stuber is the Managing Director of Dept, a digital agency. Previously, he had founded Yourposition, a digital marketing agency specialized in search engine optimization, which was acquired by Dept in 2018. In 2004, Lukas published the book “ Suchmaschinen Marketing ” (search engine marketing) and became known as one of the pioneers of this field in Switzerland. He also serves as a lecturer on the topic at several Swiss universities such as University of St. Gallen and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E103 · Wed, October 14, 2020
Timestamps: 8:03 - When to expand to Asia 17:54 - Knowing how to change your mentality 19:21 - Will English take you far? 28:26 - What can Europe learn from Asia? 30:25 - What can Asia learn from Europe? The Episode in 60 seconds Why expand your business to Asia - Asian markets are growing rapidly, with a strong increase in purchasing power. - Asia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has long caught up with the US and is almost unparalleled in its agility and speed. Preparing to expand your business to Asia - Make sure you get a very good understanding of the cultural differences, especially with regards to contract negotiations. - Ensure that your war chest is large enough. Like everything, the expansion will take you twice as long and cost you twice as much as anticipated. - Swiss Global Enterprise offers a market checkup to determine if you are ready to enter a particular market. Market entry - Out of all the Asian markets, Singapore is probably the most similar to Europe, so it’s usually a good place to start building your base. - Get in touch with the Swiss Embassies and Chamber of Commerce on the ground. They can introduce you to their network and put you in touch with experts in the region. - It’s advisable to have a legal entity in the market you are trying to enter, especially if you are a service business. - English will only get you so far in Asia. Outside of Hongkong and Singapore it may get tricky, so invest into an interpreter or find an employee which is well versed in both English and the local language. Corporate Governance and Regulations - It’s important to have a good mix of people from your team in Europe and locals from the region. This will help you relay your company values and corporate governance while also adapting to the local ways of doing things. - Especially in Mainland China, regulations are rapidly changing and violating them can have serious consequences. Get expert advice on how to navigate the regulations of your industry. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E102 · Wed, October 07, 2020
Timestamps: 2:25 - Turning a translation company into a profit center 15:21 - Finding your core values 19:48 - Dealing with employees who don't fit your culture 25:13 - Going international 46:34 - Working with investors About Doris Albisser: Doris Albisser is the founder and executive Chairwoman of Evaluglobe AG . Through Evaluglobe, she focuses on board mandates, growth investments and advising companies’ in their international expansion. Before starting Evaluglobe, Doris served as the Group CEO for CLS Communication AG for 16 years, developing CLS from a startup through a management buyout and internationalization, to a company with 600 employees and 5.000 freelancers in 10 countries across Europe, Asia and North America. Amongst others, Doris also served on the boards of Switzerland Global Enterprise , SOS Children’s Villages and the Psychiatric University Clinic of Zurich . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E101 · Wed, September 30, 2020
Timestamps: 0:55 - Common mistakes with bootstrapping 2:40 - What's the right channel for you? 12:43 - Offline vs online ads 17:12 - Green Friday sale 24:13 - Scaling your social media presence The Episode in 60 Seconds: Bootstrapping your marketing from scratch The first commandment of bootstrapping: do it yourself. Don’t pay agencies or lawyers for things you can do yourself or copy paste from templates. Don’t start with branding, start with the performance marketing of your product. This way, you’ll earn back your ad spend immediately (if you do it well). Use cheap CPM media (cost per 1 million clicks) such as Pinterest or snapchat for brand awareness. Facebook and Instagram for retargeting. A lot of world class knowledge about social media marketing is freely available on the Internet. Use it! Experimenting and tracking success Experiment with a broad variety of channels to find out what works. Be sure you understand the basics of how the platform’s algorithm works, so you are able to interpret your data (e.g. how long does the algorithm take to learn, i.e. how long until it produces significant results). Run experiments over 1-4 weeks. External events such as the weather or other events can significantly influence the performance and skew your data. Branding ads should have at least a return of 1x, performance ads a return of 2x or higher. This means, with every $ spent, you earn 2 $ in purchases or customer value. Watch the CTR (click through rate), engagement and ROAS (return on ad spend) to gauge how effective your campaigns are. Tracking offline marketing Usually a billboard alone won’t cut it. Combine off- and online marketing to build strong brand awareness. Use custom links or discount codes in order to track your offline marketing. Finding your target audience Google analytics or Facebook audience are great tools to help you with this. You can create “look alikes” based on your Facebook pixel. Be sure to integrate it on your website early, so it can collect data. Look into the other Facebook pages that your audience likes and build your targeting based on them. Scaling your social media marketing If an ad performs well DON’T just double the ad spend. This will throw off the algorithm and it will start learning from scratch again (a
S1 E100 · Wed, September 23, 2020
Timestamps: 6:01 - Wie die Eisenbahnfrage die Schweiz für immer verändert hat 30:53 - Wer ist Alfred Escher als Mensch? 48:03 - Wie Escher mit Verlust klargekommen ist 59:42 - Umgang mit Krankheit 1:24:48 - Hat Alfred Escher ein tragisches Ende gefunden? About Joseph Jung and Alfred Escher: Joseph Jung is a historian, consultant and the author of one of the most influential biographies of Swiss entrepreneur Alfred Escher as well as “Laboratorium des Fortschritts - die Schweiz im 19. Jahrhundert”. Joseph studied Swiss history, modern general history, history of law and German language and literature at the University of Fribourg, where he received his doctorate in 1987. In 1998 he habilitated at the ETH Zurich and was a private lecturer there until 2006. In addition to his scientific activities, Jung was Managing Director and Head of Research at the Alfred Escher Foundation (2006 to 2016). Alfred Escher (1819-1882) is considered one of Switzerland’s most influential early entrepreneurs. Among his “ventures” are the ETH Zurich, Credit Suisse, the Gotthard railways and Swiss Life. He was also a prominent political figure of his time. He served as National Councilor (Bundesrat) for 34 years and was elected National Council President (Bundesratspräsident) four times during this period. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E99 · Wed, September 16, 2020
Timestamps: 5:40 - Why go through college? 10:08 - Going from idea to execution 21:15 - Building a startup part-time 35:33 - Building a community behind a brand 48:54 - Turning investors down About Nicholas H änny: Nicholas Hänny is the co-founder and CEO of Nikin, a sustainable fashion startup. Nicholas started Nikin in 2016 together with his childhood friend Robin Gnehm . Within only 4 years, the startup grew to 30 employees and CHF 7.2 m revenue. In 2019, Nicholas received the “ Aargauer of the Year Award ” as recognition for his work with Nikin. Nicholas has a background in marketing and business administration. He holds a Master of Arts in Business Innovation from the University of St. Gallen and was part of the CEMS program. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E98 · Wed, September 09, 2020
Timestamps: 4:00 - Hiring the best people 23:28 - The management team 28:02 - Dealing with investors 41:04 - Being Chief Culture Officer 45:04 - Are great CEOs born or made? About Phil Lojacono: Phil Lojacono is the co-founder and CEO of Advanon, one of Switzerland’s formerly fastest growing fintech startups. Advanon offers a platform for SMEs to bidge long payment terms by providing them with liquidity through financial investors. Phil started Advanon in 2015, shortly after his internship at Google, where he also met his co-founders. In January 2017, the company closed a financing round of CHF 13,5 m with investors such as Daniel Gutenberg , Partners-Group co-founder Urs Wietlisbach , Eric Sarasin und Moneypark founder Stefan Heitmann . In 2018, Advanon was confronted with a significant fraud case on its platform. Under Phil as their CEO, Advanon recovered, and in 2020 successfully sold to CreditGate 24. Phil has now started his own blog where he reflects on the learnings of his tumultuous 5 years at Advanon. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E97 · Wed, September 02, 2020
Timestamps: 0:58 - Starting a company with your significant other 2:08 - How to evaluate the potential of a founding team 7:55 - Added pressure to your relationship 17:10 - Splitting roles 21:14 - Challenging situations The episode in 60 seconds: Starting a business with your significant other can be a rewarding experience. In this episode, Dorina shared her insights about how to make it work. Rules and communication - Starting your business is a 24/7 endeavor and it can become overbearing if you also spend your free time with your business partner. Set clear rules about when you plan to take breaks from work. - Set more rules than you think are necessary because you’ll likely underestimate the temptation of wanting to talk about your business on your date night out. - Be realistic about the chances to succeed with your business and don’t make your relationship dependent on business success. How to know if your partner would make a great co-founder - As with all co-founding relationships, complementary skill sets are crucial. - Working together on smaller projects (like building an IKEA shelf) is probably a good indicator on whether you function well in a business context or not. Advantages of starting a business with your partner - Studies show that family businesses on average are more sustainable than other businesses although with lower growth rates. - Being able to share the roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship with your partner can be very valuable and rewarding. - In tough times, you won’t have to put on a brave face for your partner because they’ll know what’s going on. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E96 · Wed, August 26, 2020
Timestamps: 1:27 - Becoming an entrepreneur after an impressive student CV 8:48 - Discovering the vet market 19:47 - Convincing investors about your hardware tech 25:45 - Winning American clients remotely 31:19 - The trickiness of raising Swiss funds About Dorina Thiess: Dr. Dorina Thiess is the CEO and co-founder of Piavita AG, a medtech startup that develops and distributes digital veterinary diagnostic systems. Previously, Dorina worked for the innovation team at BHS in Munich and in the US while completing her doctorate in entrepreneurship at the University of St. Gallen , where she also served as the Managing Director for the Center for Entrepreneurship . She started Piavita in 2016 together with her partner Sascha Bührle. Within three years Piavita has grown to over 30 employees and has obtained financing from renowned investors, among them Fyrefly Venture Partners and Investire . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E95 · Wed, August 19, 2020
Timestamps: 0:55 - Branding mistakes Swiss startups make repeatedly 5:56 - Building a brand as a group 10:02 - Steps to creating a strong brand 15:03 - Target client vs your personal startup story 20:14 - Rapid fire questions The Episode in 60 Seconds: Getting inspired for your brand - Building a recognizable brand is like building a character - it can come with its own edges and quirks. - Your brand is probably not the first thing you need to worry about but if you move beyond the proof of concept phase, you should invest some time into it. - Get your inspiration from the how, what and why of your company. - Looking around for inspiration is good but your brand needs to be unique and recognizable, so don’t just copy paste from someone else Getting real with your brand - Getting the branding right is important - and hard. If you can, work with specialists in your surroundings - friends, board members, investors... - Your brand follows your purpose and mission, so make sure to have that defined first. - Your brand is not just your logo and color palette. Take a holistic approach and include everything from the language you use to how you present yourself in pictures (and of course make sure those pictures are high quality). 5 steps to your first brand set up - Choose a short, simple name. - Add some simple and concise messaging (a claim). - Define your core audience and how you’ll address them with visual, spoken and written language. - Connect the dots between the three first steps. - If you can, work with a specialist in the field to fine tune your branding work. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E94 · Wed, August 12, 2020
Timestamps: 2:57 - Splitting roles between 5 co-founders 10:05 - Testing the market 19:24 - Having net promoter score as your main KPI 25:40 - Disrupting the market and facing opponents 35:31 - Starting to hire people full-time About Peter K äser: Peter Käser is the Founder and COO of VIU Ventures AG , a Swiss eyewear brand. He started VIU in 2013, together with his co-founder Kilian Wagner, both of them bespectacled. VIU was originally conceived as an online-only store, integrating the entire eyewear supply chain and therefore offering higher quality at a lower price. But the founders soon realized that their customers like to physically try on their glasses before buying them. Today VIU has over 50 physical stores in 6 countries and several hundred employees. Peter holds a Masters in Banking and Finance from the University of St. Gallen (HSG). Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E93 · Wed, August 05, 2020
Timestamps: 1:48 - What can I do on my own and where do I need professional finance advice? 2:55 - What are the best tools to manage your finances? 5:00 - What's the best business credit card out there? 7:20 - Can I use my Swiss bank account to accept international payments? 8:56 - Managing international payments 10:51 - How does the Swiss tax system work? 17:51 - Is Switzerland really tax heaven? 20:52 - Optimizing tax return 22:22 - Do freelancers pay less taxes? 25:24 - Personal finance advice for entrepreneurs 27:36 - Can I get a mortgage without being a Swiss citizen? About Renato Stalder: Renato Stalder is the Founder and CEO of Klara Business AG, an accounting and administration software provider for SMEs. Previously, Renato rose through the ranks to become CEO at Soreco , where he served for 12 years. Afterwards, he held the CEO position at Axon Ivy , a digital platform provider which is part of the Axon Group. Renato holds an MBA in International Management from Fachhochschule Nordostschweiz . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E92 · Wed, July 29, 2020
Timestamps: 2:11 - What mistakes do Swiss companies make when it comes to Gen Z? 6:19 - Aligning company goals with Gen Z's activist streak 19:13 - Leading people older than you 22:44 - Which social media platforms are currently relevant? 31:00 - How to sell to Gen Z The Episode In 60 Seconds: What is Generation Z? Young people born between 1995 - 2010, NOT Millennials. How to win Generation Z as customers - Do not simply base your assumptions on conversations with your kids. - Talk TO members of Generation Z instead of only ABOUT them. - Your brand image is important - Remember, members of Generation Z are activists. How to win Generation Z as employees and retain them - A compelling company vision will be more important than high salaries. - A clear path for growth within the organization. - Meaningful and mission-driven work. - Responsibility and appreciation. What’s the deal with TikTok? - Fast growing social media platform with over 2bn downloads (July 2020). - Very young audience. - Still high virality potential. - Now is the time to get started with your company account. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E91 · Wed, July 22, 2020
