Practical tips and blog

Practical tips and blog

Blog

Guides and practical tips for setting up a business, and press articles about Fribourg start-ups.

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• Small guide for the self-employed 2026

  Everything you need to know to launch your sole proprietorship in the canton of Fribourg: status, company name, social charges, insurance, VAT, accounting and taxes.

• Am I ready to start a business? The 5 questions to ask yourself before taking the plunge

  The desire to start your own business is there, but are you really ready? Before diving in headfirst, take the time to address five essential personal questions objectively. Your answers will lay the foundations of your business project.

• Validating your business idea: why you need to go into the field first

  Before rushing headlong into a detailed market study, take a detour: go into the field to understand and refine the problem you want to solve. At this stage, it is not yet about testing your solution, but about confirming that the need really exists.

• The market study: validating your idea with facts and figures

  Once you have reworked and refined your concept, it is time to go back into the field to validate your idea in detail. The aim: to confirm the market potential and collect the facts and figures that will feed into your business plan.

• The business model: defining how your company will create value

  The business model describes how you plan to develop and exploit a competitive advantage capable of generating value for your customers. Not to be confused with the business plan!

• The business plan: structuring your project and convincing investors

  The business plan is the tool for analysing the feasibility, viability and potential of your business idea. Much more than an administrative document, it is a genuine guide for implementing your project.

• The financial plan: assessing your business's sustainability and financing needs

  The financial plan is an essential element in assessing the viability of your future business and determining your financing needs. It consists of three complementary parts: the investment budget, the forecast income statement and the cash flow budget.

• Financing your business: the three main sources of funding

  Your financial plan has helped you assess your financing needs. Now you need to find the funds! Equity, debt, grants and subsidies: an overview of the three main sources of funding available to business founders.

• Choosing your bank: your company's financial partner

  Your choice of legal form will have financial repercussions for your company, from the capital needed to set it up to obtaining financing and applying for credit, and on to the options for selling or passing on the business.

• Sole proprietorship, general partnership, LLC or SA: which legal form should you choose?

  Choosing a legal form is one of the founding decisions for your company. Start-up capital, protection of private assets, fundraising, social insurance: each form has its advantages and constraints. An overview of the four most common forms in Switzerland.

• Setting up an Sàrl or SA: why go through a notary

  To set up an Sàrl or SA, Fri Up recommends going through a notary. Deed of incorporation, articles of association, shareholders' agreement: the notary provides legal certainty for the birth of your company.

• Registering in the commercial register: obligations, steps and costs

  The commercial register gives your company an official legal existence. Depending on your legal form, registration is optional or compulsory. Here is what you need to know before submitting your file.

• Business insurance: covering the right risks without over-insuring

  Insurance is a complex subject. Compulsory social insurance, necessary professional insurance, comfort cover: how do you find your way and define your needs precisely?

• Your company's accounting: what obligations depending on your legal form?

  Full or simplified accounting? In Switzerland, your accounting obligations depend on your legal form and turnover. Here are the rules you need to know and the tools to get off to a good start.

• Business taxation in Switzerland: what every entrepreneur needs to know

  Federal, cantonal, municipal: companies are taxed at three levels, whatever their legal form. And for corporations, the mechanism of economic double taxation deserves particular attention.

• VAT: compulsory and voluntary registration, and pitfalls to avoid

  In principle, all companies are subject to VAT, whatever their legal form. But from what turnover? And when is voluntary registration worthwhile? Watch out in particular for the pro rata calculation if you start up during the year.

• Building your professional network: a key factor in business success

  The success of a business project also depends on the quality of your professional network and your ability to activate it to find first customers, suppliers, partners, associates or employees.

• Support and training: help available to Fribourg business founders

  While some skills can be delegated, others will need to be acquired or brought up to date through training. And for everything else, a dense network of support organisations is available to entrepreneurs in the canton of Fribourg and in Switzerland.

• Launching a start-up? Fri Up supports you free of charge, with tailored help

  Is your project particularly innovative? Does it meet a new need or offer a novel approach to an existing market? Fri Up's start-up support programme may be right for you.

• Finding your workplace: commercial premises, innovation park or coworking space?

  Your company's physical location can be a key strategic question: the success of your business may depend on it, especially for a shop. The canton of Fribourg offers a wide range of solutions, from innovation parks to collaborative spaces.

• Getting your launch communication right: questions to ask before taking action

  Name, logo, website, social media: where do you start with your launch communication? Before producing anything, four strategic questions should guide your choices.

• Selling: turning prospects into your first customers

  Do you have a product or service that meets your market's needs? Then it's time to present it to your potential customers, convince them... and sell! To ensure your business's future, you must win paying customers.

• Human resources: managing your staff properly from the very first salary

  Human resources are a fundamental pillar of a company's success. They also account for a large share of costs and therefore deserve particular attention.

• The digital tools that make entrepreneurs' lives easier

  Growing successfully takes a good dose of perseverance, a few kilos of patience, a pinch of tenacity... but also iron-clad organisation, impeccable customer service and good internal and external communication — no less!

