I just saw the third episode of SF Start up.
The clear message is:
Be more passionate, be more aggressive!
You have to be able to sell your project. You have to be able to seize chances. You have to be able to distinguish yourself.
Although the content itself of this episode was quite boring, the underlying message is VERY important.
More comments on the third episode:
# Nicolas Berg
# Leumund
About the third episode (in German):
Unternehmerbesuch 1. Teil – Stadler Rail
Viel zu brav sind die vier Jungunternehmer, mit denen die «Start up»-Jury den Tag verbringt. Für die Zukunft müssten sie „noch ein Brikett zulegen“, beschreibt Peter Spuhler, einer der erfolgreichsten Unternehmer der Schweiz, seinen Eindruck.
Während einem Besuch in seinem Unternehmen "Stadler Rail" sollen auch die Jungunternehmer ihren Erfolgshunger zeigen. Doch diese bleiben zurückhaltend und lassen Eifer und Ehrgeiz vermissen. Gefährlich, denn noch ist nicht sicher, wer seine Geschäftsidee definitiv vor finanzstarken Investoren präsentieren darf.
PS: Also have a look at the SF Start up Kyte-Channel (there is regularly fresh content)
The second episode is online: Webcast / Download
Yesterday I was at the Venture Apéro at the studios of SF Start up. The cool thing was that we saw the premiere of the second episode 9:30pm, i.e. 40 minutes before it went live on TV. Plus I met several cool people like the producers of the show or founders of business angel networks.
Unfortunately for me, the focus in the second episode was either on the projects that came in the Top 13, or on "sexy" projects like WhipFlipp. trigami didn’t get any coverage – but at least you saw me for a few seconds at the presentation ceremony :-). As you might guess, trigami is not part of the Top 13. But we’re still very happy to be among the Top 38. For such a young project its a good result. From my point of view we didn’t made it because of these causes:
#1: The project was too young. We had no prove of concept (remember: the pitches were done early January)
#2: My pitch was lousy. I should have been more courageous and show more emotions
#3: The Q&A was lousy. I had no satisfying answers for the very good questions.
#4: The topic we cover was not "sexy" enough. OR: I didn’t MAKE it sexy enough…
#5: The jury had problems understanding what we do and see the impact of it. OR: My pitch was lousy :-)
Anyway: Good luck to the remaining 13! You deserve it!
My favorites of the second episode:
Giveawine (they already have 750k funding and CEO of Fleurop International is on the board)
Exsila (they now have over 8000 members and 50.000 media items)
Bloggers that also covered the second episode:
# Nicolas Berg
# Leu
# Peter Stöckling
Update (its picture time):
(yes, I’m back!)
(more than 100 people came)
(cockpit view: thats what it looked like when we were pitching in front of the jury)
(yeah, we saw the second episode 40 minutes before it was aired on tv :-)
– Start up – Sendung 2: –
Ist ein vollautomatisiertes Parkhaus die Geschäftsidee der Zukunft? Oder erobert ein internationaler Wein-Geschenkservice die Welt? Und was wird die Jury von einer neu erfundenen Sportart halten? Mit unterschiedlichsten Geschäftsideen versuchen die Jungunternehmerinnen und Jungunternehmer auch dieses Mal die «Start up» Jury zu überzeugen.
Dem Ideenreichtum der 100 ausgewählten Jungunternehmerinnen und Jungunternehmer sind keine Grenzen gesetzt. Pascal Stoop, der jüngste Teilnehmer, hat es bereits geschafft! Die Jury finanziert sein Start-up spontan aus der eigenen Tasche. Was für Tipps hält sein «Götti» Fredy Hiestand für ihn bereit und was macht er mit dem Geld? «Start up», heute um 22.20 Uhr
If everything goes well, I should have a few seconds of air time today. But the competition is stiff: A fully automated multi-storey car park; a Fleurop for wine; Carbon wheels, …
Here you find the first episode:
#1: Stream
#2: Download
If you want to stay up to date, please subscribe to the Podcast-Feed.
