Swisspreneur podcast

This episode was co-produced with the⁠ Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation⁠.

Click ⁠here⁠ to order your copy of “Swiss Startups” today.

‍

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.

During his chat with Silvan, Roland discussed the evolution of ETH Zurich, focusing on its role in fostering startups and innovation. The discussion covered the importance of talent, funding, and the unique environment at ETH that supports research and entrepreneurship. 

Roland emphasized the need for a balance between academic rigor and the fast-paced startup mentality, as well as the potential for collaboration between research institutions and the business world.

Silvan and Roland discussed the challenges and opportunities within the startup landscape, emphasizing the need for collaboration between startups and corporates, the significance of purpose-driven entrepreneurship, and the potential for innovation in technology, particularly in robotics. 

‍

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

‍

‍About Maria de Bettencourt Tavares:

⁠Maria de Bettencourt Tavares⁠ is the founder and CEO of ⁠Loonawell⁠, a startup creating human-grade healthy food for dogs. She holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Lisbon Medical School and an MBA from Escuela de Negocios de la Cámara de Comercio de Sevilla. She worked for FISEVI, DSM Nutritional Products and Givaudan before starting Loonawell in 2020.

Maria was driven to start a pet food brand by the harrowing statistics that she discovered: according to peer-reviewed research, 25% of dogs will die of cancer, and 50% of dogs past the age of 10 will die of cancer as well. This is mostly due to the extremely poor nutrition they receive. Most pet food that can be found in supermarkets consists of one main ingredient: “meat meal” or “fish meal”. Meat meal is the legal term used to name all the derivatives of meat processing, i.e., whatever is left after the human-grade cuts have been extracted. This can be bones, hooves, or hair. 

80% of pet owners buy pet food based on how it smells (for them, not the pet), which is why pet food companies add all sorts of artificial aromas. The pets, unfortunately, are unable to complain, and so eat themselves to an early death. Loonawell, on the contrary, uses only organic, natural ingredients, with no added preservatives, to develop chef- and vet-approved recipes that will give pets a long and healthy life. Although their products are fit for human consumption, they are legally prevented from advertising them as such. Loonawell is the first and only pet food in the world to be certified with the Swiss Vitamin Institute Label.   

‍

Resources Mentioned:

⁠Silence: the Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise, by Thich Nhat Hahn⁠

‍

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

This episode was sponsored by Google Cloud. Join their ⁠Founder's Story event⁠ on June 24th to hear directly from blockchain startup founders about their journeys of innovation, disruption, and resilience, and discover how they are redefining industries with decentralized technology.

‍

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: Relai services are exclusively recommended for Swiss and Italian residents.)

‍

About Silvan Krähenbühl:

⁠Silvan Krähenbühl⁠ is the host and managing director of Swisspreneur and the founder and CEO of ⁠DELOS Analytica⁠, a B2B SaaS company transforming how businesses manage their relevant issues and navigate complex political landscapes. He previously co-founded and sold Gymhopper, and was the CEO of Rentouch, which he later also sold. He holds a BA in Business Administration from the University of St Gallen.

On our 500th episode,  hosts Silvan and Merle looked back on 9 years of Swisspreneur history. They started off by recalling the founding of Swisspreneur by serial entrepreneurs Alain Chuard and Christian Hirsig in 2016: after selling his company, Wildfire, to Google, Alain felt the need to give back to the Swiss startup ecosystem and encourage Swiss people to pursue entrepreneurial careers, so together with Chris he conducted a series of video interviews with some of the major Swiss startup founders at the time — and so Swisspreneur was born!

In 2018, Christian asked Silvan to replace him as the host of Swisspreneur. Though he was initially daunted by the task, Silvan said yes, and together with Alain decided to switch the podcast to audio-only format, to make the best out of the budget available. From there the core team was formed organically: Dominique, our head of community, had already worked for Swisspreneur even before Silvan; Lars, head of marketing, was Silvan’s roommate at the time; and Cecília and Björn had previously worked with Silvan at Gymhopper.  

In 2018 was also the year when Silvan organized the first founders dinner. He noticed that the ecosystem was growing, but that people rarely spoke to each other, except at events — so he decided to invite roughly 15 startup founders to host a small dinner, and the evening was so successful that the guests asked him when the next dinner would take place. Swisspreneur has since hosted ⁠countless of these dinners⁠, and nowadays hosts 3 additional Scaleup Events per year: the Scaleup Slopes, in Laax, the Scaleup Cruise in Lausanne, and the Scaleup Cruise in Zurich. Swisspreneur also has a slack community of founders and investors with over 700 members. 

In 2021, on a sunny rooftop in Lisbon, the team first discussed the idea of a Swisspreneur ⁠syndicate⁠. The project was immediately successful, and nowadays the syndicate team has 5 members, its portfolio counts almost 40 investments, and its investor base is one of the largest in Switzerland. It relies on Leva as a trusted partner. 

Last but not least: Swisspreneur published a book in 2025! ⁠"Swiss Startups"⁠ is a compact view of some of the most amazing startup journeys in Switzerland, from scrappy beginnings to world domination. It was written by Silvan and our content creator Helena.

As for the future, we have many ideas jumping around in our heads. Let’s see which ones become reality…

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

Resources Mentioned:

• ⁠Notion Calendar⁠
• ⁠Superhuman Email⁠

‍

‍

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: Relai services are exclusively recommended for Swiss and Italian residents.)

