Swiss Precision Meets Messy Innovation
The Swiss love precision. You can see it in their watches and reliable trains. You can see it in their founding myth, the story of William Tell. He had to shoot an apple that was sitting on his son's head to gain his freedom, and his success sparked a rebellion that led to the formation of the Swiss Confederation. High stakes! In recent decades, Switzerland has been known for banking services. After the financial meltdown, it became obvious to many inside the country that Switzerland needed to innovate very rapidly to create the wealth-generating companies of the future. But innovation is a messy business, the opposite of cold precision. How is the Swiss startup scene managing to square this circle? I recently spent a few days in Zurich to find out.
