Last week, I was invited to take part to a panel with 5 other startup founders (Ivan Orlov, Eric Lucien, Vincent Renevey, Alejandro Salcedo and Tommy Stefanelli) of Western Switzerland. The panel was part of a 2-days workshop (Rencontre Romande de Formation et Entrepreneuriat) where startup coaches and mentors of the Western Switzerland region were present to discuss how to best support entrepreneurs. As I’ve been on their side (I used to be a “startup coach” formerly), it was quite interesting to me to be asked how they can best help us. But first of all, we had the chance to listen to Mr. Benoit Leleux, who is in charge of the startup program at the prestigious IMD school of business since more than 15 years. He hold a keynote about the stereotypes regarding entrepreneurship and how to demystify it. You can find …
4 startups events in Europe you should attend
Summer is almost over (hum… I’ve not seen if the was a Summer season this year, except that the business stopped from mid-July to mid-August!). It’s now time again to participate to startup competitions and attend big events. Europe is lively and I think there isn’t any inferiority complex anymore toward the US. There are actually probably too many events you could participate as a startup entrepreneur. The key is to attend the right ones, the ones which can bring something to your startup! You’ll find here a little selection of relevant startup events you should consider attending this Fall! Pioneers Festival (Vienna, October 29-30th 2014) This 2-days festival (with an extra additional day before, for investors only) is gathering year after year a great panel of speakers and investors in the city. Pioneers is inviting super smart speakers like Fred Destin …
Book your booth at Startup Day!
For the sixth time in a row, the student association FORUM EPFL is organizing a special day dedicated to startups on October 8th 2014, in Lausanne. The Startup Day at Forum EPFL aims to connect EPFL young engineering talents with promising startups from across Switzerland (and abroad!). Last year, more around 80 startups were present and some hundreds people (students, innovators, and even some investors were present) visited the booths. The Startup Day will take place on Wednesday 8th of October and will benefit from the quantity of presentations happening on this day. Giant companies (like Google!) will be present on this specific day to hold a presentation… and organizers of FORUM EPFL have certified me that everyone who’d like to attend these presentations will have to go through the startup’ stands. This will be possible thanks to the relocation of the forum …
Western Switzerland startup scene is lively – discover 8 ICT startups
Even if we lack big successes (in term of exit size) in Switzerland, the startup scene is lively. And not only life sciences companies do perform well, but there are also a plenty of ICT startups that are worth discovering. ICT not only gather web or mobile, but also represent robotics. For the 3rd ICT Investors Day in Western Switzerland (happening on May 12th in Lausanne), we will have 8 startups (duly selected by a jury committee comprising Deep Parekh, Patrick Barbey, Philipp Steinberger, Pierre Bordry and Alexandre Peyraud) competing with an elevator pitch of 90 seconds to win a seat in the final, that is, presenting their concept longer. Who determines who will pitch longer? YOU, if you attend and register now! Indeed, that’s the audience who vote for its favorite startups. I’ve changed the timing (long presentation are maximum 7 …
10 solutions to transform Switzerland into a real startup nation
Last week, Western Switzerland magazine Bilan and Le Réseau (an association fostering innovation – why only in French?) published a Startup Manifesto. Based on a survey among startup entrepreneurs (launched by Raphael Briner and venturelab), the Manifesto comprises 10 ideas. Most of them won’t surprise much people active in the startup world, but these ideas need to be spread as widely as possible (to your dad, mum, girlfriend, former colleagues, etc.). Because there are many smart entrepreneurs here and great innovations. It’s not all to claim that Switzerland is ranked “most innovative country in the world” (based on the number of patents published – whatever it really means, as it’s not the patents fostering a country, it’s their transformation into something economically sustainable), yet we need massive support from politics to implement measure that really help entrepreneurs building businesses! I …
Discover the Swiss startup national team 2014!
Every Spring time, venturelab and Swissnex are announcing their selection of 20 entrepreneurs who will represent Switzerland in Boston and New York in June. The selection was based both on the quality of the project and its business potential and on the personality of the entrepreneur. The “Swiss startup national team 2014” will have a first appearance on April 16th at Swiss Institute of Technology (aka EPFL) in Lausanne at venture ideas, where entrepreneurs Mehdi Aminian and Stephan Würmlin will share some insights of their successful startup journey. The 20 Venture Leaders will then fly for a 10-days trip in Boston and New York, where they’ll get coaching from renowned entrepreneurs/mentors, visit some successful US companies and finally meet investors and fellow US startup entrepreneurs. Emphasis will be put on accelerating the business development of selected startups (put a first step on …
Stand up for one of the smartest startup guy in Switzerland: Beat Schillig!
On March 9th, an article was published on Zürich-based Sonntagszeitung, surprisingly attacking the founder and CEO of famous Institut für Jungunternehmen (you can find the whole story here – in German). IFJ is a company that Beat founded 13 years ago and which won the public tender in 2004 to launch the federal entrepreneur education program venturelab (were organizing 4 different education workshops, but didn’t participate to the last tender, as described here). Beat is a successful entrepreneur (he was active in the company jobs.ch, which was sold for a massive price of CHF 390M back in the early 2000’s). What are the criticisms against Beat Schillig? Alongside his job of promoting startups and educating entrepreneurs, he’s also a business angel and investing in startups. What a shame! He’s pointed to have insider knowledge. Insider knowledge? Yes, Beat knows a lot of entrepreneurs. …
10 days left before START Summit!
End of next week on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th, the student association START from University of St. Gallen is organizing a 2-days startup conference. More than 400 students, founders and investors from 18 countries will gather to listen to big names of the tech scene like Klaus Hommels or Morten Lund. Workshops, speed-pitching and speed-dating (young graduates meeting potential employers among startups), a lot of networking breaks, a Capital On Stage session and… parties (of course!) will be available. Last year was a big success… this year looks promising too! So if you’d like to have a taste of what startups are, want to meet some prominent investors coming in Switzerland or simply want to enjoy the parties, you should go! You can discover the full program here and book your ticket here!