SEF.Founder Conference

When the going gets tough: Founders do real talk at SEF.Founder Conference

At the SEF.Founder Conference at the Victoria Jungfrau Hotel in Interlaken, the Swiss founder community gathered to openly discuss the rollercoaster ride a startup founder goes through. This edition left the founders with a feeling of not being alone with their entrepreneurial struggles and gave them tools to push through the lows without neglecting their personal wellbeing.

On June 6th, the SEF.Founder Conference assembled 200 startup entrepreneurs in Interlaken. This year, the motto was "when the going gets tough," the focus was to openly discuss challenging times and strategies for founders to navigate through these difficult times. The conference setting allowed valuable conversations that often are avoided in public let alone in the press. This doesn't go unnoticed. Sandra Kobel, co-founder and CEO of zealy, attended the SEF.Founder Conference for the first time. Her impression: "One can tell the audience is a handpicked selection of founders and companies. It's also great to have open and honest conversations about tough times. In such an environment, you learn how entrepreneurs think and go about things. Still, you also realise that all entrepreneurs struggle on their journey to the shiny successes they portray in the media."

Founders return year after year for networking opportunities

Not only newbies have this optimistic view of the event. Peter Fankhauser, co-founder and CEO of ANYbotics, says: "We won the SEF.Award four years ago. Since then, we have returned every year to attend the SEF.Founder Conference. It's my yearly highlight as I meet other interesting founders." Also, Philippe Sahli, co-founder, and CEO of the hyperscaling fintech Yokoy, considers the event a must-go: "The SEF.Founder Conference is clearly the best business event in Switzerland. At Yokoy, we have gained multiple customers thanks to the connection to the high-caliber networking with SEF participants." Patrick Probst from Jester Advisory is convinced: "The SEF.Founder Conference offers the perfect opportunity to meet inspiring personalities and expand your network."

The goal of the SEF.Founder Conference is to strengthen the founder community and support the founders on their entrepreneurial journey so that sustainable businesses shape the future of the Swiss economy. Founding partner UBS Switzerland is deeply involved in this mission. Lukas Reinhardt, Head of UBS Growth Advisory, says: "We want founders to get inspired by the entrepreneurial stories they hear at the SEF.Founder Conference. Hopefully, the growth mindset, risk appetite, and confidence of the international speakers, Ori Goshen from Israel and Zack Kass from the United States, will have an impact off on the Swiss founders."

Artificial Intelligence becomes a mandatory attribute in new businesses

In his fireside chat with Silvan Krähenbühl, Zack Kass, as former Head of Go-to-Market at OpenAI, encouraged founders to build AI products: "If you are not building an AI product right now, I am curious what you are building", he said. He pointed out how much of a difference it makes when operational inefficiencies are automated internally, concluding that with the help of AI, founders can keep their teams very small while still being able to scale their businesses.

Working in the field of generative AI also means that working at high speed is continuously necessary; the pressure to deliver new models never ends. Ori Goshen, founder of AI21, said it's not enough to do something innovative and deeply sophisticated once a year. As a genAI company, you don’t have few competitors in the field, but the ones you compete with are huge ones like Google, Microsoft, or Meta. In the field of AI, your company needs to announce something at least every six to eight weeks while simultaneously dealing with rapidly changing preconditions in the market and the technology so much that you end up thinking, 'I hope this week nothing comes out that will shake up everything again.'"

Mental health under pressure

Just hearing this, one can anticipate how much pressure and stress a founder must bear. Inevitably, the topic of mental well-being comes up and therefore is discussed on stage in a dedicated panel with three founders of whom two have been through a burnout experience themselves. In the case of Levent Künzi, founder and CEO of Properti, it all began with small things like forgetting the names of employees and making mistakes with simple e-mails. Kevin Baxpehler reports similarly about his early signs of mental struggles. "I lost patience easily, didn't listen well, burst out in anger, and couldn't relax my mind." Both of them say that strictly taking time for oneself is a game-changer. Doing sports, spending time outdoors, reading a book, or simply saying no to things that aren't a priority helps to get through hard times, especially in the long run.

From a science perspective, founders should be aware of the pitfalls of chronic pressure and stress. Dr. Barbara Studer, renowned neuroscientist and also founder with teaching and research activities at the University of Bern recommends counting on meaningfulness, knowing one's purpose, and sticking to one's values to avoid negative stress. An awareness of balance is crucial to being kind to yourself and still being ambitious. Having fun and taking business seriously can go hand in hand. "Don't stop acting like a human: Be funny, be mindful, and keep your balance. You are not a robot." And last but not least: “Keep in mind, who you are. You are not your business.”

The conference ends on a positive note

With this, the fourth edition of the SEF.Founder conference gets wrapped up by moderator and host at Swisspreneur, Silvan Krähenbühl: "There were two key takeaways that stuck with me: Firstly, when it comes to mental health, it's all about balance. Secondly, these days, you don't need much to get started with your own business thanks to generative AI." Before the founders get access to the networking evening with the C-level leaders of Swiss companies from the Swiss Economic Forum, Lukas Frösch, Director of Entrepreneurship at NZZ Connect, concludes: "I talked to many self-reflected and passionate founders, which makes me optimistic about the future of their founder journey. To me, the Swiss founder community seems resilient enough to keep going when the going gets tough."