Swisspreneur Show

Timestamps: 02:02 — Why Eric quit finance to create instead of comply. 04:20 — Investor Brain as a Founder: 70+ angel deals, stakeholder management, and Switzerland’s funding “missing middle.” 12:50 — Flow > Busywork: How Eric engineers flow states to work efficiently 16:25 — Why Holistic exists: Root-cause care for chronic conditions vs. longevity/prevention hype. 27:40 — A business model that...

Timestamps: 6:00 – Deciding between chasing investor money vs. revenues from day one 29:42 – How founder pressure differs across funding strategies (runway vs. cash-flow anxiety) 37:22 – Can a bootstrapped startup realistically become a market leader? 35:10 – In what scenario would they switch financing strategies? This episode was produced by Founders Hive — a community of founders, experts, and...

Timestamps: 03:14 - What even is “operations”? 7:57 - Should OKRs be set top-down or bottom-up? 17:05 - Top 3 key KPIs for early stage startups 26:00 - How to focus on fundraising without losing traction  43:26 - What happens when you don’t have your finances in order?  This episode was originally a live webinar co-hosted with Holycode , a software development partner that's helped more than 1...

Timestamps: 6:00 - Tackling the early detection of sepsis  17:17 - Why obsess over hard challenges? 27:41 - Marketing a new biomarker  34:20 - Expanding and delegating to distributors   This episode was co-produced with Innovaud , the innovation and investment promotion agency for the canton of Vaud. About Patrick Pestalozzi & François Capel: Patrick Pestalozzi is a former management consultan...

Timestamps: 2:30 - What makes a startup attractive to VCs? 7:44 - Why VC money isn’t for everyone 16:40 - What if the VC tells you no? 21:00 - What is “vibe coding”? 24:25 - When VCs decide to invest This episode was originally a live conversation which took place at startup days 2025, in Bern. Check out startup days to learn about next year's event! Click here to order your copy of “Swiss Sta...

Timestamps: 8:30 - The problem in VA that CREAL is tackling 15:10 - VA as the future  34:45 - What’s next for CREAL after closing another funding round 46:45 - Why don't we see more Swiss startups becoming global category leaders? This episode was co-produced by SICTIC , the leading angel investor network in Switzerland. Click  ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠ ⁠ to order your copy of “Swiss Startups” today. Episode Summ...

Timestamps 3:52 - Past failures that paved the way for success 9:12 - Shifting from finance, to vocation training, to retrofitting luminaries  13:57 How Lumvin found a swiss-based cheaper, faster, and sustainable way to upgrade luminaries 32:28 Tips for driving sales in Switzerland 37:14 - Winning the Swiss Economic Award This episode was co-produced with SEF.Growth , the Swiss Economic Forum'...

Timestamps: 2:50 - Building a cloud-native API-first product 5:28 - How will AI change banking? 12:14 - The big regulatory beast 25:24 - Amnis’ growth challenges This episode was sponsored by infinity.swiss , Switzerland’s most advanced AI accounting tool. Save 25% by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout. Click  here⁠ to order your copy of “Swiss Startups” today. About Michael Wüst: Michael Wüst...

Timestamps: 5:00 – How much should you raise in a Series A? 12:39 – Should you get existing investors to invest again? 19:12 – How to approach investors for a Series A 30:00 – How to mitigate risk for your investors 35:09 – What if you just bootstrapped? This episode was originally a live webinar co-hosted with Holycode, a software development partner that's helped more than 140 startups scale...

Timestamps: 4:16 - When does a startup become a scaleup? 18:04 - Prioritizing which issue to tackle next 25:06 - Why properti only has Swiss investors 28:40 - Challenges in scaling up in Switzerland vs Internationally 31:34 - How Levent leverages his advisory board 39:00 - Key advice for early founders Click here to purchase our book, “Swiss Startups”. About Levent Künzi: Levent Künzi is the Co-Fo...

Timestamps: 6:32 - How can lawyers help entrepreneurs? 13:55 - The cost of legal services: hourly rates vs. success fees 23:40 - Essential contracts for startups: what founders must know 40:10 - Understanding term sheets and key negotiations 50:56 - Personal liability and risk management This episode was co-produced by EO Zürich . Check out their upcoming event, Entrepreneurs Summit 2025 . Subscri...

Timestamps: 5:11 - Hire your first 15-25 employees super carefully 10:35 - Incentives and ownership in company culture 15:28 - What can Switzerland learn from the US? Click here to order your copy of “Swiss Startups” today. 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 glo...

