Bcomp CEO Christian Fischer: ‘Living with a beginner’s mindset allows me to keep a fresh and curious spirit’

Our series about Switzerland’s most inspiring entrepreneurs and founders continues with Christian Fischer, the co-founder and CEO of Bcomp. The Fribourg-based cleantech company is the leading solutions provider for natural fibre reinforcements in high-performance applications—from race to space: The Bcomp solutions advance performance, durability, and sustainability in automotive interiors, sports equipment, luxury sailing yachts, bridges, and satellite panels.

Switzerland boasts countless world-class startups, and our series puts the spotlight on some of the best and most inspiring entrepreneurs and founders to find out what motivates them, what they have learned, and what they do when they are not transforming the world with their innovations. To get this behind-the-scenes perspective, we ask each entrepreneur to complete a short profile and choose at least ten questions from a questionnaire about their personal and professional life. This week features Christian Fischer, the co-founder and CEO of Bcomp, a Venture Kick winner in 2011, a Venture Leader in 2012, and a TOP 100 Swiss Startup from 2011 to 2016.  


Name: Christian Fischer
Location: Fribourg
Born in: Lucerne in 1978
Graduated from: EPFL with a PhD in 2007
Your job title: CEO of Bcomp
Number of employees: 43 
First touchpoint with Venturelab: In 2007, at a Venture Challenge

“Bcomp is the global leader in sustainable composite material solutions for high-performance applications, replacing standard engineering materials by cutting weight and the eco-footprint.”

What are you most proud of?
Besides my family, I would say the Bcomp team with the incredibly positive and energetic culture we have built around it. The intellectual and human quality we have put together to support our journey is out of this world. This clearly is the key to bringing us to where we are today: at the doorstep of the large-scale mobility industry, making our contribution to the decarbonization of one of the largest industries.

What did you want to do with your life at age 12?
I was obsessed with “creating something of my own” without being specific about how I wanted to go about it. When I took the Venture Challenge classes many years later, it was clear that entrepreneurship was the tool for me to “create.” I know this sounds cheesy, but this program opened an entirely new world to me, with top-notch lecturers who inspired me deeply. Remember that back in the day, entrepreneurship was far from having the status of today: In Switzerland, starting a venture was still considered a crazy thing associated with high risk.

What are you most excited about at this time in your life?
It just feels like I’m “bang in the middle of it,” trying to be in “laser mode” as much as possible to enjoy every minute of it. I am in my early 40s, and I feel strongly about contributing to society. When you have had the privilege to grow up in a loving family, receiving a top education in one of the safest and richest countries in the world, I think it your responsibility to give back whatever you have to offer, both to your community and society. Bcomp clearly is part of my contribution, and the fact that things start falling into place—after 10 years of hard work—feels very exciting. Yes, I am very purpose-driven, and this is strongly reflected in Bcomp.

What is your evening routine?
When at home, I take a break from work between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to focus on my family and—about three times a week—do some workouts. After putting the boys to bed, I get back to work for a couple of hours. This is the time in the day when I find the peace of mind to think of the “big things,” clean up my inbox, etc. I go to bed late, between midnight and 1 a.m.

What is your lunch routine?
It can be very different from day to day: I would typically have lunch with colleagues in the office or skip it to get work done and catch up on urgent and important topics. When working from home, I have a quick lunch with my wife, sometimes combined with a swim at the public pool in the village.

How much time do you spend on social media?
I have moved from being on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn daily to LinkedIn for professional purposes only. I find the latter highly efficient in building/managing my professional network and supporting Bcomp’s marketing activities. For the rest, I concluded that it isn’t worth my time during this period in life.

What is always in your fridge?
Cheese and yogurt for the muesli. Always.

What is one thing you had to learn the hard way?
Humility. I used to be quite arrogant as a kid; then, I started training in traditional karate at age 12. That’s where I learned to be a student every day, working hard, focusing on developing myself versus competing with others. Living with a beginner’s mindset allows me to keep a fresh and curious spirit, learning and developing every day.  My 20 years of martial arts have deeply influenced my personality, hence the way I manage my team and myself.

Where and when are you most productive?
When it comes to desktop work, it is in the evenings when I feel that “the rest of the world is resting.” However, to be a leader for Bcomp—which I consider my main responsibility—I need to talk to my teammates and business partners, understand how they feel, what keeps them awake at night, and where we have blocking points that need particular attention. What happens in the office and during customer/supplier visits. Leadership doesn’t happen in the home office.

What do you do while commuting?
Cleaning my inbox.

What do you do when you are creatively stuck?
Sports. It could be running, biking, or if possible, going for a hike. This is obviously very personal, but in my case, this is how I clear my mind, structure my ideas and allow for new perspectives to present themselves. In addition, I feel very calm and positive for hours after working out—the positive effect of endorphins—which comes with the bonus of boosting my productivity.

How and where do you clear your mind?
Same answer as for the creativity question: I generally need to clear my mind before being creative.

What is the most rewarding aspect of being a founder?
It’s quite simple: Serving a purpose I am convinced of with people I like. Imagine you wake up every morning to work for something you created yourself – thus designed around your own purpose – and working with people you selected. This reflects the early-stage phase more than the scale-up phase we are currently in, but I still feel it is very much true, as I keep being deeply involved with recruiting new teammates. Keeping toxic people out and onboarding like-minded, smart colleagues are crucial to keeping developing our deeply rooted company culture.
Recently, a team of Bcomp employees decided to join the RedBull Flugtag in Lausanne. We are happy to support such initiatives that foster collaboration and team spirit, as well as fun and creativity, and allow people from different parts of the company to come together. And of course, we are very proud of them since they brought home victory.
Photo copyright:  © Gabriel Roggo (left), © Romina Amato (middle), © Dean Treml (right)

What is something you wish you had known about being a founder?
European VAT and what a mess it is. Or maybe not, as it might have scared me so much, I wouldn’t have co-founded Bcomp. Seriously, there are many examples of things I am quite happy I didn’t know. Naivety and courage are very close to one another. We are back to the mind of the beginner.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder?
Resilience. Nothing is for free, and good things require hard work and take time to happen. Believe me, this is a working hypothesis we have repeatedly been validating over the years.

Last but not least, could you show us your workspace? 
Photo copyright: © Bcomp