Swisspreneur podcast

About Dennis Just and smallPDF

Dennis Just is the CEO of smallPDF, a SaaS company which offers all-in-one easy-to-use online PDF tools such as merging, editing and signing. Dennis is a serial entrepreneur, having started his first company, dSlash.de, while still in high school. During his university years, he started compreo.de, a translation service, but stopped the venture after 2 years because it was too early for the market. He went on to be Head of Product at DeinDeal and subsequently started Numbrs and Knip  (now Digital Insurance Group), two successful fin/insurtech companies.

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About Martin and Turicode

Martin Keller is the co-founder and CEO of turicode, a machine learning based document extraction solution. The company bootstrapped to CHF 1m in revenue. Their technology, MINT.extract, works to extract information from any type of document, supporting their customers along the entirety of their business processes. They are looking to raise CHF 2m to diversify the skillset in their team and also to scale internationally.

About Reto Lämmler and Testing Time

Reto Lämmler is the CEO and co-founder of Testing Time, a recruiting  platform for usability test users. Some of Reto’s previous ventures include:  Xellery, a cloud-based collaboration service for Microsoft Excel, which was sold to expressocorp.com and RememberTheName, an app for learning names in your address book. At doodle.com, Reto gained international startup experience as VP Product Management. He holds an MAS in Interaction Design and a BSc in Computer Science.

About Sophia and Caressoma

Sophia Borowka is the CEO and co-founder of Caressoma, a startup providing ultrasound diagnostics for monitoring soft tissue injuries. Sophia is a physicist by training and has spent several years as CERN Fellow in Geneva. Together with her two co-founders, Jana Maes, an experienced Osteopathy practitioner and Jinesh Kallunkathariyil, a physicist and R&D expert, they have already raised 270k CHF from investors. Now looking to raise an additional 800k CHF to bring the product to market as a non-medical device for training optimization for athletes.

About David Alain Bloch and Legartis

David Bloch is the CEO and co-founder of Legartis, a legal tech company which uses AI to help businesses with their legal needs. David is an Attorney at Law admitted at the Zurich bar. He was a member of the “Global Shapers”, a World Economic Forum (WEF) community network of highly motivated individuals who have a great potential for future leadership roles in society. David also co-founded Foraus, a Swiss think tank on foreign policy.

About Fabian and UNISERS

Fabian Walter is the co-founder and CTO of UNISERS, an ETH spinoff specialized in automated analysis equipment for high-purity liquids used in semiconductor production. UNISERS emerged out of the ETH pioneer fellowship in 2017. The company holds a patent for their technology and is currently looking to raise $ 1.2 m to expand their marketing activities at several high profile events and to bring their MVP solution to the market.

About Manuel Hartmann and SalesPlaybook

Manuel Hartmann is the Founder of SalesPlaybook, a Swiss sales accelerator for B2B startups. Before starting the SalesPlaybook, Manuel was part of Onedot, where he increased sales by 260% over 2 years. He holds a Masters of Business Innovation from University of St. Gallen and spent three years as a consultant at Accenture.

About Igor and What To Label

Igor Susmelj is the co-founder of WhatToLabel, a Data Preparation Platform for Machine Learning. Together with his co-founder, Matthias Heller, they bring together the best of the tech and business world. WhatToLabel is both a HSG and an ETH spinoff. Currently, they are looking for funding to take them to the next milestone – 100k in recurring revenue from their international client base.

The Episode In 60 Seconds

Lars Mangelsdorf is one of the co-founders of Yokoy, an expense automating tool.

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The ABC of B2B sales

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First Contact:
– Consider a mix of standardized outreach via cold emails and personalized strategies via phone or more creative means (ever thought about sending your prospects a shoe?)
– Don’t pitch your product upon first contact. Ask questions about your customer’s pain points and wishes.

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Demo:
– Don’t just demo all your features. Know what will create value for this specific customer.
– If possible, demo on-site to establish a more personal relationship.
– Even if you can’t convince the customer, ask for a referral to someone else in the industry.

