I know it’s a bit late, but I’d like to wish you all an amazing and successful year 2014! 2013 was great for me. After having spent years on the other side of startups (I was previously active as a startup mentor/coach/investor for a small technology park), I’ve started my new life as a real entrepreneur (and no more as a “wannabe entrepreneur”) over the course of Summer 2012. The least I can say is that I do not regret it! It’s time for me to make a little wrap-up of 2013. Unfortunately, I’ve been some times less active on the blogging side. Time is always getting scarcer and I had some times to delay some posts (sorry about that!). Here are some highlights of 2013 for me. DLD conference: I was – to my big surprise – invited to …
What is a Business Angel and where to find them (Part II)
Before Christmas, I’ve presented what are business angels, their motivations and how to evaluate them as an entrepreneur (give it a read if you haven’t seen it!). After better understanding this type of investors, the second step is… to find them! First, you need to realize that finding business angels is not that easy. Or at least independent business angels. However, with online tools like Linkedin, you can now find angels more easily. Why? Because people are no more shy to claim they are investing in companies. Of course, if you say openly you’re an investor, you will have more people contacting you to convince you to invest in their company. But as everything today, investing is not just about money. Entrepreneurs do want smart money: money from smart guys who can help them grow the business (or from which …
What is a Business Angel and where to find them (Part I)
Startups need money. Except if you can be your own investor for the first phase (I don’t know many such entrepreneurs in Switzerland – but that will come with future exits) in a significant way, you’ll probably need an external financial kick to get out of the ground. I’ve recently written on the first sources of financing for a startup (Why taking money from your family and friends is a bad idea) and I’ll present here another segment of investors active in the startup world: business angel (or also called angel investor or simply angel). But what is a business angel? The term is often over used or over dreamt. An angel is a wealthy individual investing in innovative companies (often tech companies) with an exponential growth potential. In comparison to institutional investors, angel invest their own money in startups that they have …
A great news for Swiss startup scene!
It was disclosed yesterday morning. Jilion, the company behind the amazing, customizable HTML5 video-player SublimeVideo, has been bought by video platform giant DailyMotion. The amount of the transaction has not yet been disclosed and seems to be both an acquisition of technology and talents. You can find more about the announcement here. The core team behind Lausanne-based startup Jilion started to work together long ago, in 2007. The initial project was something extremely different (and in another industry). The company pivoted in 2009, after spending some spare-time (understand: between 22:00 and 01:00) to build a video-player in the nascent HTML5 technology. They’ve quickly understood they had something valuable in their hands… and a single tweet to announce their release made a lot of buzz on the global innovation/startup scene. SublimeVideo started “as an accident”… amazing, no? I know the founders (Mehdi …
Fostering Swiss startup scene: for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs!
Switzerland is not poor in supporting agencies to help young entrepreneurs and foster innovation. There are many initiatives on a federal (like CTI, the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation) and regional level (launched by technology parks, cities or cantons). The major problem (if any), is that all of these programs are often managed and powered by non-entrepreneurs. Of course, you don’t need to be entrepreneur to be smart. But once you have a bit of startup experience, you quickly recognize the guys who give you standard and general advices. Why entrepreneurs don’t do something? First of all, because entrepreneurs have their own startup to care about. Secondly, because there are really few (web) entrepreneurs based in Switzerland who made a big enough exit to think about giving back (that is, helping the next generation of entrepreneurs). But things are …
Why taking money from your family or your friends is a bad idea
A lot of people have ideas to do a startup. 99% of people stay wannabe entrepreneurs and never make the step to dive into real startup’s life. It’s quite understandable, as starting up requires some sacrifices, both financially and on your free time (what is this, again?). Recurring revenues (your salary) are something you just can dream about after starting. And you basically have almost no more free time. I’m not saying you’re constantly ON, but you’re never completely OFF (the best ideas come when you’re doing something else, like having a shower!). If you want to launch a tech startup company, you need money. Everyone telling you the contrary is a liar (or simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about)! The first financial investment in your company is almost always coming from your own pockets, and that’s perfectly right. …
My meeting with one of the smartest startup actor in the world: Mark Suster
End of October, I had the chance to participate to the Dublin Web Summit. The event has grown up to reach around 10’000 attendees, and yes, it was extremely crowded and it was tough to get a seat at least to see the talks of the prominent speakers. And being online was just impossible for most people, and that’s really a pity (a Web Summit without… web connexion! But that’s common to almost every big conference!). Before my trip, I was a bit doubtful about the possibility to talk to the speakers right after their presence on stage, as so many people attended the event. But my doubt disappeared quickly. It’s just a matter of tactic! I made the trip to Dublin especially to have the chance of seeing Mark Suster live. And hopefully meet and greet him! Mark is a …
What are you doing early February? Register to Lift Conference now and save 20%!
We are 3 months away from the famous biggest innovation conference in Switzerland: Lift Conference. Lift will happen early February 2014 (5-7th) in Geneva. The conference keeps the same format: workshops, Venture Night (startup pitch session), inspiring talks from top speakers (on the future of work, the sharing economy, managing innovation cycles, markets becoming conversations, and so on…). Discover the schedule here! As every year, Lift is a great place to network with entrepreneurs, creative people and top influencers from around the world. I have a special discount for you (but only valid one week from now: so, until 18th of November, at 08:30 am (CET)): 20% discount on the 3-day pass (savings CHF 195.-)! How to get your pass? Register here and use the following discount code: a_STARTUPOLIC_20poff Enjoy Lift Conference!