Dubendorf, Switzerland, June 2015. The TwingTec team had spent more than four years developing a tethered wing technology that generated electricity by flying a kite at high altitudes, capturing the energy from the stable winds there. Even though friends and family often made fun of the fact that Rolf’s work involved playing with a kite, reality was very different and he faced many painful moments as the MD of the innovative start-up. While TwingTec had received significant financial and non-financial support from EMPA over the years, its funding was once again about to run out at the end of June. There were still many technical challenges to overcome before they could start commercializing TwingTec’s kite technology, and these steps would require additional capital. Technical readiness was behind schedule but Rolf was confident that the technology issues could be resolved: they just needed more time and money – approximately two years and CHF 2 million – to prove the technology by finally building a full-size prototype… Would investors feel as confident as the team about the next steps? How expensive would that money be and could investors accept the long timeframe? Was it time to ween the company from its public supporters and embrace the market and customers further?