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Tools to help you close:
– Hubspot
– LinkedIn Sales Navigator
– Hunter
– Soap Box
– Outreach

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Documents you need:
– Data security whitepaper
– 1-pager of your product
– Testimonials of happy customers, if possible

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KPIs of your sales team:
– Accounts Receivable vs target
– Conversion rates after first meeting. 30% would be desirable
– Diversified leads: ⅓ big accounts, ⅔ small / medium accounts

About Alex Tyropolis and Realbot Engineering

Alex Tyropolis is a co-founder and CEO at Realbot Engineering, a startup offering robot technology for remote viewing of real estate. He co-founded the company after years of experience in the real estate industry as an analyst for Engel & Völkers. After only 2 years of bootstrapping, the company already has a working product on the market and has conducted 4145 remote viewings for clients such as wincasa and livit.

About Melanie Gabriel and Yokoy

Melanie Gabriel is co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Yokoy, a SaaS company which leverages Artificial Intelligence to fully automate all expense- and company credit card processes. Before starting Yokoy, Melanie joined Dizmo as Marketing Manager and worked her way up to Head of Marketing. She is a board member of WE SHAPE TECH and holds a degree in Business Management from the University of St. Gallen (HSG).

About Michael Besmer and onCyt

OnCyt, a startup offering microbial monitoring, emerged from Michael Besmer’s PhD at ETH Zurich. He assembled a team of co-founders from a diversity of backgrounds including engineering and business development. After 3 years, the team is already looking back on 20+ successful projects and over 800k CHF in revenue.

The Episode In 60 Seconds

Setting up your Board of Directors – the right way.

The right composition

• Get diversity of perspectives and skills, be sure you cover at least: legal, finance and your industry
• Don’t go for titles, go for people with time and expertise
• 4 is considered a good number to start

Founders on the board

• In small companies where they hold a large stake, this may be appropriate
• In large companies, operations and board roles have to be separated

Compensation

• Consider paying a fixed compensation in cash or equity and a variable compensation based on time invested

Where to find the right board members

• Choose people you know you can work with
• If you have smart money investors, they will probably be a good addition to the board

How boards change when companies grow

• Small company boards may be more operational
• As companies grow, boards necessarily have to professionalize and become less operational

Meeting and decision making

• Meetings at most once a month and at least once a quarter
• If possible, decisions should be unanimous or more time should be invested into discussions
• If a board member dissents, be sure to note it in writing

About Kevin Häfeli and Helio

Kevin Häfeli is the co-founder of Helio, a platform to connect demand and supply of computing power. He started Helio in 2018 together with Christoph Buchli. Previously, he worked as a DevOps engineer at Zatoo and Snowflake Productions and co-founded the e-commerce venture Brandeer Sports.

About Katja Berlinger and Swiss Medi Kids

Katja Berlinger is the CEO of Swiss Medi Kids and a professional board member. Katja started out as a journalist at the publication “Cash”. She quickly realized that she’d rather have an impact herself than write about people who do. Consequently, she turned to her law degree and became an associate at the law firm von der Crone, where she worked on the Swissair lawsuit. Once again, she concluded that this career path was not for her. She switched gears and joined a tech startup as their corporate sales manager. From there, she set herself up to become a professional board member and today holds more than 5 board member seats.  

Biographies

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Beat Brechbühl

Beat Brechbühl is managing partner of Kellerhals Carrard and head of the M&A team. He holds a LL.M. degree of the Chicago Law School and worked with Sandoz / Novartis Nutrition. He works primarily in the area of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and joint ventures, venture capital and succession planning. He is a lecturer for entrepreneurship at the University of Berne and he has been acknowledged as one of the leading Swiss corporate lawyers by Legal500 and Chambers.

