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2:11 – The gender gap in the Swiss startup ecosystem
18:45 – Splitting up with your co-founder and abandoning the startup
34:05 – Startup competitions: yay or nay?
42:16 – The advantage of incubators
48:12 – Choosing the right idea
Lea is best know as the Co-founder and President of Ava Science, Inc., the company behind the Ava bracelet, the first fertility-tracking wearable device. Prior to starting Ava, Lea co-founded L’inouï, a premium chocolate production and retail chain in Bangalore, India. She also spent time working for the marketing division of Procter & Gamble in Frankfurt and for a strategy-consulting boutique in Paris. Lea holds a Master’s degree in global entrepreneurship from EM Lyon in France, Zhejiang University in China and Purdue Krannert University in the USA. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of St.Gallen and HEC Montréal in Canada. In 2017, she was recognized by the University of St. Gallen with the HSG Founder of the Year award.
“The startup ecosystem in Switzerland is still really young, so there’s still the chance to influence it and give it some direction.”
“The sexism in the startup ecosystem reinforces itself.”
“The more you pitch, the better.”
“If you wanna be fast, and you’re doing a consumer product, then you have to go to the U.S. It’s so much more scalable.”
“The best time to fundraise is when you don’t need the money.”
If would like to hear more discussions on female entrepreneurship in Switzerland, check out our conversation with Estefanía Tapias.
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