A unique matching platform
for startups and scale-ups to find senior and experienced board members
For Startups & Scale-ups
This matching platform will help you find Accredited Board Members. There are many reasons why you need to have a performing Board or Advisory Board:
- Set up strong governance for your growing business
- Bring the right skills and experience at the right time
- Help you to assess pitfalls and risk for your company
- Understand the roles and duties of your stakeholders
For Board Members
Board Matching platform will put you in contact with startups, scale-ups and SMEs that need your experience, skills or seniority:
- Get a privileged access to our ecosystem of startup and fast growing companies in Switzerland
- Find tailor-made matches
- Access special events
- Get discount on continuous Board education programs
It's never too early to start building a strong and performing board
Through our platform, get access to over 150 experienced board members with hands-on experience in Swiss-based non-executive boards and advisory boards.
How it works
Board Matching provides members from all industry sectors with experience in the different phases of a company.
Should you search for a board member coming with entrepreneurial experience, a business angel investor background or a senior executive corporate profile, we have what you are looking for. All startups and scale-ups who used our services were amazed by the seniority of our members. All our members have completed the Startup Board Member Academy.
This ensures our pool of board members do understand clearly the duties and liabilities of being a board member in Switzerland. Even better, they are fully aware of the special challenges that it takes to be a board member on a small company’s board.
Board Matching Switzerland
offers to startups, scale-ups and high-tech SMEs a privileged access to a pool of amazing talents.
Find the right board member for your startup
Get started todayFrequently asked questions
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How do we help startups, scale-ups and SMEs find board members?
- We start with an initial assessment of the Board to identify with you the causes and effects of the challenges
- Leveraging on our experience, we develop with you a set of recommendations to improve the efficiency of your board
- Together we define an action plan and we agree how we can best accompany you in the implementation process
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Why choose to use the Board Matching platform when looking for a new or first board member?
- We are active Board Members of SMEs and startups and have a deep understanding of your challenges with more than 30 years of Board experience
- We have 100+ company case studies from which to extract ideas and lessons learned. We work in a flexible and entrepreneurial way
How to become an accredited board member
- Apply to our Startup Board Academy training program
- Get approved by the selection committee to the Startup Board Academy training program
- Successfully complete the four half days of training
- Get accredited through an assessment conducted by our senior board experts
- Activate your membership on the Board Matching Switzerland platform
- The yearly membership fee for accredited board members to be listed in our database is CHF 500.-
Expert Corner
Start-up governance in Switzerland
Practical guidelines for founders and board members
Steering a start-up is like driving a race car. Legally speaking, the board of directors is in the driver's seat. With the right crew as board members and management team, working together smoothly, you will significantly increase your chances of crossing the finish line. Enjoy the ride!
Étude BDO des conseils d’administration
Dr. Heiko Bergmann & Prof. Dr. Urs Fueglistaller, de BDO SA
This study looks at what is the remuneration for a board member in small and medium organisations, the structure and competences of a board and what makes a strong board
Why cyber security is a strategic topic for Boards?
Marie de Fréminville
Cybersecurity and data privacy are among the risks that must be overseen by the board. Board members and managing directors can be held responsible if they have not taken steps to protect the information systems and personal data collected by the company.
Our Community
Testimonials
Board matching platform helped us to connect with serious professionals who felt strongly with NaturaYuva´s Vision and Mission and could contribute towards our next key milestones. We were considerably fortunate to have found Gael Hedou through this network who not only believed and joined our Advisory Board supporting us with his professional advice but also invested with us and introduced us to other investors.
Aiming for an aggressive growth strategy, the platform has been very helpful guiding us through the process of finding board members that have the skills, experience and network we needed, while aligned with our values and culture.
Despite Covid-19 circumstances, the platform team helped us find two excellent board members with a super smooth and well organised process.
I can only recommend fellow CEOs to recruit external board members, and if you do so, the Board Matching platform is definitely the best place to go!
The Board Matching Platform is a unique opportunity for startup founders. It allowed us to onboard the skills and network capacity we were missing in the form of advisors to our company. The matching process was quick, easy and connected us to people we were searching for. We found two businesswomen with great knowledge about AND contacts in our key industry. This helps support our initial growth plans and increases the diversity in our team.
The value brought by my board is just priceless. Thanks to the Board Matching Platform and the consulting of Virginie Verdon, I have been very rapidly in touch with great people able to help me reach the next milestones.
Just after I found the right board members for my company, I received support, advice and contacts that immediately helped me solve different issues in order to accelerate our growth. Not only do my board members increase my motivation to run the next race, but they are also essential to raise issues I didn’t think about.
I strongly recommend the Board Matching Platform to all entrepreneurs willing to succeed.
I dragged the idea if and how to form an advisory board for a long time as I did not know how to find great people specialised and available for this. Then I found this platform.