‍

This episode was sponsored by Google Cloud. Join their ⁠Founder's Story event⁠ on June 24th to hear directly from blockchain startup founders about their journeys of innovation, disruption, and resilience, and discover how they are redefining industries with decentralized technology.

‍

About Fatemeh Nikayin and Thomas Müller:

⁠Fatemeh Nikayin⁠ and ⁠Thomas Müller⁠ are the co-founders of ⁠Rivero⁠, a Swiss startup redefining how banks manage payment operations. Rivero provides the first and only SaaS solution for fraud recovery and dispute management, and has scaled to serve major banks across Europe.

Before founding Rivero, Fatemeh held consulting roles in the payment space and earned a PhD in Technology, Policy and Management from the Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands. Thomas previously served as CISO of a major credit card issuer and has a background in cybersecurity. Together, they bootstrapped Rivero to profitability before raising their Series A in 2024.

Rivero’s products – Caio and Amico – are built to streamline compliance and fraud handling, allowing banks to operate more efficiently while maintaining high trust. Their vision? Go global and become the operating standard in payments.

‍

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

‍

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 about building an AI language tutor and making it to YC. We hope you enjoy the content!

‍

Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the Relai app today. Click ⁠here⁠ to profit from 10% less fees by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout.

(Relai services are exclusively recommended for Swiss and Italian residents.)

‍

This episode was sponsored by ⁠infinity.swiss⁠, Switzerland’s most advanced AI accounting tool. Save 25% by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout.

‍

About Philipp Hadjimina:

⁠Philipp Hadjimina⁠ is the co-founder and former CEO of ⁠Univerbal⁠, an AI tutor for language learning and conversation. He holds a MSc in Management, Technology, and Economics from ETH, which he completed in 2022, after which he co-founded Univerbal (then named Quazel).

Univerbal empowers language learners to practice new languages by talking with an AI Agent about anything they want in a completely unscripted way. Their product allows specific analysis of the individual learning stage, and can thereby offer tailored feedback and customized suggestions for improvement. Univerbal aims to position itself between traditional language learning apps like Duolingo and Babbel and online tutoring services like Preply and iTalki — retaining the personalized experience of tutoring, but making it as affordable and accessible as a traditional language learning app.

Univerbal has raised a total of $2M in funding over 2 rounds, and got into Y Combinator in 2022 (their launch year).

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

This episode was co-produced with the⁠ Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation⁠.

‍

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: Relai services are exclusively recommended for Swiss and Italian residents.)

‍

About Nicolas Autret:

⁠Nicolas Autret⁠ is a partner at ⁠Walden Catalyst Ventures⁠, a venture capital firm helping early stage companies in the US, Europe, and Israel build the next generation of category-defining businesses in deep tech. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and was previously a partner at Sofinnova Partners, 360 Capital and Samsung Catalyst Fund before joining Walden Catalyst in 2021.

During his chat with Merle, Nicolas explained why he thinks the Swiss ecosystem should not try to replicate the Silicon Valley phenomenon. According to Nicolas, Silicon Valley is a unique ecosystem that’s been around for 60 years, which resulted from a unique recipe for collaboration between academia, investors, entrepreneurs and large corporates. It took decades to mature, first through government funding and then later largely through private funding. 

The success of Silicon Valley ought to inspire us, says Nicolas, and of course best practices can be derived from it, but we should not try to replicate the exact same phenomenon in Switzerland — a very different country with its unique set of circumstances. Switzerland benefits from excellent universities and is quite strong in terms of deep tech, but it is still maturing as an ecosystem, as are other European startup hubs. Our culture of high performance and high precision differentiates us from the Americans and their “break things” mentality, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Each mindset has its own individual perks.

Nowadays, Nicolas is excited about Swiss companies like Scandit, ANYbotics, Ecorobotix and SOPHiA GENETICS. He thinks one major key to accelerating the maturation of the Swiss startup ecosystem (and other European ecosystems) is to allow for more late stage funding.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

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 checkout.

(Disclaimer: Relai services are exclusively recommended for Swiss and Italian residents.)

‍

About Evelyne Pflugi:

⁠Evelyne Pflugi⁠ is the co-founder and CEO of ⁠The Singularity Group⁠, a company quantifying applied innovation in listed equities. She holds a MSc in Food Science and Technology from ETH and worked at Capital Group and GAM Investment Management (Switzerland) Ltd before founding The Singularity Group in 2017.

At The Singularity Group, Evelyne and her team are redefining how innovation gets quantified. Instead of measuring it by R&D expenses, patents, capex in tech or M&A in tech, Evelyne prefers to focus solely on feasibility and profitability. She co-founded the group with Tobias Reichmuth, a serial founder and investor. The Singularity Group is the initiator of the Singularity Index™ (Bloomberg ticker: NQ2045), a global, all-sector benchmark and gold standard for Applied Innovation. The Singularity Strategies include The Singularity Fund (UCITS Lux), Singularity US Innovation Leaders (AMC), Singularity US Equity (LUKB AMC), Singularity Small&Mid (UBS AMC), and the partner product LUKB Smart Farming (AMC).

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

This episode was co-produced by⁠ SICTIC⁠, the leading angel investor network in Switzerland.

‍

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 checkout.

(Disclaimer: Relai services are exclusively recommended for Swiss and Italian residents.)

