Swisspreneur Show

Timestamps: 5:48 - Carbon should cost you 9:27 - Convincing Innosuisse 17:39 - How much you pay with PayGreen 25:02 - Why you can’t greenwash PayGreen 31:50 - Fundraising through daura About Roman Odermatt: Roman Odermatt is the co-founder and CEO at PayGreen, a startup developing an ecological payment method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Roman holds an MSc in Entrepreneurship from the University of Bern and previously helped build the pharma startup InnoMedica Holding. He created PayGreen in 2019. PayGreen is a payment method which calculates transaction fees for online shops based on the shop’s carbon footprint, which they assess themselves. Fees start at 2.5% (compared to 2.75% AMEX and 3% Paypal) and get higher or lower depending on the company’s progress. Customers incur no additional costs, and PayGreen serves as a sort of green checkmark for those looking to buy sustainably. This means the more popular PayGreen becomes, the more the reputation of the shops who don’t have the label will suffer, thereby creating an incentive for shops to commit to reducing their carbon footprint. PayGreen also has no incentive to help companies greenwash, since the less green these companies (actually) are, the more PayGreen earns. The Paris Agreement has predicted that the sustainability market will grow to USD 12t by 2030, which means it’ll become one of the biggest sectors worldwide. Research also shows that nowadays ⅓ of customers simply refuse to buy products which aren’t sustainable, so the future is looking bright for PayGreen. In the next few years, they’re looking to expand beyond carbon footprint emissions by running survey-based supplier checks. PayGreen digitized their shares with daura and are currently raising money through the platform. Memorable Quotes: "The Paris Agreement predicted that the sustainability market will grow to USD 12t by 2030. That means it’ll become one of the biggest sectors worldwide." If you would like to listen to more episodes on cleantech, check out our conversations with Mark Essam and Mikhail Kokorich.  Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook 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 give-aways or founders dinners!

Timestamps: 3:36 - Lead generating strategies 10:09 - Cultivating a relationship with your leads 12:29 - Creating a sense of urgency 18:58 - Special offers and free trials 26:44 - Favorite tools About Lars Mangelsdorf: 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. He previously worked as Senior Account Executive at Beekeeper. Back in Spring 2022, Yokoy raised a $80m series B round from Sequoia, and since then it seems like they can’t grow their team fast enough. They’ve also recently launched a prepaid Yokoy Mastercard. Lars currently leads his own sales team, and has over a decade of sales experience, during which he accumulated valuable insights. He shared some of these insights with us in this episode, and we’ve summarized them below. How can you generate leads? If your company is already of a certain size, of course it helps to have your marketing team generates leads for you; Otherwise, Lars recommends a multiple channel approach: calling, email, LinkedIn, you name it. Calls and email still work well in Switzerland. All of this can of course be automated with the right tool, so that it doesn’t become a huge time-suck. When contacting your prospect, mentioning other channels you tried to reach them through is a good conversation starter: “Hey, I sent you an email a few days ago, not sure if you saw it…” Don’t reach out to a company when they have just raised funds. That’s when they’ll be at their busiest and most “popular”. Once you have your lead, make sure to do proper lead qualification. You’ll want to have a checklist of things that need to happen for you to be willing to do a 1h demo call with them. How can you create a sense of urgency? If you know the solution your prospect has in place will be discontinued, that’s like hitting the jackpot — but this is very rare; Start your pitch by showing your prospect that if they continue using their current solution, they’re gonna run into problems. Show them stats about talent retention, for instance, and urge them regarding the importance of attracting Gen Z talent; Ask them about timelines. It makes no sense to be talking to a prospect now if they only plan on closing the deal in 2024. What are a buyer’s main motivations? Money: they want a solution that will make them more money, or that will save them money; Recognition: your prospect wants to be the greatest Chief HR Officer of all time; they want to change how their company works for the better. If you can prove to your prospect that your solution will make them save money and gain recognition from their peers, it’s a done deal. Resources Mentioned: GDPR-compliant lead lists on Fiverr Prospecting tools: Salesloft, Interseller LinkedIn Sales Navigator If you would like to listen to our previous conversations with Lars, check out episode 77 and 237.

