EP #518 - Denys Sutter & Girisha Fernando: Bootstrapping vs. Fundraising: Which path actually wins in the early days?

Timestamps:

6:00 – Deciding between chasing investor money vs. revenues from day one
29:42 – How founder pressure differs across funding strategies (runway vs. cash-flow anxiety)
37:22 – Can a bootstrapped startup realistically become a market leader?
35:10 – In what scenario would they switch financing strategies?

This episode was produced by Founders Hive — a community of founders, experts, and investors driving entrepreneurship in Switzerland. We support early-stage startups in becoming investment-ready and guide them through the fundraising journey.

As a partner of the Entrepreneurship Training programme, empowered by Innosuisse — Switzerland’s innovation agency — we contribute to strengthening startups, SMEs, and research institutions in their innovation and growth.

Checkout https://innosuisse.founders-hive.ch/ to learn more about Founders Hive, empowered by Innosuisse.

Episode Summary:

Denys Sutter is the Co-Founder and CEO of condenZero, a startup focused on building ultra-low temperature sample holders for electron microscopes, enabling researchers to observe materials and molecules at extreme cryogenic conditions with unmatched speed and stability. They hold a PHD in Physics from University of Zurich.

Girisha Fernando is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lyfegen, a startup provides software that helps healthcare payers and pharma companies manage complex drug pricing agreements, reduce admin work, and optimize rebates for better value. They hold a Bachelor of Applied Science in International Management and Economics from PHW Bern.

In their chat, Girisha and Denys compared bootstrapping, non-dilutive funding, and VC money through the lens of speed, focus, and risk. They dug into how early traction de-risks a raise, why deep-tech R&D often can’t be accelerated with more capital, and how European VC norms can clash with early-stage reality. They also shared pragmatic alternatives—grants, debt against orders, and strategic investors—plus the importance of aligning your fundraising path with market size and sales cycles.

They also talked about founder psychology and operating pressure: the difference between managing cash-flow anxieties vs. runway clocks, how board quality can add structure (or distraction), and when outside capital becomes “fuel” to reach dominance. The group debated whether a bootstrapped company can lead a market, concluding that natural growth is often too slow once scale is in sight, and closed with concrete trigger points for switching paths—hitting product scalability, expanding to bigger markets, or needing faster go-to-market to seize timing.

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.‍

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