Every Spring time, venturelab and Swissnex are announcing their selection of 20 entrepreneurs who will represent Switzerland in Boston and New York in June. The selection was based both on the quality of the project and its business potential and on the personality of the entrepreneur. The “Swiss startup national team 2014” will have a first appearance on April 16th at Swiss Institute of Technology (aka EPFL) in Lausanne at venture ideas, where entrepreneurs Mehdi Aminian and Stephan Würmlin will share some insights of their successful startup journey. The 20 Venture Leaders will then fly for a 10-days trip in Boston and New York, where they’ll get coaching from renowned entrepreneurs/mentors, visit some successful US companies and finally meet investors and fellow US startup entrepreneurs. Emphasis will be put on accelerating the business development of selected startups (put a first step on …
Stand up for one of the smartest startup guy in Switzerland: Beat Schillig!
On March 9th, an article was published on Zürich-based Sonntagszeitung, surprisingly attacking the founder and CEO of famous Institut für Jungunternehmen (you can find the whole story here – in German). IFJ is a company that Beat founded 13 years ago and which won the public tender in 2004 to launch the federal entrepreneur education program venturelab (were organizing 4 different education workshops, but didn’t participate to the last tender, as described here). Beat is a successful entrepreneur (he was active in the company jobs.ch, which was sold for a massive price of CHF 390M back in the early 2000’s). What are the criticisms against Beat Schillig? Alongside his job of promoting startups and educating entrepreneurs, he’s also a business angel and investing in startups. What a shame! He’s pointed to have insider knowledge. Insider knowledge? Yes, Beat knows a lot of entrepreneurs. …
10 days left before START Summit!
End of next week on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th, the student association START from University of St. Gallen is organizing a 2-days startup conference. More than 400 students, founders and investors from 18 countries will gather to listen to big names of the tech scene like Klaus Hommels or Morten Lund. Workshops, speed-pitching and speed-dating (young graduates meeting potential employers among startups), a lot of networking breaks, a Capital On Stage session and… parties (of course!) will be available. Last year was a big success… this year looks promising too! So if you’d like to have a taste of what startups are, want to meet some prominent investors coming in Switzerland or simply want to enjoy the parties, you should go! You can discover the full program here and book your ticket here!
Let’s save the Erasmus exchange program!
You’ve probably heard about the voting in Switzerland on February 9th (otherwise, read my post here). One of the first negative effect of this decision taken by a tiny majority of Swiss citizen is the freezing by European Union of the Erasmus student exchange program. It’s a really bad news for Swiss students. I was an Erasmus student in 2004-2005, and I can only give evidence of the benefit of such programs that allow Swiss students go abroad for one or two semester to continue or terminate their studies. It gives an affordable access to top universities and courses not available in Switzerland, helps to learn and practice a language as well as offering an international perspective. For most students, it’s a unique way of opening their views to the world and to Switzerland, by experiencing something different. IMHO, it can …
Switzerland needs a startup visa. NOW!
On 9th of February, Swiss citizens had a voting on a delicate topic: the restriction of immigration in Switzerland. Around 56% of people have expressed their opinion and this dangerous initiative (for Swiss economy) has been finally accepted by 50.34% of people (or an advantage of around 19’000 people). Everyone has to accept it, because that’s direct democracy… People have voted with their emotions and fear of foreigners – even if Swiss citizens are not at all racist. Every urban area (where percentage of foreign population is higher) has voted against this initiative, which proves this. I’ve been hearing some breaching stories where some employers did all wrong. Probably, there are things to change to fight against that. Swiss population has expressed its choice to regulate more immigration, like many countries do (green card in the USA, Canada, Australia, etc.). …
Entrepreneurs… Beware!
As an entrepreneur, you’re experiencing a lot of cool things.. and some strange things. I’m currently raising my first financing round for my own startup, Coteries. As everything in life, what is paying is to be proactive. You are contacting investors to present them your investment opportunity. Sometimes, you have people contacting you (after a press coverage or so – yes, it happens even in Switzerland!). But I’ve also experienced some really, really strange things 2 weeks ago. I got a call from a guy desiring to invest at least CHF 500k in my startup. He was calling from Israel. Coming to Amsterdam or even Milano soon, so we could meet. OK, sounds great. But such a cold call is quite surprising! I’m a first-time entrepreneur, but I’m not naive. I’m not blinded by money. I know how it works. …
“Le miracle suisse”… or why Switzerland is out-performing its neighboring countries
Just before Christmas, French television channel France 2 published a report on why Switzerland is succeeding in the current economical uncertainty, while France cannot get out of the ground. This 93 minutes documentary is structured around 4 topics: Swiss companies perform in exporting their products and services, even with high salaries in international comparison The education system, and why young people can find a job. It makes a great job on explaining that the social elevator still work in Switzerland (you don’t need to be the “daughter/son of…” to get a good work position and responsibilities… if you work hard) The political system. And why strikes is something that we don’t understand in Switzerland. The attraction power of Switzerland for people living close to its boundaries, and why it can be sometime tense people living between both sides. The TV coverage …
Startup events you cannot miss early February
As everyone is back from vacations now, it’s time to start again with networking and startup events. In Switzerland, February typically goes with Lift Conference (and the Venture Night, gathering 8 Swiss startups). But this year, there are 2 new, startup-oriented, events happening alongside Lift Conference. You cannot afford to miss these 2 new events if you’re interested by startups. Here they are! SEEDSTARS WORLD On 4th of February, it will be the grand final of this worldwide startup competition, which took place in 20 emerging countries during 10 months. More than 1’000 selected startups (it was an invitation-only competition) applied locally. The 20 winners (one per country) will be presenting their startup and one will be awarded by a jury with an equity investment of up to CHF 500’000.-. You’ll be able to discover the mindsets of entrepreneurs from all over the …