Boost inc: Featured in FOUNDED.
Don't waste energy on things you can't change
Boost inc were recently featured on Founded, the platform covering the most exciting stories in the Swiss startup scene. Author Alyssia Kugler sits down with our CEO, Pascal Uffer to dive into our mission to revolutionize the vending industry and the mindset that drives our ‘Dream Team.’
Read the original interview in German on Founded’s website here.
See the English version of the feature article below.
In Switzerland, a high level of self-confidence is often quickly regarded as overconfidence. But Pascal Uffer, Co-Founder and CEO of Boost inc, knows: If you want to win, you have to believe you can achieve the goal. With Boost inc, he is bringing movement to a market that has long been stagnant. And even a cancer diagnosis hasn’t slowed him down.
With Boostbar, you originally launched a vending machine business in Switzerland, similar to what Selecta has been doing for decades with drinks and snacks, or FELFEL with meals. Why did you enter this sluggish and hardware-intensive market?
That’s exactly what makes it exciting. The market for unmanned catering is huge – 1 billion Swiss Francs in Switzerland alone, 70 billion globally – and it continues to grow: The world needs alternatives to manned concepts like canteens. With our years of industry experience and new technical possibilities, we saw a unique opportunity to fundamentally rethink unmanned catering, and thus introduce business models and concepts that are better, cheaper, and simpler than the existing ones. It is important for me to state that our Swiss catering concept, Boostbar, today only accounts for just under 40 percent of our business. We generate the majority of our revenue at Boost inc by selling our technology.
Where does your self-assurance regarding Boost inc come from?
With Boost inc, we are active in a market that hardly anyone knows as well as our team. I was previously the COO at Selecta, the leading vending operator in Europe, and was thus able to build a deep understanding of how the industry works and what technology is needed for existing players to use it. In this position, I felt confident of victory. And when you, as a leader, believe in it so strongly, the people around you believe in it too – it’s a positive spiral.
You are not only confident of victory, but you also don’t make a secret of Boost inc’s plans. Does this transparency sometimes become dangerous?
We often debate this. I believe in extreme transparency: It speeds up feedback from the market and just as often leads to competitors avoiding our plans instead of copying them. And even if we are copied: In the end, the better execution wins. And there is another entirely different aspect: A market like ours is wary of swirling, unpredictable players. Transparency also helps us to appear as a reliable and predictable partner to our partners and customers, despite our speed.
You want to be and remain the leading provider in the 21st century. How can you secure your lead for generations to come?
In the long term, only one thing matters: the team and the culture. Since our founding in the middle of the COVID crisis, we were able to attract talented individuals from the industry and beyond very early on. In the past few years, we have thus gained a lead that we will not relinquish. Many small, local competitors have already disappeared in the last two years. In Europe, we are already larger than the global market leader, a US player with a billion-dollar valuation. We have therefore built a foundation that cannot be caught up with quickly – even with a lot of private equity backing.
You repeatedly emphasize the “Dream Team” behind Boost inc. What qualities make the difference?
It takes a play-to-win mindset and a determination to succeed – as an individual, as a team, as a company. Crazy Geniuses, meaning slightly crazy talents, must feel comfortable and be able to develop here. However, all of this must be accompanied by good values and an understanding of “what is right, what is wrong.” I also believe a certain degree of naivety is good.
Naivety in business? What do you mean by that?
Naivety can be a strength. For example, when you dare to do something that others think is completely crazy. An investor from a competitor once told me: “You know what scares everyone? You look like a bunch of kids playing Monopoly.” What he meant by that: We weren’t afraid, we were ambitious – in short, naive. It’s also true for us: if we lose something, we feel frustration for 30 seconds, then we move on.
What has shaped your mindset the most during your startup journey?
For me, the main driver was simply that I love to win. I enjoy being competitive in everything I do and I go all in. In that respect, startup life suited me from the start. I don’t feel like I had to change much. However, what I have become even more aware of while building my own company is the importance of having the right people on the team. There is a huge difference between a crew that is okay and a crew that is truly good. That is why the decision to let certain people go is also extremely important.
When you received the cancer diagnosis two years after founding the company, what thoughts went through your head?
You know from movies that those affected by a cancer diagnosis quit their jobs and go on a world trip. But the reality is different, because you don’t really know how much longer you will live: the diagnosis predicted a lifespan of six months to ten years – that is a huge range. Just because life seems shorter after the diagnosis, you don’t have to give up everything. That would suggest that you weren’t happy with your life and only lived it that way because you felt trapped in it, wouldn’t it? You could also say I did what most entrepreneurs do well: not wasting energy on things you can’t change.
What tips would you give to other founders?
First, if you start something, only do it if you can explain what your advantage is over other founders who are starting with the same idea. Look for opportunities in fields where you have a so-called unfair advantage. Then, make sure you have one hundred percent commitment. From the age of exploration, there is the saying, “you have to burn the boats so you can’t go back.” You have to create a situation where the only way is forward, because that automatically creates the necessary commitment. And don’t forget that the right environment is crucial. If you don’t have family, friends, or a partner who supports you, it won’t work. Furthermore, you must have the ability to bridge the financial gap and get by with little or no salary.
At Boost inc, we believe the future of unattended retail belongs to the operators who control their own data and destiny. We are not just a tech company that stumbled into vending; we are operators who built the tool we always dreamed of having. It’s time to move beyond outdated systems and embrace a technology designed to make you more profitable and more agile. Ready to unlock the full e-commerce potential of your fleet?
To learn more about implementing our solutions across Europe, reach out to hello@boostinc.com