“You Need to Find Your Reset Button” – Insights by Daniela Marino, Co-Founder & CEO of CUTISS

For two decades, the Venture Leaders, members of the Swiss National Startup Team, have embodied a simple ambition: think global from day one. Venturelab provides the support founders need to turn bold visions into global success. Stefan Steiner, Co-Managing Director at Venturelab talked with Venture Leaders Alumna Daniela Marino, CEO and Co-Founder of CUTISS, about how she turned pioneering skin research into a biotech company that raised more than CHF 100 million from investors and what young founders can learn from pitching abroad, raising capital, and leading through uncertainty.

From Research to Purpose

Daniela Marino is the CEO and Co-Founder of CUTISS, a Zurich-based biotech company bioengineering human skin tissue on demand for patients who need skin surgery. The idea began during her postdoc work at the University of Zurich, in a lab connected to the Children’s Hospital. The team was developing human skin tissue for children with burns, scars, cancer, or reconstruction needs. When early clinical results showed promise, Daniela says, “creating the company was just a logical step in 2017.”

CUTISS researchers preparing next-generation skin tissue for clinical application

 

The Venture Leaders Push

In 2018, Daniela joined Venture Leaders Life Sciences as part of the Swiss National Startup Team and travelled for an investor and business development roadshow to Boston. This marked her and CUTISS’ first major roadshow overseas. It took her out of her Swiss comfort zone: instead of pitching to familiar local investors, she presented CUTISS to a high number of international venture capitalists who “didn’t even know we existed.” 

What stayed with her most was not only the investor exposure but the peer learning. After a week of intense pitching, the founders knew each other’s businesses so well that “all the groups could pitch each other’s businesses.” For Daniela, Venture Leaders became a powerful training ground: “very challenging”, but also “extremely fun.”

   

Global Ambition, Family Close By

One part of the roadshow remains especially meaningful to her: Daniela was able to bring her family to Boston. With two young children at the time, being away for a full week overseas would have been difficult. “I will always be grateful to Venturelab,” she says, for allowing the trip to become a combined business and family experience. 

Her husband, sister, and mother joined her, giving her the support she needed while keeping her children close. “If I know my kids and my family are not that far away, I’m less stressed,” she explains. That helped her perform better — and enjoy the experience more.

 

Scaling a Biotech Is Not Linear

CUTISS has since grown to around 60 people, raised more than CHF 100 million, and entered Phase III clinical development, the company’s most complex stage so far. Daniela is clear: building something truly pioneering is not easy. Some days, she says, feel like being “the queen of the world”; others bring the question: “Why am I doing this to myself?” 

Her key learning for founders: find your reset button. For Daniela, that role is played by her family and children. For others, it may be something else, but without a way to recalibrate, the road becomes too bumpy to last.

The multidisciplinary team behind CUTISS’ regenerative medicine platform

 

What Founders Can Learn

Daniela’s advice is simple and demanding: stay close to purpose, build real innovation, and show investors why your company is unique. Capital follows when need, purpose, plan, and competitive advantage come together. Or, as she puts it: “If you like the field and you like the story, you won’t find a 2.0 story somewhere else.” 

For young people leaving university, her message is equally clear: do not chase salary or geography first. “Find something where you really think every morning you can stand up and go full speed.” 

From Boston to New York, San Francisco to China, Hong Kong, Barcelona, London, and Munich, the Swiss National Startup Team brings Swiss entrepreneurs to the world’s leading innovation hubs. Through global investor and business development roadshows, Venture Leaders gives deep tech founders direct access to top investors, industry leaders, and vibrant startup ecosystems that accelerate their international growth. Follow Daniela Marino and apply for the next Venture Leaders roadshow.