

Swisspreneur Show
Swisspreneur
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
Mentioned books

Aug 4, 2024 • 38min
EP #425 - Enzo Wälchli: Building Your Brand on LinkedIn
Enzo Wälchli, the CCO at Anybotics and LinkedIn’s leading Swiss voice in robotics, discusses his transition from corporate life to the startup world. He emphasizes the critical role LinkedIn plays in sales, advocating for consistent content creation to attract prospects. Enzo shares insights on the power of video for virality, the importance of meaningful engagement over mere likes, and offers practical tips on building a personal brand. He believes that every salesperson should embrace LinkedIn as a dynamic tool for connecting with clients.

Jul 31, 2024 • 49min
EP #424 - Marcel Salathé: Universities Are the Key to Switzerland’s Success
Timestamps:
6:59 - Being humbled by Y Combinator
12:20 - EPFL’s extension school
15:47 - What needs fixing in Switzerland
29:25 - Budget cuts for Swiss universities
39:40 - EPFL AI center
This episode was sponsored by NordPass. Use code “swisspreneur” at checkout to get 30% off Business and Teams plans.
About Marcel Salathé:
Marcel Salathé is a professor at EPFL, startup founder and investor, as well as a digital epidemiologist. He holds a PhD in Biology and Environmental Sciences from ETH, and has taught at Stanford and Penn State. He is the founder of the EPFL Extension School and AIcrowd, an AI challenge platform at EPFL.
When founding the EPFL Extension School, Marcel’s goal was to fulfill EPFL’s mandate of not only educating its students but the Swiss population at large — he believes the current educational system, which restricts education to childhood and adolescence, is outdated, and that Swiss people need to be learning continuously, especially considering the rapid acceleration of technological development. Self-learning has played a big role in Marcel’s career, who originally studied Biology but has since branched out to machine learning and generative AI.
During his chat with Silvan, he further argues that although Switzerland has done a great job in connecting innovation centers (such as universities) with the private sector, it’s done terribly at channeling this innovation towards the public sector as well, which is why this sphere seems to be 20 years behind the curve. Marcel thinks there must be a structural push towards this, just as there was a concerted political effort before to connect universities with the private sector. He is strongly against the recent budget cuts for education and innovation, because he considers this to be the “magic sauce” of Switzerland’s prosperity.

Jul 28, 2024 • 19min
EP #423 - Thomas Crawford & Daniel Delouya: Building AI-Powered Insurance
Thomas Crawford, co-founder and CEO of Bind, and Daniel Delouya, co-founder and COO, delve into the transformative power of AI in the insurance industry. They discuss how Bind simplifies customer targeting with an AI-driven approach, moving away from traditional methods. The duo shares insights on securing their first commercial agreements and their fundraising journey through the Swisspreneur Syndicate. Personal reflections reveal their entrepreneurial paths, showcasing their transition from corporate life to revolutionizing insurance with technology.

Jul 24, 2024 • 45min
EP #422 - Viktor Calabro: How Coople Became Europe's Largest Digital Staffing Platform
Timestamps:
7:18 - Selling your MVP
12:19 - Finding co-founders
16:24 - Not focusing enough on specific markets
27:05 - Scaling too early & stepping down as CEO
37:02 - Employee share programs
About Viktor Calabro:
Viktor Calabro is the founder and former CEO of Coople, Europe's largest digital staffing platform. He previously worked for companies like Trivadis AG and Erlebniskultur GmbH before starting Coople in 2009.
Coople matches flexible workers to short- and long-term assignments in various roles in office, retail, logistics, hospitality, events and hotel. They increase their clients’ revenue by adjusting their team in real-time to match fluctuating demand, and reduce their client’s costs by outsourcing admin and payroll.
One challenge that Viktor had to face during his time at Coople was finding out that they had scaled too early, before actually achieving true product-market fit, and seeing themselves being spread too thin. This, paired with the fact that Victor had been going all-in for Coople for almost a decade and no longer had the energy to meet the needs of his role, made him step down as CEO role in 2018. Nowadays, his focus is on coaching, training, and investing, as well as on spending quality time with his family and friends.
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.

