Webinar: Who Really builds the company? The #2s to #30s behind every founder story

Is success really just about the founder? Who are the operators turning vision into execution? And how do you build a team that scales with you?

Founders are often the public face of a start-up. Yet behind every successful company stand the #2s, early believers, and even the #30s, the operators who transform ambition into execution and momentum into scale.

In this session, three leaders from grape, one founder and two experienced scaling operators, share what it truly takes to build and join high-performing start-up teams. We explore the perspective of those who choose to build alongside a founder, as well as what founders should look for when hiring the people who will shape the company from within.

Because building a successful start-up is not only about founding. It is about assembling the right people early, empowering them with real ownership, and creating a team that upgrades the room at every stage of growth.

Register here

• Date: 26.05.2026
• Time: 12.00-13.00
• Location: Online – Zoom
• Speakers:
  Janine Bosshart, Head of Marketing at grape insurance AG
  Gregory Inauen, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of grape insurance AG
  Lavinia Heimerdinger, Commercial Chief of Staff at grape insurance AG

Session Main Takeaways

• Identify and attract the right #2s and early operators for their current stage
• Define roles, ownership, and decision rights clearly to avoid founder bottlenecks
• Build trust and alignment between founders and early team members
• Hire not only for today’s needs, but for the company you aim to become
• Create an environment where early employees think and act like true builders and proxies for the founder

Join the session to rethink how you build your team and strengthen the foundation of your company beyond the founder story.