What I really loved was how clear, pragmatic but professional the whole experience from the startup survey to the matching to “closing the loop” with gathering this testimonial was. Besides that, I herewith found another great resource to provide to my B2B technology startup clients bringing more value for them. I can only recommend using this platform to any founder looking to form a board in the most effective, professional and even fun way.
As my new coach says: No athlete gets to the Olympics without a great coach!
As a Fintech startup, we have been very busy working hard in a highly specialized domain. It became obvious that we needed an “Advisory Board” to help us on the big picture aspect of certain key areas. Having additional inputs from various backgrounds gave us the visibility we needed to establish certain business decisions. In troubled times, these board members have been particularly active and have shown amazing initiatives. Their knowledge and background gave us access to new horizons and partners. The broad scope of the members proposed by the Board Matching platform gave us the opportunity to pick the right board members, with the needed know-how. It has been a game-changer for us!
As a young cyber-security startup, finding our way for the development of our product with a viable strategy on the right market and facing a fundraising at the same time was difficult. We were struggling with a lot of issues when Virgine Verdon (Head of Board Academy Program) proposed us to use the Board Matching Platform. We were quickly connected with several potential selected board members that matched our profile. The quality of the people we met was exceptional and they are now involved in our organization’s strategy, reinforcing our company. We would recommend using the Board Matching Platform to any company that needs to gain competitive advantage.
The Board Matching platform has been invaluable in helping us to find the right skill, experience, and mindset in a board member for Biospectal. As a young Swiss/US startup with our headquarters in Lausanne, we are growing rapidly. Yet our small size naturally limits the ability to do an extensive search to find the best members for our board. This platform helped us to identify several candidates and to settle on the right one who had experience in US and European business in startups, but also aligned closely with our attitude, culture, and passion for our mission. We wholeheartedly recommend the Board Matching platform for its high quality, well-matched board candidates and the ease of interacting with the folks from the platform team!
Thanks to the very precise Board Matching platform tool, I got in contact with startups matching the specific skills and experiences I could provide. As an experienced senior advisor, it is a new and exciting challenge to help a startup to get operational. Strategic decision making also includes areas where the experience, acquired in many different positions of the career, is essential. The specifics of small and fast moving companies is fascinating and thanks to the course at the “Startup Board Academy” I felt well prepared before joining the first startup. For me, it is a pleasure to share the knowledge and experience with others.
As an early-stage startup, new to the industry we’re active in, we were on the lookout for the network and skills in several crucial domains. Thanks to the Board Academy, we got in touch with the Board Matching Platform. Virginie prepared us a shortlist of board member candidates, which was spot on! After several interviews, we successfully on-boarded a compliance officer. Through these conversations, we also got in touch with a coach at Innosuisse, so a perfect overall score.
Our Services
Matching
Find Board Members
Specific skills and experiences are required at various stages such as: fund-raising, internationalisation, negotiation, network, finance. Get the right advisors and Board Members.
Training & Certification
For Board Members
Get accredited and listed as a professional Board Member on our platform after completing our training and certification program.
Coaching
Startups & SMEs
Our experts can help you better assess and optimize your Board performance. Contact them when going through challenging situations or anticipating changes.
Board Experts
Virginie Verdon
Board Member & Advisor
Virginie is sitting on startup, SME and public owner companies’ boards since more than 10 years. Acting as independent or investor representative non-executive Board Member, Virginie has an extensive experience as chairperson. Driven by her passion for board governance, she is advising boards and chairpersons, conducting board assessments and helping boards improve their performance.
Jean de Wolff
Board Member & Advisor
Jean de Wolff is currently serving on several hi-tech companies’ boards. Throughout his career he participated as Board Member in the successful exit of several companies, but also in the liquidation of two startups. He has learned from those experiences the importance of having the most adequate profiles, but also the most committed Board Members governing startups. He has developed an expertise in risk management and good practice for Board Members of startups.
Jean-Marc Wismer
Board Member & C-Level Executive
Jean-Marc has been active as advisor and director on various boards of directors for high-technology startups for over 15 years. He is keen on helping boards composed of a variety of members representing diverse interests to align on the company vision and objectives, to identify and track key risks, success factors and indicators, and to find the right balance between strategic and operational discussions, as well as provide maximum value to operating management.
Brigitte Baumann
Board Member & C-Level Executive
Brigitte Baumann is the founder and chairperson of Go Beyond Early Stage Investing. In November 2016, Brigitte was listed in Europe’s TOP 50 most influential women in the startup and venture capital space and TOP women in FinTech. In 2015, EBAN (The European trade association for Business Angels and Seed Funds) named her European Investor of the Year. She is President Emeritus of EBAN and past Chair of the Young President’s Organisation.