The Venture Leaders jury has nominated ten startups ready to grow internationally to expand their networks and expertise during the Swiss National Startup Team roadshow to Silicon Valley in April.

The five winners of the Swisscom Startup Challenge made solid progress during their week in Silicon Valley due to the very fast and results-oriented business culture in Silicon Valley – and because they came with specific goals.

The five winners of the Swisscom Startup Challenge are in Silicon Valley for a week, however, several of them are working to build a lasting presence in the US, lured by the big market, investors and potential acquirers. But there are challenges to be considered.

In addition to meetings with investors and potential business partners, this week the winners of the Swisscom Startup Challenge in Silicon Valley also hold meetings with successful entrepreneurs. On Monday, Alain Chuard, founder and former CEO of Wildfire, and Sam Heidari, former CEO of Quantenna, talked about success and agreed on the importance of soft factors.

The Swisscom StartUp Challenge ended officially last Friday, but two start-ups are still in the US, as they were able to arrange further promising meetings with investors and well-known large companies. The week in Silicon Valley also led to tangible results for the remaining three start-ups.

Silicon Valley sets the benchmark for start-up ecosystems. The journey of the five winners of the Startup Challenge winners shows what lies behind it and where the boundaries are.

This week, Stefan Kyora, editor in chief of Startupticker, will report directly from California. He joins the five Swisscom Startup Challenge winners on their trip to Silicon Valley and San Francisco. The program starts today with a visit of eBay and a pitching event at the Hana House in Palo Alto.

Meetings, pitches und outposts: my colleague Stefan Kyora has been on the road in Silicon Valley this week.

After four days in Silicon Valley, the winners of the Startup Challenge have had much success – this is certainly not the last time the founders will be here.

In Silicon Valley, hundreds of start-ups vie for the attention of investors and large companies. In this cauldron, the five Swiss winners of the Swisscom Startup Challenge face strong competition. However, they benefit from their world-class technology and the contacts established by Swisscom – but in marketing there is still room for improvement.

On our travels with the winners of the Swisscom Startup Challenge, we discovered two very interesting opportunities for artists with projects with business potential and for start-ups that want to collaborate with Nestlé.

Startupticker’s Stefan Kyora joins the five Swisscom Startup Challenge winners on their trip to Silicon Valley this week. We accompany the start-ups as they meet investors, potential partners and customers, and we report live from Palo Alto, Stanford (picture) and San Francisco.