Timestamps: 1:13 - Becoming an actress at 14 11:40 - Not going to university 14:45 - Launching your own project 15:40 - Sneaking into fashion shows 27:57 - Starting a company with your romantic partner About Y ël Meier: Yaël Meier is an actress, journalist and the co-founder of Zeam, an agency helping companies leverage Generation Z. At the age of 14, Yaël held her first movie role in the Swiss Drama “ Upload ”. She later on also featured in movies such as « Die fruchtbaren Jahre sind vorbei » and « Blue my Mind ». As a journalist, she worked for SRF, Ringier and Weltwoche in various roles. In January of 2020, she started Zeam together with her co-founder Jo Dietrich. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E90 · Sun, July 19, 2020
Timestamps: 1:07 - Bitcoin and entrepreneurship 8:57 - Biggest milestones so far 15:53 - Having a hard time with fundraising About Julian and Relai: Julian Liniger is the co-founder and CEO of Relai, a startup aiming to empower everyone to invest in Bitcoin. Julian was an early crypto currency aficionado and the go-to person for his friends for anything crypto-related. This made him realize that there was no easy way for the “average Joe” to purchase Bitcoin - and that’s how Relai was born. He and his co-founder, Adem Bilican, went from 0 lines of code in April to launching the first version of their app on July 1st of this year. Relai is looking to raise CHF 200k in order to scale their product and make it more user friendly. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E89 · Wed, July 15, 2020
Timestamps: 2:05 - What's the difference between fundraising for growth vs seed financing? 10:01 - How to find the right investors 17:31 - Negotiating with investors 21:28 - What kills a fundraising process? 27:54 - How much money should you raise? About Verena Kaiser: Verena Kaiser served as the Head of Direct Investment at UBS before becoming Chief of Staff, Corporate & Institutional Clients International in May 2020. As Head of Direct Investment, she was responsible for due diligence and matching of growth stage startups with UBS private investors. The UBS Direct Investment arm has already provided over CHF 120m in capital, among them VIU Ventures AG , Coatmaster AG and Cutiss AG . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E88 · Sun, July 12, 2020
Timestamps: 1:03 - Starting a marine tech startup 6:01 - Is the Swiss marine tech market big enough for Clickahoy? 7:55 - Competing with Americans About Christian and clickahoy: Christian Fehr is the CEO and co-founder of clickahoy, a Swiss marine-tech startup. The founding team behind clickahoy is the same as for ship-ahoy.ch , the boat sharing platform launched in 2016. The founders saw a personal need to make owning a boat “smart” the way owning a car or a house can be. The company is currently looking to raise CHF 400k to increase the number of connected boats 10x and expand outside of Switzerland within the next 18 months. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E87 · Wed, July 08, 2020
Timestamps: 0:45 - What mistakes do Swiss startups make repeatedly when it comes to bootstrapping? 14:20 - Boostrapping and growing fast 17:43 - Constant AB testing 25:48 - Building a solid user base 32:45 - Organic traffic & relying on Google The Episode in 60 seconds: Considerations when deciding whether to bootstrap: Bootstrapping is a long term project which needs time and dedication. Once you decide to get on the VC train, you can’t go back. External funding rounds also mean valuation rounds, which you have to keep driving up. A downround can be detrimental. If you cannot get a top tier international investor, it may not be worth the trouble. Bootstrapping a user base: Brand: building trust and recognition is a long term game that will pay off. SEO / organic search: quality content and a product that truly meets the user needs will go a long way. Of course, this makes you dependent on the search engine algorithm. Community: know your target audience and build a community around your product. Running experiments: Once you have a user base, experiment everything and optimize whatever you can. Always test on a subset of users to minimize overall impact of negative test results. Monitor all KPIs, not just conversion (e.g. customer retention, customer lifetime value, satisfaction, etc.). Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E86 · Sun, July 05, 2020
Timestamps: 7:16 - Competition 8:51 - Should you get a patent? 11:24 - What should you fundraise for? About Ketevani and Logmind: Ketevani Zaridze is the CEO and Founder of Logmind, an AI-accelerated log data analytics platform. Originally from Georgia, she got her Masters in Computer Science from EPFL in Switzerland. After gaining work experience at Xerox , Open Systems and Cern , she started Logmind in 2018. Recently the company signed their first enterprise customer. They are now looking to raise CHF 1.3m in their seed round in order to grow to CHF 1.5m in recurring annual revenue within the next 2 years. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E85 · Wed, July 01, 2020
Timestamps: 1:23 - Studying economics and engineering 10:16 - Starting a company at 16 19:09 - Why move from the startup world to corporate? 52:52 - Jumping around from company to company 1:10:13 - Burnout and company responsibility About Dennis Just: Dennis Just is the CEO of smallPDF, a SaaS company which offers all-in-one easy-to-use online PDF tools such as merging, editing and signing. Dennis is a serial entrepreneur, having started his first company, dSlash.de, while still in high school. During his university years, he started compreo.de, a translation service, but stopped the venture after 2 years because it was too early for the market. He went on to be Head of Product at DeinDeal and subsequently started Numbrs and Knip (now Digital Insurance Group ), two successful fin/insurtech companies. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E84 · Sun, June 28, 2020
Timestamps: 0:48 - Why start your own company? 10:35 - What are they fundraising for? 11:55 - Tackling sales About Martin and Turicode: Martin Keller is the co-founder and CEO of turicode, a machine learning based document extraction solution. The company bootstrapped to CHF 1m in revenue. Their technology, MINT.extract, works to extract information from any type of document, supporting their customers along the entirety of their business processes. They are looking to raise CHF 2m to diversify the skillset in their team and also to scale internationally. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E83 · Wed, June 24, 2020
Timestamps: 2:05 - Why do startups need a pricing strategy? 7:55 - Recurring revenue vs One-time fees 18:40 - How the buyer persona influences pricing 32:28 - Maximizing revenue 37:41 - Are discounts a good idea? About Reto L ämmler: Reto Lämmler is the CEO and co-founder of Testing Time, a recruiting platform for usability test users. Some of Reto’s previous ventures include: Xellery, a cloud-based collaboration service for Microsoft Excel, which was sold to expressocorp.com and RememberTheName, an app for learning names in your address book. At doodle.com , Reto gained international startup experience as VP Product Management. He holds an MAS in Interaction Design and a BSc in Computer Science. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E82 · Sun, June 21, 2020
Timestamps: 2:15 - What problem does Caressoma fix? 5:44 - Who uses Caressoma? 8:37 - What milestones has Caressoma recently achieved? About Sophia and Caressoma: Sophia Borowka is the CEO and co-founder of Caressoma, a startup providing ultrasound diagnostics for monitoring soft tissue injuries. Sophia is a physicist by training and has spent several years as CERN Fellow in Geneva. Together with her two co-founders, Jana Maes, an experienced Osteopathy practitioner and Jinesh Kallunkathariyil, a physicist and R&D expert, they have already raised 270k CHF from investors. Now looking to raise an additional 800k CHF to bring the product to market as a non-medical device for training optimization for athletes. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E81 · Wed, June 17, 2020
Timestamps: 4:34 - Where David met his co-founders 10:28 - How to sell to lawyers 15:41 - Does Legartis have competition? 16:35 - Finding the right talent 19:29- Why create a second office in Lisbon? About David Alain Bloch: David Alain Bloch is the CEO and co-founder of Legartis , a legal tech company which uses AI to help businesses with their legal needs. David is an Attorney at Law admitted at the Zurich bar. He was a member of the “ Global Shapers ”, a World Economic Forum ( WEF ) community network of highly motivated individuals who have a great potential for future leadership roles in society. David also co-founded Foraus , a Swiss think tank on foreign policy. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E80 · Sun, June 14, 2020
Timestamps: 2:32 - What problem does UNISERS solve? 8:01 - What milestones has UNISERS reached so far? 9:25 - Does UNISERS have competitors? About Fabian and UNISERS: Fabian Walter is the co-founder and CTO of UNISERS, an ETH spinoff specialized in automated analysis equipment for high-purity liquids used in semiconductor production. UNISERS emerged out of the ETH pioneer fellowship in 2017. The company holds a patent for their technology and is currently looking to raise $ 1.2 m to expand their marketing activities at several high profile events and to bring their MVP solution to the market. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E79 · Wed, June 10, 2020
Timestamps: 2:06 - Why are sales so important? 5:20 - When should you start having your own sales team? 6:25 - What are the different stages of the B2B process? 7:42 - How do you find the right target client? 8:29 - Should you focus on one industry only? 11:52 - How to qualify leads 14:03 - Testing sales channels 18:19 - Speed up the selling process 24:19 - How to keep in touch with customers 27:21 - How to follow up 28:27 - Do awards and news pieces help you close sales? 29:35 - What are the most important KPIs for B2B sales 31:50 - Other tools to use for sales 35:56 - Closing deals remotely 40:41 - How to create value before closing a sale 41:28 - Where I can find good templates? About Manuel Hartmann: Manuel Hartmann is the Founder of SalesPlaybook, a Swiss sales accelerator for B2B startups. Before starting the SalesPlaybook, Manuel was part of Onedot , where he increased sales by 260% over 2 years. He holds a Masters of Business Innovation from University of St. Gallen and spent three years as a consultant at Accenture . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E78 · Sun, June 07, 2020
Timestamps: 4:00 - What milestones has What To Label achieved? 4:47 - Internationalization 8:11 - Toughest challenges to overcome About Igor and What To Label: Igor Susmelj is the co-founder of WhatToLabel, a Data Preparation Platform for Machine Learning. Together with his co-founder, Matthias Heller, they bring together the best of the tech and business world. WhatToLabel is both a HSG and an ETH spinoff. Currently, they are looking for funding to take them to the next milestone - 100k in recurring revenue from their international client base. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E77 · Wed, June 03, 2020
Timestamps: 1:43 - What common mistakes do Swiss companies make in the B2B sales area? 10:14 - How to get the contact details of future customers 18:49 - Is there such a thing as too many follow-ups with clients? 26:21 - Selling something before it even exists 37:06 - The best sales team set-up The Episode in 60 seconds The ABC of B2B sales First Contact - Consider a mix of standardized outreach via cold emails and personalized strategies via phone or more creative means (ever thought about sending your prospects a shoe?) - Don’t pitch your product upon first contact. Ask questions about your customer’s pain points and wishes. Demo - Don’t just demo all your features. Know what will create value for this specific customer. - If possible, demo on-site to establish a more personal relationship. - Even if you can’t convince the customer, ask for a referral to someone else in the industry. Tools to help you close - Hubspot - LinkedIn Sales Navigator - Hunter - Soap Box - Outreach Documents you need - Data security whitepaper - 1-pager of your product - Testimonials of happy customers, if possible KPIs of your sales team - Accounts Receivable vs target - Conversion rates after first meeting. 30% would be desirable - Diversified leads: ⅓ big accounts, ⅔ small / medium accounts Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E76 · Sun, May 31, 2020
Timestamps: 1:41 - Why start your own company? 6:35 - Winning over clients 15:48 - A young entrepreneur's summer jobs About Alex and Realbot Engineering: Alex Tyropolis is a co-founder and CEO at Realbot Engineering, a startup offering robot technology for remote viewing of real estate. He co-founded the company after years of experience in the real estate industry as an analyst for Engel & Völkers. After only 2 years of bootstrapping, the company already has a working product on the market and has conducted 4145 remote viewings for clients such as wincasa and livit. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E75 · Wed, May 27, 2020
Timestamps: 2:37 - Why Melanie decided to start her own company 9:08 - Big founding teams 17:41 - Closing a big financing round just before covid-19 26:34 - How to hire the right people 30:46 - Ensuring good communication in a growing team About Melanie Gabriel: Melanie Gabriel is the co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Yokoy , a SaaS company which leverages Artificial Intelligence to fully automate all expense- and company credit card processes. Before starting Yokoy, Melanie joined Dizmo as Marketing Manager and worked her way up to Head of Marketing. She is a board member of WE SHAPE TECH and holds a degree in Business Management from the University of St. Gallen ( HSG ). Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E74 · Sun, May 24, 2020
Timestamps: 3:16 - What problem does onCyt solve? 11:50 - Possible competitors for onCyt 20:44 - Fundraising horizon About Michael and onCyt: OnCyt, a startup offering microbial monitoring, emerged from Michael Besmer’s PhD at ETH Zurich . He assembled a team of co-founders from a diversity of backgrounds including engineering and business development. After 3 years, the team is already looking back on 20+ successful projects and over 800k CHF in revenue. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E73 · Wed, May 20, 2020
Timestamps: 1:47 - What do Swiss startups often get wrong with boards of directors? 6:00 - What different skills need to be present in a board of directors? 12:06 - How to best compensate your board 18:52 - How can a board help your startup achieve success? 23:05 - How should a startup collaborate with a board? The Episode In 60 Seconds Setting up your Board of Directors - the right way. The right composition Get diversity of perspectives and skills, be sure you cover at least: legal, finance and your industry Don’t go for titles, go for people with time and expertise 4 is considered a good number to start Founders on the board In small companies where they hold a large stake, this may be appropriate In large companies, operations and board roles have to be separated Compensation Consider paying a fixed compensation in cash or equity and a variable compensation based on time invested Where to find the right board members Choose people you know you can work with If you have smart money investors, they will probably be a good addition to the board How boards change when companies grow Small company boards may be more operational As companies grow, boards necessarily have to professionalize and become less operational Meeting and decision making Meetings at most once a month and at least once a quarter If possible, decisions should be unanimous or more time should be invested into discussions If a board member dissents, be sure to note it in writing Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E72 · Sun, May 17, 2020
