
Switzerland is widely recognized for precision engineering, financial services, and biotech innovation, yet beneath these global strengths lies a growing ecosystem for IT and IT-enabled service startups. Key hubs include Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Basel, Bern, and Ticino, each offering accelerators, incubators, and networks that support founders seeking to validate and scale IT-driven businesses.
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Entrepreneurs are invited to the 713th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, January 8, 2026, at 8 a.m. PST / 11 a.m. EST / 5 p.m. CET / 9:30 p.m. India IST.
If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to Pitch and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback from Sramana Mitra, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to Attend to watch and learn.
You can learn more here and REGISTER TO PITCH OR ATTEND HERE. Please share with any entrepreneurs in your circle who may be Interested.
Justin Wexler, General Partner at WndrCo, discusses his firm’s investment thesis.
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During this week’s roundtable, we first had Justin Wexler, General Partner at WndrCo discuss his firm’s investment thesis.
Griin
As for our entrepreneur pitches, we had Valentina Salazar, from Mexico City, Mexico, pitch Griin.
Valim
Next, we had Koran Rohan from Palo Alto, California, pitch Valim.
Sramana Mitra: You raised two points I want to elaborate on briefly, especially as we near the end of our time. Human nature, as you noted, is status-seeking. Until now, status in entrepreneurship has been associated with venture-funded startups. Venture-backed founders are often seen as higher status than bootstrapped entrepreneurs, and the media has historically reinforced this bias.
In 2007, Sridhar came to see me and told me that no media outlet wanted to cover his company because he had not raised venture capital. I was stunned because it was an extraordinary story. I wrote the first piece on Zoho, followed by a major Forbes column, and that is how the world discovered Zoho. The media simply did not know how to evaluate a powerful bootstrapped entrepreneur.
>>>Sramana Mitra: Gus, that is a good segue into another class of venture capital firms in the market. Let’s set aside the 30 funds raising mega capital and doing mega deals.
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The Netherlands’ startup ecosystem, spanning Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven, The Hague, and Groningen, illustrates the accelerator conundrum clearly: founders have access to mentorship, corporate networks, and resources, yet they often face equity requirements, geographic constraints, and pressure to scale prematurely. Even in hubs with strong IT and IT-enabled services support, these constraints can impede practical learning, bootstrapped growth, and sustainable revenue generation.
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