Meet Bluetector CEO David Din and find out how he turned his greatest professional failure into a successful startup

27.11.2020 08:05, Isabelle Mitchell

Venture Leader China David Din founded Bluetector, a cleantech startup that offers turnkey systems for the treatment of manure and biogas digestate: Bluetector’s treatment systems convert manure into water that contains only traces of nitrogen and phosphorus and is ideal for the irrigation of plants. Learn more about David’s expectations for the Venture Leader China experience and find out about his passion for Batman, hiking, and making the world give a sh*t about manure treatment.

The Venture Leaders China 2020 will accelerate their expansion into the Chinese market and build a business network through meetings with top-notch investors and industry leaders. To introduce you to the members of the Swiss National Startup Team, we asked each entrepreneur to complete a short profile and choose four questions from a questionnaire about their personal and professional life.

Name: David Din
Job title: CEO of Bluetector
Location: Root 
Nationality: Swiss 
Graduated from: University of Zurich 
Number of employees: 6
First touchpoint with Venturelab: In 2012. It was a course to learn about startups, and I wanted to learn. 
 
“Bluetector turns manure into water.”

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
My original idea was to tackle the challenge of treating wastewater from mobile toilet cabins. It cost me many years and almost CHF 4 million to finally come up with a solution. It turns out that the sh*t from portable toilet cabins is nearly identical to pig manure—which is a huge market. I was very lucky. 
 
What do you expect from the Venture Leaders program, and how will it help you achieve your vision? 
The Chinese market is the world’s biggest market for manure. Half of the pigs in the world are in China. I want to enter the Chinese market together with an influential partner in agriculture. It is my ambition to make China the global poster child for environmentally safe and clean pig farming. 
 
How and where do you clear your mind? 
I need time in nature, especially in the beautiful mountains of Switzerland. I go hiking with my wife at least twice per month. 
 
What is your greatest professional failure and what did you learn from it? 
My greatest professional failure was that my first solution for treating wastewater from mobile toilet cabins did not work. It was a complete disaster. But thanks to that failure, we were able to find a much better solution—and finally, come up with a great solution for manure. 
 
What is your favorite book?  
My favorite book is the graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. This book revolutionized not only the comic book industry but also the movie industry. This graphic novel triggered the Batman movies, which revitalized Marvel and DC and brought many new heroes to the cinemas. 
 
What is always in your fridge? 
I always must have a lot of milk in my fridge. 

Last but not least, could you show us your workspace? 



For more information and updates on Bluetector and the Venture Leaders China, follow the Venture Leaders China 2020 team with #VleadersChina on social media or subscribe to our newsletter. 
 
This year’s Venture Leaders China is organized in collaboration with swissnex China and supported by EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Gebert Rüf Stiftung, VISCHER, Canton Vaud, and the Canton of Zurich.