Subscribe to our newsletter
Get updates and access to exclusive content. We’ll never share your email address or spam you.
Check out our updated Swiss Startup Mafia Map
Open the Map
Tanja Koch, co-founder Amplo, Swisspreneur Podcast

EP #351 - Tanja Koch: Your First Startup Team

Tanja Koch

November 2, 2023
Timestamps:

6:44 - Why the founder team is the key ingredient

13:30 - Starting entrepreneurship part-time

15:50 - Splitting shares among founders

24:03 - Attracting senior people to your startup

31:30 - Closing a round amid a crisis

About Tanja Koch:

⁠⁠Tanja Koch⁠⁠ is a co-founder at ⁠⁠Amplo⁠⁠, a no code platform that makes AI easy and accessible to service and operation departments. She holds a MSc in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zürich and previously worked for companies like LEVITRONIX and 9T Labs before starting Amplo in 2021.

When it comes to finding the right co-founders, Tanja has some advice to give:

  • Your founder team should hold similar values but have different skill sets.
  • Starting a business with a romantic partner can be a good idea or not depending on your personal preference — Tanja personally wouldn’t do it.
  • The optimal founder team size is between 3 and 5 people.
  • The founders should hold equal shares in the company, provided they’re putting in equal amounts of work.
  • The shares/salary split should be set up so that founders don’t have to worry about things like the cost of eating out, but also aren’t living a life of luxury. For Switzerland, try to aim between CHF 3-5K per month.

Amplo raised a CHF 1.6M pre-seed round back in September 2022, in the midst of a complicated fundraising environment. This is Tanja’s advice on pulling a round like that off:

  • Ask your existing investors whom else they know who could invest in your following rounds.
  • Do the regular fundraising tasks: create a long list, then a short list, get intros, go to events, etc.
  • Keep the investors you’re talking to on a tight schedule. Tell them by which date you want a term sheet.
  • Create FOMO, even if accidentally: during the fundraising process, Tanja went to Berlin to visit a friend, and inadvertently made her Swiss investors concerned that she was talking to Berlin VCs. 

Memorable Quotes:

"Ask your existing investors who they know who could invest in your following rounds."

Don’t forget to give us a follow on our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there’s no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly giveaways or founders' dinners!

Get updates and access to exclusive startup content
Subscribe
More Episodes
Show all