If you’re living in Switzerland, you’ve probably heard or read that citizens will have to say yes or no to 32 new planes, named « Gripen ». These flights will cost around CHF 3.2bn and around CHF 200M per year during 30 years (for maintenance, etc.). These engines will be built by a Swedish company, but there is no such plane currently flying (but that’s another story). For more than 6 months, there is a big debate around this choice (not the right one, etc., etc.) and every Swiss citizen over 18 years can have its own expert judgement (that’s the magic of direct democracy we live in (s)Witzerland: everyone can be a military expert!). And it’s funny to see how some recent facts come with the right timing: 3 months ago, a flight was rerouted by a hijacker and landed in …
“Look Up” – A spoken word film for an online generation.
You may already have watched this amazing video by Gary Turk, a London-based writer and director (it’s buzzing around the web, with more than 20 millions views in less than 2 weeks). Gary Turk made a great job explaining with some irony who we currently live. Hyper connected guys. We live in a social world. But are social networks that social (in the true sense)? We are living in this era. Many of us have already had this kind of reflexion, but Gary expresses it as it really is. Simple, right and powerful words to explain the loneliness of the current hyper-connected world. Take 5 minutes and watch it (and read the poem also below). It will change your behavior, or at least make you thinking about it. Use technology, use it as often as needed, but never forget that nothing …
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 …
Diving into entrepreneurship after a Startup Weekend: meet Anne-Solène Beaujouan!
(Guest post) Around one year ago, I’ve grabbed a coffee with an energetic young girl fully motivated after Startup Weekend Fribourg. Anne-Solène Beaujouan explained me what she was trying to build, that she found amazing people to work with her on a startup project. I’ve given her “my 2 cents feedback”, and some advices on what to be careful of… I have to admit that I was impressed by her desire and energy to launch her startup. Anne-Solène is only 20 (!) and full of projects. That’s promising for the Swiss startup ecosystem to have such young people starting projects! Discover her experience from participating in Startup Weekend to launch her project to what she’s doing now! One year ago I was thinking about creating a co-founding platform. I’ve got this idea because I was struggling to actually find co-founders for my …
Let’s conquer China!
If you’re a Switzerland-based entrepreneur, you’ve probably heard about the “Venture Leaders” program. It’s a program where 20 entrepreneurs (on more than a hundred applicants) get selected for a 10-days business development trip in the USA (Boston and New-York), each year in June. USA seems obvious for Swiss tech entrepreneurs as a key market for their international expansion. But more and more, China is also a place to go, if not THE place to go! This country has experienced such a massive economic development (ask any luxury Swiss watchmaker how important is this country for their brand!) and even if the growth has been slowing down these last years (7.8% in 2012, after having double digits growth rate until 2007), there are a lot of opportunities to seize. China has created its own internet giants, as for instance Alibaba (“the store …
Accelerate your startup with… Disney!
Some weeks ago, I attended an interesting information event in London. The famous film studio company Disney partnered with the also famous accelerator TechStars to launch a dedicated Disneyaccelerator program . Goal of the initiative is to gather 10 startups during 15 weeks and let them access to the whole creative expertise and resources (you can use legally all the wide amount of content under copyright) of The Walt Disney Company. And an impressive number of mentors from the company. Alongside the “normal” (but not less amazing) mentors from Techstars, like Brad Feld or Mark Suster, just to name a few… Only that! The deal is the following, if you’re among the 10 lucky winners: you get $120k investments (standard Techstars’ deal: $20k for 6% equity, $100k as a convertible loan); you get access to a wide range of mentors and …
Smooth scaling
(Guest post by Shane Russo) Starting and running a business is a great adventure; however, in order to succeed in the massive sea of competition, a business must be able to adapt to the constantly changing tides, particularly with scalability. If a business is unable to start strong, it is likely that they’ll run into some rough waters as they begin to expand. As the market changes and evolves, so must a business. According to this infographic created by SmartTollFreeNumber.com, startups who are willing to redesign are often able to raise 250% more money, as well as see a 360% increase in user growth. Not only that, but these more flexible startups are also 52% less likely to scale prematurely. With these numbers in mind, it would appear that scalability is the essential cornerstone of your startup. With so many …
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 …