‍

About Felix M. & Jianhe Mao:

In this episode, we sit down with ⁠Mao⁠ and Felix, a dynamic father-son duo who share their incredible journey through entrepreneurship, venture investing, and the startup world. Mao, a seasoned entrepreneur with decades of experience, recounts his path from studying in Germany to building businesses across Europe and Asia. After starting his career in industrial engineering, he transitioned into consulting and later founded ventures in China, including an armored cash-transport business: one of the first of its kind. By 2010, he shifted focus to MedTech startups in Europe, turning around struggling companies like neoplas Med GmbH (pioneering plasma wound treatment) and Medmira Inc. (a rapid diagnostic testing innovator). His approach? Hands-on involvement, strategic risk-taking, and a sharp eye for undervalued potential.

Felix, Mao’s son, brings a fresh perspective as a next-gen investor immersed in Switzerland’s startup ecosystem. Initially drawn to history and behavioral economics, he found corporate life uninspiring and instead dove into startups through SICTIC. There, he learned the importance of team dynamics over just product-market fit, emphasizing traits like adaptability, vision, and resilience in founders. He advocates for a more structured approach to evaluating entrepreneurs, blending academic insights with real-world due diligence. Both highlight how SICTIC’s rigorous selection process sets Swiss startups apart, favoring steady, deep-tech innovations over the "go big or go home" mentality often seen in Asia.

As Mao eyes retirement, he plans to deepen his involvement with SICTIC, mentoring the next wave of entrepreneurs. Felix, meanwhile, is just getting started, aiming to build a methodical venture investment strategy while learning from seasoned angels. Their key takeaway? Venture investing is a humbling, long-game journey that rewards patience, passion, and a willingness to take calculated risks. Tune in for their candid stories, hard-earned lessons, and why the startup world’s energy keeps them hooked!

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

Resources Mentioned:

⁠Ep 135 with Thomas Dübendorfer⁠

⁠Fueled by Randomness, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb⁠

‍

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 downloading ⁠the Relai app⁠ today, and profit from 10% less fees by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout.

(Disclaimer: Relai services are exclusively recommended for Swiss and Italian residents.)

‍

About Ieva Soblickaite:

⁠Ieva Soblickaite⁠ is the CPO of NordPass, a password management solution that is part of Nord Security, the world’s leading cybersecurity company. She holds a Masters from HEC Paris and co-founded Medigo GmbH before joining NordPass in 2021.

During her chat with Merle, Ieva broke down the topic of cybersecurity into easily digestible, actionable chunks:

What’s a data breach?

A data breach occurs whenever confidential data is accessed and used in some way (disclosed, copied, altered, destroyed). Common malicious uses include trading the data on the darkweb, decrypting the data to demand a ransom payment, and identity theft. 

What’s malware?

Malware is any software developed with the express intent of causing harm. Examples include viruses, trojans, spyware, ransomware, etc. It can also completely take over a computer, putting the criminal in complete control.

Common types of malware:

• Ransomware: type of malware that prevents users or organizations from accessing their files. Hackers demand payment to restore access.
• Adware: type of greyware (since it does not necessarily have to be malicious) that displays ads to certain users. These ads can be unwanted or malicious.
• Spyware: malware that secretly monitors and collects information about a user’s activities or devices, usually as the first step before another type of attack.

Another well-known type of cyberattack are phishing campaigns, in which a hacker pretends to be someone the user knows, or an entity that they trust, in order to get them to click on a malicious link, which can download malware or take the user to a fake website where sensitive information will be requested.

On average, a cyberattack occurs every 14 seconds, and the cost of fixing it depends on how quickly the user notices it and how quickly they act. On average, users will take 204 days to notice a cyberattack and another 73 days to contain the breach.

In order to prevent an attack, several components are necessary:

• Strong passwords
• Multifactor authentication
• Limiting access to accounts & regularly reviewing who has access
• Anti-virus software
• Regular vulnerability assessments

Hackers target big and small companies alike, as well as both famous and anonymous people, so it’s safest to start improving the cybersecurity of your professional and personal accounts now.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the ⁠Relai app⁠ today, and profit from 10% less fees by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout.

(Disclaimer: Relai services are exclusively recommended for Swiss and Italian residents.)

‍

Über Stefan Lichtsteiner, Alex Frei, Diego Benaglio, Sergio 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.⁠

⁠Diego Benaglio⁠⁠, langjähriger Torhüter und Integrationsfigur der Schweizer Nationalmannschaft, ist ein Symbol für Beständigkeit und Professionalität im internationalen Fussball. Aufgewachsen in Zürich, führte ihn seine Karriere von Grasshopper Zürich über Portugal und Deutschland bis zum AS Monaco – mit seiner erfolgreichsten Zeit beim VfL Wolfsburg, wo er Deutscher Pokalsieger und Meister wurde. Als ruhiger Rückhalt auf dem Feld und authentische Persönlichkeit abseits davon steht Benaglio für Disziplin, Loyalität und Teamgeist. Auch nach seinem Karriereende bleibt er dem Fussball verbunden – mit einem besonderen Augenmerk auf die mentale Stärke und nachhaltige Entwicklung von jungen Spielern.

⁠⁠Stephan Lichtsteiner⁠⁠, ehemaliger Captain der Schweizer Nationalmannschaft, zählt zu den prägendsten Figuren des Schweizer Fussballs. Geboren in Adligenswil im Kanton Luzern, entwickelte er früh eine Leidenschaft für den Sport, die ihn von den Jugendmannschaften des FC Adligenswil bis zu internationalen Top-Clubs wie Juventus Turin und Arsenal führte. Lichtsteiner ist bekannt für seine unermüdliche Einsatzbereitschaft, seine Führungsstärke und seine Mentalität als «Mentalitätsmonster» auf dem Platz. Nach seinem Rücktritt engagiert er sich für soziale und sportliche Projekte und bringt seine Erfahrungen zunehmend auch abseits des Rasens ein.

