TT:  You will be joining us as Keynote speaker at the Tech Tour Digital Frontiers & Trust event, gathering top digital stakeholders this October in Lausanne. As a prominent founder in the digital space yourself, share with us some of your thoughts on the value the event creates.

VB: You know, in 2004, when we created our company Nexthink, none of us (the three co-founders) had any idea and any connection with the world of startups and investors in particular. And one of the first places we pitched was actually at Tech Tour. It was much smaller than it is now – but it was a platform to actually connect with the right people with zero knowledge and pre-existing connection. So 20 years ago it was useful for us, and I'm sure now even more so, because everything improves, if it lasts. It's a great place for entrepreneurs and investors to get to know each other, but sometimes also maybe find people with similar problems to you and just realize you are not alone.

TT: What has inspired you to become an entrepreneur and what drives you on this path?

VB: I worked always with instinct. And passion, and dedication. So I've always done a certain thing to see my limits in that particular field- without necessarily having chosen early ahead of time what I want to do. There was nothing rational about my choice, because that's what passion is, right? Sometimes if you look at things rationally – you end up not doing it at all, because nothing in the data tells you: this is a good thing to do. (…) For me it was really, to accomplish something. You don't know where you will go, but you know you will reach your own limits in that particular domain. That's what drives me – that's for sure.

TT: What are some of your reflections on your road from startup to unicorn?

VB: Success for me is not a matter of just scale. It is a matter of impact. So you have to define it before you even start, right? You have to know what you want and why, and make sure. And if somebody says, “if I save the life of one person, for me that's good enough” – fine. So build the company to do that. But if you say, “I want to stop climate change impact” – then you have no choice other than scaling, and you must build a company that can scale. (…) Then you have to ask yourself, am I ready for that journey? Because everybody's ready for the end result, right? (…) Do you know what it takes to get there? It is a large amount of effort and sacrifice and ups and downs – physically, mentally, it's terrible. And you don't even know if you're going to make it. So you have to almost enjoy this painful journey.. if you don't enjoy the pain somehow, I don't think you can do it. So you have to be built like that genetically I think, and maybe develop a little bit of talent, to enjoy those tough moments and go through them – because it's not that romantic.

TT: What are the similarities and differences between the worlds of elite sports and entrepreneurship?

VB: In sport, there is one race, one rule, but one winner – and everybody else is a loser. In business, you have multiple races with multiple rules and everybody could win their own definition of it, right? You have multiple successful companies in cybersecurity or in anything else. [In business] you define the rules, more or less.

TT: What piece of advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to make their mark?

Prototype very, very quickly your idea. Because you will realize very quickly once you show your prototype around, that it was not the right thing. So you can fine-tune it, refine it, or even change it, before you move to the next level of production or scale, or automation. [In my experience,] we were perfectionists – we didn't realize this. People buy because one thing stands out, right? Not twenty. So don't build a Swiss Army knife. Build one tool that is a hundred times better than anything else for one single purpose.

TT: What is the impact that you wish to leave on the world?

VB: There have been many entrepreneurs starting unicorns or much bigger companies - so, you know, there are much better entrepreneurs than me. There are better mountaineers. The only thing I can say is, I did what I like, and by doing this, I accomplished some interesting outcomes and could share it with people I enjoyed doing it with, and I made new friends – and that that's what counts, right? So do what you like, do it with your heart and do it with others. I think the most important thing in all these adventures is that, afterwards, what stays is the connections with people, because you share those tough moments together. You know, I meet people from cycling races from 30 years ago, we suffered together or we won the races. When we see each other now, we talk much more about the tough times than about the victories. And it's the same when I meet with the old timers of Nexthink – we talk about those weird, crazy moments of uncertainty, of trying things out, when it didn't work. We don't talk about how we made the numbers that year – I don't even remember that. That's why it is worth it, because you make lifetime connections. And I think that's the only reason to do things to the limits, because they make those moments special. So whether you realize your objective or not – doesn't make any difference. But it connects you with others in a special way at that moment, which is for a lifetime.

 

Follow Vincent’s entrepreneurial and mountain adventures on LinkedIn and Instagram. 

 

Are you an entrepreneur passionate about digital? To connect with Vincent Bieri, join our Digital Frontiers and Trust programme, which gathers some of the most fascinating stakeholders in this space. Featuring top-notch entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors, the programme culminates in a live event this October 29-30 in Lausanne.

 

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