"Just being a kick stage winner is already good to increase credibility in the Swiss start-up scene"

1.    How and why did you launch your startup?
There is always a combination of multiple personal and professional reasons. The main personal reason seems like the gravity of the adventure and challenge, the same attractive force that made explorers sail towards the ocean. The professional reason is the size of the opportunity in both the earning and the learning.

There is no other setting that you can simultaneously learn and earn that fast and that much.
I was at this mindset. When I filed a good patent during my PhD, it became a real project. When I found the first co-founder (actually he found me), the project became a start-up.

2.    What is the meaning of your company name?
Very popular question. Literally it means the “carrier of the moon”. We just like how it sounds and stands-out more than the meaning. After looking for a name for weeks, when “Lunaphore” was said, we loved it at the first moment.

3.    What stage of its development is your startup today? What are the next steps?
Our prototype is working and preliminary clinical studies were completed successfully. Now, we would like to close the financial round as soon as possible to start advanced clinical trials and industrial production steps.

4.    How is your startup positioned regards to your competitors (on the market)?
Competitors are potential buyers; hence our mission is to open new markets and new applications in the existing market using our technological advantages. For example, our fast assay capability in less than 5 minutes, versus a few hours, opens a spectrum of applications that was not possible before. In addition, existing systems are set out to automate diagnostic workflow in large central laboratories, while we offer the capability of performing these assays in any setting.

5.    Why did you apply for venture kick?
A start-up always needs cash and visibility among investors and partners. This is how we stay alive. Venture kick was both of them.

6.    Explain how the venture kick program helps you?
Just being a kick stage winner is already good to increase credibility in the Swiss start-up scene. Nevertheless, I get the real benefit when Jordi and Beat “smashed” me real good at the kickers camp. If you listen them instead of crying, they vaccinate you against all the odds that might kill you in the near future. It hurts but makes you stronger.

7.    How did you convince the jury?
Presentation should be good. This is the minimum standard to be taken seriously. However, the game is always won in the Q&A: be prepared as a team and answer articulate.

8.    What kind of advice would you give to another young entrepreneur?
One: Go online and watch the video “First follower: Leadership lessons from dancing guy”. Two: accept that you are incapable of doing anything worthy when you are alone, so should surround yourself with great people. Three: listen listen listen. Listen customers, investors, coaches, and advisors then filter this information together your team members. The rest will come.

9.    Why would you recommend the venture kick program to other startups?
Most competitions just assess the status quo of your company. Venture Kick is particularly different than other cash prizes.
The progress that you can achieve within a given period and budget is the essence that investors look for in a start-up team. Venture kick makes this for them by assessing the progress you achieve: In each stage, they give some money that you can use to show how much you can do within a few months. In the end, you have something solid to show.

10.  What do you think is the impact of the venture kick program on the Swiss startup industry?
They somehow create it.
It starts with the inception of the idea of working in a start-up or starting your business among the talented young people in Switzerland. They put this in your mind as a serious alternative when compared to safe jobs. Later, by assessing your start-up, they make you credible among investors and customers.

11.  You participated also to venture leaders USA, what did you get out of it?
Before venture leaders, I had psychological barriers making me think that entering to US market is a rather impossible or a remote goal. When I was on the return flight, US had been the first international goal in our business plan. Similarly, I’ve seen that US investors can be much easier to get in: the perceptions of risk and assessment criteria are primarily different that what I saw here.
The last, and perhaps the most important, was the 2 weeks I have spent with the CEO’s of the most significant 20 start-ups in Switzerland: an incredible opportunity for exchanging ideas. Plus, I can just call them whenever I need and share my experience with people struggling around the same problems as I have.