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Michèle Remund

Michèle Remund has many years of experience in corporate and tax law and regularly assists clients in M&A transactions. She is also a member of Kellerhals Carrard’s Startup Desk and advises start-ups in particular in connection with employee shareholdings, financing rounds and various other issues.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

Dream Big – Sell Big

• Swiss people have a tendency to sell themselves and their business short. Instead of going for the billion dollar deal, they settle for the first offer which comes their way. Dare to be great and know your true potential.

Don’t crack under pressure

• One of the reasons founders sell their companies too early (and too cheaply) is because of the immense pressure they are under; from employees, family, VCs and, sometimes, from themselves.
• Know that VCs may not always have your best interest in mind and/or know the business like you do.
• Be truthful with your employees, especially in hard times. If you have invested in building a company culture, this will now pay off.

Selling done right

• The bad news: you cannot plan an exit strategically. The good news: if you’re good at what you do, the opportunity will arise naturally.
• Make plans but be ready to abandon them if a better course of action presents itself.
• Money isn’t everything. It may be smart to accept a smaller offer if this means that your company’s vision will persist and your employees will have a “good home” even after the acquisition.

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About Ariel Lüdi

Ariel Lüdi is a parachute stuntman turned millionaire. After dropping out of his physics degree at ETH Zurich, Ariel joined IBM as a developer. From there he joined Oracle, where he discovered his passion and talent for sales. After 8 very successful years as SVP of Sales at Broad Vision and Salesforce, he joined Hybris as CEO. He invested all his previous earnings into the company and even went into debt. In 2013, he sold Hybris to SAP for $1.5B.

About Tanja Lau and Product Academy

Tanja Lau is an experienced entrepreneur and the founder of Product Academy, a coaching business for product managers. Previously she was Head of Product at Siroop, where she played a crucial role in scaling the company to over 200 employees. During this intense period of her life she found herself experiencing symptoms of burnout, even suffering a breakdown at her own wedding. With the goal of building a balanced yet challenging career for herself, she started Product Academy and is running it part time while raising her two young children.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

Competing with Silicon Valley Startups – what to expect

• Switzerland is generally strong in research and not so strong in productization and marketing. Be aware of this and give your amazing product the showlight it deserves.
• Cap tables (the “who owns what” in a company) are a big topic. SV investors don’t like to see large, fragmented cap tables. Be smart and don’t give away more than 20% of your company per round.
• SV is fast-paced and direct. Be prepared to adapt your style of doing business.

Is Silicon Valley the promised land for all startups?

• The short answer is: no. The long answer is: it depends. Know where the experts in your field cluster. This can be Houston, New York, Chicago …
• Don’t underestimate the value which comes from a Swiss brand: neutrality, trust and reliability, to name a few.

Building up your presence in the US

• Your expansion should be customer centric. Move to a new market when you feel you understand and are ready to serve the customer there.
• Expanding abroad usually entails building a physical presence there. Often this requires at least one of the founders to relocate in order to build a quality team away from home.
• Ideally, your first hires have existing customer relationships that you can leverage.
• Build the business first, fundraise second. This will give you much more negotiating power.

About Philipp Stauffer and FYRFLY

Philipp Stauffer is the co-founder of and Managing Partner at FYRFLY, an early stage technology venture firm. Amongst their former and current portfolio companies are Beekeeper, Philz Coffee and AngelList. Prior to becoming an Angel and early stage investor, Philipp co-founded his own ventures: Dropimpact, an innovation catalyst and early stage investment firm, and Onor, an impact digital marketing project. He moved to San Francisco in 2001, days after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Philipp holds an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Microeconomics from the University of Applied Sciences in Zurich.

About Daniel Sandmeier and Instimatch

Daniel Sandmeier is the CEO of Instimatch, a platform for digitizing money markets. Instimatch was named “Growth Startup Of The Year” at the Swiss Fintech Awards 2020. Before joining Instimatch, Daniel had spent 12 years at Credit Suisse and over 2 decades in banking over all. He holds a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Zurich.

