Swisspreneur Show

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 Alter...

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 the...

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...

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 Doodl...

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...

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 Administrati...

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...

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 we...

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...

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...

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 th...

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. S...

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 Path...

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 bea...

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...

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 consul...

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 differe...

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 w...

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 yo...

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 p...

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 an...

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...

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 succe...

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 Bank...

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 backgrou...