First insights from the Swiss Start-up Monitor

Among others, the demographic analysis shows a particularly high number of new ventures in 2008, the year of the financial crisis. A comparison of different capital sources emphasizes the importance of business planning competitions for Swiss start-ups. Although, the capital amount a start-up can acquire through a competition is relatively low, compared to other potential sources such as venture capitalists, the participation rate is high. Indeed, “sometimes it is not the amount of money that counts; to get in touch with the right people and so plug lacking competencies in the founding team can be the beginning of a success story. Such competitions represent appropriate platforms to socialize”, says Prof. Dietmar Grichnik, director of the Chair for Entrepreneurship at the University of St.Gallen (HSG). Additionally, the report confirms and specifies the still existing lack of women in entrepreneurial activities and considers the tendency of investors to invest in excellent personalities, rather than in ingenious ideas.

The report is based on descriptive insights from the Monitor’s database. The analyzed sample size totals up to 1307 start-ups represented in the Start-up Monitor Directory; 244 of them are registered users. The project team, headed by Dr. Uwe Gross, ITEM-HSG, started collecting data in winter 2012. Overall, the data collection process rest upon a voluntary participation of Swiss Start-ups and has two different forms. First, the Start-up Directory, which includes public available data; second, the private area of the Monitor, which encompasses team, founder, and development data of each start-up.

The full report is available for download on the homepage of the Swiss Start-up Monitor.

About Swiss Start-up Monitor
The Swiss Start-up Monitor is a joined research initiative of the University of St.Gallen, ETH Zurich and University of Basel. The main goal is to build up an exclusive panel of Swiss start-ups in order to foster entrepreneurship on a micro- and on a macro-economic level. This aim will be achieved by collecting and analyzing data of Swiss start-ups on an aggregate and anonymous level, providing high data security and user controllability at any time. The recent sample size is 1415 in the public directory and 353 in the private area for registered user. Visit the Start-up Monitor Homepage to get more information: www.startupmonitor.ch.