About Andreas Iten and SIX FinTech Ventures

Andreas Iten is the co-founder of F10 FinTech Incubator & Accelerator and also the head at SIX FinTech Ventures. He has worked for over 15 years within leading institutions in the IT service, airline & transportation and the financial industry.
Andreas holds a degree in Digital Innovation and Business Transformation from the University of St. Gallen.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

Getting the timing right

• Rather than going and planting a flag abroad, consider letting your customers lead the way. Wherever you find a “big fish”, find an agreement to localize for them.

Finding international customers

• Try to engage analysts such as Forrester and Gartner early on. This can be in an informal way, since formal engagements can cost you lots of money.
• Look for international technology partners such as Salesforce and the like.
• Attend conferences abroad to gain visibility.

Organizational setup

• For technology products, marketing and sales are usually the areas which need localization, while engineering can stay centralized.
• A coherent reporting structure and rigorous documentation are vital to successfully move an international team forward.

Successful international partnerships

• Partners are followers, not leaders. Even though you might have a partner in a certain market, you still need to lead the way for the first successful implementations.
• It’s a long term game. Try to become part of your partner’s daily routine to stay on the top of their mind.

International fundraising

• International investors are desirable but not a requirement to expand abroad.
• Don’t underestimate the difficulties which come with operating in two different legal systems.
• Since you are missing the benefit of a shared culture, introductions to international investors through your network are even more important.

About Dorian Selz and Local.ch

Dorian is the founder of local.ch, Switzerland’s leading local search platform which he grew to >$50M revenues in 4 years. Today he is co-founder and CEO Squirro.com, a personal digital research assistant. The company also offers memonic.com, a web based digital notebook. Prior to launching local.ch, from 1999 to 2005 he was Partner and COO at Namics, an internet professional services firm. Dorian holds a PhD in information systems from the University of St.Gallen and a degree in econometrics from the University of Geneva.

About Christian Burger and EOS

Christian Burger is the founder and owner of Antarius Gmbh and one of Switzerland’s first licensed implementers of EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System). Christian advises the leadership teams of companies how to effectively set up their organization. He holds a degree in electrical engineering but focused a major part of his career on project management before starting his own company Nomasis in 2007, which focused on enterprise mobile device management, and later Antarius, a business consultancy, in 2010.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

Getting the basics right

• Don’t underestimate how long it will take you to build sales channels. Invest time into developing them at the same time as you are developing your product.
• Switzerland is too small. Go international fast.
• Be present where you want to build your network.

Managing high growth sales channels

• Your partner has to make an upfront investment in order to be able to sell your product. They will only be willing to do this if they believe in your vision and see an opportunity to grow together with you.
• You should own the selling process and have your partners’ commissions tied to project delivery milestones. This will maximize their incentive to make the customer happy.
• To assure quality, you should own the certification process of everyone who sells your product

Culture at scale

• Leadership is culture. Culture is what drives the company beyond the term of any single manager.
• At scale, culture has to become more explicit in order to keep everyone on board. Write down your values and talk about them often.
• The trust of your employees is your most valuable asset. Do not squander it by paying salaries late or otherwise breaking your word.

Surviving the race to scale

• Growing a company is tough, there is no other way to say it. If you aren’t willing to put in the hours, it may not be the right business for you.
• Sleeping is vital. Learn how to sleep “effectively” by shutting off your thoughts and finding deep relaxation, at least for a few hours.

About Manuel Grenacher and Coresystems

Manuel Grenacher is the founder and fmr. CEO of Coresystems, a cloud solution that helps companies to source and coordinate technicians for customer service. In 2017, Siemens decided to use Coresystems to digitize their global customer service technicians network. Subsequently, in 2018, Coresystems was bought by SAP, where Manuel is now General Manager for Cloud Service Solutions. Previously, Manuel had already successfully sold Mila, a spin-off of Coresystems to Swisscom in 2015.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

Thinking about bootstrapping? Jutta Jertrum has done it and here are some of the points to consider:

Trade-offs

• Bootstrapping usually means higher independence in exchange for fast growth.
• It may take longer until you pay yourself a salary, since any money comes directly out of the company’s cash flow.