⁠⁠Alex Frei⁠⁠, der Rekordtorschütze der Schweizer Nationalmannschaft, ist eine der markantesten Persönlichkeiten im Schweizer Fussball. Geboren in Basel, prägte er mit seinem Torriecher und seiner Leidenschaft das Spielgeschehen auf nationaler wie internationaler Ebene – unter anderem bei Stade Rennes, Borussia Dortmund und dem FC Basel. Frei war nicht nur als Spieler ein Führungstyp, sondern auch nach seiner aktiven Karriere als Trainer und Fussballexperte aktiv. Mit analytischem Blick, klarer Kommunikation und einem tiefen Verständnis für den Sport setzt er sich für die Entwicklung junger Talente und die Förderung des Schweizer Fussballs ein.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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 checkout.

(Disclaimer: Relai services are exclusively recommended for Swiss and Italian residents.)

‍

About Laurent Decrue and Arijana Walcott:

⁠Laurent Decrue⁠ is the Co-CEO and CFO at ⁠Holycode⁠, a product and engineering powerhouse serving fast-scaling startups. After building and exiting companies like ⁠DeinDeal⁠, ⁠Bexio⁠, and ⁠MOVU⁠, Laurent Decrue now supports founders as an investor, board member, and operator. Laurent Decrue brings real-world startup empathy to every cap table conversation—and a no-BS attitude about what actually moves the needle.

⁠Arijana Walcott⁠ is the Founder and General Partner at ⁠DART Ventures⁠, where she backs early-stage European startups tackling climate and health challenges. With roots in San Francisco’s tech scene and a sharp eye for scalable impact, Arijana Walcott is on a mission to change how—and why—we invest. Arijana Walcott is also a board member, educator, and startup ecosystem builder focused on helping founders go big instead of going home.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Click ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ to check out our free Founders Agreement masterclass, with Melanie Gabriel from Yokoy, Christof Roduner from Scandit, and Viviana Gropengiesser from Talent Kick.

About Simon Ittig:

⁠Simon Ittig⁠ is the co-founder and CEO of ⁠T3 Pharmaceuticals⁠, a company developing bacteria-based cancer therapies. With a background in molecular biology and a PhD from the University of Basel, Simon transitioned from academic research into the high-stakes world of biotech startups.

In this episode, Simon shares how he approached some of the most complex and sensitive aspects of his entrepreneurial journey: how to sell a startup without losing its soul, how to build trust in an industry where confidentiality is currency, and why he chose to stay after his company was acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2023 for CHF 450M.

He also opens up about the emotional calculus founders make — the pressure to execute, the doubts that come with big decisions, and how staying grounded is what really lets you go far.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

About Tobias Häckermann, Lars Mangelsdorf & Laurent Decrue:

⁠Tobias Häckermann⁠ is the co-founder and CEO of ⁠Sherpany⁠, a provider of meeting management software for leadership meetings that was acquired by Datasite in 2024. He holds a Master of Laws from UZH.

⁠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. Yokoy was acquired by TravelPerk in 2025. Lars previously worked as Senior Account Executive at Beekeeper.

⁠⁠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.

During their chat with Silvan, Tobias, Lars and Laurent shared their insights on how to scale your sales team from founder-led scales to a fully operational sales army. When asked about KPIs to track early on, they stressed the importance of AE efficiency (2 AEs bringing in 90% of your revenue is bad) and also talked about sales cycles:  if your average deal size goes up by 200% but your sales cycle goes up by 400%, you’re clearly doing something wrong.

Laurent recalled a lesson he once learned from a fellow entrepreneur about how discounts, despite their attractively lower pricemark, ultimately signal that you’re giving your customers the same product for less money, which insinuates that you were overcharging them before. Laurent’s friend encouraged him to add additional free features for the same price, instead of lowering the price with discounts. 

Still on pricing, Lars shared that since some markets have a competitive price pressure, it may sometimes pay off to go into them with a lower pricing number and increase your price by 15% every year. It’s easier to get people to pay more once you’ve already started to earn their trust. This will allow founders not only to branch out into different markets but also to ultimately increase their deal sizes.

Another topic discussed during this episode was the old chicken and egg problem of whom to hire first: sales or marketing people? Here the guests held different opinions. Laurent said that because you need lead magnets first, you should hire marketing people before sales people. He added that your sales should go from founder-led, to hiring a couple of people to build a really great pipeline, to then hiring a larger number of salespeople. Lars, however, argued that doing sales first allows you to test whether there is a strong demand for your product in the market you’re targeting, and whether your messaging is properly crafted. Finally, Tobias added that marketing is much less relevant for B2B businesses than it is for B2C, since you only need to reach a couple thousand people, as opposed to millions.

When it comes to actually hiring salespeople, Tobias encouraged listeners to start hiring way earlier than necessary “in their head”, meaning that they should build relationships proactively (including with competitors) with the goal of later on acquiring great talent. This is especially important considering that the likelihood of making the wrong hires early on is very strong. He finished by sharing that founders should hire their sales team themselves, instead of outsourcing the job.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

This episode was co-produced with⁠ EO Zürich⁠. Check out their upcoming event,⁠ Entrepreneurs Summit 2025⁠.

Click ⁠here⁠ to check out our free Founders Agreement masterclass, with Melanie Gabriel from Yokoy, Christof Roduner from Scandit, and Viviana Gropengiesser from Talent Kick.

