From startup to hypergrowth: successful scaleup founders and the Romande Ecosystem

Anand Narasimhan, Dean of Research and Shell Professor of Global Leadership, IMD

Anand Narasimhan is Shell Professor of Global Leadership and is Director of the Team Dynamics for Boards program. He focuses on the dynamics of boards and top teams and their effects on organizational transformation. After graduating from the Birla Institute of Science and Technology in India, he earned a Post Graduate Diploma in personnel management and industrial relations at XLRI, India, and a PhD at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA. Anand is also a graduate of the Financial Times Non-Executive Director program and the Tavistock Institute’s Dynamics at Board Level program. His awards include Axiom Business Books, Gold Medal – International Business (2015), Best Article, Small Group Research (2014), EFMD, Best Public Sector Case Study (2012), and Reviewer of the Year, Human Relations (2005).

Jim Pulcrano, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at IMD

Jim Pulcrano is Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at IMD, with extensive expertise in startups and how these learnings are critical for larger companies. A former Executive Director at IMD, Jim is the founder of the annual IMD Startup Competition, teaches entrepreneurship courses for Innosuisse, and has launched a custom program for scaleup companies in collaboration with Innovaud. He has taught programs for a range of major clients including Caterpillar, Lenovo, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Bayer, INEOS and UEFA. Before joining IMD, Jim worked for Schlum- berger and was Managing Director of a Swiss medical device startup. Over the past 30 years he has contributed significantly to six startup companies in the US and Switzerland, three as co-founder. He is also an investor and advisory board member in several early-stage companies.

Patrick Barbey, CEO, Innovaud

Patrick Barbey has over 30 years’ experience in technology management, covering software development, mobile and web technologies, smart grid and energy management applications. Patrick started at Landis&Gyr to move to IT consulting with Texas Instruments Software. He then was a co-founder of Wavecall, a startup at EPFL Innovation Park. He was then CTO of MNC SA, a successful startup who was acquired by Alcatel. After being VP Engineering at NEXThink he became Asset Manager at SIG. Since 2012 Patrick manages Innovaud, the Swiss innovation agency supporting foreign companies setting up in Switzerland and Vaud-based startups, scaleups and SMEs. Patrick holds a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from EPFL and an MBA from University of Lausanne/EPFL.

Schuyler Weiss, CEO, Alpian

Schuyler Weiss has more than a decade of experience in leading digital banking transformation, as the Chief Digital Officer at REYL, as a Vice President at Morgan Stanley, and as a Senior Consultant at IBM. He holds an MBA from IMD and a BA in Economics- Mathematicsfrom Colby College.

Marion Fogli, Managing Director, Alpian

Marion Fogli is an experienced professional in leading digital transformation projects for the wealth management industry. She holds a BSc in Business Management from the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, an Executive MBA from IMD, certifications from MIT in Artificial Intelligence and from Cambridge University in Sustainable Finance.

Alpian bills itself as the first Finma-licensed digital private bank in Switzerland. Alpian combines machine and human intelligence to offer private banking services and investment expertise. Its hybrid model offers a secure, ultramodern banking experience with the support and guidance of Alpian’s qualified wealth advisors, giving affluent clients access to a service normally reserved for those at a traditional private bank.

Mikhail Kokorich, CEO, Destinus

Mikhail Kokorich is an Aerospace entrepreneur, engineer, and inventor. Founder of aerospace companies Destinus, Momentus (NASDAQ: MNTS), Astro Digital, and Dauria Aerospace. Stanford Executive Program 2016. Ycombinator S18 & W21.

The world is only as big as the distance between two places. What if we can make that distance negligible? What tremendous new possibilities would we enable for our customers? What if we do it in a way that’s affordable and doesn’t harm the environment? That’s what we aim to do at Destinus. Our hypersonic airplanes combine the most advanced aeronautical and space technologies. The long-range and high-speed capabilities, enabled by hydrogen as a fuel, will open new flight paths for cargo and passenger transportation anywhere on Earth.

Govinda Upadhyay, CEO, SmartHelio

As a serial entrepreneur, Govinda Upadhyay is passionate about creating positive change in the world. His focus is on the climate domain, where he is committed to accelerating the adoption of clean technology in our society. His first startup, LEDsafari, was founded with the belief that everyone should have access to clean energy, regardless of where they live or their economic background. They developed DIY solar lamps and empowered young students to learn about renewable energy and build their own solar lamps. In his second startup, backed by Y Combinator, they are creating a software solution that can prevent downtime in solar plants. By using AI and physics principles, they can predict faults in real-time and ensure that maintenance staff are alerted before any damage occurs. Govinda Upadhyay has a background in Physics, electrical system and climate change and studied in Sweden, Netherlands, Switzerland and India. Govinda Upadhyay is on the Forbes list- Forbes 30 under 30 Europe for the work in clean energy, Asia 21 Leaders, EIT award 2015, MIT impact award and Prestigious Swiss Ambassador award 2018.

Karen Jane Huebscher, Member of the Executive Board SMG, Chairwoman Audit Committee, Tecan Group AG

Karen Huebscher is a member of the Boards of Directors with Tecan Group and BBI Solutions, a Novo Holding Portfolio company. From 2014 to 2021 she was CEO of Solvias Group, leading its transformation and ultimate sale to Water Street and JLL Healthcare Partners in 2020. Prior to this, she spent more than 15 years with Novartis in senior, global leadership positions. She holds a PhD from the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich and an MBA from the IMD in Lausanne.