Swisspreneur Show

Timestamps:

1:03 - Going to Stanford after EPFL

7:41 - The hardware/software combination

17:50 - Meeting Bill Gates

21:13 - Saying no to Apple

55:18 - 6 grandchildren and 1 boat

About Daniel Borel

Daniel Borel is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Logitech, the world's largest manufacturer of computer peripherals — with headquarters in Switzerland! After studying Physics at EPFL, Daniel went on to do his masters at Stanford.

In the 70's, Stanford was on fire. The Apple computer had just been created, as had Bill Gates' Microsoft, and the first microprocessors, operating systems and programming languages were just coming up. It felt like a technological revolution was imminent, and Daniel wanted to be a part of it. Together with fellow Stanford student Pierluigi, Daniel developed a word processing system, and their company address was "165 university avenue" — famously shared by Google and Paypal. Unfortunately, this project didn't take off, and Daniel ended up moving back to Switzerland to accommodate his wife's wish of setting up her own veterinary practice (which was not possible in the US since they did not recognize her diploma as valid).

Then in 1981, at his father-in-law's farm in the canton of Vaud, Daniel founded Logitech together with co-founders Pierluigi and Giacomo. Their product was a mix of hardware and software, which is a notoriously difficult thing to pull off, but Daniel believes that that's where you can really make a difference, and that this is what ensured their survival in an extremely competitive world.

How competitive, you may ask? Well, after meeting Bill Gates at a beach party in 1982, Daniel began talks with Microsoft — but they soon realized that the tips they were giving Microsoft on why not to buy from Logitech's japanese competitor, Alps, were actually being passed on to Alps. This made Daniel give up on Microsoft altogether.

With the rise of competition between computer manufacturers in the early 90s, prices went down dramatically, and Logitech had to move its manufacturing to China in order to produce cheaper and be able to compete.

In 1998 he decided to step down as CEO: after a crazy, decades-long ride, it was time for a rest. Nowadays, he keeps himself busy with his many grandchildren, his boat, and his philanthropic endeavors: Swiss-up, a foundation dedicated to fostering excellence in Swiss education, and Defitech, which manufactures computer technology for people with disabilities.

Memorable Quotes:

"Try and fail, and never fail to try, but don't put all your eggs in the same basket."

"Success is never final."

"By having a passion, you avoid having a job."

If you would like to listen to more conversations with Swiss people in America, check out our episode with Alex Fries.

Don't forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there's no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!

08:12 – 2. Säule: das Wichtigste zum BVG

10:10 – UVG Pflicht

13:32 – empfehlenswerte Versicherungen

21:48 – Cyberversicherung

32:18 – Beratung und Orientierung im Versicherungsdschungel

Über Gianluca Lombardi & Andreas Stöckli:

Andreas und Gianluca sind beide bei Helvetia tätig. Andreas ist Marktverantwortlicher für Unternehmen in der Generalagentur in Aarau. Dabei hat er mit Firmen-, wie auch mit Privatkunden engen Kontakt. Gianluca ist als Versicherungs- und Vorsorgeberater in der Generalagentur in Baden aktiv. Er durfte bereits seine Lehre bei Helvetia absolvieren und konnte sich danach seinen Weg in den Aussendienst schrittweise erarbeiten.

Memorable Quotes:

"Bleibt auf eurem Weg, bleibt fokussiert."

"Redet aktiv über Fehler, weil das Veränderungspotenziel bei Fehlern sehr gross ist."

"Mut ist sehr wichtig. Seid mutig, neue Dinge auszuprobieren."

Folge uns auf Twitter, Instagram, Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.

This episode was produced in co-operation with Startup Days. Visit their website here: https://www.startupdays.ch/

Timestamps:

4:12 - Having the courage to be yourself

17:35 - The beginning of Powercoders

27:59 - The power of telling stories

31:27 - Cultural shock in Switzerland

36:34 - A purpose-driven organization

About Bettina & Mannar

Bettina Hirsig is the co-founder and lead at Powercoders, a coding academy for refugees. She has a background in marketing and business administration. Mannar Hielal is a junior software engineer at Liip, a Bernese digital agency. Originally from Aleppo, Syria, Mannar fled her war-torn country for Turkey, and then eventually Switzerland, where she would join Powercoders.

