Swisspreneur Show
The Swisspreneur Show is a podcast series of in-depth, candid conversations with some of Switzerland’s most successful founders, business leaders and innovators. By getting to the heart of these leaders’ stories - their successes, their failures, their must-have advice and greatest regrets - we hope to both inspire and guide the next generation of Swiss entrepreneurs. Each episode deconstructs and showcases one person’s personal and professional background and provides advice and recommendations for existing and aspiring entrepreneurs in Switzerland.
Episodes
Timestamps:
2:30 - What makes a startup attractive to VCs?
7:44 - Why VC money isn’t for everyone
16:40 - What if the VC tells you no?
21:00 - What is “vibe coding”?
24:25 - When VCs decide to invest
This episode was originally a live conversation which took place at startup days 2025, in Bern. Check out startup days to learn about next year's event!
Click here to order your copy of “Swiss Startups” today.
About Ant...
Timestamps:
8:30 - The problem in VA that CREAL is tackling
15:10 - VA as the future
34:45 - What’s next for CREAL after closing another funding round
46:45 - Why don't we see more Swiss startups becoming global category leaders?
This episode was co-produced by SICTIC, the leading angel investor network in Switzerland.
Click here to order your copy of “Swiss Startups” today.
Episode Summary:
Bolko Hohaus is the Founder & CE...
Timestamps
3:52 - Past failures that paved the way for success
9:12 - Shifting from finance, to vocation training, to retrofitting luminaries
13:57 How Lumvin found a swiss-based cheaper, faster, and sustainable way to upgrade luminaries
32:28 Tips for driving sales in Switzerland
37:14 - Winning the Swiss Economic Award
This episode was co-produced with SEF.Growth, the Swiss Economic Forum's Growth initiative to support Swiss s...
Timestamps:
2:50 - Building a cloud-native API-first product
5:28 - How will AI change banking?
12:14 - The big regulatory beast
25:24 - Amnis’ growth challenges
This episode was sponsored by infinity.swiss, Switzerland’s most advanced AI accounting tool. Save 25% by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout.
Click here to order your copy of “Swiss Startups” today.
About Michael Wüst:
Michael Wüst is the founder and CEO o...
Timestamps:
5:00 – How much should you raise in a Series A?
12:39 – Should you get existing investors to invest again?
19:12 – How to approach investors for a Series A
30:00 – How to mitigate risk for your investors
35:09 – What if you just bootstrapped?
This episode was originally a live webinar co-hosted with Holycode, a software development partner that's helped more than 140 startups scale by providing customized products and...
Timestamps:
4:16 - When does a startup become a scaleup?
18:04 - Prioritizing which issue to tackle next
25:06 - Why properti only has Swiss investors
28:40 - Challenges in scaling up in Switzerland vs Internationally
31:34 - How Levent leverages his advisory board
39:00 - Key advice for early founders
Click here to purchase our book, “Swiss Startups”.
About Levent Künzi:
Levent Künzi is the Co-Founder and CEO of ...
Timestamps:
6:32 - How can lawyers help entrepreneurs?
13:55 - The cost of legal services: hourly rates vs. success fees
23:40 - Essential contracts for startups: what founders must know
40:10 - Understanding term sheets and key negotiations
50:56 - Personal liability and risk management
This episode was co-produced by EO Zürich. Check out their upcoming event, Entrepreneurs Summit 2025.
Subscribe to the Swisspreneur Newsletter to...
Timestamps:
5:11 - Hire your first 15-25 employees super carefully
10:35 - Incentives and ownership in company culture
15:28 - What can Switzerland learn from the US?
Click here to order your copy of “Swiss Startups” today.
About Victoria Ransom:
Victoria Ransom is the co-founder of Wildfire, a social marketing software-as-a-service company which was acquired by Google, and of Prisma, a global virtual school (grades 4-...
Timestamps:
4:26 - Should Swiss VCs raise money from pension funds?
11:38 - Why Swiss pension funds invest so little in VC
20:45 - Are there regulatory barriers to investing pension fund money?
41:00 - DeepTechNation’s role in connecting money with talent
43:33 - Should private citizens have a say in where pension funds go?
This episode was co-produced with the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation.
Click here to order yo...
Timestamps:
3:30 - Teaching a made-up course on London Business School
13:29 - Should we be wary of AI?