Timestamps: 1:36 - What motivated Kevin to start his own company? 7:50 - What milestones has Kevin's startup recently achieved? 11:29 - Tough challenges to overcome About Kevin and Helio: Kevin Häfeli is the co-founder of Helio, a platform to connect demand and supply of computing power. He started Helio in 2018 together with Christoph Buchli. Previously, he worked as a DevOps engineer at Zatoo and Snowflake Productions and co-founded the e-commerce venture Brandeer Sports. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E71 · Wed, May 13, 2020
Timestamps: 2:00 - Going from journalism, to law, to business 13:22 - Being the youngest board member around 20:00 - Determining founding values 27:32 - Finding the balance between commitment and change 36:16 - Having a stay at home husband About Katja Berlinger: Katja Berlinger is the CEO of Swiss Medi Kids and a professional board member. Katja started out as a journalist at the publication “Cash”. She quickly realized that she’d rather have an impact herself than write about people who do. Consequently, she turned to her law degree and became an associate at the law firm von der Crone, where she worked on the Swissair lawsuit. Once again, she concluded that this career path was not for her. She switched gears and joined a tech startup as their corporate sales manager. From there, she set herself up to become a professional board member and today holds more than 5 board member seats. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E70 · Wed, May 06, 2020
Timestamps: 2:17 - Where can startups get help during the corona crisis? 3:11 - What legal aspects do Swiss startups not pay enough attention to? 6:52 - Will copy pasting terms and conditions save me legal fees? 08:01 - How do I best deal with liability and risk? 09:05 - What should online shops address before going live? 11:10 - Can geographic names be used to name products? 17:53 - How will the corona crisis affect valuations? 20:25 - Founder-friendly ways of writing shareholder agreements 25:49 - Co-founders joining late in the game 27:16 - Employee stock option plans 31:50 - Why can't layers give straight answers? 35:34 - Finding the right legal partner 39:45 - How much should a good lawyer cost About Beat Brechbuehl and Michèle Remund: Beat Brechbuehl is managing partner of Kellerhals Carrard and head of the M&A team. He holds a LL.M. degree of the Chicago Law School and worked with Sandoz / Novartis Nutrition. He works primarily in the area of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and joint ventures, venture capital and succession planning. He is a lecturer for entrepreneurship at the University of Berne and he has been acknowledged as one of the leading Swiss corporate lawyers by Legal500 and Chambers . Michèle Remund has many years of experience in corporate and tax law and regularly assists clients in M&A transactions. She is also a member of Kellerhals Carrard’s Startup Desk and advises start-ups in particular in connection with employee shareholdings, financing rounds and various other issues. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E69 · Wed, April 29, 2020
Timestamps: 1:44 - What mistakes do Swiss founders repeatedly make, when it comes to exits? 11:55 - Coping with stress and pressure 21:50 - Always striving for the next level 32:18 - Knowing what your company is worth 40:32 - Achieving billion dollar exits The Episode In 60 Seconds Dream Big – Sell Big Swiss people have a tendency to sell themselves and their business short. Instead of going for the billion dollar deal, they settle for the first offer which comes their way. Dare to be great and know your true potential. Don’t crack under pressure One of the reasons founders sell their companies too early (and too cheaply) is because of the immense pressure they are under; from employees, family, VCs and, sometimes, from themselves. Know that VCs may not always have your best interest in mind and/or know the business like you do. Be truthful with your employees, especially in hard times. If you have invested in building a company culture, this will now pay off. Selling done right The bad news: you cannot plan an exit strategically. The good news: if you’re good at what you do, the opportunity will arise naturally. Make plans but be ready to abandon them if a better course of action presents itself. Money isn’t everything. It may be smart to accept a smaller offer if this means that your company’s vision will persist and your employees will have a “good home” even after the acquisition. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E68 · Wed, April 22, 2020
Timestamps: 11:31 - Scaling from 0 to 150 million in revenue within 6 years 23:23 - Why not just enjoy a billionaire fortune? 35:08 - Closing an intercontinental gap 43:50 - Ariel's most surreally successful moment 52:34 - Being the "anti-venture capitalist" About Ariel Lüdi: Ariel Lüdi is a parachute stuntman turned millionaire. After dropping out of his physics degree at ETH Zurich, Ariel joined IBM as a developer. From there he joined Oracle, where he discovered his passion and talent for sales. After 8 very successful years as SVP of Sales at Broad Vision and Salesforce, he joined Hybris as CEO. He invested all his previous earnings into the company and even went into debt. In 2013, he sold Hybris to SAP for $ 1.5bn. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E67 · Wed, April 15, 2020
Timestamps: 2:05 - Managing a work-life balance 3:42 - Missing half of your own wedding 8:00 - Finding out what's really important 14:08 - Preparing for motherhood 18:19 - Finding a challenging part-time job 20:55 - Why not a corporate career? 29:57 - The role of Tanja's husband 32:43 - How to split parenting responsibilities 40:23 - Swiss women in leadership positions 46:05 - What does motherhood teach you about business? About Tanja Lau: Tanja Lau is an experienced entrepreneur and the founder of Product Academy, a coaching business for product managers. Previously she was Head of Product at Siroop, where she played a crucial role in scaling the company to over 200 employees. During this intense period of her life she found herself experiencing symptoms of burnout, even suffering a breakdown at her own wedding. With the goal of building a balanced yet challenging career for herself, she started Product Academy and is running it part time while raising her two young children. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E66 · Wed, April 08, 2020
Timestamps: 1:52 - What mistakes do Swiss startups make when it comes to moving to Silicon Valley? 16:02 - When should you not go to the Valley? 29:56 - Hiring the right sales person 32:28 - Tackling the PR and marketing game 43:23 - What shocks Swiss companies when they come to the US? The Episode In 60 Seconds Competing with Silicon Valley Startups – what to expect Switzerland is generally strong in research and not so strong in productization and marketing. Be aware of this and give your amazing product the showlight it deserves. Cap tables (the “who owns what” in a company) are a big topic. SV investors don’t like to see large, fragmented cap tables. Be smart and don’t give away more than 20% of your company per round. SV is fast-paced and direct. Be prepared to adapt your style of doing business. Is Silicon Valley the promised land for all startups? The short answer is: no. The long answer is: it depends. Know where the experts in your field cluster. This can be Houston, New York, Chicago … Don’t underestimate the value which comes from a Swiss brand: neutrality, trust and reliability, to name a few. Building up your presence in the US Your expansion should be customer centric. Move to a new market when you feel you understand and are ready to serve the customer there. Expanding abroad usually entails building a physical presence there. Often this requires at least one of the founders to relocate in order to build a quality team away from home. Ideally, your first hires have existing customer relationships that you can leverage. Build the business first, fundraise second. This will give you much more negotiating power. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E65 · Wed, April 01, 2020
Timestamps: 2:10 - Where does Philipp's entrepreneurial spirit come from? 15:31 - Getting an American green card during the 9/11 era 24:23 - When a mission-driven company fails 34:18 - The 1/1/1 program 48:40 - How can young people find their mission? About Philipp Stauffer: Philipp Stauffer is the co-founder of and Managing Partner at FYRFLY , an early stage technology venture firm. Amongst their former and current portfolio companies are Beekeeper , Philz Coffee and AngelList . Prior to becoming an Angel and early stage investor, Philipp co-founded his own ventures: Dropimpact, an innovation catalyst and early stage investment firm, and Onor, an impact digital marketing project. He moved to San Francisco in 2001, days after the 9/11 terror attacks. Philipp holds an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Microeconomics from the University of Applied Sciences in Zurich. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E64 · Wed, March 25, 2020
Timestamps: 2:13 - How does a corporate career give an entrepreneur the upper hand? 11:28 - The lender-borrower ratio 20:12 - Switching work flows 27:38 - Developing the user interface 28:29 - Plans for the future About Daniel Sandmeier: Daniel Sandmeier is the CEO of Instimatch, a platform for digitizing money markets. Instimatch was named “Growth Startup Of The Year” at the Swiss Fintech Awards 2020. Before joining Instimatch, Daniel had spent 12 years at Credit Suisse and over 2 decades in banking over all. He holds a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Zurich. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E63 · Wed, March 18, 2020
Timestamps: 2:15 - Why does a large corporation decide to get involved with startups? 11:26 - What F10 brings to startups 23:15 - How can startups and corporates succeed together? 25:35 - How to convince opponents 33:40 - How else does Andreas help startups? About Andreas Iten: Andreas Iten is the co-founder of F10 FinTech Incubator & Accelerator and also the head at SIX FinTech Ventures. He has worked for over 15 years within leading institutions in the IT service, airline & transportation and the financial industry. Andreas holds a degree in Digital Innovation and Business Transformation from the University of St. Gallen. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E62 · Wed, March 11, 2020
Timestamps: 2:34 - What do Swiss startups get wrong, when it comes to internationalization? 14:11 - How to organize a team 19:32 - The role of fundraising in internationalization 30:55 - How to manage a successful partnership 40:15 - Risk assessment in Europe vs in the US The Episode In 60 Seconds Getting the timing right Rather than going and planting a flag abroad, consider letting your customers lead the way. Wherever you find a “big fish”, find an agreement to localize for them. Finding international customers Try to engage analysts such as Forrester and Gartner early on. This can be in an informal way, since formal engagements can cost you lots of money. Look for international technology partners such as Salesforce and the like. Attend conferences abroad to gain visibility. Organizational setup For technology products, marketing and sales are usually the areas which need localization, while engineering can stay centralized. A coherent reporting structure and rigorous documentation are vital to successfully move an international team forward. Successful international partnerships Partners are followers, not leaders. Even though you might have a partner in a certain market, you still need to lead the way for the first successful implementations. It’s a long term game. Try to become part of your partner’s daily routine to stay on the top of their mind. International fundraising International investors are desirable but not a requirement to expand abroad. Don’t underestimate the difficulties which come with operating in two different legal systems. Since you are missing the benefit of a shared culture, introductions to international investors through your network are even more important. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E61 · Wed, March 04, 2020
Timestamps: 7:26 - How Dorian found the right team 23:48 - Going from 0 to 50 million in revenue within 2 years 29:58 - Why leave a hugely successful company? 40:14 - When's the right time to launch a certain product in the market? 47:05 - Starting an A.I. business About Dorian Selz: Dorian is the founder of local.ch , Switzerland’s leading local search platform which he grew to >$50M revenues in 4 years. Today he is co-founder and CEO Squirro.com , a personal digital research assistant. The company also offers memonic.com , a web based digital notebook. Prior to launching local.ch, from 1999 to 2005 he was Partner and COO at Namics , an internet professional services firm. Dorian holds a PhD in information systems from the University of St.Gallen and a degree in econometrics from the University of Geneva . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E60 · Wed, February 26, 2020
Timestamps 2:45 - Do I need a co-founder? When is it absolutely essential to get one? 4:15 - How to get to the right organizational set-up 9:47 - What's a good vision for a company? 16:59 - How small is a lean startup? What are the advantages? 18:42 - How do I find the right people? 30:09 - Should you work with freelancers? Can you onboard them later on? 32:16 - Getting an inexpensive, rockstar team for you startup 33:55 - Should every employee get stock options? 36:28 - What role do team meetings play in the EOS system? 43:35 - What is the role of the visionary? 45:50 - How to prepare your organizational system for growth. 47:40 - Which admin tasks should you outsource? 50:16 - Do we need marketing experts? About Christian Burger: Christian Burger is the founder and owner of Antarius Gmbh and one of Switzerland’s first licensed implementers of EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System). Christian advises the leadership teams of companies how to effectively set up their organization. He holds a degree in electrical engineering but focused a major part of his career on project management before starting his own company Nomasis in 2007, which focused on enterprise mobile device management, and later Antarius , a business consultancy, in 2010. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E59 · Wed, February 19, 2020
Timestamps 2:10 - What mistakes do you see Swiss startups make repeatedly when it comes to growth and scale? 11:27 - How to manage distribution partners 17:28 - Marketing and customer service: can you handle it remotely? 22:30 - Challenges of scaling up 31:56 - What role does company culture play when it comes to scaling? The Episode In 60 Seconds Getting the basics right Don’t underestimate how long it will take you to build sales channels. Invest time into developing them at the same time as you are developing your product. Switzerland is too small. Go international fast. Be present where you want to build your network. Managing high growth sales channels Your partner has to make an upfront investment in order to be able to sell your product. They will only be willing to do this if they believe in your vision and see an opportunity to grow together with you. You should own the selling process and have your partners’ commissions tied to project delivery milestones. This will maximize their incentive to make the customer happy. To assure quality, you should own the certification process of everyone who sells your product Culture at scale Leadership is culture. Culture is what drives the company beyond the term of any single manager. At scale, culture has to become more explicit in order to keep everyone on board. Write down your values and talk about them often. The trust of your employees is your most valuable asset. Do not squander it by paying salaries late or otherwise breaking your word. Surviving the race to scale Growing a company is tough, there is no other way to say it. If you aren’t willing to put in the hours, it may not be the right business for you. Sleeping is vital. Learn how to sleep “effectively” by shutting off your thoughts and finding deep relaxation, at least for a few hours.