Just after the birth of their second child, Bettina's husband Chris was invited to the Global Entrepreneur Summit in San Francisco. There he met two female entrepreneurs: one who had founded a coding academy for women, and one who'd founded a catering company which hired exclusively refugees. It was then that the Powercoders idea was first born.

In the beginning, Powercoders was funded partially by the Switzerland's state department for migration, and partially by a number of foundations. Nowadays, it is funded by the canton and by the companies to which Powercoders provides employees — the Powercoders graduates.

One such graduate is Mannar, who back in Aleppo studied Computer Engineering and constantly went against her mother's expectations of her by working two jobs and even practising martial arts. When the Syrian war came to Aleppo, public transportation stopped working and water and electricity were cut. There was no internet, Mannar couldn't get to work and neither did she feel it was safe to call her co-workers — there was no way of knowing whose hands would pick up the phone. Aleppo was being bombarded, which forced Mannar to move to a safer neighborhood within the city (one which experienced bombardments less frequently). Though she was not afraid of death, Mannar did not want to end up a nameless corpse on the streets of Aleppo, and so she left for Turkey, which is just 45 min away.

However, she soon realized that Turkey used Syrian refugees as political pawns, and that the threat of repatriation hung above her at all times. She also was deprived of several rights in Turkey (since she did not actually receive asylum, but was only there on some sort of humanitarian stay), and could only access a bare minimum of healthcare services. She decided to leave Turkey for Switzerland. In Switzerland, Powercoders seemed like a natural first step, considering what she had studied back in Aleppo. It was during the Powercoders career day that she was introduced to Liip, her current employer.

Nowadays, Mannar dreams of perfecting her skills as a developer, bringing her mom over to Switzerland, and buying a house by the lake.

Memorable Quotes:

"Being a leader means being open to constructive criticism. You need to have a beginner's mindset every single day."

If you would like to listen to more conversations about Powercoders, check out our episode with Christian Hirsig.

Don't forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there's no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!

11:40 – Stage & Ticket size: Gründe für die Frühinvestition

17:24 – Entscheidungsprozess für oder gegen Investitionen

26:18 – Die Gunst der Investoren gewinnen

31:31 – Red flags für die Investoren

36:09 – Unterstützung der Startups nach der Investition

Über Stefano Saeger:

Nach verschiedenen Tätigkeiten im Bereich von Business Development (Fanpictor AG) und als Projektmitarbeiter im Lehrstuhl für Controlling und Performance Management absolvierte Stefano ein 19-monatiges Trainee Programm bei der ABB in Zürich und San José USA. Als ABB Trainee kam Stefano sehr schnell mit allen Themen der Startup Welt in Berührung und fand seine Begeisterung dafür. Seit Oktober 2019 ist er als Investment Manager im Venture Fund von Helvetia tätig und mag den grossen Perspektivenwechsel, welcher durch den Mix von Makro- und Mikroebene entsteht.

"Was ich einfach unfassbar toll finde, ist, mit viel Enthusiasmus die Leute da dran sind."

"Jeder, der daran arbeitet macht es gerne und macht es, weil er überzeugt davon ist, was er macht."

"Ein bisschen Skepsis ist sinnvoll, weil sie uns auch weiterbringen kann, in allem was wir tun."

Folge uns auf Twitter, Instagram, Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.

Timestamps: 

1:55 - Being a medtech entrepreneur 

9:57 - Managing 2 businesses and 3 kids 

17:05 - Setting company and family goals 

29:17 - Why not start a company together 

36:19 - The right to disconnect 

About Anne & Tobias Richter 

Anne Richter is the founder and CEO of Knecker, a startup which produces vegan protein-rich snacks. She got her MA in Economical Engineering from the Technische Universität Berlin and afterwards worked for a series of energy companies, before starting her own venture in 2020. Tobias Richter is the founder, former CEO and current Chairman of TRI Dental Implants, a Swiss emerging leader in innovative modern implant dentistry. He got is BA in International Business Studies from the International School of Management (Germany). 

In 2011, after a decade of working in a corporate environment, Tobias took the leap and founded his own business. Tobias chose medtech entrepreneurship to have the best of both worlds: though he grew up in a family of doctors, he felt studying medicine would be too limiting, so he studied business instead and later focused on the medtech industry, specifically dental work — which, being very digital, benefits a lot from integrating AI components. 