Getting your partner on-board

• Starting a business can strain a relationship, particularly the financial aspects. Do not underestimate this and address it with your partner early on.
• In an ideal situation, a partner can provide the financial support to cover the monthly living expenses. This should however not be expected or taken for granted.

Client acquisition

• Reference clients and authentic customer testimonials are some of the most powerful tools for client acquisition.
• If your offer is declined, always ask why. Don’t be afraid to try again.
• Awards and startup competitions are a great way to get the word out there, gain credibility and free PR.

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This episode is brought to you by Blinkist.

About Jutta Jertrum and Twist Out

Jutta Jertum is the inventor and owner of Twist Out, an ecological drain cleaning device. Jutta was the General Manager at the Castle Rapperswil when she discovered that she could clean her clogged drains more ecologically and effectively using a wooden stick of a very specific shape. She then quit her job and patented the invention. In Switzerland, Jutta is best known for her appearance on the TV show “Höhle der Löwen”, where she was offered a deal which she ended up rejecting after the show.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

Getting your finances right.

In the beginning:

• There is no point waiting with signing up to VAT, if you go over the threshold of 150k revenue in a year, it is already too late and will be painful to catch up.
• You can, however, save yourself time and effort by doing your first year end closing after 23 months instead of 12. Check the regulation of the Canton where your company is registered.
• Invest some time and energy into the setup of your accounting system. Having to fix it later down the road is costly and time consuming.

Choosing a fiduciary:

• Chose your fiduciary first and take the accounting software they recommend.
• Use a simple system in the beginning, without subledgers.
• If you switch systems, do it at the end of the financial year. Don’t import old data into the new system.
• Excel is not powerful enough.

Liquidity planning:

• Cash is the oxygen of your company, so better know how much you got left until you run out.
• Be aware of the “hidden costs” of growth: on-boarding employees, finding additional workspace, setting up new tools and processes.
• Consider the impact of your payment terms on your liquidity.
• If you are ecommerce, the way you manage your stock will be significant for your liquidity. The smaller you keep it, the better.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

Just like your apartment, your company needs some basic housekeeping in order to avoid descending into chaos.

Financing rounds

• It’s not advisable to negotiate your term sheet without a lawyer if you don’t have previous experience. Although they aren’t legally binding they set a strong precedent which is hard to negotiate your way out of.
• By the same token, don’t use the template of your investor.
• Be sure you understand the liquidation preferences you agree to
• If fundraising has to be fast and determining a price is difficult, consider a convertible loan

Employment contracts

• Watch out for IP (intellectual property) rights, notice period and non-compete clause (limit 3 years)
• For employee incentivisation, you can decide between
• Share plan: more tax friendly for your employees, usually higher administrative burden for the company
• Phantom stocks: easier to administer but taxed as income

Exit

Exits usually take the form of either an M&A (Merger and Acquisition) or an IPO (Initial Public Offering)

• M&As come in 2 forms:
• Asset deal: meaning you sell all the companies assets, including employees to a new owner
• Share deal (more common): the acquiring party buys a majority of the shares and therefore takes control of the company.
• IPOs are still rare in Switzerland, mostly because they involve large costs (several $ millions) for preparing the so called “prospectus”, the document based on which the shares are offered on the stock exchange.

About Carole Ackermann and Business Angels Switzerland

Carole Ackermann was the president of Business Angels Switzerland (BAS) Association from 2010 to 2018. In 2007, she founded Diamondscull AG, an investment and coaching firm based in Switzerland. Through BAS and Diamondscull as well as her mandates on multiple Boards of Directors, she has acted as a startup and executive coach for many years. Carole holds a PhD in Marketing from University of St. Gallen (HSG).