S1 E58 · Wed, February 12, 2020
Timestamps: 2:24 - Going from founder to employee 17:36 - How doing an apprenticeship helped him with his startup 33:19 - Building an international brand 38:57 - Starting a spin off of his own company 47:42 - Manuel Grenacher's future plans About Manuel Grenacher: Manuel Grenacher is the founder and fmr. CEO of Coresystems , a cloud solution that helps companies to source and coordinate technicians for customer service. In 2017, Siemens decided to use Coresystems to digitize their global customer service technicians network. Subsequently, in 2018, Coresystems was bought by SAP, where Manuel is now General Manager for Cloud Service Solutions. Previously, Manuel had already successfully sold Mila , a spin-off of Coresystems to Swisscom in 2015. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E57 · Wed, February 05, 2020
Timestamps 2:24 - Why choose bootstrapping? 16:10 - Time management 25:21 - How to frame your product 33:12 - Getting a product into stores 42:57 - Should you go for paid marketing? The Episode In 60 Seconds Thinking about bootstrapping? Jutta Jertrum has done it and here are some of the points to consider: Trade-offs Bootstrapping usually means higher independence in exchange for fast growth. It may take longer until you pay yourself a salary, since any money comes directly out of the company’s cash flow. Getting your partner on-board Starting a business can strain a relationship, particularly the financial aspects. Do not underestimate this and address it with your partner early on. In an ideal situation, a partner can provide the financial support to cover the monthly living expenses. This should however not be expected or taken for granted. Client acquisition Reference clients and authentic customer testimonials are some of the most powerful tools for client acquisition. If your offer is declined, always ask why. Don’t be afraid to try again. Awards and startup competitions are a great way to get the word out there, gain credibility and free PR. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E56 · Wed, January 29, 2020
Timestamps: 3:18 - Why did Jutta start her own business? 12:19 - How to choose the right company to work with 20:00 - Taking care of logistics 31:42 - Blacking out on live TV 39:10 - Did Jutta sign the contract with the sharks? About Jutta Jertrum: Jutta Jertum is the inventor and owner of Twist Out , an ecological drain cleaning device. Jutta was the General Manager at the Castle Rapperswil when she discovered that she could clean her clogged drains more ecologically and effectively using a wooden stick of a very specific shape. She then quit her job and patented the invention. In Switzerland, Jutta is best known for her appearance on the TV show “ Höhle der Löwen ”, where she was offered a deal which she ended up rejecting after the show. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E55 · Wed, January 22, 2020
Timestamps: 2:15 - The early days of Run My Accounts 11:14 - The challenges of growing organically 26:21 - Early-stage financial tasks 40:11 - What accounting software should you use? 53:20 - How does pricing affect liquidity and cashflow? The Episode In 60 Seconds Getting your finances right. In the beginning: There is no point waiting with signing up to VAT, if you go over the threshold of 150k revenue in a year, it is already too late and will be painful to catch up. You can, however, save yourself time and effort by doing your first year end closing after 23 months instead of 12. Check the regulation of the Canton where your company is registered. Invest some time and energy into the setup of your accounting system. Having to fix it later down the road is costly and time consuming. Choosing a fiduciary: Chose your fiduciary first and take the accounting software they recommend. Use a simple system in the beginning, without subledgers. If you switch systems, do it at the end of the financial year. Don’t import old data into the new system. Excel is not powerful enough. Liquidity planning: Cash is the oxygen of your company, so better know how much you got left until you run out. Be aware of the “hidden costs” of growth: on-boarding employees, finding additional workspace, setting up new tools and processes. Consider the impact of your payment terms on your liquidity. If you are ecommerce, the way you manage your stock will be significant for your liquidity. The smaller you keep it, the better. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E54 · Wed, January 15, 2020
Timestamps 1:58 - From a legal aspect, what scaling mistakes do Swiss startups make repeatedly? 10:30 - Convertible loans or capital increase? 21:21 - How to handle non-compete clauses 33:10 - What startups should me more aware of 38:14 - Taxes for startups The Episode In 60 Seconds Just like your apartment, your company needs some basic housekeeping in order to avoid descending into chaos. Financing rounds It’s not advisable to negotiate your term sheet without a lawyer if you don’t have previous experience. Although they aren’t legally binding they set a strong precedent which is hard to negotiate your way out of. By the same token, don’t use the template of your investor. Be sure you understand the liquidation preferences you agree to If fundraising has to be fast and determining a price is difficult, consider a convertible loan Employment contracts Watch out for IP (intellectual property) rights, notice period and non-compete clause (limit 3 years) For employee incentivisation, you can decide between Share plan: more tax friendly for your employees, usually higher administrative burden for the company Phantom stocks: easier to administer but taxed as income Exit Exits usually take the form of either an M&A (Merger and Acquisition) or an IPO (Initial Public Offering) M&As come in 2 forms: Asset deal: meaning you sell all the companies assets, including employees to a new owner Share deal (more common): the acquiring party buys a majority of the shares and therefore takes control of the company. IPO: are still rare in Switzerland, mostly because they involve large costs (several $ millions) for preparing the so called “prospectus”, the document based on which the shares are offered on the stock exchange. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E53 · Wed, January 08, 2020
Timestamps 2:00 - Why aren't business angels just called "investors"? 5:17 - What's the best time to approach a business angel? 13:50 - How to convince a business angel to invest in an early-stage idea 16:36 - The relevance of a team 21:19 - What KPI does Carole use to assess a product's market? 26:21 - Education or experience? 31:32 - How much of business decisions is gut feeling and how much comes from thorough analysis? 35:59 - How to read a business angel's intentions 39:07 - How much money do business angels invest? 40:24 - What does the investment process look like? 42:51 - How to split legal costs 48:08 - How an angel evaluates a startup 50:17 - Convertible loans: yay or nay? 55:07 - What separates good from great founders? 56:18 - How does Carole keep herself up to date? About Carole Ackermann: Carole Ackermann was the president of Business Angels Switzerland (BAS) Association from 2010 to 2018. In 2007, she founded Diamondscull AG, an investment and coaching firm based in Switzerland. Through BAS and Diamondscull as well as her mandates on multiple Boards of Directors, she has acted as a startup and executive coach for many years. Carole holds a PhD in Marketing from University of St. Gallen (HSG). Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E52 · Wed, January 01, 2020
Timestamps 1:33 - What mistakes do Swiss startups make repeatedly when it comes to their exit? 13:44 - Keeping investors satisfied 22:50 - What founders get from an exit 30:57 - When should you sell your company? 33:28 - Requirements for trade sale exit The Episode In 60 Seconds Finding the right exit strategy for you and your company. Getting the basics right Look beyond Switzerland for potential buyers If you can, get help from specialized M&A boutiques Broaden your shareholder base to get easy access to new markets and industries Selecting the right partner and deal Institutional investors usually curtail the entrepreneurial freedom of the founder more strongly than non-institutional investors such as family offices. Aggressive growth often leads to the founders being left with very small stakes in the company once the time for an exit has arrived. Don’t select buyers based on valuation but based on their values aligning with yours. Don’t forget that most likely, you will still be obliged to work in your company for a few years after it has been acquired. The price of an acquisition is often split in a fixed part and a variable part, called earn-out, that gets paid out on defined targets and incentives over the duration of 1-5 years. Timing Depends on several factors: Can the company still realize significantly more growth in the future? Do you still have the passion and energy to drive the business forward? Exit options M&A (Merger and Acquisition): Selling of the companies assets or shares. For smaller companies with revenue generally above $ 10m. IPO (Initial Public Offering): Listing of the company on a public stock exchange. Usually not feasible for revenue below $ 200m. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E51 · Wed, December 25, 2019
Timestamps: 1:28 - Selling his first company at 28 years old 20:10 - Staying healthy while working 6 days/week 24:56 - How did Marc meet Mark Zuckerberg? 45:56 - The bitcoin crash of late 2018 49:11 - The future of blockchain technology About Marc P. Bernegger: Marc P. Bernegger is the founder of usgang.ch, a nightlife platform, and Amiando, a ticketing system for events. Marc started usgang.ch in 1999 when he was 20 years old and sold it to Axel Springer in 2008. In 2006, he co-founded Amiando based out of Munich. Amiando was acquired by Xing in 2010. Since then, Marc has been active in the fintech space, as founder of the Crypto Finance Conferenc e St. Moritz and of Crypto Finance AG and as a board member at Falcon Bank . Marc holds a Masters in Law from the University of Zurich. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E50 · Wed, December 18, 2019
Timestamps: 3:05 - How did a corporate background help Patrick with Flyability? 8:26 - Where is the drone industry headed? 21:06 - Maintaining good communication with testing groups 32:35 - When an investor questions him/herself on what could go wrong 38:08 - How to hire the right people to grow your company About Patrick Thevoz: Patrick Thevoz is Co-founder and CEO of Flyability , a company specialized in commercial indoor drones. During his time at Fyability, the company grew from 2 to over 60 employees and acquired over 300 customers. The company successfully raised $11 m in 2018 with Swisscom Ventures as one of the lead investors. Before founding Flyability, Patrick worked as a strategy consultant in the life sciences industries. Patrick holds an MSc in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EPFL). Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E49 · Wed, December 11, 2019
Timestamps: 2:13 - Why leave a corporate job? 7:34 - How big players make money with your data 14:14 - When did the big breach in data protection happen? 18:58 - What is a responsible way to conduct oneself on social media? 22:52 - Are people aware of the seriousness of the situation? About Monique Morrow: Monique Morrow spent 16 years at Cisco , where she became the company’s first Services CTO and spearheaded Cisco’s transition to services as the core piece of their offerings portfolio. After leaving Cisco, she founded The Humanized Internet , a non-profit organization with a mission to provide persistent, secure, global digital identity to the world’s population. In 2019, she joined the newly established VETRI Foundation as the president of the board and has been shaping the organization’s path towards a blockchain based personal data management solution. Monique has several patents to her name, amongst them “Cloud Framework for Multi-Cloud Extension” and “Deep Learning Bias Detection in Text”. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E48 · Thu, December 05, 2019
Timestamps: 0:33 - What mistakes do Swiss founders repeatedly make when it comes to competition? 15:54 - How to succeed in a tough competitor situation 20:00 - Getting Switzerland on the American investor map 29:03 - Two types of customers 40:46 - Knowing when to get out The Episode In 60 Seconds Know your competitive landscape Keep in mind that most tech products compete on a global scale Take a holistic view: the same needs can be met with different approaches. They are still your competitors. Be aware when you are switching from up-start to incumbent and when it’s time to scan for acquisition targets yourself. Why companies acquire other companies To create synergies with, expand, improve, etc. their existing business. To protect their existing business from competition. The latter tends to be a stronger driver than the former. How to approach competitors Approach the CEO, even if it is a much larger company. Demonstrate how you will be a threat to their existing business. Be aware that your competitor may be facing internal resistance against an approach which was “not invented here”. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E47 · Wed, November 27, 2019
Timestamps: 1:52 - Should making an exit always be the goal in creating a startup? 12:00 - Entrepreneurship in the medical field 22:15 - Selling a second company for $12.5 million 31:36 - Do founders grow out of their role? 36:53 - The power of a network About Michael Friedrich: Michael Friedrich is the CEO of Distalmotion , a medical device company specialized in robots for minimally invasive surgery. Michael started his first venture as a 16-year-old teenager during high school. The company, Berne Byte Bears , focused on the early applications of the Internet, producing specialized software programs, websites and other web applications. Their most successful offering was an online product comparison site, komsumenteninfo.ch, which was acquired by Comparis in 2002. Michael went on to study Microengineering at EPFL Lausanne. From there, he started Aïmago , a medtech venture focused on visualizing blood flow in real time. Aïmago was acquired by its competitor Novadaq for $12m in 2014. Nowadays, Michael is CEO (and early investor) of Lausanne-based Distalmotion, a spin-off of the EPFL that has set out to make robotic surgery more accessible and establish robotics as the new standard of care in the OR via its surgical robot called Dexter. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E46 · Wed, November 20, 2019