About Ronnie Zemp:

⁠Ronnie Zemp⁠ is a serial entrepreneur, startup investor and the current president of ⁠EO Zurich⁠. He holds an MBA from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Throughout his career, he has (co-)founded the following companies: ⁠RZ Capital AG⁠, ⁠bitConsult⁠, ⁠notime AG⁠ (exited to Swiss Post), ⁠OSUISSE AG⁠, ⁠RZ Real Estate GmbH⁠, and ⁠Tears of Bacchus AG⁠.

During his chat with Silvan, Ronnie talked about the most difficult aspects of being a startup founder. He stressed the loneliness of being an entrepreneur: when you’re your own boss, you’re the ultimate decision marker, responsible for hundreds of employees, and this can really cause quite a bit of anxiety, and even insomnia. When Ronnie sold notime to Swiss Post, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He credits EO for relieving this sense of loneliness by introducing him to many people who have walked the same path.

Ronnie also warned founders not to see exits as the end-all, be-all of entrepreneurship. They happen, sometimes, yes, but not always, and building a cash-generating company that pays dividends is also a great (or perhaps an even better) goal for which to strive.

Ronnie feels it’s natural for founders to require a long time after an exit to be ready to build a startup again, not only because at that point they can financially afford to be picky, but also because having achieved a successful exit makes them wary of damaging their reputation. There’s also a point to be made about how age makes people more risk-averse. 

Ronnie’s life was made more complicated by the fact that he lost 4 very close people within the span of 3 months, which really made him reflect about who he is and what he thinks is the meaning of life. Due to all his success, Ronnie feels a social responsibility to give back: he has financed the university studies of several students from abroad, and has spent a great deal of time supporting those closest to him, namely the daughter of his best friend, who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 16 years old.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 14th 2025. Click ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ to purchase your ticket.

Click ⁠here⁠ to check out our free Founders Agreement masterclass, with Melanie Gabriel from Yokoy, Christof Roduner from Scandit, and Viviana Gropengiesser from Talent Kick.

About Brynne Kennedy:

⁠Brynne Kennedy⁠ is the co-founder and managing partner of ⁠Smart Society Ventures⁠, a decarbonization and energy tech investment firm striving to accelerate net zero. She holds an MBA from London Business School, and founded and successfully exited Topia, a company providing technology solutions to manage all forms of employee movement and work location flexibility. 

After stepping down from her CEO role at Topia in 2019, Brynne had a brief stint in American politics, running for US Congress in California's 4th Congressional District. She was not elected, and nowadays she’s able to look back with gratitude at that turn of events, considering the current political climate in the US. In 2023 she co-founded Smart Society Ventures, and began her career as a VC in the climate tech space. 

Smart Society Ventures strives to build a “smart society” (as the name would indicate), which they define as a society enabled by tech and data to achieve better outcomes and do more with less. Brynne is extremely committed to creating the societal impetus necessary to successfully manage the energy transition. She also co-hosts The Smart Society Show with Former MP and UK Energy Minister Chris Skidmore, where they discuss climate news and scaleups.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

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 check out our free Founders Agreement masterclass, with Melanie Gabriel from Yokoy, Christof Roduner from Scandit, and Viviana Gropengiesser from Talent Kick.

‍

About Vlad Gheorghiu:

⁠Vlad Gheorghiu⁠ is the co-founder and CEO of ⁠Kyan Health⁠, an AI-powered enterprise solution that connects employee well-being with measurable business impact. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and worked for Stryker and McKinsey before starting Kyan Health in 2021.

Vlad’s interest in the topic of mental health and wellness came about as the result of a crisis he himself had during his time at McKinsey. After experiencing a panic attack, he sought medical care and took 4 weeks off work. When he returned, he decided to film a short video explaining what had happened to him, which he shared with coworkers who inquired about his absence. The video went viral within the organization and Vlad was then asked to create an employee wellbeing program, which would later become the blueprint for Kyan Health.

Using predictive analytics, Kyan helps companies monitor and reduce risks like absenteeism, turnover, and presenteeism. Notable clients like Hitachi Energy, Hilti, STADA, Deutsche Börse Group, and On have already seen tangible results. Vlad and his team have worked hard to make their tool a trustworthy source of help for employees around the globe, not only by making the app GDPR-compliant but also by making every profile completely anonymous. This ensures employee cooperation and also allows Kyan Health to still derive insights at an organizational level.

Kyan Health was recently awarded the High Potential Label by SEF.Growth.

‍

Resources Mentioned:

⁠Insight Timer⁠

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

This episode was co-produced by⁠ SICTIC⁠, the leading angel investor network in Switzerland.

Click ⁠here⁠ to check out our free Founders Agreement masterclass, with Melanie Gabriel from Yokoy, Christof Roduner from Scandit, and Viviana Gropengiesser from Talent Kick.

About Sami Arpa & Yunus Erduran:

⁠Sami Arpa⁠ is the CEO and founder of ⁠Largo.AI⁠, a startup providing next-generation storytelling tools for the audiovisual industry using artificial intelligence. He holds a PhD in Computational Aesthetics from EPFL and was also the co-founder of Sofy.tv, a short film streaming service later acquired by Cosmoblue.

⁠Yunus Erduran⁠ is a founder and documentary filmmaker, and one of the first investors of Largo.AI. He holds a BA in Economics from Boğaziçi University (Turkey) and is currently active as Executive Partner at Eğlenceli Bilim, a company offering curriculum-compliant science programs to all educational institutions in Turkey. He’s also the podcast producer and host of ⁠arastirmaca⁠, together with his co-host Müge Bakioğlu.