The Episode in 60 Seconds

Finding the right exit strategy for you and your company.

Getting the basics right

• Look beyond Switzerland for potential buyers
• If you can, get help from specialized M&A boutiques
• Broaden your shareholder base to get easy access to new markets and industries

Selecting the right partner and deal

• Institutional investors usually curtail the entrepreneurial freedom of the founder more strongly than non-institutional investors such as family offices.
• Aggressive growth often leads to the founders being left with very small stakes in the company once the time for an exit has arrived.
• Don’t select buyers based on valuation but based on their values aligning with yours. Don’t forget that most likely, you will still be obliged to work in your company for a few years after it has been acquired.
• The price of an acquisition is often split in a fixed part and a variable part, called earn-out, that gets paid out on defined targets and incentives over the duration of 1-5 years.

Timing
Depends on several factors:

• Can the company still realize significantly more growth in the future?
• Do you still have the passion and energy to drive the business forward?

Exit options

• M&A (Merger and Acquisition): Selling of the companies assets or shares. For smaller companies with revenue generally above $ 10m.
• IPO (Initial Public Offering): Listing of the company on a public stock exchange. Usually not feasible for revenue below $ 200m.

About Marc P. Bernegger

Marc P. Bernegger is the founder of usgang.ch, a nightlife platform, and Amiando, a ticketing system for events. Marc started usgang.ch in 1999 when he was 20 years old and sold it to Axel Springer in 2008. In 2006, he co-founded Amiando based out of Munich. Amiando was acquired by Xing in 2010. Since then, Marc has been active in the fintech space, as founder of the Crypto Finance Conference St. Moritz and of Crypto Finance AG and as a board member at Falcon Bank.
Marc holds a Masters in Law from the University of Zurich.

About Patrick Thevoz and Flyability

Patrick Thevoz is Co-founder and CEO of Flyability, a company specialized in commercial indoor drones. During his time at Fyability, the company grew from 2 to over 60 employees and acquired over 300 customers. The company successfully raised $11 m in 2018 with Swisscom Ventures as one of the lead investors. Before founding Flyability, Patrick worked as a strategy consultant in the life sciences industries. Patrick holds an MSc in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EPFL).

About Monique Morrow and Cisco

Monique Morrow spent 16 years at Cisco, where she became the company’s first Services CTO and spearheaded Cisco’s transition to services as the core piece of their offerings portfolio. After leaving Cisco, she founded The Humanized Internet, a non-profit organization with a mission to provide persistent, secure, global digital identity to the world’s population.
In 2019, she joined the newly established VETRI Foundation as the president of the board and has been shaping the organization’s path towards a blockchain based personal data management solution.
Monique has several patents to her name, amongst them “Cloud Framework for Multi-Cloud Extension” and “Deep Learning Bias Detection in Text”.

The Episode In 60 Seconds

Know your competitive landscape

• Keep in mind that most tech products compete on a global scale
• Take a holistic view: the same needs can be met with different approaches. They are still your competitors.
• Be aware when you are switching from up-start to incumbent and when it’s time to scan for acquisition targets yourself.

Why companies acquire other companies

• To create synergies with, expand, improve, etc. their existing business.
• To protect their existing business from competition.
• The latter tends to be a stronger driver than the former.

How to approach competitors

• Approach the CEO, even if it is a much larger company.
• Demonstrate how you will be a threat to their existing business.
• Be aware that your competitor may be facing internal resistance against an approach which was “not invented here”.

About Michael Friedrich and Distalmotion

Michael Friedrich is the CEO of Distalmotion, a medical device company specialized in robots for minimally invasive surgery. Michael started his first venture as a 16-year-old teenager during high school. The company, Berne Byte Bears, focused on the early applications of the Internet, producing specialized software programs, websites and other web applications. Their most successful offering was an online product comparison site, komsumenteninfo.ch, which was acquired by Comparis in 2002. Michael went on to study Microengineering at EPFL Lausanne. From there, he started Aïmago, a medtech venture focused on visualizing blood flow in real time. Aïmago was acquired by its competitor Novadaq for $12m in 2014. Nowadays, Michael is CEO (and early investor) of Lausanne-based Distalmotion, a spin-off of the EPFL that has set out to make robotic surgery more accessible and establish robotics as the new standard of care in the OR via its surgical robot called Dexter.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

The four phases of fundraising.