Timestamps: 01:55 - Getting into entrepreneurship 09:16 -  IFJ, Venturelab and Venture Kick 17:34 - Where the name "Venture Kick" comes from 33:05 - The importance of foundations 45:12 - Where the Swiss ecosystem is headed  About Jordi Montserrat and Beat Schillig: Jordi Montserrat and Beat Schillig are the co-founders of Venturelab, a set of flagship startup programs to support the best entrepreneurial talents in Switzerland, including Venture Kick, Venture Leaders, the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award, and Innosuisse Startup Trainings. Jordi holds a MSc in Rural Engineering/Geomatics from EPFL and previously worked at companies like ITV Geomatik and PSE Parc Scientifique. Beat holds a BA in Marketing from HSG, is the Founder and President of IFJ - Startup Support, and has been investing privately in startups since 2001. Venturelab was created by Jordi and Beat back in 2004. It began as the National Entrepreneurial Training initiative, which was mandated by the Swiss Innovation Agency to IFJ, the Institute for Young Entrepreneurs, based in St. Gallen. Today, Venturelab operates as an independent spin-off of IFJ. It arose out of a basic problem: Swiss startups would highly benefit from business training, but as they are startups, they cannot afford it. Jordi and Beat decided to create a startup program which would get funds from generous third parties interested in working with startups, and thus be able to train startups “for free”. They receive funding from big corporations, like Swisscom and Post Finance, but also from philanthropic foundations like Gebert Rüf. Different branches of the Venture family focus on different things: Venturelab serves to develop the startup’s pre-seed idea, IFJ helps startups with incorporation and other legal issues, and Venture Kick “kicks” them out onto the big bad world of investors, customers and competitors. They receive over 700 applications every year, and look at aspects like founder background, founder values and the viability of the business idea itself in order to select the startups they would like to work with. For the time being they have no ambitions of going beyond Switzerland. First they feel they must encourage a higher percentage of Swiss PhD graduates to go into entrepreneurship. But their results so far are by no means unimpressive: out of the CHF 4b raised in Switzerland raised by startups, CHF 1.6b was raised by Venture Kick alumni, and 90% of all Swiss startups have somehow participated in Venturelab initiatives. Memorable Quotes: "Foundations are much quicker in their decision making process than the state, and they’re free to make much bolder investments." "The money raised in Switzerland by startups has risen to CHF 4b. CHF 1.6b of that amount was raised by Venture Kick alumni." If you would like to check out our previous Gebert Rüf bonus episodes, check out our conversation with Tobias Kistler and Igor Fisch. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook 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!

Timestamps: 5:55 - 30yo millionaires & the dot com crash 9:02 - Starting from scratch 36:35 - How to stick to your goals 52:50 - Reaching unicorn status 1:05:50 - Hiring good sales people About Vincent Bieri: Vincent Bieri is the co-founder of Nexthink, a leader in digital employee experience management software and one of the rare Swiss unicorns. He studied Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences of Fribourg, and later went on to work for Cisco for 7 years, before starting his own venture in 2004. His time at Cisco, which coincided with the dot com crash, taught him to temper his expectations of wealth and success and ground them in what is real and measurable. In 2004, together with friends Pedro and Patrick, Vincent co-founded Nexthink, a B2B SaaS business monitoring user experience for large organizations. It’s estimated that people working for big companies lose on average 20 min per day dealing with computer issues – much of this technical failure is not even reported to upper management but merely dealt with, so companies are often unaware that such a problem exists. Nexthink allows you to monitor and proactively anticipate the problem, so that time lost to technical difficulties is greatly reduced, leading to higher productivity, higher employee satisfaction, and a lower churn. Since 2004 Nexthink has scaled up over 1'000 employees, equipped 15 millions users with its software and raised a total of $345M in funding. Reaching a 1.1B$ valuation in 2021, Nexthink earned the title of Swiss Unicorn. Vincent attributes the success of the company to several factors, both circumstantial and not, and he highlights a few rules of thumb: Don’t delegate: distribute. You should create a team structure which allows for absences, doesn’t overburden any single person, and doesn’t necessitate micro-management. Hire great recruiters. Recruiters tend to hire people like themselves, so this is a key first step in your scaling journey. Make sure as well to have a great onboarding process. Hire excellent sales people who come with a good network of other sales people, in order to increase the overall number of quality applicants. In 2019 Vincent left his operational role at Nexthink. He remains a shareholder, friend and advisor, but has since begun to enjoy having more time for himself and his other hobbies and projects. Memorable Quotes: "Anticipating major market transitions is the secret to a company’s success." "Don’t celebrate one-off successes too much. You never know how circumstantial they are. Focus on positive trends instead." Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook 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!

