Alex Stöckl is the co-founder of Founderful, one of the most active pre-seed and seed funds in Swiss tech. Together with his team, he has backed more than 65 startups and 150 founders, helping them attract over 450 million in additional funding.
In this episode, he shares his investment philosophy and explains why Switzerland has the potential to become a global leader in deep tech. We discuss ambition, venture capital, AI, robotics, and the qualities that define a great founder from day zero.
*La Savane*
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*Our Guest*
Alex Stöckl: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexstoeckl/
*Chapters*
00:00:00 Introduction and presentation of Alex Stöckl
00:03:31 Could Switzerland become a global deep tech leader?00:08:35 Risk, venture capital, and the Swiss exception
00:13:29 Do Swiss entrepreneurs lack ambition?
00:20:23 The age of engineers: ETH, EPFL, and the deep tech revolution
00:27:15 Showcasing and retaining Swiss success stories
00:35:04 Founderful and the three predictions of failure
00:39:03 Being the first to believe in a founder
00:45:16 How Founderful operates at the pre-seed stage
00:50:31 Identifying the best founders before they even have a product
00:57:24 What makes a great investor
01:03:35 Successes, failures, and lessons from the portfolio
01:10:22 AI, robotics, and the return of hardware
01:16:10 Founderful in ten years
01:18:42 What it takes to live a good life
*Partners*
This episode was produced in collaboration with Mirabaud:
🤝 https://www.mirabaud.com/
It was recorded at Omega Studios:🎙️ https://www.omegastudios.ch/
*Simba Digital*🦁
https://simba-digital.ch/