Phase 1: Preparation

• Start preparations either in early September or in January, as to not hit the VCs’ winter or summer break.
• Don’t waste your time talking to VCs which aren’t adequate for the round you are trying to raise anyway.
• Use personal introductions wherever you can.

Phase 2: Pitching

• Do a first screening call to gauge the general fit of the VC for your business and round.
• The goal of your pitching is to get a term sheet, which equals an offer to invest from a VC.

Phase 3: Negotiating Term Sheets

• Once you have (hopefully) collected a few term sheets, it’s time to evaluate and negotiate on the different offers.
• When choosing an investor, the cultural fit should not be underestimated. Don’t be afraid to get references on the VC from other ventures he/she has previously invested in.
• Don’t obsess too much over valuation. It is not an exact science.

Phase 4: Due Diligence

• Once you have decided to go with an offer, the investor will perform his due diligence on your business to make sure your books are in order.

About Cris Grossmann and Beekeeper

Cristian Grossmann is the CEO and co-founder at Beekeeper, a software company which allows businesses to easily communicate with their non-desk workforce. Cristian was born in Mexico City, to a Mexican-Swiss family. He left Mexico as a teenager to pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering at ETH Zurich and went on to complete his doctorate in Electrical Engineering. The path to Beekeeper began in 2011, when he and his co-founder Flavio started an anonymous dating app for university students called BlicKlick. BlicKlick became Spocal, a community platform for all types of interactions – not just flirting. The solution was picked up not only by university students but also by businesses trying to engage their workforce. In 2012, Swissôtel, a Swiss hotel chain, used the solution to manage communication with its non-desk workforce during a merger with two other global hotel chains. This was a breakthrough moment for Beekeper, which since then has been growing rapidly and just closed a $ 45 million series B round this year.

About Emile de Rijk and Swissto12

Emile de Rijk is the co-founder and CEO of Swissto12, a high-tech company which specializes in the 3D printing of radio frequency products based on its own patented technology. The company’s technology originated from Emil’s PhD thesis at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), in Lausanne. After initially focusing on the production of scientific equipment, the company pivoted in 2014 and since then is mainly active in the market for antennas for satellite telecommunications. Swissto12 was awarded a contract by the European Space Agency in 2015 and raised a $ 18.5m series B round earlier this year with Swisscom Ventures as one of the lead investors.

About Nicolas Bürer and DigitalSwitzerland

Nicolas Bürer is the Managing Director of DigitalSwitzerland, an initiative of over 150 Swiss corporate companies to strengthen Switzerland’s position as a leading innovation hub. Nicolas started his entrepreneurial career as Chief Marketing Officer at DeinDeal.ch, which rose to be one of Switzerland’s most successful e-commerce sites within only 5 years. After DeinDeal, he transitioned to become Managing Director at the TV company Joiz, which had to close its doors in 2016. Nicolas is also one of the co-founders of Movu, a platform of moving and cleaning companies, which was acquired by Baloise in 2017. He holds a Masters in physics from the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and was awarded “Business Angel of the Year” in 2018.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

It’s never too early

• Create culture with intention from the very beginning.
• Start explicitly documenting and “negotiating” your culture as soon as you grow to 10 people or more.

Scaling culture

• Hiring the right people is the only way to scale culture.
• Hire for values rather than skills alone.
• Acknowledge that on-boarding new people requires effort from your existing employees.

The topic of salaries

• Fairness and transparency are key, but don’t allow salaries to take center stage in everything you do.
• Base salaries off of what people need to make a living. Allow for different compensation packages based on the risk appetite of different employees.

