Meet Positrigo CEO Jannis Fischer and discover what role music plays in creating a long-term vision

08.12.2020 08:05, Isabelle Mitchell

Venture Leader Jannis Fischer co-founded Positrigo, a medtech startup that develops a diagnostic technique for dementia: Positrigo’s brain Positron Emission Tomography system NeuroLF offers functional brain imaging to everyone at a fraction of today’s cost. Learn more about Jannis’s expectations for the Venture Leader China experience and find out about the most rewarding aspect of being a founder.

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: Jannis Fischer
Job title: CEO of Positrigo
Location: Zurich
Nationality: German
Graduated from: ETH Zurich 
Number of employees: 8
First touchpoint with Venturelab: In 2017, at the Venturelab workshop series at ETH Zurich 
 
“For hospitals that want to perform functional brain positron emission tomography, Positrigo provides a solution with which they can make five times more scans—in the same space and for a tenth of today’s costs.”

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?  
In 2015, Prof. Dissertori from ETH Zurich, the doctoral advisor of my co-founder Max Ahnen and me, was approached by Prof. Buck and Prof. Weber from the University Hospital and the University of Zurich about the growing need for cost-effective, functional brain scanning for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. We subsequently started the BrainPET Pioneer Fellowship project to develop the prototype, which is now the basis for Positrigo. 
 
What do you expect from the Venture Leaders program, and how will it help you achieve your vision?
We wanted to increase our visibility and grow our network in China to prepare our market access in China. Our vision is to image everyone, and this naturally includes a worldwide market entry. China is one of the largest markets and, thus, essential to achieving our vision. Venture Leaders is a very important step toward this.
 
How and where do you clear your mind?  
By playing music. It is my passion, and I do so in a choir, with the violin in an orchestra, or on the pipe organ. It temporarily takes my mind off the daily business and helps me focus on the midterm goals and long-term vision. 

What is the most rewarding aspect of being a founder?  
It is most rewarding to see the initial idea grow into something big while having the opportunity to shape the outcome myself and taking full responsibility for it. 
 
How much time do you spend on social media? 
Facebook for my personal network (10 minutes a day) and Linkedin for my professional network (10 minutes a day).  

What is always in your fridge?  
Cheese and pickles.

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



For more information and updates on Positrigo 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.