SAD1 Conference 2027
Switzerland creates billion-dollar innovation.Let's build more billion-dollar companies.
A closed-room summit for the people that make it happen: founders, capital, corporates, operators and public leaders.
The Circle · Zurich Airport · 2027
Too many breakthroughs don’t become global companies from Switzerland.
Switzerland has the science, talent, capital and institutions.
The problem is what happens next.
Capital
Growth capital often arrives too late.
Customers
Too few large companies become early customers of Swiss innovation.
Operators
The people who know how to scale are scattered across markets.
International access
Global networks often come in after the critical decisions have already been made.
From innovation powerhouse to unicorn nation.
The ingredients are there. They just aren’t connected early enough.
More global companies built from Switzerland.
Help shape what Switzerland needs next.
SAD1 is being built with a small group of Founding Partners. They believe Switzerland doesn’t need more innovation. It needs more companies that turn innovation into global businesses.
Founding Partners don’t simply sponsor the summit. They help shape it.
Shape the agenda
Help decide which questions SAD1 needs to tackle.
Bring the right people together
Help identify the founders, investors, executives, operators and public leaders who need to be part of the conversation.
Create strategic connections
Connect companies with customers, capital, expertise and international markets.
Stand behind the agenda
Put your organisation behind a serious effort to help more Swiss companies scale globally.
Founding Partnership is not traditional event sponsorship.
You’re helping build the summit, shape the agenda and bring the right people to the table.
Confidential conversations welcome.
Not another startup conference.
We bring together the people who can get companies from potential to global scale.
- No media
- No stage theatre
- No bought speaker slots
The focus is on the people, conversations and relationships that can help companies move from potential to global scale.
One summit
A small group of founders, investors, corporate leaders, operators and public decision-makers.
One agenda
The barriers stopping more Swiss companies from scaling globally.
Real conversations
Direct conversations between people who can actually do something about them.
A clear objective
More companies scaling globally from Switzerland.
Switzerland doesn’t need another conference about innovation. It needs more companies that scale.
One day. The conversations that matter.
SAD1 is built around the questions that determine whether Swiss companies make the jump from innovation to global scale.
- 01
The scaling gap
Why do promising Swiss companies struggle to make the jump from innovation to global scale?
- 02
Capital at the right moment
What does the financing ecosystem need to do differently before companies outgrow Switzerland?
- 03
Corporate demand
How can large companies become earlier customers, partners and catalysts for Swiss scale-ups?
- 04
The international jump
What should founders and their partners do before international expansion becomes existential?
- 05
The operator question
What capabilities separate a promising company from a globally competitive one?
- 06
What changes next
What should founders, capital, corporates and public leaders actually do differently?
The point is simple: figure out what is holding companies back — and what needs to change.
The people who can change company outcomes.
Founders
CEOs and founders building companies with global potential.
Capital
Investors backing companies through the jump from innovation to scale.
Corporates
Executives who can turn Swiss innovation into customers, partnerships and markets.
Operators
People who have built, scaled and internationalised companies.
Public leaders
Decision-makers who shape the conditions in which companies grow.
Ecosystem leaders
People connecting talent, capital, research and international markets.
Quality matters more than quantity.
Different perspectives. One shared opportunity.
For founders
Build relationships with the capital, customers, operators and international networks needed for the next stage.
For capital
Meet exceptional companies and experienced operators earlier in the scaling journey.
For corporate leaders
Find new technologies, strategic partners and emerging companies relevant to your business.
For operators
Meet the people tackling the hardest company-building challenges in Switzerland.
For public leaders
See what needs to change if Switzerland wants more companies to scale globally.
SAD1 is new. The people behind it aren't.
SAD1 builds on BAD1 in Berlin — a closed-room format built around a simple idea: the quality of the people matters more than the size of the audience.
500
hand-selected attendees
200
founders
200
investors
40+
unicorn founders and leading investors
€500B+
assets under management represented
€110B+
company value represented
We know what it takes to get the right people in the same place.
Now we're bringing that approach to Switzerland — with a different question: how do we build more global companies from here?
Niklas Etzel
Niklas has done the journey himself: building in Switzerland, moving to Silicon Valley and raising venture funding there. Today, through 45Nord, he advises corporates and innovation districts on building innovation ecosystems that connect startups, scale-ups, capital and strategic partners.
Maren Schlieper
Co-initiator of SAD1.
The Circle, Zurich Airport.
Designed for an international audience.
Easy to reach from across Switzerland and major European business centres.
10 min
Zurich city centre
90 min
Major European business hubs
Direct
Zurich Airport
SAD1 starts with a summit. The ambition is bigger.
The summit is the starting point. The goal is to build a lasting network around the people helping Swiss companies scale globally.
More connections
Founders, capital, corporates, operators and public leaders working with each other earlier.
More companies
More companies scaling internationally from Switzerland.
More global outcomes
More of the innovation created in Switzerland becoming global business.
More global companies built from Switzerland.
Want to help move the agenda forward?
Not every contribution needs to be financial.
Make an introduction. Bring someone into the summit. Share your expertise. Help us get the right people involved.
Help shape SAD1 from the beginning.
We’re currently inviting a small group of organisations to become Founding Partners.
If your organisation wants to help more Swiss companies scale globally, we’d like to talk.
Confidential conversations welcome.