Largo has developed data-assisted intelligence which can be introduced early in the life of a film project, right from script choice and development, through filming, post-production and theatrical release. Largo empowers production companies with data-enhanced ROI uplift and reduction of risk. 

Their AI models were trained with 400K+ movies/TV shows, 250K+ commercials, 950K+ talents. Largo’s clients are usually producers and studios (on the film side) and agencies and brands (on the advertising side). 

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

Click ⁠here⁠ to check out our free Founders Agreement masterclass, with Melanie Gabriel from Yokoy, Christof Roduner from Scandit, and Viviana Gropengiesser from Talent Kick.

About Andrea Silberschmidt-Buhofer, Teddy Amberg, David Hug & Tanvi Singh:

⁠

Andrea Silberschmidt-Buhofer⁠ is the general partner at ⁠EquityPitcher Ventures⁠, an early-growth VC firm that focuses on B2B tech startups, and the vice-president of FEM'UP SWITZERLAND. She holds a MSc in Entrepreneurship from the UCL School of Management and is also a startup coach at Venturelab.

‍

⁠Teddy Amberg⁠ is the founding partner at ⁠Spicehaus Partners⁠, a VC fund that focuses on seed and early stage Swiss tech companies. He holds an MA in Banking and Finance from HSG and worked at Partners Group and CreditGate24 before founding Spicehaus Partners in 2018.

‍

⁠David Hug⁠ is the co-founder of ⁠Marcau Partners⁠, an investment manager managing Ringier Digital Ventures and Lightbird Ventures AG. He holds a MSc in Entrepreneurial Management from the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Chur and worked at btov Partners and Zürcher Kantonalbank before becoming a VC in 2015.

‍

⁠Tanvi Singh⁠ is the founding partner at ⁠Nirmata-ai Ventures⁠, a VC fund focusing on AI-driven investments for a sustainable future. She holds a Master’s degree from UZH and worked for banks like Credit Suisse and UBS before founding Nirmata in 2024.

‍

During their chat with our co-host Merle, these 4 VCs shared their best practices for managing a fund. Their tips included:

- Being proactive in including your LPs in your fund’s journey by giving them co-investment opportunities and full access to your data room;

- Not shortcutting when it comes to compliance and regulatory demands (or you will regret it!);

- Underpromising and overdelivering when it comes to the goals you communicate to your LPs, and being transparent with them when something goes wrong, so as to ensure that trust is never broken;

- Sticking to your portfolio companies both in good times and in bad — the startup journey is rocky, and your investments need your help!

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

‍

‍

This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 14th 2025. Click ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ to purchase your ticket.

Click ⁠here⁠ to check out our free Founders Agreement masterclass, with Melanie Gabriel from Yokoy, Christof Roduner from Scandit, and Viviana Gropengiesser from Talent Kick.

About Riad Sherif:

⁠Riad Sherif⁠ is the CEO at ⁠Oculis⁠, a company focused on the development of topical treatments for ophthalmic diseases in the back and front of the eye. He holds a MSc in Medical Management from the ESCP Business School and worked at companies like Sanofi, Novartis and Alcon before joining Oculis as CEO in 2017.

Oculis’ pipeline includes a topical eye drop candidate for diabetic macular edema and for the treatment of inflammation and pain following cataract surgery. It also includes a candidate for dry eye disease and for non-infectious anterior uveitis, and a candidate for acute optic neuritis. 

The company’s origins are in Iceland, where the OPTIREACH® solubilizing formulation technology was developed by two Icelandic co-founders, Professors Einar Stefánsson and Thorsteinn Loftsson, to enable eye drops to reach the back of the eye. Nowadays Oculis is headquartered in Switzerland, with operations in the US and Iceland. Oculis has raised a total of $284.6M in funding over 13 rounds, and went public in 2023 (the only Swiss IPO of that year) before their product was even live. It is currently at stage 3 of clinical trials.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

‍

Click ⁠here⁠ to subscribe to our newsletter.

About Simon Youssef & Nenad Nikolic:

⁠Simon Youssef⁠ is the co-founder and CTO of the online bank ⁠neon⁠. He holds a PhD in Computational Biophysics from Microsoft Research Cambridge and worked at Strategy& before co-founding neon in 2017.

⁠

Nenad Nikolic⁠ is the co-founder, Co-CEO and CTO of ⁠Holycode⁠, and also the co-founder of MOVU and the former CIO of Bexio. He holds a MSc in Computer Science from the Faculty of Computer Science (Belgrade, Serbia) and worked for DeinDeal before joining Laurent Decrue on their 10+ year entrepreneurial journey in 2014.

‍

During their chat with Silvan, Simon and Nenad discussed best practices for scaling your dev team. Naturally, the first question that poses itself when it comes to this topic is: When is it time to scale your dev team? 

- It depends, obviously — but, generally speaking, the tech team needs to follow the growth of the company itself. At an early stage, you may be able to cut corners when it comes to security and backup strategy to move fast, but at some point you will need to start dedicating 25-30% of development time to these tasks.

- Don’t scale too early: big teams are costly and may run you to the ground. You should only have the tech stack that you absolutely need. Besides, if you scale too fast, your culture is going to go down the drain, and then you’ll be left with a whole lot of infighting and inefficiency.