Timestamps: 5:37 - Founding Selexis in 2001 11:46 - Acquiring the first customers 15:18 - Getting a patent 21:16 - IP and license deals 24:00 - Serving on the VentureKick board About Igor Fisch: Igor Fisch is the founder and former CEO/President/Chairman at Selexis, a life-sciences Geneva-based company, and current president of the Romandie innovation incubator Fongit. He holds a PhD in Biology from the University of Geneva and previously worked as an assistant professor at the University of Lausanne and the EPFL. In 2001 he co-founded Selexis as a university spin-off together with Nicolas Mermod, to change the way biologic drugs were developed. Selexis is nowadays the global leader in cell line development with best-in-class modular technology and highly specialized solutions that enable the life sciences industry to rapidly discover, develop and commercialize innovative biologic medicines and vaccines. From research laboratories and biotech startups to big pharma, Selexis has partners in over 42 countries. Their partners use Selexis technologies to advance more than 164 products in preclinical and clinical development and 10 commercial products. Igor and Nicolas acquired these partners by presenting hard-data arguments which would convince scientists, and make them Selexis evangelists. Selexis holds 210 granted patents that cover innovations in genetic elements, procedures/ transfection, cell line engineering, and devices related to cell line development and protein expression. They have pursued this path determinedly in order to keep their future options open and be in a better position to strike deals. Igor thinks the most difficult thing about filing the patent is writing the claims, which need to be drafted with a chess player’s finesse and strategic thinking. He advises startups to procure a provisional patent application in the case that they’re not yet ready to file a full patent but plan on being so in less than a year. In 2017 Selexis became part of the JSR Life Sciences group, and Igor left his operational role at the company. Nowadays he serves in the Venture Kick strategy board, as a way to give back the investment that was made in Selexis back in the mid 2000s. Memorable Quotes: "Regardless of industry, every entrepreneur faces the same challenges: what’s your product? Who are your customers? What’s your market?" "Swiss foundations, together with incubators, are a winning combination to get quality funds and education to upcoming Swiss startups." If you would like to check out our previous Gebert Rüf bonus episodes, check out our conversation with Tobias Kistler. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook 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!

Timestamps: 6:38 - GirlsinTech Venture 20:55 - Being a woman in tech 25:19 - The journey from an operational to an advisory role 29:32 - Starting WaaS Websites 44:10 - The future of tech About Stefany Barker: In addition to being a tech lead at Palantir, one of the world's leading data science companies, Stefany Barker is also an entrepreneur and investor. She pursued an MSc in management, information systems and innovation at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Stefany grew up in Switzerland, lived in different countries, and studied abroad to learn about other cultures, businesses and entrepreneurial mindsets, specifically about the different attitudes towards entrepreneurship. For example, Stefany learnt that Americans accept entrepreneurial failure more readily than their continental European counterparts. When Stefany returned to Switzerland in 2015, she became aware of the talent and gender gap in the Swiss tech sector. She was inspired to launch GirlsinTechSwitzerland in 2016 to establish an inclusive atmosphere for young women to learn and succeed in the Swiss tech industry. Stefany then founded TechFace in 2018 with the primary objective of changing the employment practices in the Swiss tech industry from transactional to relationship-based. This approach ensured that a candidate's team-fit potential was not only based on their CV. While being diverse and discussing diversity are important, they should not be the only subjects of conversation. The skills that an individual brings to the table are also essential. Stefany believes that if we continue in this direction, everyone's prospects in the tech space will improve. Furthermore, the out-of-date nature of CVs and the current job search process that sometimes asks you to include your marital status, personal photo, or address can unintentionally harm a candidate’s job search, divert focus from a candidate's real skills, and decrease equity in the hiring process. With the organizations she is involved with, she intends to implement better principles so that her ventures can continue to inspire and be pioneers in the tech space. In this episode you can find out more about Stefany's other businesses at WaaS Websites and her angel investing endeavors at Moonshot Network. Resources Mentioned: Moonshot Ventures Pivot, a tech podcast Blinkist  The Ministry of the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley Utopia, by Thomas Moore  