Jul 21, 2024 • 28min
EP #421 - Sean Wassermann & Constantin Marakhov: How to Farm Fish Sustainably
Timestamps:
3:01 - Liquid vs solid fermentation
8:08 - A decade in the cannabis industry
17:04 - Who Kidemis’ clients are
19:48 - The challenge of technological development
21:03 - Fundraising through the Swisspreneur Syndicate
About Sean Wassermann & Constantin Marakhov:
Sean Wassermann is the CTO at Kidemis, a Swiss feedtech company that applies mycelium-based fermentation to upcycle low-value side streams into high value protein for various industries. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts and was previously CTO at companies like Cibdol and Aquanta before starting Kidemis in 2022.
Constantin Marakhov is the CEO at Kidemis. He holds an MBA from the University of Oregon and a PhD in Finance from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and previously worked as a business school professor and as head of business development at the WEF before starting Kidemis in 2022. He is also the CEO and founder of Hempfy, a Swiss cannabis startup.
Kidemis' solution is to use mycoprotein as a partial or complete replacement for fishmeal in aquafeed. Mycoprotein is a sustainable alternative to fishmeal and fish oil because it is produced from renewable resources. The fungi that are used to produce mycoprotein can be grown on a variety of substrates, including agricultural sidestreams. This means that mycoprotein will be produced without putting a strain on global fish stocks or the environment. In addition, mycelium’s immune-stimulating properties could decrease the usage of antibiotics.
Kidemis is currently raising a CHF 1.5M seed round, 30% of which have already been committed. Part of these funds are being raised through the Swisspreneur Syndicate — click here to find out 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.

Jul 17, 2024 • 58min
EP #420 - Yves Béhar: Venture Designing, Entrepreneurship & the Human Spirit
Timestamps:
2:35 - How Switzerland fell short in the 90s
15:00 - Suffering and the creative process
23:21 - The challenge of designing an office chair
31:28 - Design or die
33:30 - What is a venture designer?
This episode was sponsored by NordPass. Use code “swisspreneur” at checkout to get 30% off Business and Teams plans.
About Yves Béhar:
Yves Béhar is a venture designer, the founder of the fuseproject, co-founder of TELO, August, and Canopy, and Chief Creative Officer at Jawbone, August Home, and TELO. He holds a BSc in Industrial Design from the ArtCenter College of Design (in Pasadena, California) and worked in consulting for many years before starting fuseproject in 1999.
fuseproject was born out of a wish to create an integral version of design: not just designing something within the boundaries of the industrial design discipline, but actually thinking about branding and about creating an experience as well.
Yves is a big believer in working tirelessly at your dream even if you don’t show impressive amounts of native talent. He recalls that from his friends at ArtCenter, he was the worst draftsman, but his idea for what he wanted to do with design and his tireless work carried him far regardless. Yves thinks suffering is part of the creative process, and that it is worth pushing through, because pain is temporary, but “suck” is forever.
Out of his wish to work long-term with resource-strained startups came the concept of “venture designing”: instead of charging startups like a consultant, he co-founds their ventures. Throughout the years he’s worked with 90+ startups. He believes this is the most mutually beneficial form of collaboration, since excellent design is usually the product of long term work and coexistence.
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.

Jul 14, 2024 • 44min
EP #419 - Myriam Lingg: Making Prosthetics as a For-Profit Company
Timestamps:
2:00 - Getting a PhD in Epidemiology
7:50 - Meeting your co-founder at an ETH project
12:48 - Manufacturing prosthetics
23:43 - Big fundraising challenges
33:59 - Keeping the business floating
This episode was co-produced by the Female Founders Initiative.
About Myriam Lingg:
Myriam Lingg is the co-founder and CEO of macu4, a startup creating empowering ortho-prosthetics for the forearm and hand. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and previously worked for the European Center of Pharmaceutical Medicine and the think tank W.I.R.E before starting macu4 in 2020.
macu4 prosthetics are lightweight, breathable, affordable and individually tailored to the needs of people with a missing or limited grip function of the hand, thanks to their innovative modular design. macu4 is a for-profit venture, but is highly committed to manufacturing affordable prosthetics through their smart design and 3D printing technology.
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.