SF1 is really doing a great job here. I’m impressed!
Before the first episode there was a very interesting short report with and about Peter Schüpbach in 10 vor 10: See here the video (in German).
My quick feedback after the first episode of SF Start up:
#1: The first episode was cool, but way too short. 35 minutes for 19 pitches plus meta information resulted in an average coverage of about 30 seconds per project. Some had >1 minute, some had <10 seconds or even none (?).
#2: The upside of #1 is that there is a huge focus on the website coverage of the top 100. From an overall point of view this seems to be quite fair: No one got extensively covered, everyone will have to check out the websites for further information.
#3: Some cool projects I saw: The oldest participant Urs Studer, Christian Vögeli with Dybuster (dyslexia curing software), the youngest participant Pascal Stoop (after his presentation he got 30k CHF funding from the jury right away).
Looking forward to the next episodes. I let you know as soon as the podcasts will be online.
Some other thoughts:
After watching TV I spent the evening explaining my dad and a friend of his all about blogging and Web 2.0 without actually being able to use those terms (they don’t know nothing about the web so I had to use real simple language – it was an excellent exercise and I learned a lot). We talked about the social web and how sharing stuff could be both risk and opportunity. They said they don’t understand why someone would like to share stuff. For them, those things are private and none of anyones business. I explained that you have to use those tools carefully and wisely and talked about everything I shared so far had a hugely positive ROI for me. ROI not directly in terms of money, but in contacts, fun, and of course business opportunites (i.e. indirect money). I explained that you always have to spread the word when you’re selling something. The Web is just a tool that allows you to do that on a much larger scale. Instead of selling stuff on a flea market with 1000 potential customers it could be more profitable to sell it over eBay with millions of potential customers. But the tools are still just tools: You have to use them, and you have to work hard. The Web is no licence to make money for doing nothing. The Web is a tool like every other tool: you have to use it in order to create value. Anyway: It was a very interesting conversation and its hard to put all my learnings in words. I just wanted to document this conversation and share this experience with you :-).
Don’t forget: Tonight 22:20 on SF1
Useful links:
SF Start up Website
Top 100 pitches
SF Start up Kyte.tv channel
Subscribe to the Podcast
Persoenlich.com: Interview with Nicolas Berg (german)
I am very happy to announce that trigami is among the best 38 startups at SF Start up. Out of a total 937 applications a top 100 was selected which had to pitch in front of a jury. Then 38 were selected and had to pitch in front of another jury.
Here you find the first 30 seconds of my first presentation:
http://www.sf.tv/sf1/startup/forum/static/forum_220_1_0.php
I have to admin that my pitch was pretty lousy. I don’t like it when I can’t use power-point, plus I was pretty nervous. But hey, it was a great experience and I only can get better :-).
Here you find some other pitches of my friends:
Roland Schmid (MemberYou)
Rinaldo Dieziger (Supertext)
Rouven Küng (Exsila)
Here you find all pitches.
SF Start up starts on April 16th on SF 1.
More links:
Nicolas Berg
Peter Schüpbach
Gestern war Anmeldeschluss für SF Start Up und gemäss dem kürzlichen Newsletter haben sich über 700 Projekte (Update: 937) angemeldet, die nun alle von venturelab geprüft werden. Die 100 besten Bewerber werden ihre Idee im Januar während zwei Präsentationsrunden einer Jury und erfahrenen Unternehmerpersönlichkeiten vorstellen. Wiederum die 10 besten dieser Phase erhalten ein intensives Coaching und die Chance, ihre Idee vor potentiellen Kapitalgebern präsentieren zu können.
Wir haben uns mit dem trigami-Projekt beworben und sind sehr gespannt, ob wir es in die nächste Runde schaffen und ob wir eine Chance gegen patentierte ETH-Erfindungen und Projekte ähnlichen Kalibers haben.
