Innovation, resilience, and a passion for tangible impact—these qualities define Florian Gutzwiller’s journey from pioneering cybersecurity at Open Systems to leading Voliro, a game-changing robotics company. With a career spanning decades in IT, Florian's transition to airborne robotics was driven by his fascination with physical technology and its transformative potential.
In this exclusive conversation, Florian shares his remarkable experiences—connecting Credit Suisse to the Internet in the early '90s, investing in space tech startups, and now pushing the boundaries of industrial robotics. He sheds light on the challenges of scaling a cutting-edge robotics company, the hurdles startups face, and how Voliro is redefining inspections with its innovative platform.
Beyond his professional achievements, Florian gives us a glimpse into his life outside work—his love for skiing, mountain biking, and unwinding with insightful podcasts. He also shares valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and his vision for Voliro’s future.
Join us as we delve into the mind of a leader at the intersection of AI, hardware, and industrial automation.
Hello Mr. Florian Gutzwiller. Greetings of the day. Could you please give a brief introduction of yourself to all our wonderful readers?
Hi! My name is Florian Gutzwiller, and I’m the CEO of Voliro, the most exciting robotics company ever! I joined Voliro in 2021 as an early-stage angel investor. Prof. Roland Siegwart from ETH introduced me, and I met the team outside on Polyterasse, the large open plaza in front of the ETH main building overlooking Zurich, as Covid-19 workplace restrictions were still in effect. Little over a year later, and I was offered the CEO role and haven’t regretted it ever since, despite the hard work in this mad world at the crossroads of hardware and AI.
… let’s begin from the start. Can you share your journey from founding Open Systems to leading Voliro? What motivated these pivotal career moves?
ETH provided me with a game-changing experience earlier in my life, when Swiss academia in the late 80s was getting wired to the Internet. The opportunity to work at ETH in the eye of the storm was priceless. In 1991, I took a leap of faith and started Open Systems, which over time became a leading cybersecurity company. We sold the company in 2017.
.. after working in IT for many decades, what inspired you to venture into airborne robotics?
The move to robotics was part of my passion rediscovered to be closer to a physical and truly tangible outcome. Computing was very physical in the 80s, and being around monstrous mainframe computers, and crawling through secret underground corridors to lay arm-thick network cables was my very own Hogwarts. Similar to my angel investment activity in the space tech sector, robotics provides equal emotional qualities.
… how did your experience building Open Systems influence your approach to leading Voliro?
The discipline of combining technological leadership, forward-looking business strategies and bundling those into an unrivaled customer experience is at the core of everything I do at work. Open Systems was a wonderful example of this when we introduced “managed security services” in the late 90s. People thought we lost our mind: “you can’t outsource security!”.
Industrial robotics is at an adoption level similar to cybersecurity at the time, so executing a subscription model for robotics feels like riding a bike.
Mr. Florian, what would you consider the defining moments of your career so far?
Getting a job at ETH in the 80s with some shady hacker achievements and Unix skills being my only credentials. — Hooking up Credit Suisse to the Internet in 1993, delivering access to all 30’000 employees at a time when there were only a few 100 websites. — Investing in and saving a satellite startup that was almost destroyed over a fight between their Russian
shareholders and federal agencies — getting back behind the controls and live the magic working with the best talent in the most exciting industry at Voliro. I could go on …
… what challenges do you face in scaling a cutting-edge robotics company, and how do you overcome them?
The adoption speed of mobile robotics in industrial applications is lagging years behind the hype. We are all operating in a highly delicate early adopter environment, and mass adoption has yet to materialize. The established entanglements between asset owners, inspection, and maintenance providers operating at cutthroat margins are at the core of the problem. Our technology will advance to a point where it will fuse with the infrastructure and put those at risk who hold on to traditional methods and propel the early adopters and robotics pioneers. Voliro’s platform strategy, supporting future applications with increasing autonomy, is perfectly positioned to be at the core of this sea change.
… can you share a specific use case or project where Voliro’s solutions made a significant impact?
All of our use cases are incredible examples of excellence, creating unmatched efficiency and safety advantages. I am personally touched when our technology is operated in most remote and hostile areas, helping crews on the ground to mitigate risks and create valuable insights that would otherwise require people to get in harm's way.
Seeing a picture of our client operating Voliro on a remote wind turbine farm in Hawaii, taking measurements inside a gold mine in the middle of nowhere, or running UT measurements on 5 flare stacks in one day. Witnessing this is fueling our passion and imagination to take the company to the next level.
… when mentoring startups, what common challenges do you see founders face, and how do you help them navigate these?
Redundancy: The number of startups engaging in the same game is starting to hurt our young industry as a whole. Customers who are irritated are more likely to wait for the outcome of the bar fight, before investing. For Voliro focusing on true aerial robotics on elevated structures sets us apart, but nobody is bulletproof to the over-inflation of product redundancy.
Startup frenzy: Many robotics companies are launched with a lot of enthusiasm and great concepts, but lack of focus and commercial purpose and context. The outcome is a lot of wasted capital, time, and talent.
Adoption: Understand your market! Industrials are extremely slow and risk-averse clients. The existing dynamics can be prohibitive to your idea.
Too many questions about work. Let's take a break. So, how does life look for you outside of work, Mr. Florian? How do you unwind yourself?
I have a family with two young children — What a question ;-). We are lucky to live in Switzerland, where skiing is a short ride away, mountain bike trails are behind the house, and Lake Zurich provides for great water sports and relaxation in Summer. The quality of life allows me to perform as an executive while maintaining a rich private life.
… any books, or podcasts you’d like to read/listen to in your “me-time”?
Part of my daily routine are the FT Newsbriefing for the morning commute and the Foreign Affairs interview for the traffic jam. StarTalk Radio by Neil deGrasse Tyson puts the kids to sleep and keeps me frustrated about my bad physics grades.
Final few questions… What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to innovate in highly technical fields like robotics or space tech?
Only a great attitude will be able to multiply your skills into sustainable entrepreneurship. Your ability to project your idea and rally talent and customers around you is the magic potion.
… what are the next big milestones for Voliro, and how do you plan to achieve them?
We just launched our first third-party payload (SIXPEC CUI) that further validates our platform strategy. 2025 will see more payloads and increased autonomy. Getting everybody behind the same idea and sharing the strategy through a deeply connected corporate culture are at the core of Voliro’s success.
Finally, what are your thoughts on OnestopNDT? Do you think our efforts to provide real, authentic, and accurate content are helping the industry? Also, do you think our platform helps the community connect with like-minded people?
OnestopNDT puts everything that matters in one place. One is likely to drown in this ocean of unstructured information about NDT, and OnestopNDT is definitely a game changer, providing transparency and access to this world of many magics.
