Sandono

«STRATEGY»: In tailor-made workshop formats we develop or challenge your go2market or growth strategy. Our workshops always start with the basis of your company; your «reason why» and vision, mission, ambition & derive the most fitting and highest potential target markets and target customer segments with respective value propositions & offerings (…) MORE

«PITCH DECK»: In the form of a "short intervention" or tailor-made workshop format, we challenge or develop your storyline & pitch deck for investor's search, awards/ grants, or sales. We always start with your "reason why" and vision/ mission and derive the most suitable & attractive way to tell your story. We follow an approach of emphasizing your strengths & beliefs (…) MORE

«ROADMAP»: Through serious planning work, smart approaches, and measurable & inspiring milestones, we create favorable circumstances for your startup's early and sustainable success. In tailor-made workshop formats, we analyze your situation & goals, bringing in our experience in the successful build-up of startups and developing together with you a tailor-made implementation plan including: (…) MORE

«TEAM»: People make companies, and this is especially true for startups. A highly complementary co-founder team—both in terms of personality and skills—as well as recruiting the right first employees forms THE foundation for a successful startup. Strong founders recognize that there are many things they do not know or cannot do themselves, and they prioritize optimal team building from the very beginning. We assist you in deriving a (…) MORE

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«STRATEGY»

In tailor-made workshop formats we develop or challenge your go2market or growth strategy. Our workshops always start with the basis of your company; your «reason why» and vision, mission, ambition & derive the most fitting and highest potential target markets and target customer segments with respective value propositions & offerings. Based on this as well as market & customer insights we discuss the most promising go2market & critical growth paths and derive consequences for product development, sales & marketing, team set-up, (strategic) partnerships & a suiting funding strategy. Finally, we also discuss if and in what form we can actively support you to succeed in key activities, be it acquisition of B2B customers or looking for the right investors through our networks.

This strategy workshop takes between 5 and 8 hours (depending on your situation and goals) and will be charged based on an hourly rate of CHF/EUR 200.– (excl. VAT). In addition to that, the efforts for the preparation (normally 3-6 hours) and after-work (if applicable) will be charged on top of that.

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«PITCH DECK»

In the form of a "short intervention" or tailor-made workshop format, we challenge or develop your storyline & pitch deck for investor's search, awards/ grants, or sales. We always start with your "reason why" and vision/ mission and derive the most suitable & attractive way to tell your story. We follow an approach of emphasizing your strengths & beliefs but always also openly talking about "white spots". Every successful founder (and investor) knows this: you never can learn enough as a startup. Entrepreneurship is all about facing new hurdles, and further questions always emerge that you need to answer to become or stay successful. Nothing is more authentic and trustworthy than a founder who can admit that they don't yet have crystal clear and thoroughly examined answers to all their startup's aspects and open questions. However, it is necessary to communicate that you are actively working on it to find those answers.

In addition, a good, authentic pitch deck is selective: It attracts THE right investors, customers & talents and keeps away those who don't fit you and would only be a hurdle on your path to success because they cannot understand you and don't share your values. Adjusting, by default, to the expectations of potential investors is a mistake. Telling your own, authentic story is the way to find the right investors for you.

The short intervention format takes 3 hours and costs CHF/EUR 1'200.– (excl. VAT) including preparation and session time. The workshop format takes 5 hours and costs CHF/ EUR 2'400.– (excl. VAT) including preparation and session time. All after-workshop-work will be charged separately based on our hourly rate of CHF/EUR 200.–

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«ROADMAP»

Through serious planning work, smart approaches, and measurable & inspiring milestones, we create favorable circumstances for your startup's early and sustainable success. In tailor-made workshop formats, we analyze your situation & goals, bringing in our experience in the successful build-up of startups and developing together with you a tailor-made implementation plan including: a strategic roadmap (3-year-horizon), a tactical roadmap (9-15 months), a 100-day-action-plan, as well as the assessment of your critical path, milestone interdependency, and your need for resources for all these activities. We always proceed «from clear to unclear». In addition, if needed, we are open to pausing the workshop & continuing at a later moment until further research and / or conceptual work could be performed by you. The ability to do a convincing «milestone design» has effects on fundraising psychology, customer success as well as the success of your exit strategy and differentiates strong startups/ founders from the ones that fail. Finally, we also discuss if and in what form we can actively support you to succeed in key activities, be it acquisition of B2B customers or looking for the right investors through our networks.

