How do you know that Summer is definitely over? Colder weather, shorter days? Or by the reappearance of startup conferences? Yes, July and August do not see much activities in terms of conferences (for obvious reasons, as entrepreneurs are busy working hard on a terrace or simply taking a hard-earned break! Startup conferences are starting again and it is hard to make a choice. I’ve discovered new and valuable conferences that I want to share with you (of course, you cannot be everywhere so choose wisely! And don’t go everywhere, you have a startup to run!): VentureDays, Prague – 21-22 September: Venture Days is a global tech industry, IT startup event designed to bring together startups, venture capitalists, angel investors and mentors. Mostly from Eastern Europe countries, but it can be a good idea for Swiss startups to enjoy a …
Win CHF 10’000.- for your Fintech Startup
As you may have seen if you’re following startups trends worldwide, fintech is quite a hot topic. And it’s not different in Switzerland (check this and this post). Of course, because Switzerland (in a whole) is one of the biggest financial hubs in the world. And things are moving, and it’s great to see this happening! A few ago, a new fintech association is born, namely Swiss FinteCH. This new organization came out of the Fintech Meetups Zürich and Geneva, and their founders, John Hucker and Alexandre Gaillard. Swiss FinteCH is a non-profit association with members connected to the local ecosystem and a common aim to promote the Swiss FinTech scene. Swiss FinteCH is an independent member-based association which aims to serve as the hub for #swissfinteCH. The group is volunteer-led and engages with partners (i.e. corporates, associations, government, etc) to pursue its goals, …
Pitch me (if you can!) – The Startupolic Office Hours
If you’re new to the startup world, you may not have heard about the concept of office hours. And even if you’re in the startup world for a long time, especially not in the US or UK, you may also not have heard about it! Coming from the US and democratized by the well-known accelerator Y Combinator, the office hours are time when you can book anybody without her accepting before. Meaning: you open your agenda and let anyone who want to meet you to book a slot. Without any filtering. Yes, it mays sound crazy. Because everyone has a busy agenda and you do not want to meet anybody. To survive with the many meeting requests you are receiving, you do your best to only meet relevant people. Some Venture Capitalists like the well-known Brad Feld or Fred Wilson …
Win a startup trip to Tel Aviv
Launching a startup is hard and even harder if you’re not in a viable startup ecosystem (where there is enough money flowing to startup, enough entrepreneurs and a general acceptance of failure). In Europe and Middle East, there are 2 mature startup hubs, London and Israel. Of course, Berlin, Paris and many startup scenes are growing and maturing. Switzerland still doesn’t really exist as a startup hub on the global map, even if many Swiss tech startups deserve more attention. And there are also many new initiatives popping up regularly. Like the launch of the Startup Manifesto to transform Switzerland into a real Startup Nation, initated by the association Le Réseau. It is still a long way to go to have a mature startup ecosystem in Switzerland (talking about web and mobile companies, not life sciences). The advantage is that …
Time for a break, no?
There’s sometimes a cliché that entrepreneurs can’t go on holidays, that they have to always be there and reachable. To some extent, it’s kind of true… you cannot completely switch off. Your mind cannot be disconnected from your venture. That’s one of the inconvenient to be passionate about your activity as an entrepreneur. If you have no passion and no fun in what you do, you’ll never support the charge of being an entrepreneur. On the other hand, I wouldn’t exchange my job as an entrepreneur for a « boring corporate job » (I know, it’s kind of unfair: there are also great jobs in corporates!). Enjoying your job 24/7 has ways more value than being bored in a regular 9-5 job. Entrepreneurs have the risk of « burn out », when many corporate people fear the « bore out …
Apply to Fintech Fusion: #1 Swiss fintech acceleration program!
Switzerland is very well known in the world at least for 4 things: Banks Mountains Watches Chocolate Less known for the quality of its startups, even if Switzerland is one of the most innovative country according to the Global Innovation Index (it’s probably not the right metric, but that’s another debate). And even less for fintech. Right now. Fintech is getting very hype everywhere and we feel it massively here since the beginning of the year (if you haven’t, go read The Waking Up of fintech in Switzerland). I have sometimes heard some silly statements as “Switzerland cannot compete with London, New York or Silicon Valley”. It’s wrong. If you see Switzerland in a whole as a big city (the whole population is 8 millions, a bit less than the Greater London area. And way less than New York City), …
Launching your service: think about UX !
You often hear first-time entrepreneurs with an idea that they need to find a technical co-founder, a software developer. Which is quite a tricky thing. Why ? Because everybody understands that you are looking for someone who you won’t have to pay to build your product. Why is it so difficult for business guys with an idea to find a technical co-founder? Software developers have ideas (the good ones) and they can build things on their own. Without the business guy. So, first hand, you have to convince them that your idea is better than theirs. Given they have or can get easily (at least in Switzerland) a very decent, safe salary in a bigger company… Mission : impossible ? But, to quote Che Guevara : « Be realistic, demand the impossible ! » (Che Guevara) Developers are probably even more skeptical as all the other people …
Experiencing MoneyConf
Last week, I had the chance to attend the first fintech event organized by Paddy Cosgrave (the guy behind the acclaimed WebSummit in Dublin), MoneyConf. This 2-days conference took place in Belfast T13… in an old depot close to the docks, which is now normally used as a… skatepark ! Surprising ? Yes. Especially as I’ve heard the kind of sayings that fintech is different to other startups (in term of culture). The coolest thing about this place is that MoneyConf used the skatepark elements (quarter-pipes, half-pipes, tables, etc.) to make an amazing decoration… For instance, the desks and sofas for the media corner were just placed on a double half-pipe ! It made me also remember how I was addicted to « aggressive roller » (and especially half-pipe) in my younger years 😉 ! Back to MoneyConf : more than 1,200 people came from 50 different …