Good start for venture 2012

The opening events for the 8th edition of Switzerland’s largest startup competition were a success. Well over 500 participants joined the events in Zurich and Lausanne to hear stories and tips from Advisory Board members and successful entrepreneurs. The kick-off events were prepared by the venture team comprising members from McKinsey, the ETH, and CTI under the leadership of Alexander Ksugas of McKinsey.

“venture wants to encourage and support you as you make your way forward into the world of entrepreneurship. venture offers you the chance to bring the idea that you have been tossing around in your head for a long time to reality.” With these words, Thomas Knecht, founder of venture and Chairman of Knecht Holding, opened the venture 2012 start-up competition. Representatives and speakers from initiators, sponsoring partners and the press attended both Zurich and Lausanne opening events demonstrating their commitment to venture 2012.

In Lausanne, Pascal Kiener, CEO of BCV, shared his thoughts on what makes the Canton de Vaud highly attractive for start-ups and issued a challenge to further improve the framework conditions to create an even better ecosystem for entrepreneurship. Further, André Mercanzini, CTO of Aleva Neurotherapeutics (venture 2008 finalist), provided straightforward advice and humorous perspectives on the hard but rewarding road to founding a company.

In Zurich, the highlight was the podium discussion, moderated by Matthias Reinhart, Founder and CEO of VZ Holding. On the podium with him were three former venture winners, Manuel Aschwanden (Optotune), Carlo Centonze (HeiQ Materials) and Edouard Lambelet (Paper.li). They gave the audience insight into their start-up experiences, discussing the obstacles they faced, such as acquiring seed financing and attracting their first customers, and the benefits the venture startup competition offered them on their entrepreneurial journey.

Teams that want to benefit too from the competition should now submit their business ideas (2-6 pages A4). The submission deadline is on December 1. Participants are supported by more than 200 coaches. The teams get the chance to learn everything they need to know about founding their own company through their intensive dialogue with these experienced coaches and through connecting with other entrepreneurs.