Startups and money. It’s a secret for nobody that money is scarce when you’re launching your startup. Even if the Swiss Venture Capital Report shows an interesting growth in startup funding over the 3 last years, with almost a doubling of the funds invested in Swiss startups. About CHF 900M were invested in 2016. Which can be seen as a great sign for entrepreneurs, but which is in the same time…ridiculous. At least if we speak about digital startups (fintech included), which represent about 30% of this amount. This total includes massive funding rounds (80-100M) in the life sciences industry, which is a bit hiding the rest. But it’s ridiculous if we compare to London startups (mostly digital), which raised… EUR 1.32 billion in the first 6 months of 2016! I was discussing with another startup founder the other day and he told me that …
Why Your Daughter Probably Won’t Be a Startup Founder in Switzerland
This is a guest post by Lea von Bidder, co-founder and President of Ava Science, a Swiss startup based in Switzerland and California. Lea published this post originally on her Linkedin profile on Thursday 8th of March, the Women Day, and I thought this kind of excellent content should be spread as widely as possible… Do not hesitate to comment and to contribute with your opinion or ideas on how to change the problem Lea is describing! As a female founder from Switzerland I am constantly prompted with questions about “How it feels to be a female founder”. The truth is, it feels a little lonely. At investor events, I am often the only woman in the room. But it’s hard to reconcile this feeling when I read statistics like the one StartupTicker released on the Global Startup Monitor: Switzerland has an equal proportion …
5 Years of Blogging
January 2012. January 2017. Startupolic.com just turned 5 years old. It’s incredible how fast time is running out ! It’s time for celebration! Why I started blogging In one of my previous life, I used to be a startup coach and business developer for a technology park, lost in Northwestern Switzerland (in canton of Jura). My mission was to discover promising startups and try to attract them there, with a local economic development mission: bring and create high qualified jobs there. I was travelling across Switzerland, attending almost every startup event I could (years ago, it was still manageable !), trying to bring as much value as I could. With the underlying goal of convincing entrepreneurs to relocate to Jura (which was not a sinecure, I have to admit – but it worked out to some extend). I was meeting many people of the …
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 …
My Startup Events Selection for October
This year has been completely crazy so far. And even more since August, as we’ve organized 2 Demo Days @Fintech FUSION and are preparing us intensively for the new batch of startups, entering the acceleration program on Wednesday (more information to come on FUSION blog). As I’m used to say, I’m in a “Grand Bleu” mode (that means, “Deep Dive holding my Breath”). That is, that I have not enough time to do all what I’d like to (like blogging ways more!). But do not worry, I have plenty of blog post ideas in mind… But before surfacing again, here are 3 startups events you may (should) attending in October 2016 if you are in Switzerland. Startup Weekend Fintech, Geneva, October 7-9th For the first time ever in Western Switzerland, a Startup Weekend dedicated to fintech will take place this weekend in …
5 Startup Events to Attend in September
Summer is slowly coming to an end and it’s time for startup events to pop up everywhere again… The less I can say is that there are many, many events happening everywhere in Europe. It’s absolutely amazing to see the development and growth of the European and Swiss startup scene over the last 8 years. Now, even in Switzerland (which is still not seen as a relevant startup hotspot), you could attend an interesting event almost every day. Of course, that’s a big trap for first time entrepreneurs (and for everybody trying to grow a startup). You have to select carefully what is truly relevant for your startup, where you’ll be meeting either potential investors or customers (hum… you mostly do not find your customers at startup events!). Or where you’ll be learning a lot. Hereafter, I’ll present you a …
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!