Switzerland is a beautiful country to work and to live. Low unemployment rate and good salaries, a very stable politic system, data privacy, beautiful landscapes, a precise and working transportation system, a place in Central Europe and very good international flights connections. Swiss people are also among the happiest people in the world (see here). Switzerland is even one of the most innovative countries in the world (mostly due to all patents submitted by pharmaceutical giants). But who speaks about Switzerland as a Startup Hub when thinking about digital? Nobody… at least on an international level. Even though the local startup scene is very lively and spread across the whole country (compared to other countries in Europe, you can find startups almost everywhere in Switzerland!). If the “events” metric is a valid measure, then Switzerland has no problem on the …
Happy Easter Fintech Egg Hunt!
It’s almost already Easter… and a long weekend to relax and maybe do some Easter Egg Hunts? Next Thursday, a big fintech event is happening in Zürich: The Fintech 2016 Conference. A wide panel of fintech experts, financial executives and investors will present and debate about innovation in the financial industry. From banking innovation to blockchain, from learnings out of the Silicon Valley to a debate on how to accelerate innovation, there will be a lot of knowledge to collect during this day. You can buy your ticket here (yes, it’s quite expensive…). Strangely, the conference will be a mix between English and German. My 2 cents: why cannot we just do tech conferences in English in Switzerland? Even if it’s not a problem for me (I speak German), I think it’s a missed opportunity to attract more people from …
Does Switzerland Now Have Its Startup Event?
We often hear that Switzerland lacks of a big startup event. Dublin had one with Web Summit (now moving to Lisbon), Paris had one with LeWeb (now kind of “replaced” by the The Rude Baguette events or the new Viva Technology event), Vienna has Pioneers, Münich has DLD Conference, Amsterdam has The Next Web, Barcelona has many startup events around the Mobile World Congress, Berlin and London have PLENTY (NOAH, etc.). And how about Switzerland? It is not the pompously named WorldWebSummit which can fill the gap. START Summit (happening on Friday in St. Gallen), alongside with the Swiss Startup Day and Startupfair are the biggest startup events in Switzerland. The three of them have different models and they do their best to attract renowned startup people from across the world (for Start Summit, leveraging the HSG St-Gallen alumnis network). …
SICTIC Investor Day Lausanne is back (without me!)
The next SICTIC Investor Day Lausanne will happen in Lausanne on April 25th, at EPFL. 8 selected technology-driven startups (the web, mobile, software, hardware) will have the opportunity to do an elevator pitch (one slide, 90 seconds) to an interesting audience comprised of business angels, professional investors and startup enthusiasts. The public will then select 4 startups based on their short pitch. The finalists will then have 7 minutes (and 5 minutes Q&A) to present their startup in more details. A jury comprised of entrepreneurs and investors (Alexandre Peyraud, Thomas Dübendorfer, Bolko Hohaus, Julien Guex) will elect the winner of the competition, who will get some fame (always good to win a competition and get some press) and hopefully some investors! Finally, startups and investors will gather around a cocktail in a relaxed atmosphere. Even for startups who don’t win: it’s …
Startup Weekend Biel/Bienne is back on March 18th!
This year again, Startup Weekend is coming back to Biel/Bienne, the biggest bilingual city of Switzerland. And again, I’m deeply involved in the organisation, as Biel/Bienne is kind of my home city. You may have heard that Startup Weekend Lausanne just happened, on EPFL campus. Startup Weekend Biel/Bienne is different. Less students, more people active as manager, developers, business men, designers… and a unique atmosphere just in regards of the language spoken! As a coach, I’ve been interacting with a team first in German, then in English to finally speak French. And vice-versa. Everyone kind of spoke its own language and does its best to understand the other ones. And it works! But if you’re new here, you may think: What is Startup Weekend? Startup Weekend is a 54-hour event for developers, designers and entrepreneurs to hack on their latest …
GO WEST! 7 days to apply to Venture Leaders NYC
End of February rhymes, since already 15 years, with time to apply to the Venture Leaders program! If you’re (relatively) new on the startup scene, you may wonder what it means: simply said, you have the opportunity to get selected in the Swiss Startup National Team of 2016! I had the chance to participate in 2014 with my company (you can discover my posts about the 2014 and 2015 teams) and I can only hugely recommend it to every entrepreneur. More than a “simple” business development program, it’s also a personal development trip where you’ll learn a lot, which will help you to improve as an entrepreneur. For your current venture or the following ones (an entrepreneur never stops, right ;-)?). In 2014, we went first 8 days to Boston, followed by 2 days in New York. Since this year, …
Time to Lift!
In less than a week, the famous Lift Conference is taking place again in Geneva. For thos who haven’t heard from it so far… that probably means that: you’re new on the startup scene (great, welcome!) you’re living on another planet (or at least, not in Switzerland ;-)…) Lift Conference is a great conference to get inspiration for top innovators from around the world, like Brian Solis. This year, there will be talks about: Blockchain technology Customer Experience Artificial Intelligence among other ones… There will also be workshops and many cool experiences, where you can test innovations… and get excited about the potential of technology! There will also be a “Lift Prototyping Lab”, where participants will go from problem to prototype in just 3 days… something that I love, and that we also know how to do it my own …
startupolic.com turned 4… today!
First of all, I wanted to wish you a Happy New Year (I think we can still say it until mid-January)! Hopefully, the Christmas break was the opportunity to relax (aka SLEEP!), spend time with family & friends and refill the batteries! Today is a very special day for me… Exactly 4 years ago, I wrote my first ever blog post. My initial idea was just to share knowledge and insights I was collecting in my startup journey. And get to know new people, connect them and bring my little contribution to the development of the Swiss startup scene. I committed to blog at least once a week (I know: I was less regular these past few months ;-)!) and tried to go the lean way: Find a name that express my blog and myself (not simply my name!): startupolic …