A new opportunity to pitch your startup in Lausanne!

In Fundraising by Sébastien FluryLeave a Comment

In Switzerland, many people think you have (too) many opportunities to pitch your startup. A recurring comment I’ve been hearing for a while is that there are not enough valuable/promising startups… I can only disagree to this!

If the condition for a valuable startup is to be enrolled in CTI Startup program or beeing a spin-off from ETHZ or EPFL, yes, it’s probably right. But in Switzerland, too much emphasis is put on startups coming from academia (that could be the topic of another post!). My opinion is that you neither need to be from a technology institute nor part of the CTI Startup program to be successful, at least when you’re moving in the web and mobile space. Here, you mostly don’t need patents to protect your innovations. What make the difference for web and mobile startup is EXECUTION capability!

But back to the point… a new startup/investor event will take place on Monday 13th of May in Lausanne: ICT Investors Day. Already run successfully 8 times in Zürich (I’ve blogged about the June event last year), the pitching opportunity is different from all other ones:

  1. It is exclusively dedicated to ICT (in a large sense – electronics is OK), which means you have a qualified audience (people who understand the area).
  2. Participation is free of charge for startups (in comparison with some angels clubs – which do it wrong in my opinion, but that’s again another topic).
  3. 8 startups will be selected for a 90-seconds pitch at the event. And the audience vote for the 4 they would like to see pitching longer (10 minutes). Yes, it could be frustrating for a founder, as you’re not sure to pitch your whole concept. I’ve experienced it. But anyway, it’s fun to try. Not getting enough votes doesn’t mean your company is not interesting, but only that the audience desires to see other startups.

Around 50 people are expected to the first ICT Investors Day of Western Switzerland, kindly hosted by one of the most active ICT investor of the region: Debiopharm Group. Yes, it looks strange that a pharmaceutical company invests in ICT startups, even not related to health care! Privately owned, Debiopharm has a strong commitment to support innovative entrepreneurs, and doesn’t work as a traditional VC. The ideal investor?

So, entrepreneurs: what are you waiting for? Fill the simple registration form before 21st 25th of April… and see you there!

And investors: register as soon as possible to experience this new kind of event! I’m pretty sure they will be amazing startups…