Letting people go

• Detect and tackle problems as early as possible.
• Provide open feedback and a path to improvement.
• Check-in as often as necessary until the issue is resolved or you let the person go.

About Andreas Fischler and Frontify

Andreas Fischler is the co-founder of and former CEO at Frontify, which offers cloud software for brand management. During his time at Frontify, the company grew from 2 to over 70 employees. Before joining Frontify, he was a partner at Namics and had his own project, Sakku, which produced solar-powered bags. Andreas holds a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from ETH and a Masters in Information Management from the University of St. Gallen.

About Andri Silberschmidt and Kaisin

Andri Silberschmidt is a politician, investment consultant and the co-founder of Kaisin AG. After his apprenticeship at Swisscanto Invest, he became (and is still) responsible for the management of all quantitative equity funds that invest in developing countries. In 2017, together with friends, he founded the restaurant chain Kaisin AG, which currently operates three branches in Zurich and one in Basel. Andri Silberschmidt has been politically active since 2011 and President of the Young Liberals Party of Switzerland since 2016. In 2018, he was elected to the Parliament of the City of Zurich for the FDP (Swiss Liberal Party) and is now a candidate for the National Parliament on the list of the FDP Canton of Zurich. Andri holds a BSc in Business Administration and an MSc in Global Finance from Cass Business School.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

What drives inequality in Switzerland?

• Historical factors such as the absence of a total war which shook up societal structures in other European countries.
• Expensive childcare and unequal career development paths
• Venture capital dominated by men

How can we tackle inequality?

• Subsidized child care would be desirable, but is in the end a tax payer decision.
• Extended parental leave for both parents
• Education
• Role models and communities

Quotas: yay or nay?

• Quotas can be a powerful instrument if used wisely.
• Quotas alone aren’t enough. Coaching and mentoring is required for those who are supposed to fill them.

Diversity matters.

• A team which resembles the customer base which it builds products for will build better products.

About Estefanía Tapias and WeSpace

Estefanía Tapias is the CEO and Co-Founder of WeSpace, a community, workspace and digital platform that nurtures female leadership and innovation, having opened its doors in Zurich in 2018. Estefanía holds a PhD in Information Cities and Urban Climate from ETH Zurich and co-developed the first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) series on ‘Future Cities’ available on edX. She was also featured on the BILANZ Top 100 Digital Shapers in Switzerland as well as in Forbes’ 30 under 30.

About Michael Born and PXL Vision

Michael Born is co-founder and CEO at the ETH spin-off PXL Vision, a tech startup which uses computer vision for secure identity verification. He started PXL Vision together with key employees from his previous company, Dacuda, which specializes in software 3D camera technology and was acquired by Magic Leap in 2017. Before starting his entrepreneurial career, Michael was a consultant at Capgemini, specializing in technology consulting. He holds a MSc in International Affairs from the University of St. Gallen.

The Episode in 60 Seconds

People can be an organization’s biggest asset but also one of their greatest pain points. Here are some of Markus Okumus’ key takeaways:

Attracting talent

• In the early stages of a company, it is sometimes difficult to attract the necessary talent without being able to offer the corresponding monetary incentives.
• A charismatic, passionate founder will be able to inspire the right people to follow along on the journey.

Diversity

• Diverse teams are more successful, so keep an eye on this score.
• If diversity happens organically, great. If hiring in your network means you only have people who look like yourself around you, you might want to rethink your approach.

Hyper-growth

• Every time you triple your number of employees, you have to re-imagine your entire structure.
• Some people are unable or unwilling to grow with the company. Don’t be afraid to let them go.
• If you grow to be a $ 100m revenue company, you’ll need someone who has experience with leading such a company.

Values

• Your values should be more than a subsection on your website.
• Clearly define them and make them visible everywhere.
• Justify your decisions in terms of your values. Your employees will start to identify with and be proud of them.