Together Tobias and Anne have 3 children. Life with 2 startups and 3 kids can often get very hectic, so the couple has developed a system: 

- They have an Au Pair who lives with them, which really helps;

- They keep a joint timetable, to always know what the other will be doing. This is especially important for events happening before 9am or after 6:30pm, when the kids are at home; 

- They organize two weekly "family meetings": one with the kids, the other one without them. The meeting with the kids, called Basilikum, is a half-an-hour get-together where the family discusses the previous week ("What was good?" "What was bad?") and plans for the week ahead ("What are your expectations regarding next week?"). Often the deal is sweetened with some sweets or chips for the kids, facilitating their cooperation. 

Tobias and Anne also utilize a tool called The Wheel Of Life, which allows you to reflect on the previous year and plan for the year ahead by having you evaluate your life according to 8 different aspects: health, finance, career, family, personal development, spirituality, your romantic relationship, and social life. The results are shown on a "spiderweb" type of graph, which easily allows you to spot weaknesses. For instance, when their kids were younger, Anne and Tobias tended to neglect their romantic relationship, so they decided to institute a weekly lunch just for the two of them: the "Love Lunch." By constantly reflecting and thinking ahead, the couple is able to remain focused on what matters most to them. 

Memorable Quotes:

"I wanted to be in control of my own destiny, so I became an entrepreneur." 

If you would like to listen to more conversations about entrepreneurial couples, check out our second episode with Dorina Thiess. 

Don't forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there's no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!

Timestamps:

1:17 - Warum Mitarbeiterbeteiligungen?

Über Adrian Tüscher und Sarah Gassmann:

Adrian Tüscher ist der Leiter des Bereichs HR Legal Services. Er berät nationale und internationale Kunden im Arbeitsrecht und ist spezialisiert auf Immigrations-, Sozialversicherungs- und Steuerfragen im Zusammenhang mit internationalen Entsendungen, Personalleasing und Mitarbeiterbeteiligungsprogrammen. Adrian verfügt über umfassende Erfahrung im grenzüberschreitenden Arbeitsrecht, in der Gestaltung und Umsetzung von Mobilitäts-Compliance-Prozessen sowie von Vergütungs- und Beteiligungsplänen.

Sarah Gassmann ist diplomierte Steuerexpertin und Manager bei KPMG in Zug. Sie verfügt über umfassende Erfahrung bei der Umsetzung von aktienbasierten Vergütungsplänen für börsenkotierte und nicht börsenkotierte Unternehmen. Darüber hinaus berät sie zu nationalen und internationalen Aspekten der Sozialversicherungen. Sarah verfügt über ein langjähriges und ausgezeichnetes Netzwerk zu den Steuerbehörden in der Zentralschweiz.

Wann sollte ich über ein Mitarbeiterbeteiligungsprogramm nachdenken? Welche rechtlichen Aspekte gilt es bei der Umsetzung zu beachten? Und wie viele Anteile sollte ich für meine Mitarbeitenden reservieren? Diesen und weiteren Fragen gehen wir mit den Experten Sarah Gassmann und Adrian Tüscher von KPMG nach.

Nach dieser Episode weisst du, welche Aspekte du bei der Umsetzung eines Mitarbeiterbeteiligungsprogramms unbedingt beachten solltest, wo du Gestaltungsspielraum hast und, was du machen kannst, wenn die Dinge nicht nach Plan laufen.

Memorable Quotes:

"Schweizer sind zwar lieb miteinander, aber auch ein wenig missgünstig. Daher haben sie oft das Gefühl sie bekommen weniger als die Anderen."

Folge uns auf Twitter, Instagram, Facebook und Linkedin um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben. Wir posten regelmässig über Live Shows, Give-Aways und unsere Founders Dinner Events.

Timestamps:

4:27 - The early days of Knecker

13:00 - The Knecker recipe

20:09 - The Knecker buyer persona

22:24 - Packaging

31:58 - Going for bigger retailers

About Anne Richter

Anne Richter is the founder and CEO of Knecker, a startup which produces vegan protein-rich snacks. She got her MA in Economical Engineering from the Technische Universität Berlin and afterwards worked for a series of energy companies, before starting her own venture in 2020.