Jul 10, 2024 • 34min
EP #418 - Fajer Mushtaq: Deep Climate Tech in Switzerland
Timestamps:
4:00 - Water cleaning in Switzerland
6:42 - Water and the agricultural sector
9:14 - Deep tech requires upfront capital
16:20 - Defending high deep tech valuations
22:14 - Convincing top talent to work for a startup
About Fajer Mushtaq:
Fajer Mushtaq is the co-founder and CEO at Oxyle, a cleantech startup with a game-changing water remediation technology. She holds a PhD in Micro- and Nanotechnology for Environmental Remediation from ETH and previously worked there as a BRIDGE Proof-of-Concept Fellow, before starting Oxyle in 2020.
When we usually think of water pollution, we think of things like cigarette butts, plastic bags, or perhaps even bacteria or viruses. But what most of us fail to consider are micropollutants (like hormones, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, industrial waste, etc…), so called not because they’re found in small amounts, but because a small amount is enough to have a carcinogenic effect, or cause infertility or birth defects. 1 nanogram per liter (which is the equivalent of 1 drop in 20 Olympic-sized pools) is concentration enough to cause humans and their ecosystems harm. What’s more, these micro-pollutants are bioaccumulative (meaning if you keep drinking them, they keep increasing in concentration in your blood), and stay in bodies of water for decades on end unless treated appropriately.
That’s where the ETH spin-off Oxyle comes in. Oxyle works at the last stage of water treatment to remove these micro-pollutants through their innovative nanotechnology. They do so in a sustainable, scalable manner by getting in touch with big companies looking to remediate the harm they’ve caused and prevent any more harm from being done. This is equally as important in Switzerland as it is in other places: the water Swiss people drink has 17x the amount of carcinogenic pesticides that is safe to consume.
Fajer strongly believes that fighting climate change is done not only through innovative startups like Oxyle, but also through regulation. We need to hold polluters responsible, and nowadays, due to the growing sophistication of water analysis techniques, we definitely can. This way we can both remediate the harm that’s already been done, and stop future pollution at its source.
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.

Jul 7, 2024 • 41min
EP #417 - Céline Udriot & Karine Jeanmonod-Wittmer: How to Break Into the American Market
Timestamps:
6:54 - Why is the US the main startup destination?
8:56 - 3 main challenges of moving to the US
19:40 - Should you move your headquarters?
29:18 - How S-GE can help you in the US
This episode was co-produced with Switzerland Global Enterprise. Click here to learn more about the Swisstech pavilion at CES 2025, mentioned at the start of the episode.
About Céline Udriot & Karine Jeanmonod-Wittmer:
Céline Udriot is the COO at Largo.ai, a startup providing next-generation storytelling tools for the audiovisual industry using artificial intelligence. She holds an MBA from Vatel Switzerland and worked in the hospitality industry before joining Largo.ai in 2022.
Karine Jeanmonod-Wittmer is a trade commissioner in charge of Startup Ecosystems & Partnerships at the Swiss Business Hub USA, which represents Switzerland Global Enterprise in the US. She holds a master's degree in Economics & International Relations from the Geneva Graduate Institute, and had been working in the US for 14 years before joining Swiss Business Hub in 2018.
During their chat with Silvan, Céline and Karine discussed entering the US market as a Swiss startup, both from a founder’s perspective and from SBH’s perspective. Among other topics, they elaborated on why the US’ size, affluence and political stability make it the most attractive market for startups still today, and mentioned some of the challenges of breaking into this new market as a Swiss startup, namely networking “cliques”, unexpectedly high expenses, and cultural differences regarding the level of ambition.
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.

Jul 3, 2024 • 31min
EP #416 - Liliane Ableitner: Exnaton 2 Years On
Timestamps:
2:20 - Exnaton 2 years on
12:01 - To bootstrap or not to bootstrap
17:42 - Getting funded as a climate tech startup
22:00 - Seasonal impact on client acquisition
23:32 - The benefits of market liberalization
About Liliane Ableitner:
Liliane Ableitner is the co-founder and CEO of Exnaton, a software provider for energy communities, allowing neighbors to trade renewable energy amongst each other. Before starting Exnaton, Liliane was a Doctoral Researcher at the Bits of Energy Lab at ETH Zurich.
She met her two co-founders, Arne Meeuw and Anselma Würner, during her work on the research project “Quartierstrom“, funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The project resonated well with all stakeholders involved and the three PhD students decided to spin it out into an independent company in 2019. In December 2020, they won the Investor’s Choice award at Energy Startup Days, which helped the company to gain exposure amongst relevant stakeholders.
Contrary to some of their competitors, Exnaton doesn’t sell their software to end consumers. Rather, they cooperate with local utility companies and allow them to white label their solution and distribute it to their customers. Exnaton is greatly benefiting from the liberalization of European energy markets because it has been driving competition for innovative products between utility companies. They are hoping to further benefit from an opening of the Swiss market, which has traditionally been very protected.
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.