The quality of a good roadmap can be felt when it immediately triggers a «call2action», and every founder wants to immediately start implementing and knows who needs to do what by when. A further sign of a good roadmap is a strong need to re-prioritize or leave away tasks or activities that no longer seem important. This means true focus has been achieved.

This roadmap/ implementation workshop takes between 5 and 8 hours (depending on your situation and goals) and will be charged based on an hourly charge of CHF/EUR 200.– (excl. VAT). In addition, efforts for preparation (normally 3-6 hours) and after-workshop-work (if applicable) will be charged on top.

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«Team»

People make companies, and this is especially true for startups. A highly complementary co-founder team—both in terms of personality and skills—as well as recruiting the right first employees forms THE foundation for a successful startup. Strong founders recognize that there are many things they do not know or cannot do themselves, and they prioritize optimal team building from the very beginning. We assist you in deriving a resource and team plan from your roadmaps, jointly evaluating where new hires in the core team, strategic partnerships, or external services might be the most suitable solution, and then help you find the identified profiles.

From our experience, it becomes clear that the choice of the right timing, platforms, and attention to detail when creating job advertisements or co-founder matchmaking profiles is crucial for the success or failure of team building. Building a team and culture is a core task for a founding team and should be pursued as strategically and focused as product/technology development or market entry activities.

This coaching is billed according to actual efforts at our standard hourly rate of CHF/EUR 200.–

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Discover the world of DEEP VENTURES where we infuse society and economy with deep approaches.

Dive into the world of DEEP TOURS & DEEP DINNER where valuable impulses and connections await.

We would be delighted to be a part of your personal growth journey, whether as a host, listener, and discussion partner at a DEEP DINNER format or as a tour guide & coach on one of our DEEP TOURS.

Are you looking for a deep moment in nature among fellow startup founders? Then contact us so that we can keep you updated about the next exclusive NATURPRENEUR events.

People make companies, and this is especially true for startups. As a founder, you bring your very own passion & talents and take risks that might affect your personal life too. You express your opinion and make yourself vulnerable. And: you are also bringing with your «backpack» of positive and negative life experiences which may catalyze or hinder the development of your company. Topics such as dealing with money, trusting and being trustworthy, setting boundaries and respecting other people's boundaries, how to manage fears, as well as tapping into your intuition, authenticity, trust, and creativity are crucial when building a startup.

Therefore, we offer you as a founder personal coaching focusing on your personal life situation, personality, and values, and it exclusively handling topics that are relevant for you and your personal growth.

This type of coaching helps you explore your full potential and that of your startup. As a side effect, you will live happier and work better. Our methodology uses insights from psychology to explore conscious and subconscious belief sets, behavioral patterns, and habits, as well as your expectations for other people. We help you let go of «old» belief sets that might sabotage your life and substitute them with new, life-affirming, effective belief sets, as well as breaking and building new habits. Last but not least, we need to say: we don't want to change your individual personality, but give you back the complete awareness about your authentic self, your thoughts & your actions so that you can live even more self-determined, free & fulfilled, and express your full authentic power & impact. You should not be a prisoner in a hamster wheel of performance & expectations of others but an active creator of your own life & impact.

The sessions are either happening at our offices in Lucerne or Zurich or in nature while hiking in the forest or walking up a hill (in summer) or while skiing (in winter). This coaching is offered based on our standard hourly rate of CHF/EUR 200.– We offer a free-of-charge first session (90’ max.), after which we can better assess in which topics of personal growth there's the most potential for you and what would be an estimate time & budget, we would need to invest to activate this potential.

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«STRATEGY»

Startup Strategy Workshop (in the context of your innovation or company strategy) we discuss the strategic «why» & «what» and answer (among others) the following questions:

(«why») does a startup activity even make sense for your company?
«how» can your startup strategy contribute to your overall (innovation) strategy? Why (or in what areas) can such a contribution only or best be achieved through startups?
«how» can this contribution by a startup strategy best be achieved (cooperation vs. investment)?
«how» does your target startup profile look like?
«what» can you actually and concretely offer to these startups?
«how» does this offering differentiate against offerings of your competitors or other companies?