Timestamps: 2:06 - What mistakes do Swiss startups make repeatedly when it comes to funding for growth? 11:43 - How to find investors 24:06 - Turning down a $ 10 million investment offer 30:47 - How to go about evaluation 40:50 - When to start the fundraising process The Episode In 60 Seconds The four phases of fundraising. Phase 1: Preparation Start preparations either in early September or in January, as to not hit the VCs’ winter or summer break. Don’t waste your time talking to VCs which aren’t adequate for the round you are trying to raise anyway. Use personal introductions wherever you can. Phase 2: Pitching Do a first screening call to gauge the general fit of the VC for your business and round. The goal of your pitching is to get a term sheet, which equals an offer to invest from a VC. Phase 3: Negotiating Term Sheets Once you have (hopefully) collected a few term sheets, it’s time to evaluate and negotiate on the different offers. When choosing an investor, the cultural fit should not be underestimated. Don’t be afraid to get references on the VC from other ventures he/she has previously invested in. Don’t obsess too much over valuation. It is not an exact science. Phase 4: Due Diligence Once you have decided to go with an offer, the investor will perform his due diligence on your business to make sure your books are in order. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E45 · Wed, November 13, 2019
Timestamps: 2:40 - Running a business in Switzerland vs in Mexico 10:23 - The early days of Spocal 21:55 - Raising 50k 35:40 - Figuring out pricing 39:15 - When to scale up About Cristian Grossmann: Cristian Grossmann is the CEO and co-founder at Beekeeper , a software company which allows businesses to easily communicate with their non-desk workforce. Cristian was born in Mexico City, to a Mexican-Swiss family. He left Mexico as a teenager to pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering at ETH Zurich and went on to complete his doctorate in Electrical Engineering. The path to Beekeeper began in 2011, when he and his co-founder Flavio started an anonymous dating app for university students called BlicKlick. BlicKlick became Spocal, a community platform for all types of interactions – not just flirting. The solution was picked up not only by university students but also by businesses trying to engage their workforce. In 2012, Swissôtel , a Swiss hotel chain, used the solution to manage communication with its non-desk workforce during a merger with two other global hotel chains. This was a breakthrough moment for Beekeper, which since then has been growing rapidly and just closed a $ 45 million series B round this year. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E44 · Wed, November 06, 2019
Timestamps: 2:44 - The story behind the name "Swissto12" 7:50 - Identifying and solving problems 11:17 - Switching markets 21:00 - Convincing customers 27:04 - Emile's plans for the funds he raised. About Emile de Rijk: Emile de Rijk is the co-founder and CEO of Swissto12 , a high-tech company which specializes in the 3D printing of radio frequency products based on its own patented technology. The company’s technology originated from Emil’s PhD thesis at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ( EPFL ), in Lausanne. After initially focusing on the production of scientific equipment, the company pivoted in 2014 and since then is mainly active in the market for antennas for satellite telecommunications. Swissto12 was awarded a contract by the European Space Agency in 2015 and raised a $ 18.5m series B round earlier this year with Swisscom Ventures as one of the lead investors. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E43 · Wed, October 30, 2019
Timestamps 2:07 - What's the difference between an accelerator and an incubator? 3:14 - Are accelerators and incubators worth it? 4:10 - When should you reach out to accelerators and incubators? 5:55 - Do certain business types have more of a chance with investors? 7:48 - What do accelerators and incubators deliver to you as a startup? 11:11 - Do accelerators and incubators even do anything? 13:04 - Which famous Swiss companies have been part of an accelerator or an incubator? 14:19 - Where to find incubators for young Swiss entrepreneurs? 17:00 - Why choose a Swiss incubator or accelerator? 18:43 - Is their a Y combinator equivalent in Switzerland? 25:21 - Do accelerator/incubator programs demand a full-time commitment? 28:00 - How do you know if the program has been successful? 29:23 - How many customers can you except to gain with a program like this? 31:01 - Should you aim for zero equity? About Nicolas Bürer Nicolas Bürer is the Managing Director of DigitalSwitzerland , an initiative of over 150 Swiss corporate companies to strengthen Switzerland’s position as a leading innovation hub. Nicolas started his entrepreneurial career as Chief Marketing Officer at DeinDeal.ch , which rose to be one of Switzerland’s most successful e-commerce sites within only 5 years. After DeinDeal, he transitioned to become Managing Director at the TV company Joiz, which had to close its doors in 2016. Nicolas is also one of the co-founders of Movu , a platform of moving and cleaning companies, which was acquired by Baloise in 2017. He holds a Masters in physics from the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne ( EPFL ) and was awarded “ Business Angel of the Year ” in 2018. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E42 · Wed, October 23, 2019
Timestamps: 1:46 - What mistakes do Swiss startups make repeatedly when it comes to culture? 9:01 - The difficulties of creating a culture 12:58 - Important values 20:00 - Scaling company culture: recruiting & on-boarding 35:40 - Treating people fairly The Episode In 60 Seconds It’s never too early Create culture with intention from the very beginning. Start explicitly documenting and “negotiating” your culture as soon as you grow to 10 people or more. Scaling culture Hiring the right people is the only way to scale culture. Hire for values rather than skills alone. Acknowledge that on-boarding new people requires effort from your existing employees. The topic of salaries Fairness and transparency are key, but don’t allow salaries to take center stage in everything you do. Base salaries off of what people need to make a living. Allow for different compensation packages based on the risk appetite of different employees. Letting people go Detect and tackle problems as early as possible. Provide open feedback and a path to improvement. Check-in as often as necessary until the issue is resolved or you let the person go. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E41 · Wed, October 16, 2019
Timestamps: 2:07 - Leaving a consulting firm 17:07 - Starting at Frontify 28:00 - Growing a company from 0 to 75k users 32:55 - Splitting development costs with his first client 36:40 - How self-explanatory products support customer growth About Andreas Fischler: Andreas Fischler is the co-founder of and former CEO at Frontify , which offers cloud software for brand management. During his time at Frontify, the company grew from 2 to over 70 employees. Before joining Frontify, he was a partner at Namics and had his own project, Sakku, which produced solar-powered bags. Andreas holds a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from ETH and a Masters in Information Management from the University of St. Gallen . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E40 · Thu, October 10, 2019
Timestamps 2:33 - Where can I find some good templates to set up my company in Zurich? 3:30 - How do I hire someone in Zurich? 5:49 - What's the most successful startup that was started in Zurich? 7:19 - Mistakes to avoid when starting a company in Zurich 10:14 - Living costs in Zurich 11:56 - Finding co-founders in Zurich 15:13 - Affordable office space in Zurich 17:48 - Looking for investment in Zurich 19:33 - How to get advisors on board 21:46 - Why start a business in Zurich? 25:08 - How startups can cooperate with universities in Zurich 26:41 - Does Zurich promote gender equality? 28:34 - Why are there so few politicians with real startup experience? 33:44 - How can we empower more startups in Zurich? 37:58 - Do cantonal taxes constitute an obstacle to new businesses? 40:20 - Can you be a political candidate and a business owner? 42:24 - How can startups reach out to politicians? 44:29 - What challenges does Andri face as a politician? 49:37 - What are Andri's strengths? About Andri Silberschmidt: Andri Silberschmidt is a politician, investment consultant and the co-founder of Kaisin. AG . After his apprenticeship at Swisscanto Invest , he became (and is still) responsible for the management of all quantitative equity funds that invest in developing countries. In 2017, together with friends, he founded the restaurant chain Kaisin AG, which currently operates three branches in Zurich and one in Basel. Andri Silberschmidt has been politically active since 2011 and President of the Young Liberals Party of Switzerland since 2016. In 2018, he was elected to the Parliament of the City of Zurich for the FDP (Swiss Liberal Party) and is now a candidate for the National Parliament on the list of the FDP Canton of Zurich. Andri holds a BSc in Business Administration and an MSc in Global Finance from Cass Business School . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E39 · Wed, October 02, 2019
Timestamps: 8:02 - Should military service be mandatory for women? 12:19 - Growing up with 3 sisters and an entrepreneurial mom 18:35 - The women quota 20:58 - How can men support women? 27:18 - How do we get more women in leadership positions? The Episode In 60 Seconds What drives inequality in Switzerland? Historical factors such as the absence of a total war which shook up societal structures in other European countries. Expensive childcare and unequal career development paths Venture capital dominated by men How can we tackle inequality? Subsidized child care would be desirable, but is in the end a tax payer decision. Extended parental leave for both parents Education Role models and communities Quotas: yay or nay? Quotas can be a powerful instrument if used wisely. Quotas alone aren’t enough. Coaching and mentoring is required for those who are supposed to fill them. Diversity matters. A team which resembles the customer base which it builds products for will build better products. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E38 · Wed, September 25, 2019
Timestamps: 2:26 - Why Estefania left research to start her own company 10:35 - Growing up in an entrepeneurial family 21:27 - If you're gonna fail, fail fast. 30:18 - How Estefania went about looking for a location 35:19 - How Estefania structures negotiations About Estefanía Tapias: Estefanía Tapias is the CEO and Co-Founder of WeSpace , a community, workspace and digital platform that nurtures female leadership and innovation, having opened its doors in Zurich in 2018. Estefanía holds a PhD in Information Cities and Urban Climate from ETH Zurich and co-developed the first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) series on ‘Future Cities’ available on edX . She was also featured on the BILANZ Top 100 Digital Shapers in Switzerland as well as in Forbes’ 30 under 30 . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E37 · Wed, September 18, 2019
Timestamps 1:49 – Do I need a co-founder at all? 2:57 – At what stage should you look for co-founders? 3:48 – Is there an ideal number of co-founders? 5:25 – Where do I find my co-founders? 6:52 – Friends/family as co-founders: yay or nay? 8:06 – Is it necessary to have previously known your co-founder? 10:45 – Does my co-founder need to be geographically close? 11:49 – What is a good test to figure out if a team works well? 14:32 – Should my co-founder be similar to me or completely different? 18:46 – How long should a co-founder take to decide jumping on board? Can they have a side job? 23:48 – What contracts/terms do you need to outline to manage the legal relationship with your partner? 26:11 – How do you split responsibilities with your co-founder? How does this evolve over time? 28:48 – Are there any KPIs you should watch for to achieve a good relationship with your co-founder(s)? 30:40 – On what aspects can you and your co-founder(s) disagree? About Michael Born: Michael Born is co-founder and CEO at the ETH spin-off PXL Vision , a tech startup which uses computer vision for secure identity verification. He started PXL Vision together with key employees from his previous company, Dacuda , which specializes in software 3D camera technology and was acquired by Magic Leap in 2017. Before starting his entrepreneurial career, Michael was a consultant at Capgemini , specializing in technology consulting. He holds a MSc in International Affairs from the University of St. Gallen . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E36 · Thu, September 12, 2019
Timestamps: 1:49 - What mistakes do Swiss startups make repeatedly when it comes to hiring and managing people? 13:08 - The diversity question 25:48 - Good startup communication 44:47 - How to strengthen your gut feeling, in terms of hiring 49:44 - Should you hire friends and family? The Episode In 60 Seconds People can be an organization’s biggest asset but also one of their greatest pain points. Here are some of Markus Okumus’ key takeaways: Attracting talent In the early stages of a company, it is sometimes difficult to attract the necessary talent without being able to offer the corresponding monetary incentives. A charismatic, passionate founder will be able to inspire the right people to follow along on the journey. Diversity Diverse teams are more successful, so keep an eye on this score. If diversity happens organically, great. If hiring in your network means you only have people who look like yourself around you, you might want to rethink your approach. Hyper-growth Every time you triple your number of employees, you have to re-imagine your entire structure. Some people are unable or unwilling to grow with the company. Don’t be afraid to let them go. If you grow to be a $ 100m revenue company, you’ll need someone who has experience with leading such a company. Values Your values should be more than a subsection on your website. Clearly define them and make them visible everywhere. Justify your decisions in terms of your values. Your employees will start to identify with and be proud of them. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E35 · Thu, September 05, 2019