Timestamps: 4:26 - Should Swiss VCs raise money from pension funds? 11:38 - Why Swiss pension funds invest so little in VC  20:45 - Are there regulatory barriers to investing pension fund money? 41:00 - DeepTechNation’s role in connecting money with talent 43:33 - Should private citizens have a say in where pension funds go? This episode was co-produced with the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Founda...

Timestamps: 3:30 - Teaching a made-up course on London Business School 13:29 - Should we be wary of AI? 16:00 - It’s never been easier to hack software 27:38 - Gandalf came out of a hackathon 38:38 - Differences between the US and Switzerland This episode was sponsored by infinity.swiss , Switzerland’s most advanced AI accounting tool. Save 25% by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout. Click  ⁠he...

Timestamps: 05:58 - From tennis courts to security 11:43 - Getting the team onboard with a major pivot  19:40 - Staying focused vs staying flexible 27:57 - What are the biggest pivoting mistakes startups keep making? This episode was co-produced with Innovaud , the innovation and investment promotion agency for the canton of Vaud. This episode was sponsored by Relai . Get started with Bitcoin by d...

Timestamps: 02:24 – Führen wie ein Löwe 06:31 – Warum Sales Chefsache ist 07:31 – Das globale Startup-Ökosystem: USA vs. Europa 10:16 – Erfolgreiche Sales-Strategien strukturieren 21:29 – Rückschläge meistern und Resilienz aufbauen This episode was sponsored by Relai. Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the Relai app today, and profit from 10% less fees by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkou...

Timestamps: 2:48 - Why ETH generates so many startups 7:23 - From research to commercialization 14:00   - Does ETH invest in startups? 21:50 - Perfectionism vs move fast and break things 29:23 - It’s not hard to convince people to work for startups This episode was co-produced with the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation . Click here to order your copy of “Swiss Startups” today. About Roland S...

Timestamps: 13:03 - How much equity did Relai give away? 31:00 - How to delegate as a CEO 39:13 - Why product roadmaps change  47:10 - Why Julian is cautious to expand his team 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. This episode was sponsored by Relai. Get started with Bitc...

Timestamps: 9:33 - Leaving a corporate and starting your own company 18:00 - Why pet food is terrible 29:08 - Why there’s a market for Loonawell 33:32 - Pet food made by an executive chef? 36:14 - Why established pet food companies can’t compete with Loonawell Resources Mentioned: Silence: the Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise , by Thich Nhat Hahn About Maria de Bettencourt Tavares: Maria de...

Timestamps: 11:04 - How the Swisspreneur team grew 14:16 - Why most people at Swisspreneur are volunteers 25:00 - How the syndicate got hundreds of signups after a few weeks 30:42 - Why does Swisspreneur produce free masterclasses? 39:43 - How Swisspreneur wrote a book This episode was sponsored by Google Cloud. Join their Founder's Story event on June 24th to hear directly from blockchain sta...

Timestamps: 5:07 - Thomas’s leap from cybersecurity to founding Rivero  15:07 - Building partnerships with Visa and Mastercard   21:10 - Bootstrapping until Series A   23:00 - Founder salary realities   27:43 - Why it’s hard to sell to banks   Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the Relai app today. Click here to profit from 10% less fees by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout. (Disclaimer:...

Timestamps: 8:35 - Why enter a crowded market? 15:24 - Language learning in AI 28:02 - When Univerbal got into YC 37:30 - How to get into YC 41:00 - Getting 50K+ people to test your prototype DISCLAIMER: This episode was recorded several months ago, and since then Philipp has left his role at Univerbal. We nonetheless thought the episode was still worth sharing, as it is a great startup story abou...

Timestamps: 7:29 - How does the Swiss ecosystem compare to others? 18:09 - Which Swiss scaleups is Nicolas excited about? 23:46 - Does Swiss shyness hold us back? 30:23 - Investing in companies with long development cycles 35:08 - Creating outbound investment opportunities  This episode was co-produced with the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation . Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the R...

Timestamps: 6:10 - Quantifying innovation for investment purposes 10:53 - How Evelyne met Tobias Reichmuth 20:43 - Can innovation outperform ETFs? 34:18 - How to build trust with potential investors 38:34 - Why Evelyne’s team is mostly women This episode was sponsored by Relai. Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the Relai app today, and profit from 10% less fees by entering code SWISSPRENEUR...

Timestamps: 4:00 - What’s a data breach? 10:21 - What’s a phishing campaign? 13:50 - How expensive is it to fix a data breach?  20:35 - How are startups being targeted? 22:07 - Why strong passwords are not enough This episode was co-produced by NordPass . Use code “swisspreneur” at checkout to get 30% off Business and Teams plans. This episode was sponsored by Relai. Get started with Bitcoin by do...