Let's create your future together

Your best chapter
is yet to come.

The Swiss quality, human-first, AI supported programme that combines the depth of coaching with the practical rigour of a real business incubator. We enable people to explore becoming a business founder, shape their business idea and launch.

What's My AI Risk?

9 honest questions - a personalised picture of where you stand, and what your real options are.

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Innovation cohort starts January 2027 · Zürich and Online
Join the waitlist Book your free Exploration Session
The moment is real

The world of work is changing fast.
Time to take control.

92M
jobs displaced globally by 2030
WEF Future of Jobs 2025
53%
of people across 30 countries say AI products and services make them nervous
Ipsos AI Monitor 2025
40%
of Swiss adults who recognised good opportunities to start a business chose not to proceed due to fear of failure
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2025
The window to build what's yours is open - right now, the right way.
What we do

We walk with you until your idea becomes a living business.

Human first

We start with you: your identity, your values, your passions - your moment. The business follows the person, not the other way around.

Built by people who've lived it

Our founder made this transition himself. This is lived experience, not a theoretical programme.

Structured like a real incubator

9 weeks part-time incl. workshops, 1:1 coaching & mentoring, and a Lions panel. Not a training course, a process.

Action from session one

Every session ends with a clear next step. You leave the Innovation phase with clarity about your personal business plan and next steps.

Is this you?

We've built this for three kinds of people.

Disenchanted Corporate

You hate having a boss. You're biding your time until you can build something of your own.

The corporate world is changing, and you can feel it, quietly but clearly. You're not in crisis. You're seeing an opportunity.

The Displaced Professional

A restructuring, a career move that didn't work as planned. The right job opportunity hasn't landed and it's time to take control.

You have skills, time, maybe a severance package and some capital. What will you build?

The Almost
Founder

You've had the idea for years. You kept putting it off - a promotion, a family, "not the right time."

The right time is easily delayed. Once you've tasted the idea of freedom, it's hard to let it go. It's time to act.

You’ve spent years building expertise inside someone else’s vision. It’s time to build your own.

You’re here. And that’s enough to start.

Your journey

Two phases. One direction.

01
9 weeks

INNOVATION

Who are you as a founder? What is your idea? Is there a market? You leave with a Spark Deck, refined with the support of a Lions panel.

02
4–6 months

INCUBATION

From validated idea to launch-ready business. Structured support, real accountability, and the community to carry you through.

ALUMNI

You built it. Now you belong to a community of people who stopped waiting and started writing their next chapter.

What you get

Everything you need. Nothing you don't.

Group Workshops & Private Sessions

6 online workshops. 1:1 coaching & mentoring from experienced founders. Fully online or hybrid in Zurich.

AI Enabled Approach

We help you apply AI to shape and test your business ideas, learning AI by using AI.

AI Support

AI accelerators built by Sparksli to support your journey.

Lions Review

End-of-programme panel. Your idea, stress-tested together.

Your Spark Deck

The business plan you've been meaning to write.

Founder Community

Peers who are building. Real experience.

Who we are

We walked your path.
We didn't observe this problem, we lived it.

Sparksli was built by a founder who made the corporate-to-founder transition himself. This isn't a theoretical programme designed from the outside - it's built from lived experience, which is why we start with you, then shape the business.

Nick James, Founder of Sparksli

Nick James

Founder & Lead Coach

Made the transition from senior corporate leader to founder himself. After 30+ years across Oracle, PwC, IBM, EY, BCG and Julius Baer, he built Eighty20 and then Sparksli - because there was no founder accelerator for people like him.

Read the Founder Story →
Before you decide

The honest questions, answered.

These are the real doubts people bring to their first conversation with us. Better to name them now.

"This is the riskiest thing I could do career-wise."

That's why the Innovation programme runs alongside your current job. Nothing about the Innovation phase requires you to resign, tell your employer, or burn a bridge. You build clarity and a real business plan first - the leap, if you take it, comes later and on your terms.

"Can I stay employed while I build something small on the side?"

Yes. Most of our founders start exactly this way and the programme is designed with this in mind, it's not a full-time commitment.

"How can I justify this to my family?"

Many people have wanted to become a founder for years, Sparksli provides the safe way to explore this without leaving your current job. You'll leave with clarity on your future professional path, ready to move forward. For long-term job seekers Sparksli explores a new path to success.

"What if I realise becoming a business founder is not for me?"

The Innovation programme is deliberately built to explore this. If you conclude being a founder is not your path, you may choose to continue your corporate career with greater clarity, partner with another founder or come back to Sparksli when the time is right, it's not a sunk cost.

(Switzerland) "I am registered with the RAV, are they supportive of founders?"

Yes, the Self-Employment Unit (Fachstelle Selbständigkeit) offers active support for entrepreneurs including up to 90 days to define and plan your business launch, removing the obligation to job seek and with support for marketing and finance / accounting tax (Treuhänder).

"Will I learn practical AI skills as part of the program?"

Yes, you will be guided to use AI tools effectively as part of your work - practical, applied and no need to code. Also to integrate AI into your business operations, including Agentic AI.

"I've been made redundant, could my employer sponsor my Sparksli programme?"

Yes, we have participants who used their redundancy package to 100% fund their Sparksli Innovation programme.

Stop waiting for the right moment.

Start your next chapter.

Innovation phase - 9 weeks · Zürich / Online · Cohort of 6-12 founders
Online sessions run on Central European Time (CET)
Book your free Sparksli Exploration Session Join the waitlist
No pressure. No pitch. Just a conversation about where you are.