“The best part of founding a startup is the early-stage phase"

Back in 2004, Vincent Bieri was working at a multinational IT company, where he was tasked with identifying innovative startups and emerging technologies. “When I quit to co-found a startup, everyone thought I’d lost my mind,” he recalls. But he knew he’d hit on “something special” when he listened to Nexthink co-founder Pedro Bados explain the ins and outs of a technology developed at EPFL, which combines real-time analysis of enterprise digital environments with automated problem-solving. Convinced of the platform’s potential, he called Bados back the following week and suggested they work together.

Bieri, a former professional cyclist, invested a significant chunk of his savings into the new venture: “I didn’t think about it for very long. And in any case, no one can really claim to have enough information to know for certain whether a startup will succeed. You have to go with your intuition.” After completing a $180 million fundraising round in 2021, Nexthink became a rare Swiss unicorn – a startup valued at over $ 1 billion. Bieri and Nexthink had already parted ways by this point. “I left in 2019, when the processes were already well-established and the focus was on optimization and volume growth,” he says. “I missed the intensity and magic of the early-stage phase.”

A chance career change from professional cycling to IT

As a teenager, Bieri showed neither an entrepreneurial spirit nor a particular interest in technology. He was destined for a career as a cyclist. After several years racing for a professional team throughout Europe, and later in the United States, he decided it was time for a career change. “I chose to study computer science because it was the subject with the fewest classes I didn’t like,” he says with a wink in his voice. It turned out to be a serendipitous decision: this new-found knowledge, coupled with his naturally curious disposition, eventually led him to co-found Nexthink. This was the early days of the internet – and a booming period for the tech and digital industries. “I grabbed every new opportunity with both hands,” says Bieri. “I gained a great deal of knowledge in a short space of time.” He became an IT security expert – skills that would serve him well at Nexthink.

Despite having a solid technology base and motivated, passionate co-founders, the spin-off’s first few years proved much more difficult than expected. “But it was such a rewarding experience,” recalls Bieri. “The hard times are what you look back on and talk about. The best part of founding a startup is navigating the challenges and uncertainties of the early-stage phase.”

I didn’t think about it for very long. And in any case, no one can really claim to have enough information to know for certain whether a startup will succeed. You have to go with your intuition.

“We thought we would find investors fairly quickly”

Bados, Bieri and fellow co-founder Patrick Hertzog launched the company in 2004 with a small amount of seed funding – including from the Foundation for Innovation and Technology (FIT) – and some personal savings. They thought they would find investors quickly but, 18 months into their venture, they found themselves running out of money. “We could sense that people were interested, but they got cold feet when it came to parting with their cash,” says Bieri. On more than one occasion, contracts were drawn up but never signed. The company was on the verge of going out of business. Luckily, a major watch manufacturer finally decided to take the plunge – and that prestigious name soon prompted other customers to follow suit. Investment then began flowing into the company, which hired around 30 staff after raising a total of CHF 7.5 million in two fundraising rounds, in April 2006 and January 2007.

Then, in 2008, the financial crisis hit. “Most of our customers froze their budgets,” says Bieri. “We had no idea how long the situation would last.” The three co-founders had no option but to let a third of their staff go – just a few months after hiring them. “From a human perspective, it was incredibly tough,” recalls Bieri. “But if we hadn’t taken that step, we’d have been finished.” They spent the next five years finding the right positioning and effective growth drivers for their business: “The hardest part of it all was keeping everyone – partners, investors, staff – on board and engaged. With each new year, we thought things would take a turn for the better: that we’d get a big injection of funding and finally take off. But we made very little progress.”

The importance of complementary skillsets

Many young entrepreneurs lose heart when they realize that their initial business plan doesn’t match up to reality. “But that’s part and parcel of launching a start-up,” says Bieri. Successful founders need to be naturally resilient and able to solve problems by thinking creatively. “Setting up your own company isn’t for everyone,” he adds. “To navigate uncertainty and drive the business forward, you have to be someone who’s determined and unflappable, and who acts on intuition.” The complementary skillsets that the co-founders brought to the table were undoubtedly instrumental in Nexthink’s journey through headwinds toward unicorn status. “The benefits of being a trio really came to the fore during challenging times,” says Bieri. “One of our great strengths was having different personalities, opinions and perspectives. That meant someone could take the lead and suggest a solution or a change of direction when needed.”

Driven by passion

In his current role as a coach and investor, Bieri shares his experience with young business owners and challenges them to “take their project forward in the best way they can.” He believes that passion is what drives entrepreneurs more than anything else. “It’s what pushes us to do things that seem to defy logic,” he explains. “The same applies to cycling: the idea of getting up every morning and spending six hours out on the bike in the cold and rain makes no sense to people who aren’t passionate about the sport.”

“People often have a romanticized view of entrepreneurship,” says Bieri. “These days, we live in a highly sanitized world. There’s no longer any room for improvisation, relationships and emotions. But that’s exactly what being a startup founder is all about. It’s always going to take longer and be harder than you think.” He adds with a smile: “And AI will never be able to predict if it’ll work, or tell you precisely how to succeed.”