Swiss Chapter of the Founder Institute is launched

The Swisscom BrainGym in Genfergasse in Berne has room for 100 people. On Wednesday evening, there should have been place for more: 160 people had signed up for the boot camp in the inaugural event of the Swiss chapter of the Founder Institute.

The Founder Institute supports and helps working industry professionals to launch their own business. The organisation has a proven track record: in under three years of operation, the various national chapters of the Founder Institute have helped launch more than 500 companies across 22 cities and five continents. About 40% of the start-ups have been able to close a Series A financing round.

And in Switzerland, apparently, there is a need for this service. In any event, visitors to the boot camp came from the group of working professionals with ideas for their own company, ranging from the initial planning phase through to projects that already take up a large part of the working day.

Networking at the FI Boot Camp.

The evening provided an opportunity to network and this was well used because very few of the technicians present could imagine implementing their business ideas alone. In addition, experienced experts provided information on various topics from human factors about IP to partnering with big companies.

The evening was opened by speeches from Amir Suissa, who presented the success story of DeinDeal, and CTI president Walter Steinlin, who encouraged participants to seek support for suitable projects from the CTI. There was no reason, despite newspaper reports in the last year about applications not being treated as part of the special measures against the strong franc, to discourage them from making an application to the CTI.

Walter Steinlin, President CTI, in a conversation with a participant.

Starting in May, the Founders Institute will also provide support in the form of 15 weekly Curriculums, which will offer training, feedback and support from experienced start-up CEOs, plus access to a world-class global network. Details of the programme will be presented shortly on startupticker.ch. More information and an interest form can be found at the website of the Founder Institute.