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Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

swissinfo.ch

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Re: Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

#51

Post by kyledrake »

raverbashing wrote: post #50
kyledrake wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switzerland has 8 million people that can work without nasty visas and their related problems. California has 321 million.

Read that again: "They can have anyone from the EU" (with no need for visas) That's 510 Million people - take 65Mi out when the UK leaves but that's still a bigger number (Google gives a total European population if you google that, but that's a wrong number)

Swiss voters are trying to tear that up: http://www.expatica.com/ch/visas-and-permits/Guide-for-EU-EF...

Also WTF is a "residence permit". It sounds like a visa to me, and has similar requirements.

Re: Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

#52

Post by literallycancer »

malthaus wrote: post #38

There are a lot of political initiatives, corporate accelerators etc going on at the moment but they don’t fix the inherent problem here in Switzerland: Cost of living is absurdly high, unemployment is low and life is just really convenient. Why risk it all for a startup when you can just cruise through life with a 42h-week and long lunches at a bank and save a ridiculous amount of money doing so. Because of this cul…

>Cost of living is absurdly high, unemployment is low and life is just really convenient.

My understanding is that the cost of living is very reasonable, with what the average person gets paid. Almost everyone else in Europe spends a bigger portion of their income on accommodation, food, clothes, commuting etc. while the cost of electronics, cars, vacations and so on remains the same.

Re: Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

#53

Post by matttproud »

siscia wrote: post #5
mschuster91 wrote: post #3

The main problem for Switzerland is not a lack of venture capital, but rather the Swiss Franc. Cost of living in Switzerland is extremely high, which means a company has to pay huge salaries, and thus command bigger prices for its product. While that works fine when the product is luxury watches, diamonds or highest-quality cheese, it does not work out for "mass production goods" as any product (be it a physical prod…

I dont think that Switzerland is more expensive than say San Francisco... While it is true that is one of the most expensive European countries the cost of living is very close to the one in the bay area...

CH is cheaper cost-of-living-wise than Bay Area at-large. I formerly lived in the Bay Area and now live/work in Zürich. When you throw having a child into the equation, Zürich is hands-down cheaper and better than West Coast. No more worrying about what zip code you live in for a decent school district, etc. Your earnings go much further here.

This is an expensive place to visit as an outsider but cheap place to live and work. Let's not forget tax efficiency, either.

But, hey, the Helvetic Confederation isn't for everyone, and I'm OK with that.

Re: Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

#54

Post by Klockan »

kyledrake wrote: post #51
raverbashing wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read that again: "They can have anyone from the EU" (with no need for visas) That's 510 Million people - take 65Mi out when the UK leaves but that's still a bigger number (Google gives a total European population if you google that, but that's a wrong number)

Swiss voters are trying to tear that up: http://www.expatica.com/ch/visas-and-permits/Guide-for-EU-EF... Also WTF is a "residence permit". It sounds like a visa to me, and has similar requirements.

The typical procedure for getting a permit to Switzerland is to first move there and when you live there you go get it automatically at your nearest office, you will never get rejected as long as you have a job.

Re: Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

#55

Post by malthaus »

literallycancer wrote: post #52
malthaus wrote: post #38

There are a lot of political initiatives, corporate accelerators etc going on at the moment but they don’t fix the inherent problem here in Switzerland: Cost of living is absurdly high, unemployment is low and life is just really convenient. Why risk it all for a startup when you can just cruise through life with a 42h-week and long lunches at a bank and save a ridiculous amount of money doing so. Because of this cul…

>Cost of living is absurdly high, unemployment is low and life is just really convenient. My understanding is that the cost of living is very reasonable, with what the average person gets paid. Almost everyone else in Europe spends a bigger portion of their income on accommodation, food, clothes, commuting etc. while the cost of electronics, cars, vacations and so on remains the same.

Of course it's in sync with wages, you live comfortably even as a waiter - but it requires you to have a steady income. The threshold for ramen profitability is a lot higher than elsewhere which makes it harder to spend significant time on a startup without funding.

Re: Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

#56

Post by opportune »

tmsldd wrote: post #26
bontoJR wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Although it is nice to have more funds available, which increases the competition among VCs, the main point is not lack of funds. I agree on that, on the other hand I don't see the lack of market as a big problem. I like to take Spotify as example, it started in Sweden, which is a market comparable to the Swiss one in terms of size, but after the first prototypes and early versions, it went global almost immediatel…

I understand your point. Yeah.. this is king of a ecosystem.. which needs to be balanced. The good news about the report is that it shows a mindset shift.. Switzerland is stable, warm (people) and radiates freedom .. for sure it is a good candidate to become the next hub.

It also has a lot of capital (although perhaps not necessarily risk-capital), and seems to be the only place in Europe that pays developers comparably to their pay in the US.

Re: Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

#57

Post by fla »

siscia wrote: post #29
fla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. The strength is the inverse of that.

My point was that in high margin industries such rate is not a big issues.

Sorry but this is not true. It has been such a big deal that the central bank pegged the currency artificially.

Re: Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

#58

Post by aezell »

kyledrake wrote: post #39

Liberalizing their immigration laws that prevent availability of talent for startups (and everyone else) is a better solution to this problem than just throwing together a giant pile of dumb money. But that's going to require some pretty existential changes to Switzerland that I sincerely doubt they're actually interested in making.

I immigrated to Switzerland from the US back around 2000 for a technology job. It was actually fairly easy to get a temp worker's visa which was valid for 3 months. Once I was there, my employer went with me to the "Bureau d'Etrangers" to get my actual work visa which was valid for one year. It would be renewable each year as I proved I was still employed.

It's possible it's much more difficult now 17 years later with lots of political and social change around the world. But, I think the Swiss love for people to think it's a lot harder than it is. It requires diligence and some paperwork on a regular basis but if you are skilled technology worker, they tend to let you right in...in my experience.

Re: Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

#59

Post by hocuspocus »

elmar wrote: post #7
mschuster91 wrote: post #3

The main problem for Switzerland is not a lack of venture capital, but rather the Swiss Franc. Cost of living in Switzerland is extremely high, which means a company has to pay huge salaries, and thus command bigger prices for its product. While that works fine when the product is luxury watches, diamonds or highest-quality cheese, it does not work out for "mass production goods" as any product (be it a physical prod…

do you have any link to a study comparing Switzerland tech salaries with Silicon Valley?

They're lower. Not by a lot if you just look at the median, especially relative to CoL (lower rents, lower taxes), but on average, the Bay Area has some 300k tech workers (?), several companies that make over $1m in profits per employee and drive the salaries up.

In Zürich Google will make you a 250k offer, and if you aren't happy, too bad for you, nobody else is going to pay that in Europe :)

Re: Switzerland government raises investment funds to support Swiss startups

#60

Post by bogomipz »

tmsldd wrote: post #15

Although it is nice to have more funds available, which increases the competition among VCs, the main point is not lack of funds. I used to say that a good VC brings you two important things: money and market. Money alone doesn't bring you much (don't get me wrong ..). In my eyes that is the main issue in the startup scenario in Switzerland: lack of market. Having a population of about 8 million people means that you…

Spotify did it and they started in a in a European country of a similar size. A lack of market didn't stop them. Can you say why Switzerland would be different?
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