Timestamps: 11:32- Unhealthy Meat Alternatives 11:32 - The Fermentation Process 20:14 - Getting the Bio Swiss Label 25:47 - Getting into the biggest Swiss retailers 32:04 - Participating in Venture Kick About Tobias Kistler: Tobias Kistler is a co-founder of Luya, a foodtech startup creating deliciously sustainable vegan alternatives to meat. He holds an MA from the ETH Zürich and previously worked as a researcher at the Berner Fachhochschule. Luya has found a way to provide meat alternatives which are both delicious and healthy through a clever use of fermentation, i.e., the process which brings us beloved foods like beer and bread. Luya also manages to be incredibly sustainable, because what they ferment to make their delicious paddies is okara, the leftover pulp from soybean pressing, together with chickpeas. The 24h fermentation process changes these two ingredients in terms of texture (making it elastic and juicy), taste (delicious) and bioavailability (high for all of its compounds, which make up a full aminoacid profile). They source both their soybeans and their chickpeas from Switzerland and Northern Italy, and have managed to earn the coveted Bio Swiss Label. Adapting their product to match the Bio Swiss criteria meant being able to choose from a smaller pool of soybean/chickpea producers, and paying more for these raw materials, but this added cost is made up for by the fact that sporting a Bio Swiss label allows Luya to charge higher prices. They had a relatively easy time getting into big supermarkets, since nowadays the current health and sustainability trends are pushing these companies to want to be on the forefront of food innovation. Luya benefitted from funds from the Gebert Rüft foundation when they participated in the First Ventures program, in VentureKick, and in Innobooster (since these programs are all associated with the foundation). In between programs they also raised a bridge round with Gebert Rüft acting as an intermediary, and raised money from the VC fund Red Alpine. Memorable Quotes: “You want an ingredient that gives you freedom, that is a bit of a blank canvas for you to play with. That’s why chefs like using our product.” “At the end of the day, when you come from a stressful day at work, you want to be able to whip up a nice meal that’s healthy and makes you feel good.” To listen to more episodes on vegan alternatives, check out our conversation with Freddy Hunziker. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook 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!

Timestamps: 13:31 - Defining a Sustainable Business 23:14 -  How to Measure Success as a Company 29:08 - Changing Governmental Sustainable Policies 35:26 - Dealing with Climate Change Deniers 37:19 - The Circular Economy About Christina Hertel: Christina Hertel is the project manager at LEVO, at the Enterprise for Society Center (E4S), a joint initiative from 3 institutions of renowned excellence: the University of Lausanne, the Institute for Management Development and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Christina graduated from the Technical University of Munich with a BSc in Marketing, Strategy, and Leadership and an MSc in Sustainable Resource Management. She then went on to earn her PhD in Sustainable Entrepreneurship. In 2019 she founded LEVO to assist startups in incorporating sustainability in the early stages and to investigate how businesses can use entrepreneurship to address societal problems. Christina has always been interested in sustainability, but entrepreneurship had not always piqued her curiosity. However, she met a group of founders at an event, and after learning about their startup, she became intrigued. She started working with them as an intern. During her internship, she enrolled in a research program at a university. Working with a startup that integrated sustainability and pursuing research on sustainability confirmed her ideas that entrepreneurship can be used to solve societal problems. From her research and experience, she learnt that a company's success should be based on a number of factors, including its social and environmental contribution, in addition to its profitability. Additionally, organizations should avoid delaying assessing their sustainability until they are large enterprises. Starting as soon as possible will lay the proper groundwork and guarantee the best outcome. Although responsible entrepreneurship is crucial, Christina has found that many organizations still do not recognize the advantages of sustainability. Some businesses don't view sustainability as a critical component of their business model that should be non-negotiable and given top priority, but rather as a task to be completed. Nevertheless, the future of entrepreneurship is promising, as more and more businesses start integrating sustainability and as the world moves toward a more sustainable future. Memorable Quotes: “Entrepreneurship is one of the most effective tools to address societal issues.” "Responsible entrepreneurship involves evaluating where you are and identifying areas for improvement." Resources:  LEVO - provides startups with a free operational sustainability assessment Fairphone - a sustainable phone company flip - A German magazine investigating sustainability claims of startups If you would like to listen to another conversation on sustainability, check out episode EP #151 with Oliver Marchand.   Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook 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!