• Overtech: the electric fork that zaps weeds

  Based in Villars-sur-Glâne, Overney Technologie Sàrl (Overtech) is developing an electric weeding fork that can eliminate unwanted plants without plant protection products. Validated on dock weed in pasture, the technology is driven by engineer Edouard Overney and embodies 100% Fribourg agricultural innovation.

• TABuild: showcasing construction, driving business

  TABuild is a business project developing digital solutions dedicated to showcasing construction, combining architecture, engineering and real estate. The aim is to produce structured, readable content that can be used directly for communication, marketing and development, turning the reality on the ground into a lever for visibility and business. By combining editorial standards, digital tools and AI, TABuild makes the value of construction visible and usable. Interview with Anne-Claire Sauvajon, founder of TABuild.

• Logistock: a second life for building materials

  As the first Swiss marketplace for construction site surpluses, Logistock is changing the way construction companies manage their materials. Founded in Bulle, the start-up offers a simple, sustainable solution to reduce waste, support the circular economy and make construction more responsible. We met Leon Baftiri and Samuel Broch, the young founders.

• Prévisionnel.ch: the financial training plan for your entrepreneurial marathon

  Starting a business is like preparing to run a marathon. It is demanding and long. First there is the desire to push yourself, then the practicalities such as the right trainers, a balanced diet... and above all the training plan.

• Sustainable elegance on Fribourg feet

  KANREY officially launched in June 2025. We meet Kuno Andrey, co-founder of this promising Fribourg brand that is rethinking premium men's shoes. A look back at a bold innovation combining aesthetics, comfort and sustainability.

• Towards a digital twin of road and industrial pavements with Odytics

  Fribourg start-up ODYTICS offers an innovative solution for the automated inventory of road and industrial pavements, based on patented high-resolution geolocated orthophotography technology (one millimetre per pixel) combined with an image-processing software platform.

• Bionomous: automation for biological research

  How did the idea for Bionomous come about?

• AI and data for industry

  Optimising industrial performance today relies on artificial intelligence and data. Yvan Jacquat, founder and CEO of GradeSens, talks about the innovative solutions his company provides to the manufacturing, energy and logistics sectors.

• Ontoris: governance, compliance and risk management

  In a constantly changing business environment, companies must adapt quickly to manage risks effectively, meet compliance obligations and optimise their legal processes. Ontoris, a company based in Bulle, offers innovative technological solutions to meet these needs. We met Jean-Philippe Berset, one of the founders.

• Entrepreneurs riding the Google wave

  Launched in 2023, MD Sherpa is an agency specialising in Google Ads that offers personalised support to SMEs in French-speaking Switzerland. Its co-founders, Nicolas Dafflon and Marc Mollard, share their approach and the strategies that are transforming the use of Google Ads, the paid ads that propel your business to the top of Google searches.

• HouseTrap: balancing expansion and resource management

  We meet Stéphanie Krieger, head of HouseTrap, an escape game centre that opened in Bulle in 2018. She talks to us about her entrepreneurial vision and her plans to expand across the canton.

• LYSR: precise, real-time machine monitoring

  LYSR, an AI pioneer in the machinery industry. Since its birth at iCoSys (Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Complex Systems), LYSR has specialised in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) for the proactive monitoring of industrial equipment.

• Looking back at Enoki's journey

  In 2017, Switzerland made its mark by winning the Solar Decathlon in Denver with the NeighborHub solar house, the work of students from EPFL, HEIA-FR, UNI-FR and HEAD in Geneva. What made it special? It was a meeting place for the neighbourhood, encouraging sustainable lifestyles by offering local activities and services. Seven years later, we catch up with Axelle Marchon, co-founder of the start-up Enoki, a spin-off of that adventure, to take stock of how their original project has evolved.

• Innovation in telemedicine

  Hestia, a Fribourg start-up, works in telemedicine innovation. It offers a platform for exchanging medical data between patients and doctors, and is riding the wave of a booming sector. Interview.

• A revolution in agriculture: Techponics is transforming lettuce growing

  In the agricultural sector, start-up Techponics offers an innovative solution to overcome the challenges of growing lettuce and leafy greens in open fields.

• Fri Up and Seed Capital Fribourg Foundation: a collaboration opening new perspectives

  Founded in 2010, the Seed Capital Fribourg Foundation's mission is to offer loans to start-ups in the early stages. A public foundation funded by the State of Fribourg, it reflects the canton's commitment to supporting start-up innovation. Since its creation, 34 projects have received funding, 25 of them in the last five years. Interview with Yann Steulet, director of Fri Up and executive secretary of the Seed Capital Fribourg Foundation, to better understand what lies behind the Foundation.

• Innovation in printing: Droptimize's revolutionary approach

  In a world where print precision and quality are paramount, Droptimize stands out with an innovative solution. We spoke to the team behind this promising start-up to understand how they are transforming the industrial printing sector. Start-up Droptimize is revolutionising industrial printing.

• Fri Up stepped up its support for start-ups in 2023

  Start-ups in the canton are showing promising momentum, encouraging Fri Up to continue its support and promote innovation.