Timestamps 1:53 - How Markus got involved with students.ch 21:49 - How to manage several business at the same time 25:13 - How to scale up very fast 38:25 - Why Markus started his investment company 47:12 - When should you actually move your startup to San Francisco About Markus Okumus: Markus Okumus is a serial entrepreneur with two successful exits in Switzerland. In 2007, his first venture, students.ch (part of Amiado Group) was acquired by Axel Springer. Only a year later, he started Fashion Days which came to be one of the leading fashion e-commerce businesses in Eastern Europe and was acquired by Naspers in 2015. In 2016, Markus started Baze , a provider of personalized nutrition supplements. Baze closed their series A round with $ 6m in August of this year. Next to his own ventures, Markus is also active as an investor in his role as founder and partner at Canopei , an investment firm focusing on early-stage preventive, and consumer-centric health and wellness companies. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E34 · Wed, August 28, 2019
Timestamps 1:53 – What are some questions every founder should ask themselves before fundraising? 4:13 – How do you determine what is smart money for your business? 5:08 – When is the ideal time to find investors (not FFF)? 6:08 – After how much revenue did you start to look for investors? 9:17 – How can I estimate how much my startup is worth before starting the first financing round? 11:21 – What if you get a down round? 11:54 – How can you get your foot in the door with a potential investor? 15:38 – Where do I meet great investors in Switzerland if I don’t have a network yet? 16:28 – How do I best present my business idea/plan? 21:52 – Do you need a lawyer to create a term sheet? 23:28 – What are the key terms on a term sheet? 26:21 – What is the best practice of vesting schedules? 28:15 – How do you deal with uncertainty? 29:27 – How should you report to investors and work with them? About Pascal Mathis: Pascal Mathis is Co-Founder and former COO of GetYourGuide . After he left the company in 2013, he joined Google as an Industry Manager. Subsequently, he dedicated his career to startup coaching and early stage investments as a co-founder and partner at Wingman . Pascal is also an accredited coach for InnoSuise and sits on the advisory board of the Swiss ICT Investor Club. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ( ETHZ ). Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E33 · Wed, August 21, 2019
Timestamps 2:43 - Why start a company in Switzerland after studying in the US 10:00 - How to scale up in 3 years 22:15 - From founder to investor 31:37 - What the entrepreneurial spirit should be like 36:58 - Is age a factor? The Episode In 60 Seconds The role of a startup CEO is challenging and ever-changing. These are some of the tasks you should be ready to tackle in the initial stages of your company: Early stage Fundraising Getting the money to grow your company will probably take up the largest part of your time. While painful in the beginning, the tables can quickly turn as soon as you can show a promising funnel of clients or other signs of market traction. Sales In an early stage company, the CEO is usually the best sales person because they bring the passion needed to convince customers of a vision without a product. Hiring Aim for a good mix of experienced employees and recently graduates. Don’t be afraid to poach the talent you need from other companies Working at your company should be more than just a job for your employees. Make noise In order to be successful, you have to become part of the language for your customers, analysts, VCs, the press, etc. This doesn’t just happen but is the result of After A-round Setting up a company board of directors An ideal composition could be: 2 founders, 2 investors, 1 neutral person Increased reporting duties to investors and the company board Monthly reporting of the relevant KPIs (cash in the bank, burn rate, sales funnel, etc.) is ideal. It pays off to be well organized. Investors will usually keep asking similar questions, so having your documentation ready and up-to-date will make your life easier. Handling people and their problems As the company grows, the role of the CEO becomes increasingly managerial, which means handling employees and their issues. Managing cash for growth It is easy to overspend once there is some money in the bank. It’s the CEO’s task to keep as much money as possible in the company for growth and to keep an eye on the burn rate, in order not to miss the right moment for the B-series. After B-round Evaluate your contribution to the company After the B-round, your company will have likely grown significantly and you are ready to expand into new markets. This is usually a good time to take a step back and ask yourself if you are still the right person for the job. Some e
S1 E32 · Wed, August 14, 2019
Timestamps: 2:03 - Why start a company in Switzerland after studying in the U.S.? 9:15 - How to scale up within 3 years 21:22 - Going from founder to investor 30:42 - What the entrepreneurial spirit should be like 35:58 - Is age a factor, in the startup world? About Alex Fries: Originally from the Swiss Canton of Graubunden, Alexander Fries moved to San Francisco in 2002 in connection with a tech startup ( SVOX AG ) he had co-founded in Switzerland. Today, Alex is one of the most renowned Swiss venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. SVOX AG was acquired by Nuance Inc. in 2011 and Playspan Inc. , another startup Alex co-founded, was sold to VISA the same year. In 2005, he founded Ecosystem Ventures with the specific goal of supporting European early-stage tech companies and bringing them onto the American market. He is also a partner at Alpana Ventures , a Swiss VC firm which supports startups in making the bridge into both the American and the Asian market. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E31 · Tue, July 23, 2019
Timestamps: 1:54 - Going bankrupt as a young adult 12:18 - Key values for founders 15:39 - When to drop a business venture 17:23 - VC funding or bootstrapping? 18:55 - Europe's role in the global startup scene About Frank Thelen: Frank Thelen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Freigeist Capital (formerly e42). He is however best known for his role on “ Höhle der Löwen ”, a German reality TV program where founders pitch to senior venture capitalists for fundraising. Since the early 90’s, he has founded more than 10 companies, most with a strong focus on innovative technology. One of his first ventures, Twisd AG, had to file for bankrupcy in the wake of the bursting “dotcom“ bubble. Based on this experience, he published his autobiography “ Startup-DNA – Hinfallen, aufstehen, die Welt verändern ” which became a bestseller in Germany. Frank has also had an active role in German politics as one of the leading members of the German Innovation Council . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E30 · Tue, July 16, 2019
Timestamps 1:53 - What mistakes do Swiss Startups make repeatedly regarding their finances? 4:11 - When should you decide to hand your accounting to someone else? 16:05 - Insurances, deductions and fees to take into account 34:06- What to do when a customer doesn't pay the invoice 44:05 - Where to find the right financial partners The Episode In 60 Seconds When it comes to finances, the mantra is “never procrastinate”. Here are the most important points to start off on the right foot: VAT (Value added tax) VAT is a self-declaration tax, meaning you will not get a declaration form but have to submit it yourself on a quarterly basis. You have to pay VAT if your business generates more than 100k in revenue for the entire year. If you import software from abroad, you have to declare VAT as if you imported goods. Payroll Be aware of mandatory fees and deductions Mandatory fees: old-age pension (first pillar/ AHV), accident insurance (UVG), family allocation (EO), 2nd pillar (BVG) if you earn above 20k, unemployment insurance (ALV). Non-mandatory but recommendable: insurance for salary payments in case of sickness (Krankentaggeld-Versicherung). The insurance covers the employees salary after a certain time on sick leave (usually 60 days). Invoicing Always invoice as fast as possible. 30 days payment period is customary but not mandatory. Try to inquire with the customer about the problem first before you consider debt collection in case of an outstanding payment. Pay your own bills at the end of the payment period. Accounting costs and tools Try to do as much as possible by yourself and then get feedback from an accountant. Use a good software tool and choose a bank that integrates with it (for software tools you can check this list ). A year-end review of your work by an accountant should cost something in the range of 1.5 to 4k. If you employ more than 10 people, you have to undergo an external audit which will cost you another 1.5 – 2k. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E29 · Wed, July 03, 2019
Timestamps: 1:50 - What mistakes do Swiss startups make repeatedly when it comes to the legal aspect? 10:54 - How to get out of a tricky contract 26:30 - How to handle investors 40:00 - HR: attracting and retaining talent 48:50 - Should you have a strong legal partner on your side? The Episode In 60 Seconds There are 5 legal areas every startup should have covered: Corporate law Have a clear agreement in place of how the departure of a co-founder would be handled. Critically look at shareholders agreements and make sure you understand the implications in case of an exit. Contract law Make sure that any IP produced for you by a third party will also belong to you. Always read contracts before signing. In the B2B business, there is no 30 day return policy. Ensure liability caps on sales contracts in case your product causes unintentional harm to your client. Regulations Be aware of how tougher privacy and data protection laws affect you and your business model. Know which sectors you need special licenses for. HR law Make sure your employee contracts contain a provision for IP created by employees. Sign any employee contract by hand. Consider employee stock option plans. Intellectual property Software is usually protected by copyright rather than patent law. The only way to effectively protect your code is by not disclosing it. For hardware, be aware of existing patents and consider patenting yourself. Consider protecting your company name if it is crucial for your business. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E28 · Tue, June 18, 2019
Timestamps: 2:10 - Mistakes Swiss founders make repeatedly when it comes to B2B Sales 12:37 - How to determine your target clients 22:22 - Where to look for leads 36:20 - How to close a deal faster 42:43 - What KPIs to focus on About Iman Nahvi: Iman Nahvi is the co-founder and CEO of Advertima , a company which uses AI for consumer engagement on physical channels. At Advertima, Iman implemented a holocratic organisational structure, meaning (among other things) equal pay for all employees and a broad distribution of decision-making power. In 2017, Advertima won the “Coolest Startup Award” at the WorldWeb Forum. Before starting his latest venture, Iman had founded various other companies, such as Digital Delight and Taxi Frosch. Iman holds a BA in Banking & Finance from the University of Zurich and an MA in Entrepreneurship from the University of St. Gallen. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E27 · Tue, June 04, 2019
Timestamps: 2:26 - Should you start a business with a family member? 4:33 - Why Iman went from banking to entrepreneurship 20:50 - How Iman chooses his employees 28:40 - Paying every employee the same salary 33:11- Employee stock option pools About Iman Nahvi: Iman Nahvi is the co-founder and CEO of Advertima , a company which uses AI for consumer engagement on physical channels. At Advertima, Iman implemented a holocratic organisational structure, meaning (among other things) equal pay for all employees and a broad distribution of decision-making power. In 2017, Advertima won the “Coolest Startup Award” at the WorldWeb Forum. Before starting his latest venture, Iman had founded various other companies, such as Digital Delight and Taxi Frosch. Iman holds a BA in Banking & Finance from the University of Zurich and an MA in Entrepreneurship from the University of St. Gallen. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E26 · Tue, May 21, 2019
Timestamps 1:23 - What mistakes do Swiss founders repeatedly make when it comes to B2C marketing? 11:00 - Investing in auto-marketing activities 14:04 - Improving conversion rate 21:02 - Best tools for marketing 29:18 - The marketing channel of the future About Alan Frei: Alan Frei is the co-founder of amorana.ch , an e-commerce platform for sex toys and lingerie. Before starting Amorana, he experimented with a variety of other projects such as nachhilfeportal.de and LooksOfLove, from which he learned what it takes to make a company successful. Alan is a University of Zurich alumni and headed the University’s startup center. He lives a minimalist lifestyle, counting less than 120 items in his personal possession. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E25 · Tue, May 07, 2019
Timestamps 1:32 - What can the Swiss startup ecosystem learn from the Chinese one? 12:10 - The importance of having the right focus 16:20 - How Alan's father being an entrepreneur influenced him 20:57 - Does minimalism bring happiness? 26:34 - The role of the social circle when it comes to personal growth and support About Alan Frei: Alan Frei is the co-founder of amorana.ch , an e-commerce platform for sex toys and lingerie. Before starting Amorana, he experimented with a variety of other projects such as nachhilfeportal.de and LooksOfLove, from which he learned what it takes to make a company successful. Alan is a University of Zurich alumni and headed the University’s startup center. He lives a minimalist lifestyle, counting less than 120 items in his personal possession. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E24 · Wed, April 17, 2019
