409 episodes

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.

Swisspreneur Show Swisspreneur

    • Business

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.

    EP #408 - Miller Mendoza Jiménez: AI to Tackle Global Food Challenges

    EP #408 - Miller Mendoza Jiménez: AI to Tackle Global Food Challenges

    Timestamps:

    8:17 - Building a startup during COVID

    16:17 - AI predicting unpredictable climate changes

    29:20 - Mindmapping customer problems

    44:36 - Bootstrapping when you have to

    1:00:11 - Valuing the skill of communication



    About Miller Mendoza Jiménez:

    Miller Mendoza Jiménez is the co-founder, CTO and Latin America Regional Manager at Grundo, a technology advisory and analytics startup aimed at tackling sustainability challenges globally that can be solved using open data systems, technology-based tools, and services. He holds a PhD in Physics from ETH and worked there as a research assistant, senior research scientist and lecturer before starting Grundo in 2020.

    Grundo aims to solve the issue of food security, which will become more and more relevant in the coming years due to climate change. This is because changes to the climate equal extremely unpredictable weather, ranging from heavy rains to heavy draughts. Weather instability is in general bad for crops, and heavy rains in particular damage the fertility of soils through erosion. Add to that the population increase, and it is estimated that by 2050, we will need to increase the agricultural output between 50-70% to have enough food for the global population.

    Grundo answers critical food security questions like “How much wheat and corn can we expect from Germany in three months? How about in Europe, Asia or Africa?” They uncover the answers by building AI algorithms and using satellite data to provide insurance companies with data on which to tailor premiums for crop insurance, and to provide governments with data which enables them to efficiently subsidize sustainable farming practices.

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    • 1 hr 4 min
    EP #407 - Jonas Karklys: How Nord Security Became a Leader in Digital Security & Privacy

    EP #407 - Jonas Karklys: How Nord Security Became a Leader in Digital Security & Privacy

    Timestamps:

    6:32 - Race car driving & building a business

    11:55 - How NordPass stood out in the market

    23:10 - Catering to customers vs staying focused

    31:32 - From Lithuania to the world

    43:54 - Is Lithuania a startup-friendly country?



    Resources mentioned:


    Blackbox Thinking, Matthew Syed





    Click here to enjoy three months of NordPass Business for free with the code “swisspreneur”.



    About Jonas Karklys:

    Jonas Karklys is the co-founder of Nord Security, and the CEO of its password management company NordPass. He holds a BA in Business Administration and Management from Vilnius University, but before his university studies he was already an accomplished race car driver and had also run Infosport, a Lithuanian sports news website. After university, Jonas went on to co-found 50Garage and invest in F-1.LT before co-founding Nord Security and launching NordPass.

    NordPass is a password management solution, part of Nord Security, the world’s leading

    cybersecurity company and the creator of NordVPN, NordLayer, NordLocker, and other well-

    known products in the market. Currently with offices/representatives in 26 markets, Nord Security offers its services globally, and is Lithuania’s second unicorn.

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    • 48 min
    EP #406 - Danny Chatziprodromou: Breaking Out of the Golden Corporate Cage

    EP #406 - Danny Chatziprodromou: Breaking Out of the Golden Corporate Cage

    Timestamps:

    4:09 - Obstacles to innovation in corporates

    10:53 - Starting a startup in your 40s

    17:00 - Learning to endure pain

    19:40 - Financial planning for your startup

    27:36 - What if your startup fails?



    About Danny Chatziprodromou:

    Danny Chatziprodromou is the founder and CEO of REOR20, a company developing the next generation of models providing highly accurate flood hazard information at a significantly lower cost. He holds a PhD in Computational Fluid Dynamics and Mechanical Engineering from ETH. He worked for companies like Swiss Re and SAM Sustainable Asset Management before starting REOR20 in 2017.

    The model Danny’s team developed is 100 000 times faster than traditional models, and his realization that the typical models were that simplified was precisely what motivated him to look into the issue. He also claims that his long and uneventful stay in corporate gave him the arrogance needed to believe he could build a business by himself. Reality, as it turns out, was more challenging, but REOR20 managed to be successful regardless.

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    • 34 min
    EP #405 - Christoph Bertschy & Gaël Riesen: How to Make Water Free & Profitable

    EP #405 - Christoph Bertschy & Gaël Riesen: How to Make Water Free & Profitable

    Timestamps:

    5:20 - Making a business out of free water

    8:12 - Competition in the advertising world

    10:00 - The decrease in the quality of online advertising

    13:09 - Distributing 25K bottles

    17:21 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate



    About Christoph Bertschy & Gaël Riesen:

    Gaël Riesen is a co-founder and the Head of Production/Distribution at Gratiswasser, and his co-founder Christoph Bertschy is the owner of the company. Gratiswasser is a startup placing ads in free water bottles to be distributed in stores, at festivals, cafés and in general around town. They aim to offer companies a cost-effective advertising opportunity that also has a positive impact on the community.

