Lean Startup: 3 Core Pillars to Build (and Validate) a Modern Business in Switzerland

I often find myself in conversations with young entrepreneurs and aspiring founders who ask me the same question: “How do I start a startup in Switzerland? Where should I begin?”

My answer is always positive and encouraging. Launching a startup in Switzerland offers several advantages — from political stability and a favorable tax environment to world-class infrastructure, efficient bureaucracy, and access to funding opportunities.

Of course, not everything is perfect — but let’s be honest, we do have a little slice of Silicon Valley here, and it’s called Zurich — the Swiss city with the highest number of startups.

But let’s go back to the core question: how do you actually start a startup? And more importantly, which methodology should you follow?

In this article, I’ll share with you the approach I personally consider the most effective — a method I discovered through Eric Ries’ book, and which has shaped the way I work with innovation: the Lean Startup.

What Is Lean Startup: Origins and Philosophy

Lean Startup is a methodology introduced by Eric Ries in 2011, based on principles from Lean Manufacturing and Agile. Through my work with Swiss startups and SMEs, I’ve seen how effective this approach can be in a Swiss context, where precision and reliability are fundamental values. This method helps companies rapidly create products that customers truly want, minimizing risk and maximizing resource efficiency.

The Concept of "Validated Learning"

At the heart of Lean Startup is the concept of validated learning. Instead of aiming for a perfect product from day one, the goal is to continuously learn from real user feedback. For example, a tech startup in Zurich I followed changed its entire business model after just one month of field validation: initially focused on a restaurant app, they realized customers were more interested in an online booking platform.

MVP – Minimum Viable Product

The MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the simplest version of a product that allows testing a business idea with minimal effort and maximum learning. For example, CLARA Swiss Tech, founded in Lugano in 2015 by three students from SUPSI, developed a smart jacket equipped with LEDs and sensors to enhance cyclist visibility. Instead of starting with a detailed business plan, they created a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and tested it with early adopters. This approach led them to win several awards, including recognition at the Wearable Technology Show in London. Their success story exemplifies the Build-Measure-Learn cycle and the use of the Lean Canvas to communicate their business model effectively.

Build-Measure-Learn Cycle

The Build-Measure-Learn cycle is the foundation of the Lean Startup method. It involves building a quick MVP (Build), collecting data from users (Measure), and learning from this data (Learn). During a workshop at an incubator in Basel, I witnessed a biotech startup use this cycle successfully: they created a simplified prototype of a medical device, gathered direct feedback from doctors, and continuously improved the product through iterative loops.

Feedback and Actionable Metrics

Gathering authentic feedback and tracking meaningful metrics is essential. One fintech startup I worked with in Geneva initially tracked only vanity metrics like website visits and social followers. Only after shifting focus to actionable metrics—like conversion rates and customer retention—did they clearly identify areas that required meaningful improvement.

Lean Startup for Swiss SMEs and Startups

Applying Lean Startup in Switzerland requires balancing the local culture of caution with the agility demanded by today’s market. Swiss startups can leverage their strengths in precision and quality to conduct rigorous testing and accurate data collection. I’ve seen SMEs thrive through collaborations with local incubators and universities like ETH Zurich or EPFL Lausanne, tapping into academic resources to validate ideas efficiently and innovatively.

Conclusion and Practical Application

A study analyzing 25 finalists from the Swiss Innovation Challenge 2022 revealed that while many startups employed Effectuation principles, a significant number also applied Lean Startup methodologies. Notably, 80% of these startups engaged closely with customers during development, and 60% adopted Lean Startup as a decision-making framework.

Adopting the Lean Startup approach in Switzerland means embracing a pragmatic, iterative path to business development. From my personal experience, here are the essential steps to get started:

• Clearly define the hypothesis behind your product or service.
• Quickly build a simple and functional MVP.
• Test it with real users.
• Analyze feedback and track actionable metrics to guide decisions.
• Repeat the cycle iteratively until your product is fine-tuned.

If you’re launching a startup in Switzerland or running a local SME, Lean Startup can be your greatest ally in validating innovative ideas, managing risk, and building a successful business. I strongly encourage you to explore this methodology that has already transformed the strategy of many companies I’ve personally supported in Switzerland.

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