Innosuisse trainer Klea Wenger: ‘Take as much advice from as many people as possible, but then make up your own mind’

08.02.2022 17:30, Isabelle Mitchell

The Innosuisse Start-up Training in Business Growth and Business Creation equips entrepreneurs with the tools to build world-class start-ups. Around 30 times a year, the Innosuisse trainers—more than 160 entrepreneurs, investors, and experts—share their expertise and provide hands-on experience in tailor-made workshops for ICT, advanced engineering, medtech, and biotech start-ups. One of these trainers is Klea Wenger, the investment director at Swisscom Ventures, the venture capital arm of Swisscom AG, the leading telecommunications and IT provider in Switzerland. Learn more about Klea’s training sessions, her expectations of the participants, and her favorite app and productivity tools.

The Innosuisse Start-up Training comprises accomplished entrepreneurs, investors, and experts who help young companies accomplish their missions. Many Innosuisse coaches have built start-ups themselves, and all know the challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs face. To learn more about the experts who support the Swiss innovation ecosystem, we ask them to complete a short profile and choose at least eight questions from a questionnaire about their training session and their personal and professional life.
 

About Klea

Name: Klea Wenger 
Location: Zürich 
Born in: 1988 in Bern 
Graduated from: EPFL with a BSc in 2010; ETHZ with an MSc in Materials Science in 2012; MBA in 2017 
Job title: Investment Director Swisscom Ventures 
First touchpoint with Venturelab: In 2018, for Venture Kick 
 

About Klea’s Innosuisse training

How are you involved in the Innosuisse Start-up Training?
I present insights on the “VC approach to start-up valuation.” 
 
What is your motivation to join the workshops as a trainer?  
I very much enjoy interacting with fresh, ambitious entrepreneurs and giving them some helpful tips and insights for starting their start-up journey. 
 
What is the best advice you can give to start-up founders?  
Take as much advice from as many people as possible, but then make up your own mind. You are the founder and leader of your company, which will shape its culture and style. 
 
What do you like to see from participants? 
I guess every teacher’s #1 wish is engaged students. Prepare and bring specific questions to the workshop.  
 
What do you think founders need most from a training course? 
In this session, you will learn how a VC comes up with a valuation for your company and what the key factors are that drive your valuation. We will also look at global start-up benchmarks regarding valuations and round sizes at different stages (seed, A-round, B-round).
 

About Klea’s professional life

What is your favorite productivity tool?  
Calendly saves so much time with scheduling. 
 
What do you do when you are creatively stuck?  
New ideas come to me when I am relaxed and do something I enjoy, like walking at the Zürich lake, hiking, or yoga. Yes, I know I should not be thinking about work while doing yoga. ;)  
 
What are your three favorite apps?  
Yokoy—best and simplest expense tool 
PitchBook—best financial database for VCs 
TechCrunch and Sifted—tech and start-up news