- Don’t scale too late: waiting around for too long can result in a build-up of pressure on your developers that may very well burn them out.

‍

Should you hire in-house developers? Or nearshore them? Offshore them, perhaps? neon did it all, and Simon can confidently say that nearshoring works best:

- If you have your dev team in-house in Switzerland, you are going to pay a lot. 2-3 engineers in a nearshoring location are equivalent to 1 engineer in Switzerland. Besides, you’ll be vulnerable to the “Hey, Joe!” principle: having the dev team, product managers and the management all in the same building means these latter two will be able to bother your dev team with random tasks which slow the dev team down overall.

- You also don’t want to offshore it, because then you cannot visit as often. It’s best to nearshore your dev team to somewhere within your timezone which has great flight connections to your main location. 

‍

What’s the top criteria to hire developers?

- Pay attention to your gut feeling when it comes to the culture fit. Don’t hire someone you wouldn’t want to spend 2h straight with. And don’t hire someone who is too proud or inflexible to be proven wrong. They may be fast when developing all on their own, but they will never be effective in a fast team.

- When hiring senior engineers, look for strong domain knowledge and experience. When hiring junior engineers, hire for brains, not experience. 

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

Click ⁠here⁠ to subscribe to our newsletter.

About Tobias Gunzenhauser:

⁠Tobias Gunzenhauser⁠ is the co-founder and former CEO at yamo, an omnichannel FoodTech company creating the healthiest and tastiest products good for people and the planet. He holds a Master of Advanced Studies in Digital Marketing and Communication Management from the Hochschule Luzern and worked for Campari Group for 4 years before starting Yamo with 2 co-founders in 2016. 

What differentiated yamo back in 2016 was that they sterilized baby food using pressure instead of heat, which preserved not only flavor but also the vitamins. They also tuned their recipes to contain nutrients for age-appropriate development, with no added sugar and 100% natural and organic ingredients. They initially started selling their products D2C, afraid that retail wouldn’t take them in, but eventually broke into the world of Migros and Coop shelves as well. They also took advantage of influencer marketing quite early on, at a time when it wasn’t so common, which allowed them to work with big name creators.

Over 8 years, Yamo grew to an award-winning international multi-million organization with over 2700 points of sale in Europe’s biggest retailers, and a thriving E-commerce business. However, despite the team’s best efforts, they were unable to reach profitability. It was at a board meeting in April 2024 that Tobias first got the terrible news: since they had not been able to ensure the capital needed for their next step (but only accrued 2/3s of it), yamo could not continue in business. They had to declare bankruptcy and communicate the news not only to their entire team but also to their partners and stakeholders. Looking back, Tobias thinks this was when he learned what it truly means to be a leader — leadership is most important of all during the toughest times. 

Also in April 2024, Tobias announced the yamo shutdown on LinkedIn, after which he received an outpouring of support from both friends and strangers alike. Almost 1 year later, Tobias has come to view success as the ability to say that he has done his best creating something where before there was nothing. 

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 14th 2025. Click ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ to purchase your ticket.

About Georges Khneysser:

⁠Georges Khneysser⁠ is the founder of ⁠QBIT Capital⁠, an early-stage venture capital firm with headquarters in Zurich and an office in Los Angeles. Georges is originally from Lebanon, where he completed his education. He went on to work in Brussels as a trader and later as the head of a family office, before moving to Geneva to work in banking and wealth management. He started QBIT in Zurich in 2021.

QBIT specializes in investing exclusively in Switzerland and Swiss startups and currently has 8 portfolio companies: Demosquare, LogBook, Largo.ai, Helio, Duramon, Relio, Agrinorm, Everon. Georges credits three key pillars for the success of the fund:

• 6 of their LPs are entrepreneurs themselves, and are passionate about the Swiss ecosystem;
• QBIT offers their portfolio companies the services of their “pirates”, i.e. growth hackers, free of charge. Each company gets 800 hours per year of support with building their website, improving their pitch deck, developing their pricing and growth strategy, etc…
• QBIT has connections all over the world which help them make informed investment decisions and provide a network to their portfolio companies.

Georges is not a proponent of the “spray and pray” investment strategy (meaning investing in a diversified manner and hoping it works out for the best). At QBIT capital, he and his fellow VCs often spend several months getting to know founders better before making an investment decision.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

Click ⁠here⁠ to subscribe to our newsletter.

About Karim Saleh:

⁠Karim Saleh⁠ is the co-founder and CEO of ⁠Cerrion⁠, a startup developing digital AI workers for the manufacturing industry. He holds a BSc in Information Technology and Electrical Engineering from ETH, and worked at Unicorn Labs and Assaia – The ApronAI before co-founding Cerrion in 2022.

Cerrion’s AI workers use standard video cameras to monitor production, detect deviations and respond to them on their own, empowering production teams to make better and more timely decisions. Cerrion’s platform is currently deployed across factories in eight countries, including the USA, Germany, Italy and Turkey, where it has already reduced production losses by over 30% on average.

Cerrion participated in Y Combinator back in 2022. During his time in San Francisco, Karim highly valued the fact that YC holds founders accountable to what they say they’re trying to achieve. He was also glad to benefit not only from his batch’s network but from the entire YC community, which includes many top 1% founders. YC perks notwithstanding, Karim still thinks Zurich is the best headquarters for Cerrion, as it boasts a very strong talent density. 

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

‍

This episode was co-produced with the⁠ Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation⁠.