    Gaël and Christoph were motivated by a belief that water as a commodity should be free, and by the motivation to make this possible in a market economy: so they decided to use water bottle labels as advertising slots! One of their partners, VIU eyewear, receives the water bottles at their stores and distributes them to customers who drop by.

    Placing ads in free water bottles has the benefit of associating the advertisement to the positive feeling of getting free stuff, instead of to the frustrating 30 second wait before you can watch a video on Youtube. It also is a more trustworthy form of advertising than online advertising, which nowadays seems to have become riddled with deepfakes and other shady ecommerce practices.

    Gratiswasser is currently fundraising CHF 500K, part of which is being done through the Swisspreneur Syndicate (the 2M mentioned in the episode is a goal for future funding rounds). Click here to learn more about the deal.

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    • 23 min
    EP #404 - Matthias Bryner: Why You Should Start Investing

    EP #404 - Matthias Bryner: Why You Should Start Investing

    Timestamps:

    1:30 - Working for neon

    10:22 - Why you should start investing

    15:41 - Start investing with findependent

    21:44 - Fee structure

    36:26 - 5 principles for personal finance



    Click here to enjoy three months of NordPass Business for free by using the code “swisspreneur”. 



    About Matthias Bryner:

    Matthias Bryner is the founder of findependent, an app to make investing transparent, easy and beneficial for everyone, regardless of prior knowledge. He holds an MA in Banking and Finance from HSG and interned at Credit Suisse and at neon before starting findependent in 2018. 

    findependent allows you to open an account online within approx. 15 minutes, easily select an optimally-tailored investment solution and get started with as little as CHF 500. Thanks to their investment app, findependent users are always informed transparently about their investments, earnings and fees. 

    But first things first: why should you start investing? Basically, because of inflation and the compounding effect. Inflation rises at least 1% or 2% every year, which means that over the long run your savings will be significantly devalued. Similarly, if you start investing now, even if you invest only a little bit each year, this compounds over time and will make a significant difference in your life later on.

    findependent encourages its users to invest in ETFs, which is basically like buying a very small percentage of the world economy, instead of investing in a specific stock. This derisks your investment. And even if the numbers in the market fluctuate daily, their overall historical tendency is upwards, so you can rest assured that your money is being put to good use. findependent currently has 12'000 customers.

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    • 45 min
    EP #403 - Linus Gabrielsson & Pedro Schmidt: Creating the Perfect Sports Drink & Crowdfunding as a Startup

    EP #403 - Linus Gabrielsson & Pedro Schmidt: Creating the Perfect Sports Drink & Crowdfunding as a Startup

    Timestamps:

    8:49 - Pivoting your marketing

    12:17 - The key ingredients for sports recovery

    17:43 - Distributing through several channels 

    23:22 - Importing CONDA to Switzerland 

    33:25 - Developing crowdfunding momentum 



    This episode was co-produced with CONDA.ch. If you want to invest in CONDA.ch with preferential conditions, contact them at investor@conda.ch.



    About Pedro Schmidt & Linus Gabrielsson:

    Pedro Schmidt is the founder and CEO of KaEx, the world’s first sports-recovery drink to significantly reduce the stress hormone. He holds a MSc in Management, Technology and Economics from ETH Zürich, and previously worked for companies like Siemens Management Consulting, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Teva Pharmaceuticals before founding KaEx in 2016. 

    Linus Gabrielsson is the managing director at CONDA.ch, the leading platform providing Swiss startups access to crowd investment capital as well as community building and campaigning opportunities. He holds a MSc in Technology Management from ETH and previously worked for companies like IBM Business Consulting Services, PwC and HSBC Private Bank before founding CONDA.ch in 2021.

    KaEx was the result of many years of research for Pedro, whose undergraduate education is in Pharmaceutical Sciences. He originally branded it as a hangover remedy, and that’s how it began to be sold in pharmacies and at Coop supermarkets. At some point, Pedro and his team started getting messages from people who swore on the benefits of drinking KaEx post-workout. Pedro ignored these messages at first, since as a resource-constrained founder he couldn’t afford to split his focus — but then pro-athletes started contacting him as well, asking if drinking KaEx could be considered doping (which it couldn’t). This made Pedro and his team seriously question whether they should pivot their product’s branding and focus. They eventually did do so, and nowadays KaEx is known primarily as a sports drink, though it is of course also useful for hangovers or after a particularly stressful day.

    In 2021, CONDA.ch was already one of the most successful crowdfunding platforms in Austria and Germany. Rather than try to compete with them, Linus and his co-founder Christian Klumpe decided to strike a franchising deal with their DACH counterparts in order to bring CONDA to Switzerland. As a crowdfunding platform, they focus on startups, SMEs and real estate, and allow users to invest as little as CHF 100. CONDA.ch always runs a 2 week pre-round with preferential conditions open only to VIP investors: that way, when the deal goes public, it never starts at 0, which helps it gain momentum.

    KaEx has crowdfunded on CONDA.ch several times.  

    • 51 min

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