The documentary miniseries about the real life of six Swiss deep tech startups.
Start-up observes early stage entrepreneurs in their labs and shines a light on innovation and entrepreneurship in deep tech without hype. An immersion in the Swiss startup ecosystem; no voice-over, raw, instructive. Not an explainer video, but a conversation starter.
Episode 1
Startups prepare for pitches, work in their labs and produce new samples for potential customers. A TV journalist asks a founder tough questions. The new artificial intelligence chip does not yet perform as expected, while the drone suffers from a mysterious software bug.
> Watch on YouTube (30 minutes)
Episode 2
Founders juggle expectations of investors and employees. A startup travels to Germany for a trade show. The drone finally works and is ready for its first job. A female entrepreneur talks about her experiences in a man’s world. Is entrepreneurship really a lonely business?
> Watch on YouTube (30 minutes)
Episode 3
Investors grill startups and talk shop about how the business really works. The AI startup expands into China. Meanwhile, the biggest startup event of the year takes place in Switzerland. How do the founders balance out the stress of entrepreneurship to keep their vision alive?
> Watch on YouTube (30 minutes)
Watch the miniseries now on YouTube or Amazon Prime.
Start-up: The Miniseries
Start-up is an independent observational documentary miniseries (3 x 30 minutes) about the real life of six deep tech startups that want to change the world. Film director Manuel Stagars followed their journey on the leading edge in artificial intelligence, drones, additive manufacturing, cleantech, and biotech.
This observational series offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the startup life, showing the hopes, dreams and challenges of the young entrepreneurs who want to make a big impact in the world out of Switzerland.
Impact
The daily work of scientists and entrepreneurs is often invisible to the public eye, unless they are famous. Start-up shines a light on the work of early stage entrepreneurs in deep tech and lets the audience observe them in their labs and workshops. This one-of-a-kind miniseries gives down-to-earth access to entrepreneurship, innovation and future technologies that often emerge out of startups in Switzerland, far from Silicon Valley.
To read more about the production of Start-up, feel free to read this article on LinkedIn.
Stills and Set Photos
Meet the Entrepreneurs
These interviews took place behind the scenes and introduce the entrepreneurs and their startups who appear in the miniseries.
The interviews with the startup entrepreneurs from the series are available as a podcast, too.
A Documentary by Manuel Stagars
Manuel Stagars is a Swiss film director and autor. His documentary films focus on science, innovation and technology and their impact on society.
Financial Support
Start-up is as a project within the programme “Scientainment” by Gebert Rüf Stiftung.
Communication Partner
Special Thanks
Many people, startups and organizations make this ambitious project happen by contributing their time, ideas, advice, and access to their networks. Special thanks to all of you! (List in alphabetical order of last names)
- Andrey Alekseev, Spectroplast, www.spectroplast.com
- Matthew Allen, Swissinfo (SRG SSR), www.swissinfo.ch
- Ritah Ayebare Nyakato, Startupticker, www.startupticker.ch
- Samantha Anderson, DePoly, www.depoly.ch
- Simone Bächler, Kickstart Accelerator, www.kickstart-innovation.com
- Dagmar Baroke, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), www.psi.ch
- Felix Bauer, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Roland Baumann, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH), www.ethz.ch
- Dale Bechtel, Swissinfo (SRG SSR), www.swissinfo.ch
- Iris Belle, www.iris-belle.com
- Nicolas Berg, House of Startups, www.houseofstartups.ch
- Bastian Bergmann, ETH Risk Center, www.riskcenter.ethz.ch
- Patrick Biro, Venture Kick, www.venturekick.com
- Florian Braun, Voliro, www.voliro.com
- Felix Büchi, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), www.psi.ch
- Andreas Bühlmann, Swiss Films, www.swissfilms.ch
- Roberto Cattaneo, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Emma Cavalli, Haelixa, www.haelixa.com