Timestamps: 1:15 - Mistakes Swiss founders make repeatedly. 4:20 - How to find the right evaluation. 09:58 - How much money should an early-stage company raise? 21:47 - How should a startup team deal with an investor? 29:12 - How often does Daniel check-in with his investments? About Daniel Gutenberg: Finding unicorns before they have 10 employees is his ambition. Daniel Gutenberg is one of Switzerland’s most active Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors. During his career he’s collected a total of 12 unicorns in his portfolio, so far. Daniel started his first company – Gutenberg Communication Systems – in 1991 and sold it in 2000 as part of a deal to become the CEO of the acquiring company. During this time, Daniel was a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), through which he met people like Jeff Bezos and Marc Andreessen. Since 2003 he has been active as an investor and advisor to startups through the Swiss venture capital firm Venture Incubator Partners. Daniel was awarded business angel of the year in 2011 (SECA). Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E23 · Tue, April 02, 2019
Timestamps 2:55 - How he started his first company 14:28 - His first successful exit 19:00 - Being a Venture Capitalist and an Angel Investor at the same time 27:40 - What are the characteristics of a Unicorn CEO? 39:33 - The future of blockchain technology and crypto assets in general About Daniel Gutenberg: Finding unicorns before they have 10 employees is his ambition. Daniel Gutenberg is one of Switzerland’s most active Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors. During his career he’s collected a total of 12 unicorns in his portfolio, so far. Daniel started his first company – Gutenberg Communication Systems – in 1991 and sold it in 2000 as part of a deal to become the CEO of the acquiring company. During this time, Daniel was a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), through which he met people like Jeff Bezos and Marc Andreessen. Since 2003 he has been active as an investor and advisor to startups through the Swiss venture capital firm Venture Incubator Partners. Daniel was awarded business angel of the year in 2011 (SECA). Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E22 · Tue, March 19, 2019
Timestamps 1:19 - Mistakes Swiss startups repeatedly make when creating a product 10:03 - How long does it take to build a great tech product? 12:44 - How to acquire customers 17:46 - Bringing new technology to Switzerland 26:22 - What makes a great product? About Herbert Bay: Herbert is the co-founder of Kooaba, an image recognition program which he successfully sold to Qualcomm in 2014. Following his successful exit, he embarked on a sailing trip from France to New Zealand together with his wife and two young sons. While at sea, he managed his second venture, Shortcut, remotely. After a 4-year journey, Herbert returned to Switzerland, where he took the position as Principal Software Engineer, Digital Health & User Perception at Magic Leap , a US company specializes in “mixed-reality” applications. Herbert holds a PhD from ETH Zurich and is a published researcher. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E21 · Tue, March 05, 2019
Timestamps: 1:20 - What made Herbert Bay become an entrepreneur. 5:40 - Having two technical founders; dealing with lack of business knowledge. 7:30 - Raising 10 million dollars. 12:25 - How Herbert dealt with a difficult time in his life; what he learnt. 24:57 - Managing a company from a distance. About Herbert Bay: Herbert is the co-founder of Kooaba, an image recognition program which he successfully sold to Qualcomm in 2014. Following his successful exit, he embarked on a sailing trip from France to New Zealand together with his wife and two young sons. While at sea, he managed his second venture, Shortcut, remotely. After a 4-year journey, Herbert returned to Switzerland, where he took the position as Principal Software Engineer, Digital Health & User Perception at Magic Leap , a US company specializes in “mixed-reality” applications. Herbert holds a PhD from ETH Zurich and is a published researcher. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E20 · Tue, February 19, 2019
Timestamps 1:23 - Team-related mistakes 4:50 - Giving guidance vs offering freedom to employees 7:11 - The company lifecycle 12:55 - The ideal co-founding relationship 34:25 - Sendtask and remote teams About Cédric Waldburger: Cédric is a Venture Capitalist and founder of Dfinity , Tenderloin Ventures and Sendtask . He started his first venture – Mediasign, a digital branding agency – in high school. He went on to study electrical engineering at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and spent the following years in different jobs in Hongkong, New York and Berlin. Since 2013, he is active as a venture capitalist through his company Tenderloin Ventures. With Dfinity, he became involved in his first blockchain project. Cedric is an avowed minimalist, owning only 64 things. He’s known for his strongly optimized lifestyle, following what he calls the “90 review and preview”. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E19 · Tue, February 05, 2019
Timestamps: 1:37 - Delivering value to 11 different projects at the same time 14:19 - How the Swiss military service supported/hindered Cédric's entrepreneurial career 20:15 - Owning only 64 things 22:52 - What is DFINITY? 34:42 - 90-day goals About Cédric Waldburger: Cédric is a Venture Capitalist and founder of Tenderloin Ventures and Sendtask . He started his first venture – Mediasign, a digital branding agency – in high school. He went on to study electrical engineering at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and spent the following years in different jobs in Hongkong, New York and Berlin. Since 2013, he is active as a venture capitalist through his company Tenderloin Ventures. He also became involved in his first blockchain project with the company Dfinity . Cédric is an avowed minimalist, owning only 64 things. He’s known for his strongly optimized lifestyle, following what he calls the “90 review and preview”. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E18 · Wed, January 16, 2019
Timestamps 1:30 - What mistakes do you see Swiss startup founders repeatedly make? 7:30 - How to obtain accurate feedback for your idea. 14:50 - Where to spend your time: documentation vs implementation. How to implement. The minimum viable product. 25:40 - Data gathering to evaluate the possible success of your idea. 28:12 - When to kill your idea or move on from it About Christian Hirsig: Christian is one of the co-founders of Swisspreneur.org and a passionate serial entrepreneur. He founded his first venture — Atizo, a crowdsourcing platform for ideas — in 2007. He eventually sold the company and went on to start the consulting business and startup incubator Pacific Catch Ltd . together with his wife, Bettina Hirsig. Under the umbrella of Pacific Catch, he has initiated and supported a wide variety of projects such as „ Geile Eier “ — a breakfast franchise, Blacknose — a Swiss mountain pale ale brand and Powercoders — a coding academy for refugees. Additionally, Christian is the founder of TEDxBern and serves as a startup coach for be-advanced , Startfeld and Kickstart Accelerator . Christian was named one of the „ Digital Shapers 2018 “ by Bilanz Magazin and was invited to speak at TEDxZurich 2017 . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E17 · Tue, January 01, 2019
Timestamps: 3:00 - Changes for Swisspreneur. 6:28 - Associations vs For-profit companies. 12:40 - Finding good employees. 23:25 - Growing up in an entrepreneurial family. 26:47 - When to leave a startup. About Christian Hirsig: Christian is one of the co-founders of Swisspreneur.org and a passionate serial entrepreneur. He founded his first venture — Atizo, a crowdsourcing platform for ideas — in 2007. He eventually sold the company and went on to start the consulting business and startup incubator Pacific Catch Ltd . together with his wife, Bettina Hirsig. Under the umbrella of Pacific Catch, he has initiated and supported a wide variety of projects such as „ Geile Eier “ — a breakfast franchise, Blacknose — a Swiss mountain pale ale brand and Powercoders — a coding academy for refugees. Additionally, Christian is the founder of TEDxBern and serves as a startup coach for be-advanced , Startfeld and Kickstart Accelerator . Christian was named one of the „ Digital Shapers 2018 “ by Bilanz Magazin and was invited to speak at TEDxZurich 2017 . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E16 · Thu, February 15, 2018
Timestamps 2:06 - What makes a successful accelerator application 15:40 - Launching your first pilot 29:00 - Hiring and outsourcing 33:16 - Splitting shares 39:55 - Making it work without salaries About Anastasia Hofmann and Naomi MacKenzie Through her work experience in Malta, Miami Beach, Lausanne and Zurich, Anastasia developed a strong fascination for the hospitality industry. She holds a Bachelor of international hospitality management from Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne and is very interested in the development and implementation of sustainable practices within this dynamic industry. This led her to co-found KITRO , a startup which provides the technology to identify, track and monitor food waste. With experience working in the food and beverage industry, Naomi witnessed the enormous amount of edible food that is being thrown away every day. This has led her to commit herself to reducing the avoidable food waste in this sector. The idea behind KITRO originated during Naomi’s studies at the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne. Since then, she and her co-founder Anastasia have been vigorously working to bring the hospitality industry a solution to tackle the growing issue of food waste. Their goal is to bring back the value of food, so that all food is appreciated and not wasted. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E15 · Tue, November 21, 2017
Timestamps 9:00 - Deciding who to sell to 22:52 - Retaining confidence after your first failure 36:14 - What to look for in a headhunter 41:05 - Stock option plans 52:49 - Building a company, not a startup About Thomas Sterchi: Thomas is best known as the founder of jobs.ch , an online job market platform. In 2007, he and his partner sold the venture to an American holding company for a multi-million dollar sum. Since his successful exit, Thomas has built up a diversified portfolio of projects under the umbrella of his holding company “Tom Talent”. Examples include the online-TV portal Teleboy or the music festival Zermatt Unplugged. Thomas has also successfully produced several movies, amongst them “A Dangerous Method” starring Keira Knightley. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E14 · Tue, October 10, 2017
Timestamps 7:05 - Meeting President Reagan 21:15 - How a public speaker is born 28:12 - Skills for managing crises 34:34 - Why it's important to empower women in business 37:49 - Advice to young women About Rosmarie Michel: Rosmarie Michel, now in her eighties, looks back on a lifetime of entrepreneurship and advocacy for women in business. In the 1970s she was one of the first women to be appointed to the board of major Swiss companies such as Valora and Volksbank, which later was bought by Credit Suisse. From 1983-1985 she held the presidency of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women (IFBPW). She also served over a decade as the vice chair of Women’s World Banking , a non-profit organization dedicated to providing female entrepreneurs with access to financial resources. During her career Rosmarie met and exchanged her thoughts on women in business with many influential personalities, such as President Ronald Reagan and Hillary Clinton. To this day, Rosmarie remains active as a mentor of female entrepreneurs and a driver for the empowerment of all women. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E13 · Tue, September 05, 2017
Timestamp 7:54 - The importance of your economic footprint 15:36 - Realizing you've chosen the wrong strategy 27:20 - The hard parts of entrepreneurship 35:11 - Does anyone have the recipe for success? 46:29 - Advice for young entrepreneurs About Markus Popp: Markus Popp is best known as the founder of tilllate.com, a party event platform with photo gallery and community features. In 2009, Markus left tilllate.com and embarked on a half-year inspirational sabbatical. Upon his return, he founded the company builder Mühlemann & Popp Online Media AG together with one of his co-founders at tilllate.com, Silvan Mühlemann. Next to being engaged at Mühlemann & Popp, Markus has launched various other digital startups such as SOBRADO or eveni.to. Markus has a Masters in Management, Technology and Economics from ETH Zurich. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E12 · Tue, August 08, 2017
Timestamps 2:11 - The gender gap in the Swiss startup ecosystem 18:45 - Splitting up with your co-founder and abandoning the startup 34:05 - Startup competitions: yay or nay? 42:16 - The advantage of incubators 48:12 - Choosing the right idea About Lea von Bidder: Lea is best know as the Co-founder and President of Ava Science, Inc. , the company behind the Ava bracelet, the first fertility-tracking wearable device. Prior to starting Ava, Lea co-founded L’inouï, a premium chocolate production and retail chain in Bangalore, India. She also spent time working for the marketing division of Procter & Gamble in Frankfurt and for a strategy-consulting boutique in Paris. Lea holds a Master’s degree in global entrepreneurship from EM Lyon in France, Zhejiang University in China and Purdue Krannert University in the USA. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of St.Gallen and HEC Montréal in Canada. In 2017, she was recognized by the University of St. Gallen with the HSG Founder of the Year award. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E11 · Mon, July 10, 2017