Anne met her co-founder Susanne while volunteering at the local Ludothek. Since Anne had just had her third child, she was especially impressed by Susanne's success as both a mother and entrepreneur. Together they developed the idea of a vegan Kneckerbröt, for an age which requires climate-friendly snacks.

The base ingredient of Knecker is organic soy, sourced from a local family farm. The recipe then also contains sesame, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and lin seeds. It's gluten-free, and comes in three different flavours: mountain salt (geared towards sporty-people), rosemary (usually eaten as an appero), and curry and thyme (for chip lovers).

Knecker's proof of concept phase began right after lockdown, making buyers twice as enthusiastic about having the product in their stores. Knecker's buyer persona is an outdoorsy, sporty, environmentally-conscious person between the age of 20-55.

Keeping in line with the climate-friendly theme, Knecker packages are refillable and available at "unpacked shops" — meaning zero waste, package-free shops.

While Anne would love to start expanding Knecker as soon as possible, it's getting harder and harder to enter the EU market these days, so she feels she still needs more volume in Switzerland before she can finally take that challenge on.

Memorable Quotes:

"I'm alive in order to change things. I think it's part of my DNA."

"Everyone who has a company should be on Instagram."

Resources Mentioned:

Femtech Alumnae

If you would like to listen to more episodes on climate-friendly food, check out our conversation with Mark Essam. 

Don't forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there's no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!

Timestamps:

1:26 - The birth of a startup mafia

9:36 - The blue card in Germany

20:05 - Will there be a dot com bubble for AI?

33:48 - Financing an startup fund

46:49 - Launching a fund from a legal perspective

About Adrian Locher

Adrian Locher is the co-founder and former COO at the Swiss shopping platform DeinDeal, which was bought by Ringier in 2011. Adrian stayed at DeinDeal until 2015, after which he took a 1 year sabbatical to explore internet hotspots acorss the world. In 2016 he settled in Berlin, where he co-founded the Merantix venture studio.

Adrian chose Berlin as his new home due to the presence of great schools for his kids and also because he enjoys Berlin's cosmopolitanism and diversity, not only from a lifestyle point of view, but also in times of finding talent. While he finds Zurich one of the most beautiful places to live, he thinks people there are noticeably less ambitious, as is the trend in Europe overall. In order to compete with America and China, Adrian thinks Europe should start putting aside nationalistic fervor and thinking at a continent-wide scale.

Adrian chose to build a venture studio because this allows him to both be an investor and remain involved on the operating side as well. He thoroughly enjoys the "0 to 1" phase, where ideas are iterated and validated in the market, and step by step something gets built.

Merantix is an AI-focused venture studio because Adrian and his co-founder Rasmus think AI will transform our industries as radically as the internet did decades ago. AI essentially automates and optimizes complex decision making based on a lot of experience — any process which involves this will sooner or later be revolutionized by AI. When asked if AI would ever see its own bubble burst like the internet did in the early 2000s, Adrian replied that that has already happened at a more discrete level, with industries such as autonomous driving: the initial hype turned into disillusionment when our expectations for rapid progress came crashing down.

Business ideas at Merantix go through 3 stages:

- Ideation:

Here the team considers how the industry may be transformed and what role AI would play in that. If it looks like there's a strong shift ahead, the team starts evaluating different business models. Their ultimate goal is not to become an AI SaaS company, but a value chain integrator.

- Incubation:

If clients show interest, the product starts getting built. Here it should be noted that Merantix only starts hiring team members once they know exactly in which direction they want to go.

- Scaling:

Here Merantix takes a step back and starts looking for outside investors, remaining more as an active board member. However if more help is needed for things like financing rounds, team building efforts or pivoting, Merantix gets its hands dirty again.

Memorable quotes:

"Think about how the internet has changed a great number of industries. That's how much AI is gonna change them, as well."

If you'd like to listen to more episodes on venture builders, check out our conversation with Nicolas Bürer.

Don't forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there's no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!