- Joseph Ciccone, Gaia Membranes, www.gaiamembranes.com
- Patrick Comboeuf, Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich (HWZ), www.hwz.ch
- Fergal Coulter, Spectroplast, www.spectroplast.com
- Daniel Daester, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), www.srf.ch
- Theo von Däniken, Universität Zürich, www.uzh.ch
- Michele De Marchi, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Tugba Demirci, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Tym de Wild, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), www.psi.ch
- Lucy Fischer, Gaia Membranes, www.gaiamembranes.com
- Matthias Frey, www.komakino.ch
- Davide Gamper, Gaia Membranes, www.gaiamembranes.com
- Florian Gautschi, Business Angels Club Aargau, www.businessangels-ag.ch
- Livio Giacomini, Voliro, www.voliro.com
- Lorenz Gubler, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), www.psi.ch
- Philip Hassler, Venture Kick, www.venturekick.com
- Daniel Heller, Farner Communications, www.farner.ch
- Dacian Herbei, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Stefanie Hynek, Wyss Zurich, www.wysszurich.ch
- Anita Ibayalin Tuomi, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Giacomo Indiveri, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Christopher Patrick Ireland, DePoly, www.depoly.ch
- Loïc Jeanningros, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Cynthia Jurytko, Wille Finance AG, www.willefinance.com
- Mina Kamel, Voliro, www.voliro.ch
- Aisha Khan, Haelixa, www.haelixa.com
- Roman Klingler, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH), www.ethz.ch
- Simon Koenig, Filmbüro Zentralschweiz, www.filmzentralschweiz.ch
- Stefan Kyora, Startupticker, www.startupticker.ch
- Qian Liu, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Karin Lorez, Lorez Legal, www.lorezlegal.com
- Sebastien Mabillard, Swiss Digital Health, www.swissdigitalhealth.com
- Dario Mammolo, Voliro, www.voliro.com
- Punit Mehra, Haelixa, www.haelixa.com
- Gediminas Mikutis, Haelixa, www.haelixa.com
- John Millard, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), www.psi.ch
- Felix Moesner, Swissnex China, www.swissnexchina.org
- Jordi Montserrat, Venture Kick, www.venturekick.com
- Dylan Muir, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Martin Müller, www.linkedin.com/in/martinmueller
- Roy Müller, Farner Communications, www.farner.ch
- Timo Müller, Voliro, www.voliro.ch
- Loris Niederberger, Voliro, www.voliro.ch
- Carsten Nielsen, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Melanie Nyfeler, Universität Zürich, www.uzh.ch
- Fabio Oldenburg, Gaia Membranes, www.gaiamembranes.com
- Michela Puddu, Haelixa, www.haelixa.com
- Elian Pusceddu, Gaia Membranes, www.gaiamembranes.com
- Ning Qiao, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Marco Reato, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Ole Richter, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Eugen Schön, Startupticker, www.startupticker.ch
- Eric Plan, Cleantech Alps: Western Switzerland Cleantech Cluster, www.cleantech-alps.com
- Christophe Rosset, Stadt Wetzikon, www.wetzik-on.ch
- Manuel Schaffner, SpectroPlast, www.spectroplast.com
- Nicolas Scheidt, Voliro, www.voliro.com
- Beat Schillig, Venture Kick, www.venturekick.com
- Tanja Schlager, Haelixa, www.haelixa.com
- Aaron Schneider, Gaia Membranes, www.gaiamembranes.com
- Vadim Shamigulov, www.ru.linkedin.com/in/vadim-shamigulov/en
- Sadique Sheik, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Michael Sidler, Redapline, www.redalpine.com
- Martino Sorbaro, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Angelo Sozzi, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), www.psi.ch
- Peter Spoerry, Spoerry 1866, www.spoerry1866.ch
- Petar Stefanov, SpectroPlast, www.spectroplast.com
- Yayin Su, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Bardiya Valizadeh, DePoly, www.depoly.ch
- Anurag Vempati, Voliro, www.voliro.com
- Oliver Vetterli, Haelixa, www.haelixa.com
- Timothy Vibert, Venture Kick, www.venturekick.com
- Philipp Weidel, SynSense (formerly aiCTX), www.synsense.ai
- Roman Wyden, Roster.LA, www.roster.la
- Ursula Wyss, Presence Switzerland, www.swiss.tech
- Han Zheng, Sino-German College for Postgraduate Studies (CDHK) at Tongji University, cdhk.tongji.edu.cn