Swisspreneur Show Swisspreneur
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- Business
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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.
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EP #400 - Pascal Bieri: Catching Up with Planted’s Incredible Growth Journey
Timestamps:
1:42 - The food industry
11:20 - Ensuring quality across suppliers
16:41 - Maintaining a high shelf life
26:10 - Markets Planted is tackling next
33:20 - Small pivots over time
About Pascal Bieri:
Pascal Bieri is the co-founder of Planted, a startup creating healthy plant-based meat alternatives. He holds an MA in Informations-, Media- and Technology Management from the University of St Gallen, and previously worked in companies like SweetWorks Confections and DeepTech Capital AG before starting Planted in 2019. He also co-founded the Green Liberal Party in Lucerne when he was 21, but the slowness of politics soon dissuaded him from getting further involved.
So what’s wrong with livestock farming?
From a cold, technocratic point of view, not taking into account the environment, animal well-being or workers’ rights, current livestock farming practices were great for the meat industry, since they allowed it to achieve a fantastic production ration, super efficient supply chains, pay almost no taxes and deliver very low margins to everyone involved. Meat became cheap and accessible to almost everyone. However, this came at the cost of…
Destroying acres and acres of land to build livestock operations;
Establishing intensive monoculture farming operations which deplete soils of nutrients in order to feed livestock, which requires 25x the amount of those crops than we do to meet their nutritional needs;
Emitting 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions, which is about the same as the amount emitted by the entirety of the transportation system.
Planted makes meat alternatives mainly out of pea protein, which can be grown locally and gives great taste. In 100 g of planted.chicken Nature, for example, there is 23.7 g of protein, which is about the same amount as found in conventional chicken meat. planted.chicken Nature consists of no more than four natural ingredients and a healthy portion of vitamin B12. What scares Pascal in the meat alternative market is not companies trying to produce equally healthy and tasty alternatives, but the companies making unhealthy products that taste terribly, which deter people from ever trying out a vegan product again.
Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin, 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 giveaways or founders' dinners. -
EP #399 - Matthias Kaech & Adrian Riedo: Why IP Protection Matters to Startups
Timestamps:
3:49 - Startups & IP rights
8:56 - Trademarks and patents
17:45 - Startups getting into IP trouble
25:58 - Protecting your IP globally
33:34 - Open source code
This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 30th 2024. Click here to purchase your ticket.
About Matthias Kaech & Adrian Riedo:
Adrian Riedo is the founder and owner of RNX, short for Riedo Networks, a provider and distributor of energy monitoring and control solutions which began back in 2005. Matthias Kaech is a Senior IP Trainer at the Institute for Intellectual Property.
Matthias and Adrian have a few IP recommendations for startup founders:
Never discuss (the intricacies of) your (tech) invention in public. Once the information is leaked, your patent may be ruined;
Look into the different types of IP protections and figure out which one is best for your company: patents for tech, trademarks for services, copyright/trademarks for software/apps, design rights for luxury products, etc..
If you want to file for a trademark, the only register you have to be in is the National Trademark Register. Any other registers that contact you are private registers, and you’re not required to be listed on them, so don’t waste your money;
Figuring out IP protection early on will give investors a positive view of your startup, partially because they know your product/service is protected, and partially because they see you took the trouble to make sure you had freedom to operate, and this shows competence;
You have to apply for IP protection in each and every country. As a resource-constrained startup, you should think about which countries are your main markets and where your main competitors operate, so that you don’t waste money.
Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin, 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 giveaways or founders' dinners. -
EP #398 - Anina Lutz: Digitizing Insurance
Timestamps:
1:48 - Getting into the insurance business
8:47 - The potential of digital insurance solutions
19:50 - The health insurance market
29:24 - Collaborating with other insurance companies
32:57 - Convertible loan over equity rounds
Check out the LinkedIn event for our livestream with Aurelio Perucca on May 22nd: https://www.linkedin.com/events/makingmoneyfromalternativeinves7191374767680057345/theater/
About Anina Lutz:
Anina Lutz is the co-founder and CEO of Calingo Insurance AG, a digital insurance company. She holds a MSc in Business & Economics from the University of Basel and previously worked at Helvetia before starting Calingo in 2020.
As a digital insurance company, Calingo offers personalized insurance coverage at the point of sale in a hassle-free and digital way, for your home, your pets or your business. Their home insurance offer is 25% cheaper than market average, since they do not charge high commissions and have easy, low cost operations. Their pet insurance comes at a higher price at first, but since the premiums remain constant regardless of the pet’s age, the lifetime value ends up cheaper than other pet insurances.
They’ve partnered up with insurance companies like SwissRe to have them as risk carriers. Thus far they’ve decided not to delve into health insurance, since it is a rather saturated market. Instead they plan to use next year's series A funds (provided that the round closes successfully) to set up a system of vet video calls and bring their services to Germany.
Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin, 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 giveaways or founders' dinners. -
EP #397 - Oliver & Denis Widler: The Twin Brothers Building a PetTech Startup
Timestamps:
1:25 - Starting a business with your twin
5:19 - The PetTech market
9:46 - From prototype to finished product
15:33 - Building a startup as a student
19:00 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate
Click here to apply to join our Founders Dinner in Bern on May 30th.
About Oliver Widler & Denis Widler:
Denis Widler is the co-founder and Head of Business Relations at Flappie, a startup building an AI-powered cat door with integrated prey detection. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Innovation from HSG. Oliver Widler is Denis’ twin brother and the co-founder and Head of Technology at Flappie. He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from ETH.
Denis and Oliver started Flappie together in 2022 motivated by their personal experience growing up with furry friends who would bring “gifts” home. This got them thinking about a product that could prevent such unpleasant surprises, and with his engineering background Oliver devised a cat door which immediately recognizes when your cat tries to bring presents (e.g., mice, birds) into the house. Once recognized, the cat door locks automatically, and the cat (including the prey) stays outside until it returns with no prey.
The Widler brothers think the time is ripe for their product, considering that ⅓ of households globally have cats and that 81% of Gen Z live with cats. It seems they’ve been proven right: their product has been featured in over 200 media outlets since inception.
They’re currently raising CHF 1M in funds, 500K of which they already have in soft commitments, and 50K of which are being raised through the Swisspreneur Syndicate. Check out our deal flow page to learn more.
Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin, 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 giveaways or founders' dinners. -
EP #396 - Melanie Kovacs: How to Stop Hesitating & Start Building a Business
Timestamps:
5:10 - Starting a startup right after university
9:06 - Hesitation & entrepreneurship
13:09 - Knowing if you’re ready
18:15 - Practicing to be ready
25:00 - Giving up on a project
Click here to apply to join our Founders Dinner in Bern on May 30th.
This episode was co-produced by the Female Founders Initiative and recorded at the Female Future Festival.
Resources mentioned:
Positive Intelligence, Shirzad Chamine
Positive Intelligence assessment
Untamed, Glennon Doyle
Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us episode on FFTs (F*****g First Times)
About Melanie Kovacs:
Melanie Kovacs is an award-winning entrepreneur, business coach, TEDxspeaker, and startup trainer, dedicated to supporting people to find and not lose joy on their entrepreneurial journeys. Through her podcast “The Joypreneur” she encourages entrepreneurs to do their thing, thereby making a positive impact.
Previously, she created the Joy Accelerator program, a 12-week course for women aspiring to build sustainable businesses without burning out. Prior to this, she founded Switzerland's first coding bootcamp, Master21 Academy.
Melanie studied International Management, Human-Computer Interaction Design and Creative Leadership.
During her chat with our new host, Merle, Melanie shared some of the insights that she provides her coachees, ranging from identifying the critical voices in your head, to exploring your fear of failure, to adequately valuing your time, resources and intuition.
For more information about Melanie and her work, visit her website.
Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin, 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 giveaways or founders' dinners. -
EP #395 - Diego Seitz: The GotCourts Hybrid
Timestamps:
1:32 - Interning at Namics
14:31 - What GotCourts does
22:34 - The paddle tennis boom
28:25 - Building traction outside Switzerland
36:58 - Getting acquired by a competitor
Click here to enjoy three months of NordPass Business for free.
About Diego Seitz:
Diego Seitz is the co-founder and former CEO at GotCourts, a social network for racket sports players and marketplace for booking courts and coaches. He holds a MSc in International Management from CEMS as well as a MSc in Strategic Management from the university of St. Gallen and previously worked at companies like Namics and Accenture before joining GotCourts as a late co-founder in 2017.
Founded in 2013, GotCourts was the first platform to provide everything a player needs in a single marketplace. Finding a partner or a coach, booking a court nearby or competing for a place in their leaderboards and tracking your progress, GotCourts is your "virtual global club". For court facilities and clubs they offer a capable club management system and a platform to engage with the community. This means they receive revenue not only from the SaaS subscription but also from the racket sports players themselves.
Coming into the fitness industry with an innovative approach, the GotCourts team often found that they had to educate potential SaaS customers on the benefits of online demos and how to set up a video call, so as to drive down acquisition costs. Their internationalization process began in Germany, where they at first bet on the traditional route of ads, email marketing, cold calling, and simply offering the product in euros, only to later find out that the German federations were the true door into the market, and that a freemium model for the app was much more suitable for their German users. Nowadays GotCourts is the racket sports app in the DACH region.
GotCourts was acquired in 2021 by Spanish competitor Playtomic for an undisclosed amount. Diego remained on board as the regional manager of Central Europe. Currently he is also working on a new venture, alfred.ch, which provides legal and strategic consulting services to early stage ventures, entrepreneurs and investors.
Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin, 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 giveaways or founders' dinners.
Customer Reviews
Great guests, hosts, and conversations!
This podcast has it all. Interesting guests with varied backgrounds, stories, and focus areas. And interesting topics that come across in natural and conversational flow through great hosting! Thanks to the Swisspreneur team!