Timestamps: 01:58 - How it all started 07:16 - What a franchising model is 16:53 -  A company vs a franchise 22:53 - Franchise system FAQs 31:14  - Future scope & mission 100 About Julian Massler & Mathias Wegmüller: Julian Massler is the co-founder and CEO at AURUM Fit, a gym which provides innovative high-intensity fitness training. Julian Massler studied economics at the University of Konstanz. Mathias Wegmüller is an early investor and board member at AURUM Fit who studied environmental health at ETH. Since starting in Switzerland in 2018, AURUM has disrupted the entire fitness industry and has grown exponentially through franchising. Franchises are business models in which an established brand allows an independent entity to own and operate a franchise based on its brand, business model, and other intellectual property. The AURUM franchising model has been enormously successful since its inception. With a 9 out of 10 franchise success rate, it has achieved unprecedented profitability. It offers a scalable opportunity with a proven business model that provides quick cash flow to those with a passion for fitness and entrepreneurship. Franchise systems are sometimes underestimated, but AURUM Fit has demonstrated how profitable they can be. Mathias and Julian respond to the most frequently asked questions in order to address concerns about: The minimum amount of equity required to start a franchise How to promote the franchise Who the intended customer should be How the market operates Earning predictability As AURUM Fit expands, it wants to maximize its presence in Switzerland while also making its model more scalable globally. In the future, AURUM Fit intends to focus specifically on expanding its network in Zürich by doubling its locations, as well as opening more locations in lesser-known Swiss cities such as Thun. In the short term, AURUM Fit's focus is Mission 100: a goal to establish 100 locations in Switzerland within the next few years. AURUM Fit believes that its objectives are attainable, as there is an increase in investment from financial institutions due to the scalability and profitability trends of franchises. Furthermore, as more people adopt a healthier lifestyle, AURUM Fit's appeal has the potential to thrive because it combines health and the lucrativeness of franchising to offer great value to franchisees and end customers who recognize the value of a fitness-based franchise brand. Memorable Quotes: “We always say cash is the blood of entrepreneurship.” "Self-confidence is a crucial component to future success because if you fail at your first few businesses, you lose confidence." If you would like to hear more about how the high-intensity 6-minute workout at Aurum Fit delivers results, check out our EP#169 with Julian Massler.  Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook 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!

Timestamps: 01:30 - The early days of Deux Frères 12:42 - Creating the perfect recipe 16:53 - The importance of building a good brand 23:09 - Market expansion & distribution 33:48 - Working together as brothers About Florian & Gian Grundböck: Florian and Gian Grundböck are the founders of Deux Frères, a gin company. Before founding Deux Fréres in 2016, Gian studied business administration and was a professional handball player at Grasshopper Club Zürich, and then went on to work for an architecture firm as an executive assistant. Florian, on the other hand, pursued a Bachelor's degree in Food Science and Technology from the Zürich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). The Deux Fréres story started when Florian secretly distilled gin in the student lab at ZHAW, creating a unique gin which changed colours. Gian and Florian saw the business opportunity in the uniqueness of the gin and began the journey of perfecting the recipe and finding the best distillery for their product. Reconnecting with their family roots in Austria proved useful, as it became the main location to source ingredients and the producing distillery of the gin, which led to the success of the company we see today. After 2 years of starting the company, Florian and Gian had to deal with competitors who were replicating their gin's unique feature: colour-changing. Florian and Gian struggled with the possible failure of their business as a result but remained steadfast in their belief that the quality of their product and the captivating essence of their branding would allow them to stand out and continue their success. They were right! Since its inception, Deux Fréres Gin has grown exponentially, expanding to other markets outside of Switzerland, with its most recent accomplishment being its distribution expansion in China. Florian and Gian hope to captivate the Chinese market with their craft gin and grow it extensively in the upcoming months. Memorable Quotes: "In the future, we aim to be more than just gin producers; we also want to be recognized as flavour producers." "Our entrepreneurial inspiration came from our parents. They enjoy what they do, and this inspired us to do the same." If you would like to listen to another founder's unique journey in the spirits industry, check out our episode with Christof Tremp, co-founder and CEO at Rebels 0.0%, a startup producing alcohol-free spirits. Don’t forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook 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!