Timestamps 7:00 - Coming up with an initial marketing strategy 11:45 - Bootstrapping your business 16:06 - Measuring your ecological footprint 24:37 - What they look for in new employees 40:55 - How digitalization influences your business About Markus and Daniel Freitag: In 1993, graphic designers Markus and Daniel Freitag were looking for a functional, water-repellent and robust bag to hold their creative work. Inspired by the multicolored heavy traffic that rumbled through the Zurich transit intersection in front of their flat, they developed a messenger bag from used truck tarpaulins, discarded bicycle inner tubes and car seat belts. This is how the first FREITAG bags took shape in the living room of their shared apartment. Today their products are available in 16 F-STORES as well as at over 450 resellers around the world. FREITAG lab.ag has been headquartered at the Nœrd industrial complex in Zurich-Oerlikon since 2011. In 2014, FREITAG launched a new product, F-ABRIC. These completely compostable textiles are based on bast fibers that are produced using a minimum of resources within a 2500-kilometer radius of headquarters. FREITAG lab.ag still belongs to the two Freitag brothers, and, as Creative Directors, they still oversee each new model through to series production. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E10 · Tue, June 13, 2017
Timestamps 6:44 - What to look for in a co-founder 11:38 - When is the right time to become an entrepreneur? 31:45 - How to steer a fast growing company 36:42 - Handling bad press 44:47 - The future of AI About Adrian Locher: Adrian is best known as Founder and COO of DeinDeal.ch , an e-commerce coupons and discounts platform for products and services. Within a year of starting the business, DeinDeal.ch was the fastest growing Swiss start-up and market leader in the group buying segment in Switzerland. After 18 months, the Swiss media group Ringier bought 60% of DeinDeal.ch as a strategic investment. At that time the company was valued at CHF 30 Mio. After his exit from DeinDeal.ch, Adrian went on to start new ventures that are leveraging Artificial Intelligence. Adrian graduated with a degree in business and economics from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) , where he started his very first business as a software developer. He was awarded “HSG Entrepreneur of the Year 2012”, “Swiss E-Commerce Champion 2015” and was ranked “40 under 40” by Swiss Bilanz magazine. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E9 · Thu, May 04, 2017
Timestamps 3:18 - Why say no to a banking career 23:34 - Having to shut down your company 27:30 - Recovering from the crash 36:34 - Why you could not want to sell your company to Facebook 44:49 - Knowing when to move on About Peter Schuepbach: Peter Schuepbach started his entrepreneurial career as a co-founder of Miracle Software AG back in 1986 and served as its Chief Executive Officer for more than 10 years. He grew the organization in 14 years to a 350 employee software company with offices in 5 countries and went public with an IPO at the Swiss Stock Exchange SWX in 1999. Today he is engaged in several start-up companies and is a member of the board of several organizations, for example SwissCommerce , an internet platform that builds and buys E-Commerce companies in special interest markets. He received the award “Business Angel of the Year” from the ASBAN (Swiss Business Angel Association) in 2005. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E8 · Tue, April 04, 2017
Timestamps 7:32 - Realizing corporate life isn't for you 28:32 - Hiring strategies 32:57 - Handling divergent expectations within the company 45:14 - Setting and changing targets 49:17 - Work-life balance About Roman Gaus: Roman is best known as the Founder and CEO of UrbanFarmers , a company dedicated to building commercial food production systems in and around cities. Together with Andreas Graber, he has developed UrbanFarmers’ vision how food could be grown in an urban space at a large scale. He noticed the trend abroad and learned about a breakthrough Swiss technology that could make it more reliable and sustainable. Since 2011, UrbanFarmers has become a technology leader in Aquaponics, saving water, energy and nutrients to grow fish and plants in a closed-loop. Roman graduated from University of St. Gallen with an M.A. in Accounting, Finance and Controlling. Before starting UrbanFarms, he has a worked with various large companies in the food and health sector, such as P&G , Novartis and Franke Group . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E7 · Tue, March 07, 2017
Timestamps 7:45 - What André learned from being a fighter pilot in the Swiss army 11:26 - What young people should do to prepare for an entrepreneurial career 19:24 - What a great team looks like 28:48 - How to deal with risk 31:17 - Dealing with crises About André Borschberg: André Borschberg is best known as the CEO, co-founder and pilot of Solar Impulse : the enterprise that, under his guidance, built a solar-powered plane that broke the world record for the longest solo flight in an airplane of any kind: 117 hours and 52 minutes. He had previously achieved recognition for the first-ever day and night flight in a solar airplane flying Solar Impulse 1 in 2010, followed by eight different world records. André led the development of the aircraft on a mission that began as the passionate vision of Bertrand Piccard more than 13 years ago, tackling numerous challenges ranging from equipment failures to major delays along the way. André graduated from the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and holds a Master’s in Management Science from the MIT Sloan School of Management in Boston. In addition, he was a partner of a venture capital firm for eight years and successfully launched two start-ups, including Innovative Silicon, a technology company in the field of microprocessor memories. Today, André contributes as a mentor and by driving initiatives as a member of the World President’s and the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) . He also speaks frequently at leadership forums such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E6 · Tue, February 07, 2017
Timestamps 0:40 - The concept of Seedspaces and co-habitation 14:23 - Things to consider when picking a co-founder 17:09 - The importance of recruiting 22:43 - Operating across different cultures 31:45 - Advice to female entrepreneurs About Alisée de Tonnac: Alisée de Tonnac is the Founder and CEO of Seedstars , an investment firm building and investing in tech companies in 60+ emerging markets. After traveling for a year around the world she set up the first edition of Seedstars in 2013 and grew the competition to 60+ cities around the world. Prior to founding Seedstars, Alisée worked as product manager for luxury brands at L’Oréal Group and was part of the Italian team at Voyage Privé, a leading European startup. She graduated from HEC Lausanne and obtained her Masters in International Management from the Bocconi University in Italy with highest honors. She was also a member of the Harvard Model Congress Europe where she won the Award of Excellence. Alisée is a board member of the School of Management in Fribourg, Switzerland. She was nominated top 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur by Forbes Magazine and an Innovation Fellow by Wired UK . Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. Tha
S1 E5 · Tue, November 15, 2016
Timestamps: 8:46 - Launching a startup in 11 months 22:39 - Working at Google 32:26 - How to drive the company's culture as a CEO 37:51 - What Switzerland can learn from Silicon Valley and Berlin 41:32 - What it takes to start a company nowadays About Daniel Graf: Daniel joined Uber in 2015 as the Head of Marketplace, the team that works on Uber’s dynamic pricing model. Before joining Uber he did a short stint at Twitter as the Vice President of Consumer Product. Prior to Twitter Daniel was in charge of leading Google’s Maps & Local teams. After Apple ousted Google Maps from iOS in 2012, Daniel led the development of an award-winning Google mapping experience that shot to number one in the iTunes store. Fast Company recognized Daniel for this achievement as one of the Most Creative People in Business 2013 . Prior to Google, Daniel was the CEO of Kyte, which he founded in 2005. Kyte became a leading platform for live and on-demand video content. Daniel sold Kyte to KIT Digital in 2011. Before Kyte, Daniel joined Philips Consumer Electronics in 2001 where he developed the world’s first Internet audio stereo system and the first wireless Home Entertainment System with Internet video services. In 1999 and 2000 he was the Chief Software Engineer of ReQuest Multimedia, an award-winning Consumer Electronics startup, based in New York. There he created the world’s first MP3 Hard Disk Jukebox, the predecessor to Apple’s “iPod”. Daniel earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Interstaatliche Hochschule für Technik Buchs (NTB) and an MS in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E4 · Tue, October 04, 2016
Timestamps 15:46 - How to build a company on open source 22:40 - Scaling Automattic with a distributed team 36:20 - Having a long-term view of your startup 44:18 - Loneliness as a startup CEO 51:13 - Creating feedback loops About Toni Schneider: Toni Schneider is a founding Partner of True Ventures . From 2006-2014 he was CEO of Automattic where he led WordPress.com to become a top 10 global internet destination with close to a billion monthly visitors. At Automattic, Toni also helped create a new type of startup with over 300 employees working together in an “office optional”, distributed fashion from homes and co-working spaces in over 40 countries. His career in technology began as a software engineer at Crystal River Engineering where he built 3D audio simulators for NASA and a VP of Technology at Aureal Semiconductor (acquired by Creative Labs). He joined the world of startups as the co-founder of Uplister, a venture-backed music recommendation startup in early 2000. It was his role as CEO of Oddpost, however, that may have impacted his career path most significantly. Yahoo! acquired Oddpost in 2004, which formed the basis of the new Yahoo! Mail used by over 250 million people around the world. Toni joined Yahoo! as a VP and created the Yahoo! Developer Network. While at True and Automattic, he also found time to co-found Sphere (acquired by AOL) with Tony Conrad. Voted startup CEO of the Year at the 2007 Crunchies , Toni’s leadership style is commended by many of those who have worked for or with him. When he is not running a company or advising another, you can find him in his VW van crossing the US with his family, coaching San Francisco Little League baseball, or tinkering with old cars. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E3 · Tue, August 30, 2016
Timestamps 10:35 - Early days of Doodle and taking risks 16:21 - Managing growth and culture 25:18 - How to manage a product backlog 27:35 - On launching early 38:20 - Myke's productivity tips About Myke N äf: Myke Näf is the founder and former CEO of Doodle, the prominent event scheduler software. He sold the company for an undisclosed amount to Tamedia in 2014. Shortly after the acquisition he left Doodle and has become an active angel investor and startup mentor in Switzerland. He’s a Venture Partner at Cavalry Ventures, a Startup Mentor at Kickstart Accelerator, and serves on a number of different boards. He’s also a Partner at Swiss Life Lab, an incubator for Fintech, Insurtech and Propertytech. Myke holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from ETH Zurich and Executive Diploma from the University of St. Gallen (HSG). Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E2 · Tue, August 30, 2016
Timestamps 1:06 - Why open offices in Zurich, Austin and Cape Town 5:54 - Why studying economics aids you as a CEO 21:55 - Dealing with critics 32:03 - Knowing it's time to pivot 46:25 - Founding a company with your husband/wife About Dania Gerhardt: Dania Gerhardt is the founder of Amazee Labs. She started Amazee.com in 2007 and successfully pivoted her startup to one of Switzerland’s premier Web services companies Amazee Labs. The company has offices in Zurich, Austin and Cape Town. In 2014 Dania moved from Zurich to Cape Town and frequently commutes between South Africa and Switzerland. Dania serves on the boards of the Swiss Internet Industry Association and Swissnex. She is also the host of TEDx Zurich since 2012. Before her entrepreneurial life, Dania was an accounting executive at KPMG in Zurich. She received a Master in Economics from the University of Basel. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
S1 E1 · Tue, August 30, 2016
Timestamps 18:15 - How to make it work when your co-founder is your wife 28:39 - How to find product-market fit 36:24 - Selling his company Wildfire to Google 41:45 - What it's like working for Google 47:14 - The Swiss startup ecosystem About Alain Chuard: Alain Chuard is a Swiss serial entrepreneur and former professional snowboarder living in Palo Alto, California. He is best known as the founder and Chief product officer of Wildfire Interactive, the social media marketing technology company acquired by Google in July 2012. At Google, Alain was responsible for overseeing Wildfire’s strategy, integration into Google’s Display Ads Division, and external representation of the product. His early professional years were spent as a financial analyst with New York investment bank Salomon Smith Barney and as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Highland Capital Partners. Alain is also a former world-ranking professional snowboarder who competed on the World-Cup Pro Tour. He was ranked in the top 4 in Switzerland, placed in the top 4 in the NY State qualifier for the U.S. National Championships, and is among the most published snowboard athletes in history. Alain holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business (2007) and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Macalester College (1999) in St. Paul, MN. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!
Trailer · Mon, August 29, 2016
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