World shaper of tomorrow: Doodle simplifies how we schedule meetings 

“Send me a Doodle!” has entered the vocabulary of anyone trying to meet with a group of people. What many people do not know is that the web-based scheduling tool is Swiss made. Doodle co-founders Myke Näf (former CEO) and Dr. Paul E. Sevinç (former CTO) told us how a side project turned into one of Switzerland’s most globally known and successful startups. 

The Doodle co-founders (from left to right): Dr. Paul E. Sevinç (former CTO) and Myke Näf (former CEO)

What happens when a computer scientist’s attempt to organize a dinner with friends turns into organizational frustration? He uses his expertise to find a scheduling solution that includes fewer email threads and Excel sheets and more eating and quality time. That is how Myke’s annoyance sparked the idea for Doodle, the company he founded with Paul, an engineer and developer whom he shared an office with while they were both teaching at ETH Zurich. The two combined their talents and ambitions in 2007 and went on a seven-year journey to improve how people around the world organize get-togethers, meetings, and polls. 

“Even in 2020, people still believe that Doodle has to be a US company. People are convinced that it’s a Silicon Valley company.” – Myke Näf 

Revolutionizing an industry
Doodle’s straightforward concept hit a nerve, and the startup began to grow—beyond Switzerland: “We initially did not own the doodle.com domain. We had to hire a company that negotiated a deal with the domain owner, which was surprisingly easy back then,” explained Myke. 
The platform used advertising and introduced a premium model to have two revenue streams, so Doodle completed its first and last fundraising round in 2008. “It was a different time. We didn’t have too much of a clue of what we were doing but neither did the investors. They were interested in the popularity of our service, but many did not think that we had a sustainable business model,” said Myke. Doodle proved them wrong: Within a few years, the Zurich-based company built a brand that was known around the world.

Doodle cements its Swissness
With Doodle’s growth and popularity came the companies interested in acquiring Doodle. After receiving offers from all over the world, Zurich-based Tamedia (now TX Group) came out on top: “Tamedia made the most compelling offer from a financial point of view, and they valued the brand, people, and product. And it meant that Doodle would stay Swiss and not be exposed to the strategic dynamics of, let’s say, a Silicon Valley company,” said Myke.
Tamedia acquired 49% of Doodle in 2011 and the remaining 51% in 2014. By the time the acquisition was complete in 2014, Doodle had about a dozen employees who managed a platform that was available in 17 languages and was being used by over 25 million people around the world.
 

“In 2000, I got job offers from a handful of US companies, including from a little-known startup called Google. I ended up taking a job in Austin, Texas, and not Silicon Valley. I would have been Google’s 300th or so employee. But 20 years later, I’m confident that life could not have turned out better than it has.” – Dr. Paul E. Sevinç 

Life after Doodle  
After Doodle was sold, Myke and Paul continued to be involved in the startup ecosystem as investors and TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award Jury Members. Myke is one of the co-founders of Übermorgen Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. Paul is a business angel: “I am still close enough to the startup world to feel the emotional roller coaster.”
And they continued to collaborate: In 2016, they co-founded Elohna—a cloud-based payroll platform for Swiss SMEs—which was acquired by bexio in 2017. Only half a year later, still in 2017, they co-founded Ledgy, an equity management platform. Myke and Paul have not stopped mulling over other ideas— just as they have not stopped using Doodle.

 

About "World shapers of tomorrow: Startups building our future"

The TOP 100 book "World shapers of tomorrow: Startups building our future" shows the impact of the TOP 100 Swiss Startups over the last 10 years. On 100 pages, the publication features the facts and figures about the startup ecosystem in Switzerland, shows the sectors and geographic distribution, and lists the investors behind Swiss deeptech startups. The book also highlights disruptive companies that changed their industry: Beekeeper, Bestmile, Climeworks, Covagen, DeinDeal, Doodle, GetYourGuide, MindMaze, Scandit, and Piavita. The founders of these startups share anecdotes and discuss their successes, lessons learned, and visions for the future. A selection of 10 verticals illustrates how Swiss deeptech startups transform our lives and help us build a better and more sustainable future in relation to health, longevity, digitalization, and decentralization. Learn more and download your copy at www.top100startups.swiss/10years.

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