We are in 2020 and startups have never been so trendy in the past 15-20 years in Switzerland. Despite the fact that concepts like lean startup, value proposition canvas and business model canvas are anything but new – at least for people working in startup environments, many people who have an idea do not know how to start. I’m facing this problem quite often with my own digital agency, when people come to me with a wonderful project idea, but often no clue on what they should do. Of course, leveraging its own creativity to design a product is often the most attractive and creative task. However, starting with the offering side is always wrong. First, you need to start with the customer side: what are his/her customer job, pains and potential gains? Once, and only once you’ve defined these …
The 77 Startups of SeedStars Summit 2019
Discover the 77 startups who were selected for SeedStars Summit. AgriTech Agroportex.bio We suggest investing not just in the basic need – in food. We suggest investing in health. Let’s make our future healthy & Organic together ! CEE, Ukraine BandimOnline To reduce the loss of products from the producer to the customer, BandimOnline has been created to provide products on time with best prices. Africa, Guinea-Bissau Panal Fresh Connecting farmers and suppliers to markets and customers using technology. LATAM, Bolivia Rera online farm Rera is an online platform that provides an opportunity for retail consumers to farm their own poultry produce. Africa, Zimbabwe CleanTech Droople Droople enables water ecosystem stakeholders identify waste with active monitoring and insights in order to save water, energy and costs. Africa Consumer & Business Agam Security Agam Security is the first company to offer …
What You Face as a Woman in Business Today
Some months ago, I’ve had an interesting discussion with fellow entrepreneurs about the #MeToo movement and what you can potentially face as a woman in business (not exclusively as a startup founder, but every woman working). We were there to coach wannabe entrepreneurs and we had genders equally represented. As naive as men can be (…), we were discussing if all the sh*tty situations making the headlines may not be the behaviour of just a few horrible guys. Our female coaching mates around the table told us that this kind of things happens on an almost daily basis. These colleagues cannot be flagged as fanatic feminists, let me be clear about that. Of course, most daily behaviours are not so extreme as sexual harassment and assaults. Fortunately! But there are many situations we have all experienced live, that should stop …
Startup Weekend is back in Biel/Bienne
As you probably know, I’m a huge fan of Startup Weekend. Why? Because it’s simply the most efficient way to quickly start any project, test it and gather a team. Many people: complain they cannot find any co-founders. Go to Startup Weekend! do not know where to start, as they’ve never done this before… Go to Startup Weekend! want to polish their Business Plan (!) before going to potential investors or customers… Go to Startup Weekend! dream their project instead of projecting their dream. What is the value of thinking about a project for months/years but never acting? Is there no best allocation of your time / brain power? You’ve understood it by now: Go to Startup Weekend! I’ve participated to many editions as a jury member (in Lausanne and Neuchâtel) years ago, before organising 3 of them on my own (one …
Pitch Me If You Can! Startupolic Office Hours Are Back
As a reader of startupolic.com, you probably know that I’m a big fan of the pay it forward culture. Or said differently, give before you get. Last year, I did a first experiment by giving 30min to any founder (no selection here) who wanted to pitch me her project, or simply ask me some questions about starting up, about lean startup or about how to build a (digital) product. I’ve simply tried it for fun. And it was! It went beyond my expectations, as I was fully booked, even had to add extra slots. There was a lot of interesting discussions, with people who were just starting up. Or who were considering the startup way after having built state-of-the art technology during their PhD. The title (“pitch me if you can!”) is quite pompous and bit provocative, I know… I was simply expecting …
Hack the Local Shops on 19th of November
Switzerland is more and more active with startup activities. You often hear that the startup scene is nothing compared to renowned European hubs like Berlin or London. Yes, it’s true, at least in term of startups funded, of startups growing quickly or in terms of successful exits. However, there are a lot things happening, and many new initiatives are popping up almost every week (making it harder and harder for everyone new on the scene not to get lost in the wide panel of activities). For instance, a first Digital Festival was organized in Zürich back in September. Geneva welcomed its first Startup Weekend dedicated to Fintech early October (@Fintech FUSION, of course!). Hackathons are also more and more trendy, with the biggest European one happening in Zürich in September, but also with other ones taking place in the 2nd Swiss startup hub, at EPFL. Facebook organized one …
Fintech Infographic: The Current State of Fintech
At this period of the year, as always, I should normally be telling you to slow down and relax… (yes, you need to take some vacations!). What I will do on my side. But if you already had their holidays or have them later in the Summer, or if staying on the beach is boring for you, you may want to discover this interesting infographic made by Robert Hendriks, of DealSunny. And if nothing of this above is accurate for you, take some time once you’re back to discover this fintech infographic anyway! As most of the time, Switzerland is not really considered in it. Except that Fintech FUSION is mentioned, to my great pleasure! Enjoy Summer time!
How To Learn About UX in Switzerland?
If you’d like to launch a new business, you may think about the optimal combination of founders. And how many is too many? And what skills do you need in your team? Many people find extremely hard to find cofounders, especially technical ones (who has never heard the following complaint: “I cannot find a technical co-founder”?). Fortunately, nowadays, there are many possibilities in Switzerland to find software developers who may want to join a startups: Startup Weekend, hackathons (the biggest one in Europe happens in September) or even dedicated platforms like cofoundme or startup portals like f6s. But the biggest hurdle to convince a software developer (or, more realistically, everyone who has entrepreneurial spirit) to join your startup is the lack of money. Why would I work for free for your project without getting paid as I can get a …