Timestamps:

10:44 - Wefox's boring origin story

28:32 - Distinguishing between good and bad risks

36:20 - Not having a full calendar

37:22 - Working through stress with a coach

42:53 - Raising $650m in 4 years

About Julian Teicke

Julian Teicke is the founder and CEO at wefox, Europe's largest digital insurer. Having studied Business Administration at the University of St Gallen, Julian joined Groupon in 2009 as an intern, only to be handed much more responsibility than originally predicted, due to his boss having had a burnout.

In 2010 he co-founded DeinDeal, and became its COO. After having left the company in 2015, he started wefox.

When he was originally approached by his would-be co-founder with the idea for wefox, Julian rejected it outright, because his own father was in the insurance business and he did not wish to follow in his father's footsteps. Eventually, though, he was won over by the idea's potential and decided to give it a fair shot.

The biggest insurance companies, despite their size, are nowhere near as big as the tech giants — their growth is too slow. Wefox wanted to become the exception to the rule and grow 100% per year. Here are some of the challenges they've faced:

- Margins in the insurance business are typically extremely low. This wasn't a problem in the past, because insurance companies had a second income stream: capital returns. Meaning, they invested the money they got from customers into capital markets and made capital returns. But in the 0 interest environment we're currently in, there are no more capital returns, so the focus needs to be on risk returns. This demands 3 things: using tech and data to reduce the loss ratio (= claims payout), decreasing administrative costs, and boosting sales.

- Capital efficiency: Julian's time at wefox has made him aware of the need for capital light models, where all the money they have is put to use in innovation and growth.

- Innovation: Big insurance companies have always been in a catch 22 situation. Over decades they attracted the most risk averse investors that request yearly dividends, meaning the money spent on these dividends did not get invested into innovation. But if they stop paying dividends, investors drop out. This is a complicated problem to puzzle out.

In just over 4 years, wefox's success won them $650m in a series C and a $3bn valuation. According to Julian, they'll be using the money to fuel further international expansion, and to transform their insurance products from reactive to proactive, in order to make a real impact in harm-prevention.

Memorable Quotes:

"The ultimate success for any startup is motivating people to do it themselves."

Resources Mentioned:

Reinventing Organizations, Frederic Laloux

If you would like to listen to another episode with a DeinDeal co-founder, check out our episode with Adrian Locher.

Don't forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there's no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!

Timestamps:

0:55 - Do Europeans take way too long to launch?

7:00 - Always start from a problem

12:08 - What changes from MVP to the growth stage?

23:18 - The constant cycle of product development

30:59 - What's nearshoring?

About Laurent Decrue

Laurent Decrue is the co-founder of the moving company MOVU and the software company Holycode, and is currently also the CEO at Bexio. At Holycode, Laurent turns people's product dreams into reality, so there's no process he knows more intimately than product development. The company headquarters are in Serbia — this is called nearshoring: outsourcing your operations to another country, but one that is nearby and usually even in the same time-zone.

Is there a set framework for product development?

No: it depends on the stage. But if there's something Laurent can recommend, it's that before you start developing, you should create a business canvas. Think about what a prototype could look like, especially a UX prototype that is clickable. Next you should figure out the smallest possible version of it  — something that can be cooked up in 3 weeks. Even if it works, you'll inevitably end up throwing it away because you need to build a bigger version, but having built it in the first place allows you to decide whether a bigger version is worth it.

Similarly, it's best not to invest in a crazily complex back-end architecture right away. Build something that works and have your customers test it and give you feedback — even if they do so in a simple spreadsheet.

Taking inspiration from The Lean Startup, Laurent talked about the 2 hypothesis you need to prove:

- Value hypothesis: are people willing to spend money/time interacting with your tool?

- Growth hypothesis: is it scalable? It's possible that a very good product is not actually scalable. At this stage,  marketing, sales and process optimization become cruzial.

The age-old debate: Scrum or Kanban?

Laurent recommends Kanban for really creative solutions. This tool is all about making sure you don't have more than one or two tasks in each phase of the process, and it also really helps you keep focus.

On the other hand, Laurent sees the utility of Scrum for good quality, fast results.

Memorable Quotes: 

"Don't invest in a crazily complex backend architecture before you've actually verified that this is the right architecture to build."

If you'd like to listen to our previous episode with Laurent, click here.

Don't forget to give us a follow on our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin accounts, so you can always stay up to date with our latest initiatives. That way, there's no excuse for missing out on live shows, weekly give-aways or founders dinners!