About Geri Kirilova:

⁠Geri Kirilova⁠ is a partner at ⁠Laconia⁠, a seed stage fund focused on B2B software companies. Geri holds a BA in Information Systems & Management from the NYU Stern School of Business, and worked as a VC for funds like Credo Ventures and LAUNCHub before joining Laconia in 2017. She recently moved to Switzerland with her husband.

‍

According to Geri, Laconia mainly invests in industries like retail tech, ecommerce enablement, proptech, fintech and digital health, and their investment strategy focuses on three key aspects:

- Strong unit economics;

- The ability to grow in a capital-efficient manner;

- The ability to make decisions in a repeatable fashion.

‍

As a rule, Laconia does not require a warm intro, and encourages companies to cold email them. This is because nowadays warm intros have become so standard that they no longer hold any value in Geri’s eyes. What used to be “Hey, this person I worked with before is the smartest person I know, and they’re raising funds for their company” has become “Hey this person I know is raising funds for their company”, so to Geri and her team, a “lukewarm intro” is the same as a cold email.

‍

When evaluating deals, Geri thinks of the following questions:

- What are the key beliefs, risks and hypotheses of this company?

- Is there market demand for their product?

- What’s this company’s go-to-market strategy?

- Can this company acquire significant market share over time?

- Do the founders have the right balance of ambition and realism to execute their vision?

‍

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

This episode was co-produced with⁠ EO Zürich⁠. Check out their upcoming event,⁠ Entrepreneurs Summit 2025⁠.

Click ⁠here⁠ to subscribe to our newsletter.

About Wendy Jordan:

⁠Wendy Jordan⁠ is the co-founder and former COO of ⁠Encuentra24⁠, the leading marketplace and fully integrated business solution in Central America. She holds a BA in Marketing and Advertising from Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología (Panama), and previously worked for companies like Publitesa and Gold Dragon Capital Management Ltd before starting Encuentra24 in 2005.

Wendy and her husband built Encuentra24 at a serendipitous time: back in 2005, the Panama government was just starting to show interest in attracting foreign investment. Based on their own experience of having difficulties buying an affordable home in Panama, Wendy and her husband decided to create Panama’s online marketplace themselves, and focused on the items/issues which are essential to people’s lives: a home, a job, a car, etc.

Encuentra24 was bootstrapped for 10 years. Wendy and her team advertised the business B2C by placing ads on buses and taxis and running radio ads; when it came to B2B, they initially sought each and every partner for a 1-1 conversation. They grew the business slowly, through trial and error, and in 2013 faced perhaps their biggest challenge when OLX built offices in Central America in an attempt to take them over. Despite OLX hiring Harvard-educated staff and resorting to things like exclusivity contracts with partners and hiring people fired from Encuentra24, Wendy and her team stayed laser-focused on their goals and the quality of their product, and ended up acquiring OLX’s Central American operations a few years later.

In 2015 Encuentra24 welcomed Shaun Di Gregorio, founder and CEO of Frontier Digital Ventures, as an investment partner, which enabled them to list themselves on international stock markets and, most prominently, in the Australian Stock Exchange. In 2022 Encuentra24 had a successful exit, after which Wendy left her operational role at the company. Nowadays she’s active as a business angel and will soon take on the role of president at EO (Entrepreneurs Organization).

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

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:

- Speed: This system is, indeed, quite slow, and unnecessarily so, in Simon’s opinion.

- Left vs Right disagreements: Simon opposes the Swiss left’s ideas of rebuilding Switzerland as a state-run operation less reliant on private enterprise. He considers this a political weakness.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠

‍

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 its customers brands like Migros and Tom Ford. They recently raised money through the ⁠Swisspreneur Syndicate⁠.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠

‍

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.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠

‍

‍About Gian Reto à Porta:

⁠Gian Reto à Port⁠a 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.

‍

Resources Mentioned:

⁠The 4 Levels of PMF, First Round Capital⁠

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠

‍

‍

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

‍

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

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

‍

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

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.

‍

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 Switzerland and Germany to move from founder-led sales to employee-led sales, when in fact they should have hired a growth marketing team to help generate more leads — because without generating more leads, what use is having the sales people to convert them?

Check out the conversation for more valuable learnings on how to (continuously) reach PMF. 

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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. 

How should you change your pricing when approaching the German market? Again, it will completely depend on your product. But Tobias advises you not to overfocus on the pricing, especially considering costs in Germany can be lower in certain aspects. He encourages listeners to first get to know the market well and then think of how to finetune their German pricing.

Both Tobias and Britta recognize that in Germany one observes a unique relationship between companies and the government (which often results in a lot of bureaucracy, that Swiss Business Hub Germany is ready to assist you with). As his main challenge in expanding to Germany, Tobias cites the development of intercultural competence.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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.

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. Currently, robots have cameras through which they perceive the presence of people, and when they detect people, they slow down quite a lot as a form of risk mitigation. Inveel’s proximity sensors allow robots to remain fast even in environments filled with people, because they make them much quicker in reacting to the presence of a person and avoiding collision. 

Inveel is currently establishing pilots with big players and kicking their R&D into turbo mode in order to cater successfully to the robotics industry.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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. 

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.

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.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

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:

⁠⁠Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman⁠⁠ (Lida Ahmadi)

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

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.

‍

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.

‍

Das Titelbild wurde von www.smartportrait.io bearbeitet.

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.

‍

Resources Mentioned:

Homo Faber, Max Frisch

‍

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.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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.

‍

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.

‍

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.

‍

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 wishes and goals, as well as being accompanied by our experts during implementation.

‍

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

‍

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.

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

‍