ACE Ventures: A Matter of Scale

Impatience is Imperative 

There is a distinct cultural friction when a Swiss founder steps into the US market. In Switzerland, the prevailing operating system is one of consensus and humility. In the US, it is a high-volume collision of urgency and salesmanship. 

Alessandra Agnello knows both worlds well. After more than a decade living in Switzerland and earlier experience working with American firms, she now sits at the intersection of the two. As a Director at ACE Ventures, she represents a firm headquartered in Switzerland that has deployed nearly two-thirds of its capital in the US, backing companies like Rippling and Fivetran long before they became household names. 

As ACE doubles down on the Swiss founder diaspora through its Swiss Tech Outliers strategy, Agnello points to a defining difference between the two ecosystems: impatience. 

“We have a lot of patient, ‘soft’ capital in Switzerland,” she observes. “There is always a bridge to a bridge to a bridge. Capital keeps flowing to startups that aren’t really inflecting. In the US, capital is impatient. If you don’t perform, the tap closes.” 

To an ecosystem accustomed to cantonal support and long-running grants, this may sound harsh. But Agnello argues that the pressure is a feature, not a bug. “You are never comfortable in the US. That discomfort forces urgency.” By contrast, many Swiss startups never truly operate with that intensity – a reflection, she notes, of both cultural norms and the relative maturity of the local VC ecosystem. 

Talent vs. Showman 

Switzerland is currently at an inflection point. The talent density is indisputable. Agnello cites the “abundance” of world-class engineers from ETH and EPFL. Additionally, talent doesn’t see as much of a turnover like in the US, The flux of tech giants like OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta opening their offices here is not a coincidence. The capital is there too. Yet, she notices a critical missing piece in the Swiss founder’s toolkit: The ability to sell. 

“The average Swiss founder is a fabulous technical person,” she says. “But they have maybe 30% of the sales ability of an average American founder.” 

The problem isn’t the product; it’s selling it. In Europe, self-promotion is often viewed as “cringe.” We prioritize the technology over the narrative. In the US, the narrative is the product in the early stages. 

“Americans are never ashamed,” Agnello says. “They pitch themselves from a young age. In Switzerland, we’re trained to be humble. But if you’re building a startup, people need to know about you. Employees, customers, investors — they all need to buy into your vision to want to work with you.” 

Asking for Forgiveness, Not Permission 

ACE has backed more than 130 companies over nearly two decades, with 13 reaching unicorn status. When asked to distill the traits she has consistently observed among the most successful founders ACE has supported over the years, Agnello’s answer is as precise as it is unapologetic: 

They ask for forgiveness, not permission. “We often see founders in Switzerland asking ‘Should we? Can we?’” Agnello says. “They wait for validation. US founders just do it. Like them or not, they break things and fix them later. You have to stop waiting for the green light.” 

They go bolder, earlier. This is about the speed and scale of risk-taking. “Take big risks and fail early,” she says. “Pivot quickly if needed. Go all in. Don’t just endure — evolve.” In Switzerland, failure remains a taboo, she notes, and that can be dangerous. “As a founder, you’re building something new, unproven, and risky. Speed and nimbleness are your only advantages in the early days. Make big decisions, double down on what works, cut quickly what doesn’t, and move on faster.” 

They manufacture urgency. Beware of the comfort of the Swiss safety net. “Patient capital and the safety net of the Swiss ecosystem can be a trap,” Agnello warns. “In the US, you are never comfortable. Competition is fierce and every day you are at war. If you operate in this environment, you’ll learn to take decisions much faster and act qi 

The Era of Swiss Outliers 

Despite the critiques, Agnello is betting big on Switzerland. She points to the “recycling” of talent – founders from successful exits reinvesting both time and capital into building new ventures, while tapping into a deep and growing pool of technical talent – as a sign that the ecosystem has finally matured. Although ACE has operated out of Geneva since its inception, it has only begun to look seriously into its “backyard”, i.e. Switzerland, in the last few years- right in time to harvest the fruit of said maturity. And already minted two unicorns. 

ACE is betting that by combining Swiss engineering brilliance with American-style audacity – supported by ACE’s flagship expertise, drawn from its partners – who have built and scaled companies like Uber in Europe and Vimeo in the US – it can produce the global winners of tomorrow. They aren’t looking for steady, comfortable businesses. They are looking for the outliers who are willing to be uncomfortable.