We are more than happy to put together a detailed offering, including a proposition for the agenda of this full-day workshop.

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«EXECUTE»

Implementation Workshop Startup Strategy We define the operational «what» & «how» and answer (among others) the following questions:

«what» are your concrete value propositions and offerings for your target startup profile?
«what» are realistic goals for your startup activity, and how can you measure success?
«how» could a concrete cooperation or investment process look like – from scouting to cooperation, to implementation, to closing of the investment?
«where» can these types of startups be found, and how can they find you («pull») or how can you find and approach them («push»)?
«how» can you boost your company's visibility to these startups in a straightforward & fast way (startup events, partnerships for startup programs/ accelerators/ incubators, own startup program, etc.)?
«how» can you express your startup offering on your website (or do you need a new, specific landing page for this purpose)?
«how» could a partnership with SanDono look like, and what part of the activities/ services could you outsource to us?

We are more than happy to put together a detailed offering, including a proposition for the agenda of this full-day workshop.

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«SCOUT»

Startup Scout We scout the best startups for your target profile, nationally or internationally. Therefore, we can support you with the following activities:

Active scouting of startups based on your search profile. National scope (SanDono), DACH region (SanDono), or also globally (SanDono & partner companies)
(Continuous) Potential Startup-Cases Pipeline for startup cooperation or investment – for your decision-making process
(Ad hoc) Potential Startup-Cases Pipeline for startup cooperation or investment – for your decision-making process in the form of a long and shortlist for your assessment and decision-making process
Assessment of incoming startup requests («pull») & actively communicating with potential startups
Representation or Attendance (together with people from your company) in Startup Events in Switzerland or the DACH region

We are more than happy to send you a detailed offering for our scouting service.

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«GUIDE»

Startup Guide We cover the whole process or single steps of the entire process until the start of the cooperation with a startup or the closing of the investment. Therefore, we can support you with the following activities:

Active scouting of startups based on your search profile. National scope (SanDono), DACH region (SanDono), or also globally (SanDono & partner companies)
(Continuous) Potential Startup-Cases Pipeline for startup cooperation or investment – for your decision-making process
(Ad hoc) Potential Startup-Cases Pipeline for startup cooperation or investment – for your decision-making process in the form of a long and shortlist for your assessment and decision-making process
Assessment of incoming startup requests («pull») & actively communicating with potential startups
Participation in the discussions with startups on-site (at the startups or your offices) or via video call
Guiding the complete process (including, for example, due diligence or term sheets for investments, pilot project scope, or negotiation of contracts for cooperations)
Representation or Attendance (together with members of your team) in Startup Events in Switzerland or the DACH region

We are more than happy to send you a detailed offering for our scouting service.

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In the year 2016, SanDono was founded by Roman H. Schmid to help startup founders better create. 2017, his life partner Natalia Schmid joined as a business partner to help develop the company to the next level. In 2021 and 2024, Ivan Büchi & Lily Pepper joined the team on a partner level, allowing SanDono to cope with the substantial growth of our portfolio and tap into additional geographical markets.

Roman H. Schmid

Grüezi! I’m Roman H. Schmid, and I am a creator, artist, entrepreneur, leader, and value-driven coach. My professional and private experiences, as well as my readiness for personal growth, make me an authentic coach for responsible entrepreneurs, value-oriented top executives as well as for fathers, mothers, and artists.

After my Political Science, Business Administration, and History studies at the University of Zurich, I was allowed to lead challenging projects in the fashion & financial services industry. Since 2010, I've co-built several companies successfully. In 2016, I founded SanDono, where I work as a business coach and, since 2019, additionally as a life coach. Through my work at SanDono, I have helped over 100 startups and several hundred startup founders in their personal growth.