16:00 - It’s never been easier to hack software
27:38 - Gandalf came out of a hackathon
38:38 - Differences between the US and Switzerland
This episode was sponsored by infinity.swiss, Switzerland’s most advanced AI accounting tool. Save 25% by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout.
Click here to order your copy of “Swiss Sta...
Timestamps:
05:58 - From tennis courts to security
11:43 - Getting the team onboard with a major pivot
19:40 - Staying focused vs staying flexible
27:57 - What are the biggest pivoting mistakes startups keep making?
This episode was co-produced with Innovaud, the innovation and investment promotion agency for the canton of Vaud.
This episode was sponsored by Relai. Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the Relai ...
Timestamps:
02:24 – Führen wie ein Löwe
06:31 – Warum Sales Chefsache ist
07:31 – Das globale Startup-Ökosystem: USA vs. Europa
10:16 – Erfolgreiche Sales-Strategien strukturieren
21:29 – Rückschläge meistern und Resilienz aufbauen
This episode was sponsored by Relai. Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the Relai app today, and profit from 10% less fees by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout.
(Disclaimer: Relai servi...
Timestamps:
2:48 - Why ETH generates so many startups
7:23 - From research to commercialization
14:00 - Does ETH invest in startups?
21:50 - Perfectionism vs move fast and break things
29:23 - It’s not hard to convince people to work for startups
This episode was co-produced with the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation.
Click here to order your copy of “Swiss Startups” today.
About Roland Siegwart:
Timestamps:
13:03 - How much equity did Relai give away?
31:00 - How to delegate as a CEO
39:13 - Why product roadmaps change
47:10 - Why Julian is cautious to expand his team
This episode was co-produced with SEF.Growth, the Swiss Economic Forum's Growth initiative to support Swiss startups and SMEs with growth plans free of charge.
This episode was sponsored by Relai. Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the R...
Timestamps:
9:33 - Leaving a corporate and starting your own company
18:00 - Why pet food is terrible
29:08 - Why there’s a market for Loonawell
33:32 - Pet food made by an executive chef?
36:14 - Why established pet food companies can’t compete with Loonawell
Resources Mentioned:
Silence: the Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise, by Thich Nhat Hahn
About Maria de Bettencourt Tavares:
Maria de Bettencourt Tavares is the founder a...
Timestamps:
11:04 - How the Swisspreneur team grew
14:16 - Why most people at Swisspreneur are volunteers
25:00 - How the syndicate got hundreds of signups after a few weeks
30:42 - Why does Swisspreneur produce free masterclasses?
39:43 - How Swisspreneur wrote a book
This episode was sponsored by Google Cloud. Join their Founder's Story event on June 24th to hear directly from blockchain startup founders about their journeys of...
Timestamps:
5:07 - Thomas’s leap from cybersecurity to founding Rivero
15:07 - Building partnerships with Visa and Mastercard
21:10 - Bootstrapping until Series A
23:00 - Founder salary realities
27:43 - Why it’s hard to sell to banks
Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the Relai app today. Click here to profit from 10% less fees by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout.
(Disclaimer: Relai services are exclusively recommende...
Timestamps:
8:35 - Why enter a crowded market?
15:24 - Language learning in AI
28:02 - When Univerbal got into YC
37:30 - How to get into YC
41:00 - Getting 50K+ people to test your prototype
DISCLAIMER: This episode was recorded several months ago, and since then Philipp has left his role at Univerbal. We nonetheless thought the episode was still worth sharing, as it is a great startup story about building an AI language tutor and m...
Timestamps:
7:29 - How does the Swiss ecosystem compare to others?
18:09 - Which Swiss scaleups is Nicolas excited about?
23:46 - Does Swiss shyness hold us back?
30:23 - Investing in companies with long development cycles
35:08 - Creating outbound investment opportunities
This episode was co-produced with the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation.
Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the Relai app today. Click her...
Timestamps:
6:10 - Quantifying innovation for investment purposes
10:53 - How Evelyne met Tobias Reichmuth
20:43 - Can innovation outperform ETFs?
34:18 - How to build trust with potential investors
38:34 - Why Evelyne’s team is mostly women
This episode was sponsored by Relai. Get started with Bitcoin by downloading the Relai app today, and profit from 10% less fees by entering code SWISSPRENEUR at checkout.
(Disclaimer: Relai services a...
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