Being the son of a farmer, I've been connected to nature my whole life, whether on the farm, in the garden, or in the beautiful Swiss lakes, mountains & forests. Five years ago, I began to intensify my work planting in raised beds and self-taught myself the ins and outs of the wild alpine world: the knowledge of its terrain, its animals, plants, and mushrooms. Next to my passion for and activities in nature, I am a passionate cook, pianist, songwriter & singer.

I currently live between Spain and Switzerland, which allows me to enjoy the mountains, forests, lakes, and rivers of Switzerland, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. My wonderful wife has given me two amazing children, and family means everything to me, which is why I prioritize them highly in my life.

FIND ROMAN ON LINKEDIN

Natalia Schmid

Hola! I’m Natalia Schmid, creator, intuitive guide, and firm believer in the power of aligning our values with our lives. In my mid-20's, my own growth journey led me to abandon a well-paid and well-regarded career in dentistry in search of more truth and meaning. Over the course of the years, I’ve worked in the intersection of market & innovation in market-leading companies as well as non-profit organisation in the health sector - and finally, co-founded SANDONO, where I help founders align their own values with those of their companies.

Research shows that founder personality is one of the most influential factors for startup success. However, ever since startup entrepreneurship became a trend, more and more founders who aren't naturally fitted for entrepreneurship are starting companies, saturating the market and using valuable resources that would be better used by other projects. Additionally, many talented people with big ideas are working 9 to 5 jobs instead of founding companies, all because they dont think they fit the mold of the fancy, hip entrepreneur that we nowadays idealize. This needs to change.

Today, my work at SanDono focuses on helping naturally talented entrepreneurs unlock their true potential so that they can have a true impact on society. Using insights from psychology and coaching, I help clients gain awareness of how their past experiences and subconscious belief sets might be holding them back from materializing their visions for their companies and lives. I derive true satisfaction from witnessing how clients meet and exceed their own expectations for themselves, both personally and professionally, through our deep, self-reflective approach.

Personally, I enjoy reading and writing, travelling, spending time in nature and, most importantly, with my family.

Ivan Büchi

Grüezi! & Hola! My name is Ivan Büchi and I am a passionate, curious, and multi-interested intrapreneur and innovation expert, product and bridge builder. My broad interest & know how a driving force throughout my professional career as a bank employee, software developer, systems engineer, business analyst, product manager or in business development. I have been working in innovative SMEs as well as market leading.

In all my roles and being a true intrapreneur, I always challenged and changed the status quo with creative and future-oriented ideas. In this, I relied on my interdisciplinary and industry-agnostic thinking, deep interest in strategic questions for innovation projects, product building and business modelling – for HSBC Guyerzeller Bank, Glarner Kantonalbank, Avaloq or for Swisscom.

Over time, I became a mentor and guide to many entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs myself, sharing my experience and contributing to the development of other talented people and supporting their journeys – as a coach and consultant. My biggest passions lay in transformation projects in the financial services industry (FinTech and bank driven) as well as in the application of technology for the topic of aging/ longevity (AgeTech).

In my personal life, I enjoy spending time with my family and our friends. Cooking is an important element of my life, and I love to share it with my friends and family.

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Lily Pepper

Hello! I am Lily Pepper, and I am a systems thinker with a deep passion for uncovering the root causes of complex challenges. I am always searching for holistic solutions that create lasting impact. With an interdisciplinary background, I enjoy bridging ideas, people, and resources to drive meaningful change. I believe that anything is possible with the right mindset, resilience, and strategy.

My journey so far has been shaped by entrepreneurship, as I have been involved with and supported multiple startups in various industries. As a founder, I experienced firsthand the excitement and complexity of building something from the ground up. Over time, I realised that my greatest motivation lies not just in building something for myself, but in empowering others. Closing my own startup was a turning point that led me to SanDono, where I can use my skills to support founders who are shaping the future. Here, I strive to help entrepreneurs refine their visions, overcome obstacles, and develop solutions that make a real difference. My passion for circular economy solutions and transformative business models continues to guide me, as I believe in business as a force for positive, systemic change.

Outside of work, creativity plays a key role in how I see and interact with the world. My appreciation for art and design fuels my ability to think in new ways. I find energy in nature, moving, and meaningful connections with friends and family. I now live in Paris, which allows me to pursue many of these passions next to my work.

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